Imam's little soldier

Memories of Mehdi Tahanian, a liberated Iranian prisoner.

“Imam's little soldier” is the title of a book whose genre is documentary. It  includes the memories  of Mehdi Tahanian , a great fighter and a liberated captive. This book was written by Fatemeh Dustkamy. The author has written the story of Tahanian`s life in eight parts and twenty-five chapters   including  his childhood, his days at the front, his nine years of captivity in the prisons of the Iraqi Baath party, and the  period of time following his return to the country.

The structure of the book

In the first part, within the two chapters "The arboreal alley named Kushk" and "A   genuine revolutionary", Mehdi Tahanian has narrated the happy childhood memories in the arboreal alleys of Ardestan. In this part, the reader gets to know Mehdi Tahanian's school days, the intellectual and cultural atmosphere surrounding him and his family. Memories that are tied to the years prior to the victory of the revolution and the role of this young revolutionary student in closing his school to make it possible for students to participate in anti-regime demonstrations:

"A few days ago, the school head-master called me, Hojjat, Morteza and another couple of the lads and persuaded us to chant the slogan “long live the King”, we instead zigzagged through files of standing students and chanted “The king is a plunderer". Sometimes our voices were drowned by the voices of the children, but some days like that day, the school head-master not only heard us loud and clear, but also succeeded in identifying us as the culprits. He angrily pulled me, Hojjat, and one or two of the boys out of the line and kicked us...

In the second part of the book, chapters such as "The Youngest pilgrim of Karbala", "Guests of the Waves of Karun" and "Desiring Martyrdom" narrate Mehdi Tahanian's memories of the problems related to deployment and being on the front. Due to his small stature and young age, Mehdi Tahanian, who was 13 years old, after going through many difficulties, finally reached the operation of Fath-ol-Mobin and then Beit –ol-Moghaddas, and was present in the region for fifty days. His presence in the Islamic militia in the days before his deployment made a great man out of him with an uncompromising spirit while grappling with the enemy; The greatness of a small man who grew up in the school of Imam Khomeini (RIP) and was now ready to resit the exam:

"My father turned his sunburnt face towards me and said:” Mehdy, your brother was born just yesterday, go and see him and say goodbye to your mother!" A smile overspread my face. What time had this little brother come? Now that I was leaving, someone had come to fill my empty place with his weeping and  noises. I went in, my mother was lying on her bed in the room. My baby brother was also sleeping next to her. My mother shifted a little in her bed and said, "How are you, dear Mehdi?" Didn't you come home for the turn of the new year?" I said: "I'm fine, mother, excuse me, we have had a lot of work in the Militia office. Thank God you were not alone." I sat quietly next to my brother. It was late in March and the weather was fickle. My mother had pulled the blanket up to my brother`s head . When I made to remove the blanket and see his face, my mother said: "No, Mehdi, don't pull the blanket back, that will wake him up; Your brother has really given us a rough time crying all the night, and it was only with  great difficulty that we could at last lay him down to sleep." I withdrew apologetically. I looked at my mother's pale face and said: "Mother, with your permission, I am going to the front... I came to say goodbye to you and the others." My mother burst into tears without preamble; My stomach seemed to churn. I could not bear the sight of my mother weeping. My poor mother had just gone through the labors of childbirth. It seemed to me that mother had been under a great deal of pressure and strains. ….

Each and every moment of Mehdi Tahanian's   presence at the front had contained a great lesson for him, a lesson that separated him from his childhood and adolescence and imparted him courage and manly faith:

"We put two or three martyrs inside Chinook (a military transport aircraft). Without bothering to uncover them. We had picked up the fourth corpse(martyr) and had just taken a few steps, when I felt something from under the blanket fell down and rolled on the ground  .We stopped dead and looked behind. It was the severed head. of the martyr lying about on the ground. We were horror-struck and could hardly believe our eyes. One of the chaps approached the head, picked it up and laid it back on the martyr`s chest, covering it with the blanket again. .."

In the last chapters of this section, Mehdi Tahanian, a 13-year-old teenager who, under God's auspices, did not even get a scratch during the difficult and heavy moments of the third phase of the Beyt-ol-Moghaddas operation, tells of his captivity:

I was staring at the horizon in the back of the van, with my hands bound together, only half of the red sun was visible. I was thinking about where we were going. I was expecting the driver to stop the van at any moment and to kill us with a volley of shots, but the driver, quite indifferent to the captives ` injuries, and the immense agony the bumps and furrows of the road caused, kept driving like a bomb. Every few minutes, the cries and whines of the captives broke   the silence of the road. I was sick; I didn't want to talk to anyone. I still missed the front-line. I couldn't believe that just like that I had to leave the front and its good memories behind and now I was on my way to an unknown destiny. A few Iraqi guards, without saying a word, leaned their heads against the wall of the van. I reviewed my life in the back of the van; How quickly everything had passed. Involuntarily, recalling how naughty a youngster I used to be brought a faint smile on my lips. In an unconscious moment, the image of my mother formed in front of my eyes.  I raised my head and looked at the sky. I asked God to give my mother endurance and  patience so that this separation would not break her back...

The third part of the book consists of five chapters and deals with Mehdi Tahanian's memories from Anbar camp. This  was  the first camp in which he settled. One of the most prominent topics of this section is the confrontation of the author of this book with the Baathist commander of the camp, Major Mahmoudi; A creative torturer who received interrogation training during the Shah's time in Savak. The confrontation between these two people in various events of the camp is one of the most interesting paragraphs of this book. Mehdi Tahanian, with his courage and strength, thwarted Major Mahmoudi's evil plans many times and made him desperate:

"Mahmoudi screamed and raised the mace above his head with two hands. Something was boiling in my heart. I closed my eyes and surrendered myself to God. The moment I felt that he was lowering his hands, I silently screamed from the bottom of my heart, "O Messiah ( Sahib al-Zaman, the 12^th Imam of Shiees who is believed to emerge one day and save all Muslims of the world)... so why had he stopped?" With my eyes shut, I was waiting for the mace to hit my back. The major's scream was dry in his throat. I slightly opened my eyes; I could not believe what met my eyes. I mean, what happened?! What had happened to Mahmoudi's mace ? So why hadn`t I felt anything, not even a gentle caress. My eyes were  fixed  on the splintered mace. The mace was split in half from the thickest part that was attached to the head. ; Its head was also lying in the corner of the bathroom. I just remembered who I  had  called. Tears trickled from the corners of my eyes...

In the fourth part precisely in the twelfth and thirteenth chapters, the events related to the transfer of Mehdi Tahanian from Anbar camp (→ camp) to Ramadi are narrated. The most important part of the Tahanian`s memories, which, contrary to his expectation, received   global attention very soon , appears in this part. The story of the Indian reporter, Ms. Nasera Sharma, whose request for an interview was rejected by Mahdi because she did not wear hijab, is assumed as the climax of Imam's Little Soldier book. It is noteworthy that, the importance of this interview is not only because of the initial condition of the narrator to continue the interview with the reporter, but also because of his strong and cogent answers, which he gave to the reporter in the same manner as a war general. By the grace of God, he had once again come out of this divine test with exemplary insight, and he reflected Iranians in the mirror of the world media as proud, hopeful and uncompromising fellows against oppression:

"... Mahmoudi turned to me and said, "rascal, are you going to shut up or not?!" I will kill you myself, I will not let you live; just wait.” The reporter woman stopped Mahmoudi with a plea and said: "Mr. Mahmoudi, I ask you to calm down" I will ask one more question, and leave. Mahmoudi was shouting to turn off the cameras, but the woman did not stop begging. In the meantime, he sometimes looked at me to see if I was still in the mood to talk or not, or if I was scared  of Mahmoudi's threats, but God as my witness I was not frightened in the least. Mahmoudi most irritated, shouted in response to woman's pleas: " Of all these people, why have you chosen him." He has dug his own grave , don't make things worse than this for him!" The reporter woman, unruffled by Mahmoudi's insults and threats, kept saying: "Just one more question." The angry  poor colonel ran out of the barrack. The journalist came to me without delay and asked: "You chose this way and now you are a prisoner here, what was your purpose?" As if I had reviewed the answer to his question ten times before, I said without demur: "Our goal was to preserve Islam." Because Islam was in danger, so we felt duty-bound to defend it."

In the fifth part and in the chapters "Cage for Flight", "Food Strike", "Pictures of the battlefield", "Children's School", "The Troubles of One Incident", "Hussein` missile" and "Karbala Karbala , we are drawing close to you" the events pertaining to Beyn-ol-Ghafsin camp are recounted; i.e. the camp where Mehdi Tahanian spent the last seven years of his captivity. In this part, we deal  with various and attractive memories, with some of them we cry and  with others we laugh. What Mehdi Tahanian gained in those years was a unique experience in terms of friendships and kindness, as well as facing difficult problems, which prepared him for the hardships after captivity :

"... the deputy bailiff with blood-shot eyes shouted: "Heads down, down, just like ants on the ground." Once I remembered the first time we heard the term like an ant from them. That day, we were in the  line being counted when the deputy bailiff said heads down like ants. Hasan Haruny couldn`t help laughing at the head of the queue. After that, the soldiers  lammed  into him with punches and kicks. I asked him: "Well, why did you suddenly laugh?" He said: "I swear to God I don`t know what came over me when I heard him say like an ant with his ludicrous brogue." Fifteen to sixteen  soldiers wielding cables   spread out through the line and they started hitting the cable on our backs with such anger and vehemence that the sound of our moans was heard in the infirmary.

It was as if the commander of the camp had given the power of life and death to his soldiers. He didn't care if we survived or were paralyzed for ever . I was in pain from head to toe. Until then, we had been beaten by the Iraqis, but the pain of these damned cables was simply beyond endurance. It was as if we were struck  with an ax. . We were were writhing in agony. Just like the slow motion of the movies, we were slowly staggering and trying to pull ourselves out from under the hands and feet of the soldiers. No one could keep their balance even for a few seconds. Half an hour later, the camp-yard was resounded with the wails of our inmates and the cries of soldiers. They called us names and offensive terms which they were worthy of more than anyone else...

The sixth part of the book contains the following  three chapters "Farewell to Captivity", "Paradise wayfarer" and "Cloudy University Days". In “Paradise Wayfarer”, we witness a difficult farewell. The paradise wayfarer was actually his brother who succumbed to chemical injuries a few months after Mehdi Tahanian's release and died a martyr.

In the seventh part, the author has presented various topics regarding the current situation of Mehdi Tahanian due to possible questions posed by the reader. His employment, marriage, and his political and religious approach, form parts of the final chapters of the book.

In the eighth part, the author has sought additional interviews with the people who contributed to the compilation of the memories based on which the book Imam's Little Soldier has been written. An interview with Yadullah Tahanian (Mehdy`s  father), Colonel Hassan Zarei (Mehdy`s military training instructor), Hojat al-Islam Seyyed Hasan Mirseyyed ( his Nahj –ol--Balagheh teacher  in captivity), the liberated female captives: Fatemeh Nahidi, Shamsi Bahrami, Masoumeh Abad, and also Amir Shahpasandi (one of Mehdy`s inmates) are some examples of the interviews included. The Imam's Little Soldier book, which is the result of 350 hours of interviews between the author and the narrator, was awarded in July 2016 to merit the beautiful and deep commentary of the leader of the revolution:

"The story of this brave, intelligent and patient teenager in the captivity camps is one of the wonders of the Holy Defense; The adventures of a 13-14-year-old boy who first experienced war on the battlefield and then the field of resistance against the brutal agents of Baathism with an amazing attitude and spirit, and who came out of both proudly. My heart is sick for all the oppression this little soldier has gone through and at the same time fills with pride over his fortitude and perseverance. This is also part of the great miracle of the Islamic Revolution. In this book, the signs of malice and disgrace of the Baath agents are more obvious than in similar books that I have read. Anyway, this is indeed a valuable document of the Holy Defense and revolution; and hence should be appreciated. It is good for those disloyal and avaricious sinners to peruse such a pure-hearted and sublime book and repent, and may God pardon them for their misdeeds."

Book translation

The publication of the Imam's little soldier , which has received lots of attention from readers, has exceeded the limit of one hundred thousand copies. So far, this book has been translated into Urdu, Pashto, Azerbaijani, Istanbul Turkish and Lebanese Arabic.

See also

• Adolescent and young prisoners
• Mehdi Tahanian
• Little captive

Dustkamy, Fateme