Omid Memorial
The men and women whose stories you can read on this page are now all citizens of a silent city named Omid ("hope" in Persian). There, victims of persecution have found a common life whose substance is memory.
Omid's citizens were of varying social origins, nationalities, and religions; they held diverse, and often opposing, opinions and ideologies. Despite the differences in their personality, spirit, and moral fiber, they are all united in Omid by their natural rights and their humanity. What makes them fellow citizens is the fact that one day each of them was unfairly and arbitrarily deprived of his or her life. At that moment, while the world watched the unspeakable happen, an individual destiny was shattered, a family was destroyed, and an indescribable suffering was inflicted.
Gholam Ali (Gholam) Naraki (Keshavarz)…
Mr. Keshavarz was a “popular” individual and “dedicated to the people”, who was well-known among activists inside and outside the country and among former political prisoners for having been imprisoned under the Pahlavi regime. He had a great ability in attracting people and gathering them around one another.
Mehdi Sohrabifar…
Not turned 16 yet, at the time of arrest, he was not even literate enough to count as he had dropped out of school due to mental disability
Mohammad (Mostafa) Shafa'at…
Born in Hamedan, 1961. Once, when he was 20, Revolutionary Guards came to arrest him, but he wasn’t home.