("The Story of Mona: 1965-1983" was published in 1985 and is posted here with permission.  The copyright is held by Baha'i Canada Publications, under the auspices of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Canada.)

THE DREAM ABOUT BAHA'U'LLAH

Ten months before she was killed, Mona had another extraordinary dream which was later related by family and friends. Following is the version transcribed from her diary.

She had been saying prayers with a small group of friends for several hours. After they left her home, she was so moved by the prayers that she went into the living room and sat down in front of a photograph of 'Abdu'l-Baha⁶, meditated quietly and then fell asleep.

In her dream, she saw Abdu'l-Baha's chair and desk, with a vase on it, as in the picture before her. She was very happy and said: "How happy I am to see your desk and chair." At the same moment she saw Baha'u'llah entering the room. The Blessed Beauty went out into an adjoining chamber and brought out a box containing a beautiful red cape. He unwrapped it in front of her, saying, "This is the cape of martyrdom in my path. Do you accept it?"

Mona was speechless with happiness. Finally, she said, "Whatever pleases you..."

Baha'u'llah put the cape back in the box and returned to the adjoining room bringing back with him a second box, containing a black cape which he unwrapped and said:

"This black cape symbolizes sorrow in my path. Do you accept it?" Mona replied, "How beautiful are the tears shed in thy path."

He put the cape back in the box and again returned to the other room, emerging with yet a third box containing an elaborately beaded blue cape of the same design as the others.

Without a word of hesitation, he placed the cape around her shoulders, and said: "This is the cape of service." Then he seated himself in the chair and said to Mona: "Come and take a picture with me!"

Mona was breathless with astonishment at the bounties being showered on her and could hardly walk. She looked up and saw a man sitting behind an old-fashioned camera covered by a cloth. Baha'u'llah repeated his instruction but Mona could not move. .

Then Baha'u'llah took her arm, saying, "Mehdi, take our picture." And he took a picture of them together. The flash of the camera wakened her abruptly and she pleaded tearfully to be able to finish her dream and then fell asleep again. Baha'u'llah had left the room. Only the photographer remained, carrying the tripod and camera on his shoulder as if to leave. He turned around and asked Mona to convey his love to his children. But Mona could not tell which "Mehdi" he was since there were many people by that name in the long history of the Faith and in her own community. But still he looked familiar to her. "Mehdi" was busily tying his shoes and noticed that Mona did not recognize him. As he was leaving the room he turned and said, "I am Medhi Anvari." Mona instantly recognized him as one of the Baha'is of Shiraz who had previously been killed⁷.

Beginning at the age of 13, Mona had begun to dream and write about her father's death in a startling way. Some of these writings are now preserved among her papers.

THE ARREST OF MONA AND HER FATHER

The months following Mona's dream of the capes were tense for the Baha'i community. Arrests and executions of Baha'is were taking place all over the country. In Shiraz, the Public Prosecutor had initiated mass arrests in late October 1982. While it was almost a foregone conclusion that Mona's father would be arrested because of his service on the Local Spiritual Assembly and the Auxiliary Board, few suspected that Mona would also be singled out.

The arrest occurred at 7:30 pm on October 23, 1982. Mona was at home with her parents. Her sister, Taraneh, was now married and no longer living with her.. " family. When the door bell rang, Mona was studying for a test she had in ~ English, her father was writing some letters in a notebook and her mother was doing housework. Her father opened the door and four armed revolutionary guards demanded entry. The Guards said that they were appointed by the Public Prosecutor of Shiraz to inspect the Mahmudnizhad household.

Before the search began, Mona asked to put on her chador (Islamic head covering) and was escorted to her room so that she could retrieve it. Her father asked if her mother could put on a jacket. Then the three members of the family were ordered to sit in their living room, with Mona and her mother flanking their father. One Guard held a gun on the Mahmudnizhads, while the others meticulously searched and ransacked their rooms.

At one point, Mona's mother whispered to her father, "What shall I do. They are going to arrest you." Her father replied, "Say the prayer "Remover of Difficulties" to yourself and turn to Abdu'l-Baha." He then fixed his eyes on the picture of Abdu'l-Baha in front of them. Mona was the picture of calm and continued to study her English lesson. At one point, she even asked her father a question, but the Guard ordered her to be quiet.

When the search ended, Mona's mother became terribly upset when the Guards ordered both Mona and her father to come with them. She said, "I can understand that you would want to take my husband with you, but why do you want to take Mona. She is only a child." According to one account, one of the Guards replied, "Do not call her a child. You should call her a little Baha'i teacher. Look at this poem. It is not the work of a child. It could set the world on fire. Someday she will be a great Baha'i teacher."

The guards continued to heap abuse on both Mona and her father, causing her mother great anguish. At one point her father told her not to be worried, that he considered the guards to be his children and Mona their sister, that the guards had been assigned by God to come to their house and take them away together. Mona reassured her mother, saying, "Why do you beg these people? What offense have I committed. Have I been a bad girl? Do we have smuggled goods in the house? They arrest me just because I believe in Baha'u'llah. Mother, this is not going to prison, it is going to Heaven. This is not falling into a pit, it is rising to the moon."

When the Guards took Mona and her father, they also confiscated all of their papers and some cassette tapes of Mona's chanting.

IMPRISONMENT

While they did not know it at the time, Mona and her father were among the first of 40 Baha'is in Shiraz, including six women, who were arrested that night or during the next few days. After the arrest, both were blindfolded, taken to Seppah prison and then led to separate quarters. Mona was given a piece of paper to hold⁸ and led down a long corridor and then into a large room where the blindfold was removed. Since it was around midnight, the room was dark.

More than 40 women were in the room at the same time, Mona later recounted. As her eyes adjusted to the light, she could see windows in the room covered with metal bars. The room was also dank and had poor ventilation. Since Mona was the first Baha'i woman to reach the prison, she was all alone and knew no one in the room. She was met by the woman-in-charge, who asked her crime. Mona replied that her crime was being a Baha'i. The woman then issued her two blankets and showed her to a space where she could sleep. The room was so crowded, however, that everyone had to sleep on their sides.

Here is Mona's account, as told to a fellow Baha'i prisoner, of what happened next:

 I didn't know anybody and had no news about my father. I was saying prayers in my heart and I was praising God because I had entered his Court. My mother's worried face was in my mind and I was praying for her steadfastness and for that of my father as well. I decided to go to sleep like the others and wait to see what the Blessed Beauty had in store for me.

I lay down and was deep in thought when suddenly the door opened and a lady was brought in. They guided her in just as they had done with me and because they found out she was a Baha'i, they brought her near me. A few minutes later, they brought another lady into Our cell. She suffered from severe headaches, and requested her medicine, but no one paid any attention to her. She was Mrs. Tuba Za'irpour⁹. I didn't recognize her in the dark, but her voice was very familiar to me. Suddenly Mrs. Za'irpour said, "Mona, is that you? What are you doing here? They have arrested you as well? O My God!"

Mona later recounted that she was greatly comforted when she recognized Mrs. Za'irpour .

Even though Mona was separated from her family and home, she soon found a new family in jail. All the older ladies, she said, were her mothers and aunts and the younger ones her sisters and cousins. Despite the fact that she was the youngest in prison, it was Mona who most frequently reassured the other women and helped them to be steadfast during their periods of imprisonment and interrogation.

The jail itself was terribly overcrowded, with not enough facilities to meet basic needs. There were only two showers for the 80 or 90 women in the prison. On the first day, a fellow Baha'i prisoner described how they were given one plate of soup to be shared by three women, and eaten with their hands. Worse than any physical restriction or deprivation, however, was the fact that the guards would not allow the Baha'is to pray.

THE FIRST FEW DAYS IN PRISON

The first few days in prison were worse for the families outside than for the prisoners themselves, who were photographed on their second day of arrest, but otherwise left alone. The families, however, were given no word about the fate of any of the prisoners and were refused permission to visit them. Every day Mona's mother and sister went to the prison to request permission to see Mona and her father for just a few minutes. They were insulted and taunted by the prison authorities, but they did not give up and encouraged other Baha'is with family members who had been arrested to do the same. Taraneh said, "We should be prepared for everything and should not give up. We should be so strong that even if at the very moment they deliver us the bodies of our loved ones, we should keep smiling and with this attitude make them feel how weak they are."

After an entire week of being refused permission, Mona's mother finally lost control. She recounts, "I was sitting by my window. I had no news about my heavenly daughter, Mona. Many times I had gone to Seppah, but they never gave me permission to visit. When I saw people walking in the streets so freely ... tears started running down my face and with a loud voice, I prayed, 'O Blessed Beauty, I want my child. I want Mona back from you. I have no news of her. O Blessed Beauty, I want my child.' I looked up in the sky and said, ' All birds are free. My little bird is in prison.' I spent the day in tears and grieving."

On the next day, October 31, Mona's mother was granted permission to visit Mona, although not her father, who was believed to have undergone such severe torture that the authorities were afraid to let anyone see him. Mona's mother and sister were taken to the visiting room at Seppah about one o'clock in the afternoon and made to wait for six hours before they brought Mona and the other Baha'i women prisoners to an adjacent room separated by a thick glass wall, through which they could only motion to each other .

"We were standing on the other side of the glass," Mona's mother said. "I was looking at them and crying. Mona indicated in motions that I shouldn't cry. Quickly, I wiped my tears away. I couldn't tell her, my beautiful bird, that my tears were from the joy of seeing her."

THE INTERROGATIONS AT SEPPAH PRISON

Each Baha'i arrested is subjected to a four-stage interrogation process that leads either to release or execution. The first stage consists of a series of formal interrogations by an Islamic judge appointed by the Public Prosecutor. These take place inside the prison. The interrogations, which last for many hours, are usually held with a number of the prisoners present, although some are also held with each prisoner alone. The revolutionary guards are usually masked and the prisoners blind-folded, and made to sit facing a wall. At each stage the victim is verbally abused, asked the same questions over and over again, and often asked to write down the answers since the majority of the revolutionary guards and many of the interrogating judges are illiterate, while their Baha'i victims are often well-educated. the interrogators demand to know the names, addresses and telephone numbers of all the Baha'is in a given city, then in all of Iran, then around the world.¹⁰ At each stage the prisoner is asked to deny their Baha'i beliefs and become a Muslim.

At one tense moment, the Mulla told Mona, "If you only say you are not a Baha'i, you and your father will be freed in no time. But if you continue being so obstinate, I will see to your being executed myself." Mona replied, "I am a Baha'i and I will never deny this fact."

The next stage is an interrogation at the Islamic Revolutionary Court, which is carried out by the Assistant to the Public Prosecutor. This interrogation may also take many hours, but is normally completed in one day. The final interrogation takes place in front of an Islamic Revolutionary Judge, and usually lasts only a short time, sometimes less than an hour .

After the three interrogation stages, there is no set time before a "sentence" is handed down. It can take weeks, months or longer. In all interrogations and before any Baha'i is executed, however, he or she is given numerous opportunities, usually under great physical and mental anguish, to recant.

The Baha'is arrested in Shiraz were first taken to Seppah prison where they underwent the first stage of the interrogation process, which began late in the first week of their arrest. When Mona was taken for what she thought was her first interrogation session, she was led instead to the basement to see her father briefly while he was being tortured. He told her to answer all of their questions honestly and to explain clearly what the Baha'i religion teaches. She was then taken back to her cell.

The next morning, her sixth in prison, Mona's interrogations began in earnest. Mona did not like to talk much about the time she spent in Seppah prison, nor about her interrogations. She felt this would bring her "down to the world of accusations, ugly words and improper questions." When Mona saw her mother and sister for the first time after being imprisoned, she had been interrogated from one o'clock in the afternoon until three o'clock in the morning, with only a break to see her family at 7 in the evening. This is her own account of her first session, as told to a fellow prisoner:

The next day my interrogation sessions started. Questions were as follows: What is your religion? What do you believe in? Were you born in a Baha'i family? Date and place of birth. Name of the school you are studying at. Which grade? Have you ever taught in a Baha'i class? When did you declare and who was present at that session? Names of the members of the Local Spiritual Assembly of Shiraz and the members of the Baha'i National Spiritual Assembly. What activities do you do as a Baha'i? Names of the members of the Baha'i committees in Shiraz. Write about the Baha'i administration. How many members of the Universal House of Justice¹¹ are Persian and how many are not? What nationalities are they? Names of all the prominent international Baha'i administrators in the world. Have you ever been on pilgrimage? How much have you donated to the Fund? Who was the chairperson of the feast and where was it held? Who did you vote for this year? Have your parents been members of the Local Spiritual Assembly? The name of the Baha'is you know. Are you willing to recant?

I answered all the questions very frankly and my answer to the last question was, "I am a Baha'i and I will never recant." The interrogator said, "If you refuse to recant your Faith, we will execute you." And I told him that I would rather be killed than recant the Faith I believe in.

Mona did say that her sessions would normally begin around 10 am and last till 4 am the next morning. She added that by refusing to let her sleep, the authorities believed that she would weaken and recant. "During all the endless hours," she said, "I was praying and begging Baha'u'llah to give me the strength to remain steadfast all during this nightmare. This interrogation went on for several days. One day, the Mulla told me to write all the details of my life, where I was born and raised and the names of the schools I have studied in, as well as my activities as a Baha'i, all of which I again described very frankly."

At various times, prisoners were interrogated verbally and required to stand blindfolded for hours on end while they answered. At others, the prisoners were seated facing a wall and handed a set of written questions. The sessions lasted for roughly a week, with the prisoners kept under a constant barrage of questioning. While the main interrogator was usually the Islamic judge or "mulla", he was at times accompanied by others. Often, because they were blindfolded, the prisoners would not know how many people were in the room.

All of the Baha'i women were thus interrogated, and several were severely beaten as well. These beatings took place separately from the interrogations, usually in the basement of the prison. The victim is tied to a specially designed table and then beaten on the soles of the bare feet with a rod or a piece of wire cable, the traditional Islamic punishment called the "bastinado". The prisoner is given a few lashes, allowed to regain sensitivity, and whipped again and again until the punishment is finished or the prisoner passes out. When they regain consciousness, the beating resumes.

The victims are then made to walk on their bleeding feet and often additionally tortured by being taunted with a glass of water kept just out of reach.

On another occasion, one of her early dreams about martyrdom came true. In the dream, she had to face several spiteful men who asked her about The Seven Valleys¹². At one of her interrogation sessions, the Mulla asked her about Baha'u'llah's writings on The Seven Valleys, to which she gave a detailed reply, but was ignored. The Mulla then asked her to say a prayer. She asked him if he really wanted her to do so and he replied sarcastically, "Yes." Mona then folded her arms, closed her eyes and started the prayer, but was cut off by snide laughter from the Mulla.

Go to Part 3