The Magazine Entitled Ambassador

During their captivity in the camps of the Iraqi Ba'athist regime, Iranian prisoners promoted each other's awareness, by means of cultural activities thereby preserving their vitality and dynamism.

The above-mentioned cultural activities included composition of poems, writing stories and essays, writing and staging dramas, painting, calligraphy, drawing sketches…etc. which were carried out in the face of all problems and deficiencies. One of the cultural activities, which could be implemented  only in one or two camps for the prohibition and lack of facilities, was the compilation, editing and publication of a magazine. The magazine in question was entitled  “Ambassador” and was published  in 1987 through the efforts of several cultural activists in the Romadi Camp 7.

In the second bloc of sanatorium number one  Fariborz Khubnezhad and Mehdi Aly [1], in consultation with each other, came to the conclusion that they ought to come up with some cultural content and new food for thought for the benefit of their inmates besides the educational courses and the cultural activities such as poetry, drama, hymns..etc. , thus, they resolved to publish a magazine in the form of a monthly or a quarterly. They shared the idea with Jafar Tofighy and Ali Bohluly and began to work after the allocation of  the tasks. This was kept totally dark from the camp leader o Hajj Isa Narima , because he would certainly oppose this due to its dire consequences for all the captives of the camp:

"Fortunately, the publication of the magazine coincided with the relaxation of the strict rules and regulations concerning the possession of pen & paper, so the time was ripe for it. Actually, at the time, the Red Cross distributed 40-sheet notebooks and pens among the captives."

After holding consultative meetings regarding the contents of the magazine, this group came to the conclusion to deal with issues of such areas as religion, faith, the news and important information obtained through different channels, and the history of Iran and Islam plus translation of a part of Iraqi newspapers which contained a variety of political, social and military topics , and had to be analyzed and reviewed:

"Although we were all known as  the cultural activists of the camp, none of us had previous experience in journalism and publishing a magazine except for the experience providing wall newspapers in school. But I remember that we had a lot of enthusiasm and excitement for this job. It was unique, new and original , and of course very dangerous, and of much higher prestige than other cultural activities."

On a weekly basis, each member of the panel prepared his materials:

I wrote the editorial. I remember at the   time, Iran was staging a marine corps maneuver in the Persian Gulf in which President Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei was present wearing the military uniform delivering a speech [2]. The Iraqi mass media made a drama out of that observation and there was a hue and cry over it.. An editorial was written in the al -Torah newspaper, the official news agency   of the Ba'ath Party, to the effect that the president who was primarily a high-ranking clergyman had taken part in a military maneuver when he was expected to make some peace-making  efforts ... "I borrowed from the title of this editorial and in return wrote an editorial entitled" Naam( yes in Arabic) Admiral Khamenei "and explained that when it came to defending one`s homeland, all classes of people even the clergymen should be mobilized. Moreover, I drew the attention of the readers to the historical fact that the prophet and his successors themselves fought at the frontline, so, there was no reason why the president as a clergyman should not be entitled to do so. ”

There was another column  borrowed from Iraqi newspapers, called "Araf Aduk" (Know your enemy), which introduced Iranian military artillery, for example, the Chieftain tank. In the magazine, an identical column appeared, entitled "Know your enemy" ,introducing and tracing the uniform of Iraqi soldiers throughout different stages of history. Other parts of the magazine for the most part, dealt with the history of Iran or the history of Islam.

After compiling the contents, the name "Ambassador" was chosen for the magazine, and the appellation was based on the concept that each Iranian at the Iraqi camps acted the part of an ambassador rather than a captive. Then, Hamid Faratse, who was one of the fighters of  war propaganda and had previous work experience in the field of graphic design, contrived a logo based on the word "Ambassador" with  blue and red pens and prepared it for the cover of the magazine. The contents or parts were bound together in the form of a fifty-page volume, and the copies of the first issue of the magazine were ready to be distributed among the captives at sanatoriums.

Even though the magazine received a lot of attention, some found its publication dangerous. Doubtless, it could not be kept dark from the Iraqis for a long time, and if the Iraqis were informed, the whole camp would face the most severe punishment and torture.

. Therefore, the protesters called on the camp leader to prevent the publication of the subsequent issues of the Ambassador for the security of the captives, thus the Ambassador Magazine ended after the publication of its first and last issue.

Footnote

[1]. now the interim Friday preacher of Tabriz

[2]. Concurrently with the staging of a pompous but unsuccessful US military maneuver in the Persian Gulf for the escort of Kuwaiti tankers, a big maneuver with the codename of Aye Aye Imam was staged across   the Persian Gulf and the Oman Sea- from Faw to Gavater seaport. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on August 16th, 1986 visited Bandar Abbas, and paraded  the units in the maneuver.

See also

• Captivity and captives
• Prisoners
• Prisoners of war
• Iraq's imposed war against Iran
• Romadi camp 2
• Punishment in captivity
• Torture in captivity

Bibliography

Massoud Amirkhani