Mother Farangis Mosharraf Dehkordi was born in Shahr-e Kord in 1308 (1929). Mother Dehkordi, before the revolution, provided help for Organisation of People´s Fadai Guerrillas such as transfer of arms under her chador (a full-length veil). During the days of the revolution she actively participated in the revolution. She was a Bakhtiari woman, brave and strong. All of her five children were members of the Organisation of People´s Fadai Guerrillas.
In Azar 1360 (Nov.-Dec. 1981) when his daughter Nasrin was arrested, Mother went to Evin alone as her other children were involved in political struggle; she did so in order to keep her other children away from harms. When Nasrin’s will was given to her, she criess and curses Khomeini. The agents of the Islamic Republic attacked her. Her head hits the asphalt and she bleeds and loses consciousness. She was taken to the hospital by a woman. The Islamic Republic executes Nasrin by firing squad in Evin Prison shortly after her arrest and buries her in Behesht Zahra Cemetery.
Fereydoun, one of the sons of Mother Dehkordi, was killed in Kurdistan in Shahrivar 1358 (Aug.-Sep. 1979) during an arms struggle with the agents of the Islamic Republic. Pasha, Mother Dehkordi’s son-in-law, is also executed by the Islamic Republic in early 1360s (1980s). The news of Pasha’s execution was not given to Mother Dehkordi. She was not ready to hear the news of another death. Three years later, Mother Dehkordi’s younger son, who was also a member of the People´s Fadiain (minority faction) and a student of architecture at the Tehran University, was arrested. Upon hearing the news of his son’s arrest and fearing the loss of his third son, his father suffers a heart attack and then dies. Mother Dehkordi once again sets out for Evin Prison. Mother was not allowed more than two visits to her son. The younger son of Mother is released from prison in the summer of 1367 (1988), a few months before the massacre of political prisoners, because he had suffered extreme physical and mental injuries resulting from his torture.
Despite all the hardships faced by her, and despite the fact that none of her children was buried in Khavaran, Mother Dehkordi visited Khavaran year after year in support of and in solidarity with mothers whose children were buried there. Mother Dehkordi’s feet touched the soil of Khavaran from the early 1360s (1980s). After the release of her son from the prison, and after seeing his precarious physical and mental condition, Mother Dehkordi’s health suffers a serious setback. Mother collapses and gradually become completely silent; she could not longer visit Khavaran and Behesht Zahra Cemetery where her daughter Nasrin is buried. Occasionally she dolefully sings at home the song “Nanny nanny, time to fight” in Lori accent full of sadness and grief. She repeats only two words: ‘Fereydoun came, Nasrin returned.’ Mother dies in painful silence at her home in Tehran in Tir 1396 (June-July 2017). Mother Dehkordi, like many other mothers, never believed in the death of her children; she waited for thirty-eight long years for them to return.
On 14 Khordad 1368 (04 June 1989) when the TV broadcasts the news of Khomeini’s death, Mother suddenly gets up and brings Nasrin’s scarf. While she is laughing, she starts to sing “Nanny nanny, time to fight.’ In the middle of the house she dances the Bakhtiari dance and waves Nasrin’s scarf over her head.
Nasrin Mohammadpour Dehkordi
Nasrin Mohammadpour Dehkordi was born in Shahr-e Kord, Province of Chahar Mahal Bakhtiari in 1338 (1959). Nasrin, at the time of her arrest, was a student of economics at the Melli University in Tehran. After the revolution she joined the Organisation of People´s Fadai Guerrillas and in the course of its split she sided with the minority faction and started working with the workers’ section of this Organization. Twenty days after her arrest and after inflicting medieval tortures on her, the Islamic Republic executed Nasrin by firing squad in Evin Prison on 29 Azar 1360 (20 Dec. 1981). Nasrin was 22 years old at the time of her execution. Nasrin, accompanied by one of her fellow freedom-fighters, was arrested while she was leaving Tehran for Karaj on 09 Azar 1360 (30 Nov. 1981).
The tableau is the text of Nasrin’s will which she wrote minutes before her execution in Evin Prison on 29 Azar 1360 (20 Dec. 1981).
Fereydoun Mohammadpour Dehkordi
Fereydoun was born in Shahr-e Kord, Province of Chahar Mahal Bakhtiari, in 1329 (1950).Before the revolution he was a friend of the poors. After the revolution he joined the Organisation People´s Fadai Guerrillas and after the separation of the Organization lead by Ashraf Dehghani, he joined Ashraf’s group. Fereydoun went to Kurdistan in the middle of 1358 (Aug.-Sep. 1979), after the summoning of the Fedayin by Ashraf, and was killed there during an armed struggle with the agents of the Islamic Republic. Fereydoun was in contact with the Organisation of Iranian People´s Fadai Guerrillas even before the revolution.
Pasha Moghimi
There are different stories about the date of arrest and execution of Pasha. Some say he was arrested in 1360 (1981) while others say in 1362 (1983) or 1363 (1984). Until before the revolution Pasha was a student studying in Germany and was an active member of Overseas Students’ Confederation. After the revolution he returned to Iran and joined the Organisation of Iranian People´s Fadai Guerrillas at the place of his birth, Rasht. In the course of split of the Organization into Majority and Minority factions, he joined the minority together with his wife and his wife´s sister and brother Nasrin and Fereydoun.
Pasha, after his break up with the Organization in 1360 (1981), goes underground in the clothes of a repairman between Tehran and Karaj road, but his place of concealment was betrayed. He was arrested, tortured and then executed.