Thirsty Sands (Part 20)

2019-12-17

Thirsty Sands (Part 20)

Jafar Rabiei

Design: Ali Vaziri

First published in 1991

Publishing House, Islamic Propagation Organization

Printed at the Aryan

The pressure we were sustaining here had no value as compared with the sacrifices of the Muslim combatants. We should pray to God to make them victorious and to accept our meager services with His grace. “This was the wish and call heard from the depth of the existence of individual POWs.

It was 6 p.m. and we were performing our evening prayer. Some were in prostration and other busy reading prayers Ta’aghibat. Still others were reciting the Quran. Everyone was in succession supplicating with God. We all had pledged to pray for the health of Imam and for the victory of our combatant in our supplications. The boys were in ecstasy of praying to God when one of our friends said loudly: “The guards have arrived!” In the past several months, it had rarely happened that they would come into the camp at that period of time. Not long moments had passed since the friend uttered this sentence when the door of the hall opened. An Iraqi soldier entered and read out the names of two of our brothers and said they should come along with them. Then they went to the other halls and in the same way took two people from each of them. Totally, ten or twelve prisoners were called from Oate three and the guard took them out of the camp. It was for some time that there was no news of such practices. It was obvious that the POWs wanted to show their anger at the operation to the POWs. In the hall, it was announced that for our brothers to remain immune from beating of the Iraqis everyone should perform two Rak’ats (parts) of prayers and supplicate God for them. In an instant the whole of the POWs in the hall stood in prayer. This spiritual reaction strengthened our hearts.

After half an hour the doors of the halls opened, and each of the prisoners were pushed into their respective halls. The two brothers who had been taken out from our halls could not walk as a result of Iraqi barbarisms. As soon as the Iraqis left, the two sat down in the same place they had stood. The boys rushed to help them.

In the morning of the next day after taking statistics from inside the halls the guards stationed in the yard of the camp asked the prisoners to stand in a line. The Iraqis had a new plan. They kept all the prisoners for one and a half hour on the excuse of taking count. During this period of time no one was allowed to make the slightest move. They had announced a military alert and by observing the slightest movement they stroke by a rubber baton on the heads, faces and bodies of the boys. A number of our elderly compatriots who had been kidnapped at the start of the war from their homes inside the border towns and most of whom were above 70 years of age were unable to bear the beating, and became unconscious from weakness. After 90 minutes they declared free hours and the boys dispersed.

That day when the boys went to the toilet and the bath, there was no sign of any water. One of the guard said, “Due to the shortage of water from now on we will face the water cut-off” Until 11 o’clock there was no sign of water. When the water began to flow, the guards no longer sounded the whistle for us to go inside and thus disallowed any of us from using water. A few seconds later the whistle was sounded; anyone who had remained in the yard was sent into the hall by baton changes landing on their face and head and body.

At 3.30 p.m. the doors of the hall once again opened and remained so for one and a half hour. Once again when our boys went out to use the toilet and use the bath facilities they were faced with the excuse of‌ Iraqis that the sewage vehicle had not come for two day and all the sewers were full. The boys were not again allowed to use the bath and toilet. After the end of the free time, all went once more into the halls. The guards took count in all the halls and went to the small room next to the hall.

The time of evening prayers came around. The boys were talking about the question as to why the guards had not left the camp after taking count as was their usual practice in previous days. All were absorbed in praying when the guards appeared this time, however not in our Qate, but in the Qate two, all of whose occupants were Basijees. The same story of the reading a few of them outside the camp and repeat of what occurred the night before -reading out their names and taking some of the boys outside the camp, as explained earlier- was reenacted tonight for them.

The days passed monotonously one after another with minor changes. The Iraq is with each passing day increased their pressures and beating.

To be continued…