Prison Diary

The television set in our cell at the Nubarashen penitentiary has recently gained a very serious competitor. During the day we look at the competitor more than we watch the television screen. It is a bouquet of red and yellow tulips that has added an unbelievable hue to our cell. When the bouquet appeared in our cell, my cellmates and I tried to remember when it was that we had last seen fresh flowers. We realized that it was a very long ago; and then we realized that we had needed these flowers in our cells to attain “total bliss”. And now we try to prolong that happiness as much as possible; we do not spare sugar and before our morning coffee we offer it to them first. I received that bouquet of flowers the day before from Nobel Prize recipient, human rights defender and Iranian citizen Shirin Ebadi in the meeting room of the Nubarashen penitentiary.

The human rights defender had brought flowers to all the political prisoners whom she visited that day. And you should have seen that scene. Accompanied by the prison guard, the prisoner (in this case, me), with a bouquet of flowers in his hands, walked down the prison corridors under the apprehensive gazes of the other prisoners. It was evident from their gaze that this was the first time they were witnessing such a scene. Confusion persisted in their gaze even after they recognized me; they understood that an important event had taken place.

That happening was indeed important. For the first time in history of the penitentiary, a Nobel Prize recipient had visited it. At first, when I saw the flowers in Shirin Ebadi’s hands, I felt proud of my country, my fatherland. I thought that the penitentiary had welcomed the Nobel Prize recipient, world-known human rights defender Shirin Ebadi, with a bouquet of flowers. But I was to be disappointed. On the day dedicated to Motherhood and Beauty, the female human rights defender herself had brought flowers to a prisoner whom she considers a political prisoner and a kindred spirit. At the beginning of our meeting Shirin Ebadi told me she was sorry she was meeting me in prison. I told her that it was worth being in prison if that meant getting such a bouquet of flowers.