Escaping the military to influence other military personnel

Translated by Mandana Karimi

2025-4-16

Based on the assessments I had made, I decided to run away again, and this runaway was a public announcement to hurt the morale of other soldiers. So I thought that when I run away from my unit with this job and that situation, this would have more effect than a hundred circulars and announcements, and it would be published sooner and reach everyone, and everyone would publicly understand that among those serving in the units, who knows who this one who ran away now will be tomorrow? It was possible that others would run away too. On the other hand, considering my circumstances, I was known as a faithful officer who prayed and fasted. In other words, they generally knew me by this face in the brigade I served in. So I said that when they heard that someone had run away and had such a history, it would have a positive effect. In other words, this was an answer to a lot of people who were asking what we should do? This was practically their answer. Maybe if I had said something like, “Run away,” they would have said, “He’s standing here, he’s at ease, he’s telling you to run away.” But when I did it myself, that is, I took the risk myself, it had a greater effect. Personally, I came to the conclusion that I should do it, but I had to make preparations. I think it was January 12. I took a leave of absence and talked to my parents at home and said that I had made such a decision and I knew what the risks were, but the reason I hadn’t run away yet was to take care of you. My father was about eighty at the time and my mother was also sick. I raised the issue of running away with them and said that I had made such a decision, but I’ve put it off for your sake. I wanted to discuss it with you to see what you think. If you’re happy, I’ll do it. When I brought it up, I saw that they were both happy. It was very interesting to me that both of them brought up the following topic: the fact that we wanted to tell you before that there was no place to stay, we worked hard for you, we gave you halal bread, we are not happy for you to stay in this situation and God forbid you want to deal with people and confront them, now that you have made your own decision, what better way. I saw that both of them were very satisfied and happy; so I ran away and came to Tehran. In Tehran, I made contact with the late Martyr Kolahduz and he introduced me to the Refah School and other people. I remember on 27th of February, I introduced myself to the Refah School and there they gave me a card with the name Hossein Neyestani. I remember that the military, including non-commissioned soldiers and officers, would take off their clothes and put them in a bag and say, “Give us some ordinary clothes.” In Refah School there were ordinary clothes. They said, “Wear whatever size suits you.” Those who did not have civilian clothes would simply put on the clothes there and hand over their military uniforms and weapons to the welfare school and leave. The houses were very crowded because for the people there, their own houses were not near to them. These were scenes that we witnessed every day. I remember the late Martyr Beheshti speaking to these people who would came, wore civilian clothes, and wanted to leave. He would give them some advice, introduce the revolution to them, and tell them how to go so that nothing would happen to them. They would say goodbye and leave.

Source: Azizi, Heshmatollah (2007), Tarikh-e Shafahi-e Artesh dar Enghelab-e Eslami (Oral History of Army in Islamic Revolution), Islamic Revolution Documents Center, pp. 159-161.