Omid MemorialThe 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.  Abdol-Rahman Qasemlu (Ghassemlou)…He took up arms to defend his people's rights, but he knew that the solution for the Iranian Kurdish problem had to be political and not military.  Seyed Mostafa J.…23-year-old Seyed Mostafa J. had just finished his military service. One afternoon in the month of Ramadan, he got into his red Landrover and went out to spend time with friends |
