Nooshabeh Amiri
nooshabehamiri(at)yahoo.com
Following rumors that Saeed Hajjarian – pro-democracy advocate, editor and former advisor to reformist President Mohammad Khatami who is paralyzed because of an assassination attempt 10 years ago – had died in prison, Rooz contacted his wife, a physician. She denied the rumor and spoke of meeting her husband, stressing that he was under very difficult conditions. Read on for the details.
With a very distressed voice, Mrs. Hajjarian said, “I saw him today”.
Rooz: Where is he now?
Mrs. Hajjarian: Evin prison.
Rooz: How come they allowed you to visit him?
Mrs. Hajjarian: I don’t know. Whatever the reason, he was not doing well. You know that he is still suffering from the assassination attempt [ten years ago a plainclothesman and a Basiji named Saeed Asghar fired a shot at him, disfiguring him permanently]. His survival was a miracle but he has remained disabled, and physically he is like a milk-drinking child. His arrest and detention exert a lot of pressure on him. His blood pressure has always been very low, today however it was high. So I am very concerned about his health. He on the other hand is not just concerned about himself, but about
what is going on in society and the revolution. In reality, he has dedicated his life to this.
Rooz: Did you manage to actually talk with him?
Mrs. Hajjarian: Not really, only at the level of hello and how are you. But he was continuously crying. His face showed that he was very sad and concerned about what was going on and what may happen to
Rooz: Was this a meeting with a glass window separating you two?
Mrs. Hajjarian: No, this was a meeting in person.
Rooz: Were you alone?
Mrs. Hajjarian: No, his brothers and our son were also there.
Rooz: Were prison officials present too?
Mrs. Hajjarian: Yes, and they filmed the whole meeting. Saeed was really not well at all. I am afraid he may have a heart attack. I am afraid something may happen to him. How are these people going to be answerable if that happens?
Rooz: When he was in his own house, could he go about single-handedly attending to his daily needs?
Mrs. Hajjarian: He walks with a walker and falls down with the slightest mis-step. This happened all the time in the house. But if happens there, it will be very harmful. What if his head hits something? What if his cholesterol goes up, particularly since his blood pressure is already high and he does not get suitable food in prison. He is given Aspirin but this can result in internal bleeding, and if that happens nobody knows what the results may be. If he was outside the prison things were under control and manageable. There, I don’t know what is going to happen.
Rooz: Is he under special medication?
Mrs. Hajjarian: Yes, he takes a lot of medication, including tranquilizers. Ten pills a day which control his irregular bodily movements. Each of these pills could doze off the person for up to two days.
Rooz: Does he have these tablets now?
Mrs. Hajjarian: Yes, we have taken them for him.
Rooz: Did you ask anyone there what is the purpose of taking someone like him to prison?
Mrs. Hajjarian: These people were not anyone in position of authority. They were mere guards.
Rooz: Have you gotten in touch with authorities? Mr. Mortezavi, for example who has been assigned such tasks?
Mrs. Hajjarian: yes. Mr. Mortezavi says that he [Hajjarian] was an active member in the Iran Participation party (Hezbe Mosharekat). But the party is not illegal and has been active legally. Everything about it has been transparent. In any case, he only wrote two or three articles a year for the party’s newspaper, which itself was a legal newspaper.
Rooz: What is your current concern about Mr. Hajjarian?
Mrs. Hajjarian: I am mostly concerned about his health. On one hand his innocence breaks my heart. It is very painful for me to face this situation in which they have taken a man under these conditions and subject him to interrogations and exert pressure on him. I cannot tolerate it. At the same time, I do not want to see my country resemble
Rooz: Did Mr. Hajjarian know what is going on outside the prison?
Mrs. Hajjarian: Apparently he only hears the Allaho Akbar calls at night. I do not think he was aware of other events taking place. He said he had a copy of the Quran, a prayer book and requested to have
a copy of poet Hafez.
Rooz: From what you know of Mr. Hajjarian, how do you think he would have felt if he knew that young people are killed in the streets?
Mrs. Hajjarian: I did not of course say anything to make him feel bad but I think the tears that he was shedding were for these very events. He was said about having helped create, support and strengthen a regime whose flaws he wanted to rectify now see come to this. It is very painful for him.
Rooz: What hope did he have in these elections before the events that followed it?
Mrs. Hajjarian: Look, these events were completely unexpected. He was mostly at home. His friends were involved in the elections while he had to remain at home [because of his physical condition]. As soon as I was home from work he would ask me what news I had, and I would tell him that I didn’t have any special news, read the newspapers. Then I would ask him what he thought would happen. He would tell me not to worry, things would be ok. But now this is what happened. I am now hurt from every side: my husband’s situation, the condition of our society. I see the condition of the youth. I really would like to see this system return to the right course.
Rooz: How is that possible?
Mrs. Hajjarian: If minds get together, it can be achieved. Such things have repeatedly happened in the past but were resolved through collective rationalism.
Rooz: But the blood of young people has been shed this time.
Mrs. Hajjarian: All of these young people were after reforming conditions and if the reforms take place, then their blood would not be wasted.