The Memoirs of Mohammad Reza Hafeznia (16)

Hamid Ghazvini

Memoirs of Hafeznia (16)

I stood there and started talking to my God. One moment, I said “Oh God save me if I am useful for this Islamic movement and for your way.” In Fact with this prayer, I decided to leave there.  I said if I was useful, I would leave, if not, they would fire at me, and achieve my goal that was martyrdom.
I remained there until the barrage being fired at the hole ended in order to throw myself out of the space between the interior and exterior layers of the prison. When the barrage ended, I remained for some ten seconds and then jumped toward the wall and reached myself to the banned area. Nobody hung around there. It was filled with bushes. Since it was foggy, the projectors lightened limited space.
At the same time, I considered precaution since it was possible that the guards had night-vision, anti-fog and UV cameras. So I decided to crawl among the thorn bushes some 50 meters.
As soon as I reached in the middle of the wall, the barrage started so I lied down on the floor. When the barrage ended, I continued my way again. Of course, I had heard that before me, a few people had left there and taken the ladder to that side, the same ladder which had been predicted to be put on the exterior wall so that the prisoners could go up. I continued my way in the same path directly but didn’t know where the ladder had been located exactly.  
I guessed that it had been taken directly beside the wall. Fortunately, there was no fire.  I saw that the ladder was there. I went up from it. There was an almost much distance from the end of the ladder till above the wall, so I caught my hand above the wall with difficulty and went up and lied on the floor to see what was going on that side. I saw that a rope had been tied up to the ladder and was hung from that side of the wall. The conditions were ready for jumping. At this time, a military vehicle was approaching there. I stayed quietly. After a few moments, I caught the rope and slid downward. I didn’t understand how I fell down. The wall had a high altitude and I fell down on the mud from behind. But I didn’t lose myself. Fortunately, I had warm underclothes. I had a brown pullover on which I had worn the prison’s clothes that if it became dirty, I would take them off and could escape with usual clothes.  
Since the soldiers in the turrets could see that side of the wall, I had to crawl with difficulty again. The difference between this crawl with the previous one was that the ground was sandy there and here was muddy.
There was another risk. I might meet with the vehicles that were turning, or one of the tanks. So, I continued my way through crawling some 50 or 60 meters in the darkness of the night and the foggy weather. Then I crouched and moved against the direction of the wall little by little. After a few moments I saw that the light was disappeared. Thus, I chose the direct path and reached the wall of a garden. I thought that I had really distanced from the prison. It was still dark and I didn’t know where I was going.
I continued my way unavoidably until I saw a gleam in front of me. I decided to move toward it. As I was going, suddenly I heard the sound of a barrage. I found out that I was moving toward the prison without being noticed. I immediately changed my direction. Of course, I had little hope and was worried that another incident might take place.  
All of a sudden, I heard the sound of several dogs barking. For one moment, I imagined that these hungry dogs would attack me tonight. I escaped from the prison, but was entangled with the dogs here! Suddenly, an idea came to my mind.
It was foggy and I didn’t see the dogs, but it sounded very close. I looked around myself. I saw the rampart of a well the snows of which had been partially melted. Its ground was dark unlike the surroundings which were white and snowy. I lied down in that dark area. My clothes had been soaked and I was shivering. It was really hard to tolerate the cold weather. However, running and movement had balanced the problem to some extent, and if there was not the movement, I would certainly freeze. I got up cautiously and started moving. I tried to watch the surroundings very carefully until I reached the wall of a garden which had iron fencing. It came to my mind to find some tools in order to be able to defend myself against the dogs if attacked.
I had nothing and was empty-handed. I saw that one of the bars of the fencing was loose, so I shook a little and took it out. So, I felt relief and continued my way until I got to a river. I had not seen the area before. I looked for a narrow area in order to pass through it – in fact to jump. I feared to fall into the river. I didn’t know how much the volume and the pressure of water were.  After a few minutes, I found a place and could jump with difficulty and pass healthfully. Then, I became sure that I had distanced the territory of the prison’s security forces as well as military forces. They were on the other side of the river and I was this side. I continued my way very comfortably. However, it was very difficult to move in that dark and foggy weather. I was looking for a sign to see where I was. Then, I heard the sound of a factory. Since most factories around Mashhad had been located in Mashhad-Quchan road, I decide to move toward the same sound. In other words, I had been dragged toward the sound automatically, just like the missiles dragged toward the heat of a plane. When I reached behind the factory, I turned it and saw that a stream was close to it. The stream was along Mashhad-Quchan road and I knew that it went toward Mashhad. However, the stream moved so slowly that it was not possible to recognize its movement in nigh darkness. It was very important for me to understand the direction of water. It was possible to find out the direction by throwing a small object on the water. So I looked for around there in order to find something. Finally, I found some dry leaves left beside a tree. I threw them into the stream. I specified the path toward Mashhad. I took off the prison’s wet clothes, hanging them on a tree beside the stream. Now I had just a trousers and a brown pullover.

Translated by: Mohammad Baqer Khoshnevisan