Halimeh Azmodeh

Halimeh Azmodeh was born in 1335 in Abadan. At the beginning of the war she was a midwife at the midwifery Sevom-e- Shaban hospital, Abadan. After the hospital where she worked got hit by a racket, the head of hospital decided to give some of the staff leaves ,so that they could keep at least some of the staff alive in the imminent air raids. After about a month of the war, she took a vacation and went to Shiraz to visit her family. However, the scenes she saw in this short period of the war, totally obsessed her: “I saw a baby whose intestines were hanging out. Women and men, old and young were injured. I saw a man’s heart which had fallen out from his back and still pulsating… “Then, in spite of knowing that Abadan was a dangerous zone and was falling, she left her family and returned to Abadan. The family's insistence had no effect on her decision.

On her return home Halimeh Azmodeh was arrested by the Basie’s forces. They put her in a Volvo along with 19 male captives and took her to Iraq. They were taken to Tanoomeh which is close to Basreh. She spent a week without food and water in Tanumeh and was finally transferred to Iraqi intelligence center. The enemy intended to elicit the names of the Guard Forces through intimidation, but she resisted and didn’t talk.

Azmodeh with three other female captives had spent the hard and agonizing moments in the dark and scary prison of Al-Rashid for a year and seven months. During this time, they, who witnessed the tortures of captive men, in protest against the behavior of the Iraqis and to inform the Red Cross of their presence and to have their names registered, they went on a hunger strike for 20 days. Halimeh was beaten alot to end the strike. Eventually they separated her from others and took her to another cell. After 20 days of the hunger strike, they transferred her and other women to AL-Rashid Hospital.

Halimeh Azmoodeh, just like other captive women, stood in front of Baathist enemy and talked to Major Naji, an Iraqi officer bravely: “You have intruded on our country and have killed our fellow-country men. Why don’t you form a court for us? According to international laws we are captive women and you ought to set us free.”

Eventually, Halimeh Azmoodeh after having spent 4 hard years in Tanoomeh, Al-Rashid, Mosel, Al-Anbar Prisons, on 22 Bahman 1362, along with Masoomeh Abad, Shamsi Bahrami and Fatemeh Nahidi was released and returned home.