The Captivity of the Lord of Captives

Haj Agha Seyyed Ali Akbar Abu Torabi Fard along with a number of Azadgan

The ten-year period of captivity of Seyyed Ali Akbar Abu Torabi Fard and the other highly esteemed captives is one of the most important parts of Iran's history after the Islamic Revolution. As most of the LCs in this collection have said, Abu Torabi Fard was an angel of salvation sent by God to the camps of Iranian prisoners to mitigate their sufferings at the hands of ruthless Iraqis. Most assuredly, If It hadn`t been for the intervention of such unselfish clergymen as Abu Torabi Fard and Jamshidy ,a far larger number of Iranian captives would have lost their lives.

Seyyed Ali Akbar Abu Torabi Fard fought hard concurrently at three frontlines within one decade. Most importantly, he took care of maintaining and strengthening the psychological health of the prisoners, which, over time ,If not attended to, could lead  to depression, despair, and weak-mindedness. In this regard, with his good behavior and in the next stage by holding training classes and delivering speeches and developing various programs that were   implemented by his cultural representatives in the camps, who were mostly of the brethren,  he tried his best to strengthen the captives mentally and spiritually. On the other hand, by showing affection and kind treatment to the Baathist officers and soldiers, he attracted them to his side so that they both relented and stopped harassing the Muslim prisoners any more. Even in this respect, he had managed to impress most of the members of the Red Cross  to the extent that some of them played the role of his messengers among the prisoners of different camps.

On the third front, about which not much has been said and some aspects of which were pointed out by Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani in an exclusive interview with me, Mr. Seyyed Ali Akbar Abu Torabi Fard had relationship with the internal authorities of the country, from the Imam to other political officials. With as much shrewdness as possible, he continuously informed the authorities of the country about the information and news and the situation of the Iranian prisoners using encoded letters that the prisoners wrote to their families, and in return, he received letters or written messages signed by high officials such as  Imam, Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani, and Ayatollah Khamenei and conveyed them to the captives.

The success rate of Seyyed Ali Akbar Abu Torabi Fard in good management of the behavior of all prisoners  can  patently be seen in the statements of the members of the Red Cross about the establishment of a small Islamic Republic in the heart of Iraq and the repeated confessions of the Baathist officers about their own failure, parts of which are available in this collection. And of course, he was on the last group of prisoners who, in an exchange with Iraqi prisoners, stepped onto the soil of Islamic Iran on Sunday, 25^th of September 1990, proudly and steadfastly.

Abu Torabi Fard departed from Iraq by plane along with engineer Bushehri, engineer Yahyavy and  some of the high-ranking prisoners of the army and arrived in Iran after years of captivity, and were welcomed at the airport by the representative of the leadership office, Dr. Hassan Habibi, the first vice president, and several officials. Though fatigued, he didn`t go home on his first night of arrival and instead arranged  to relay the news of such prisoners as General Hossein Lashgary to the authorities. The prisoners who were still kept in Iraq`s  prisons and were expecting him to help them.

Seyyed Ali Akbar Abu Torabi Fard met with Ayatollah Khamenei one day after returning to the country on Monday 16^th of September 1990. In this meeting, the Supreme Leader praised his valor, resistance and his perseverance. Then, on Tuesday, 17^th of September, he had a meeting with the president of the time, Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, during which, he gave a summarized his performance and that of the prisoners during the period of captivity. After that, he rushed to visit Hojjat-ul-Islam wal-Muslimin Mahdi Karroubi, the head of the Islamic Council at the time, at Khatam Al-Anbiya  Hospital. Then,he went to Ghazvin with a view to meeting his fellow-townsmen  and also to deliver a speech for the enthusiastic people of Ghazvin who had congregated in large numbers.

After Qazvin, he went to Qom and participated in a ceremony that was held on Thursday 19^th of September, 1990 in the Feyziye School with the presence of many people and a group of LCs who were Islamic theology students. He met up with Ayatollah Behjat, Ayatollah Vahid Khorasani, and Ayatollah Golpayegany and told them about the problems of the captivity. 15 days after the return of Seyyed Ali Akbar Abu Torabi Fard, the Supreme Leader appointed him as the representative of the LCs, and the head of the judiciary at the time assigned him as the representative LCs in judicial affairs.

The period after the liberation of Seyyed Ali Akbar Abu Torabi Fard, like the period of his captivity, lasted for ten years. During this time, he was most hectic. As soon as he found out about  problems  of liberated captives in different parts of the country, he would get in his car and rush to him, and he would not return to Tehran until he had solved the problem. Some examples of the sacrifices he made and the labors he went through are given in the third volume of this collection. During this period, besides dealing with problems and issues of the LCs, he especially attempted to solve the problems of martyrs and  their families.

See also

• The book of Abu Torabi`s biography 1
• Seyyed Ali Akbar Abu Torabi Fard
• Biography of Seyyed Ali Akbar Abu Torabi Fard
• Political areas of Abu Torabi Fard`s life
• Lord of Captives` actions and political positions

External link

• The Martyrdom of Seyyed Ali Akbar Abu Torabi Fard's film. Retrievable fromhttps://telewebion.com/episode/0xa82b509