A 'Prisoner of Tehran' tells her story

A memoir by a woman whose life was turned upside down by the tumult of the Iranian revolution.

from the June 12, 2007 edition

Page 2 of 2

Page 1 | 2

But this questions stops her: "What if everyone who believed in goodness decided to commit suicide because there was too much suffering in the world?"

The decision to stand for good becomes her North Star.

Well-meaning teachers and friends implore Marina to flee the country before she is sent to Evin, the infamous political prison. With no financial means, and not wanting to alarm her parents, Marina stays put and is arrested.

At Evin she is received by two prison guards. One beats her until she is unconscious. The other, Ali, falls in love with her.

The events that follow read like a grotesque Harlequin romance. Marina is scheduled for execution. Lovesick Ali uses family connections to win a pardon from Ayatollah Khomeini, changing Marina's death sentence to life imprisonment. But tormented by his love for a Christian, he leaves to fight in the Iran-Iraq War. Four months later, he is back with a wounded leg and a plan: He wants Marina to convert to Islam and become his wife. If she doesn't, things could get really messy for her loved ones.

Marina considers the alternatives, the psychological toll of imprisonment made obvious, and complies with his wishes.

Thus begins a weird double life where Marina alternatively gets carried to the outside world to be embraced by Ali's loving family and then sent back to Evin to be on call as Ali's secret wife. It isn't long before Ali is assassinated by his colleagues.

Because she proved herself a dutiful Islamic daughter-in-law, Ali's father once again makes an appeal and after two horrific years as a political prisoner Marina is released. She soon remarries a Christian and eventually relocates to Canada.

Nemat's story is not so much a political history lesson than it is a memoir of faith and love, a protest against violence that cannot be silenced. Following Nemat as she follows her intuition through these treacherous events is like watching a stalk of grass that repeatedly bends without breaking through the wind and rain of a violent storm only to rise and stretch toward the sun once more. Her persistence in standing for goodness is a lesson for us all.

• Kendra Nordin is a Monitor editor.

1 | Page 2