“War Veterans are Lost and Forgotten”

A woman who was held prisoner during the Iran-Iraq war has spoken out against the discrimination she has faced, and described the inadequate financial and social support veterans receive.

In a speech to commemorate war veterans on May 25, Shamsi Bahrami addressed an audience at Shiraz City Council. “What is the difference between a female and a male war veteran and prisoner?” she asked. “Both have suffered great hardship. I too have been insulted and suffered as much as others. Today, I am sitting alone, looking forward to the end of my life.”

Born in 1959 in Abadan in the western province of Khuzestan near the border with Iraq, Shamsi Bahrami worked for the government, preparing reports about mosques and their activities after the 1979 revolution. During the Iran-Iraq war (1980-1988), she represented the general governor’s office of Abadan, reporting on war damage in the region, which was heavily bombarded during the war. Bahrami was arrested by Iraqi forces while traveling from Mahshahr to Abadan early on in the war. She was released after 40 months in prison.

She told the audience that, despite the talk of honoring veterans, “in reality, war veterans and prisoners have been forgotten.” She said most of them did not receive the benefits or support to which they were entitled, although officials claim they do. She said that although she was disabled and had endured four years in prison, she did not  expect any support from the Foundation of Martyrs and Veterans Affairs. “I solved my problems in life all alone.”

But her problems have been significant. She described how she had been the victim of a property developer and businessman who she says cheated her out of half of her property. “I am a lonely retired teacher. There is no one to defend my rights. I don’t want anything more than these rights. I live in a 50-square-meter apartment. That’s enough, but I do not surrender to disgrace. We went to war to defend our honor for a better future. This was the task: to defend our frontiers.”

Iranian Students’ News Agency (ISNA) in Fars province reported that Bahrami spoke to city councilors and council employees about what she had been through since her release from Iraq. “I am living all alone because I am a war veteran and was a prisoner. I have no parents. Who has supported me or people like me?” She said that while she did not accept money from veterans’ associations, she appreciated the work of these groups: “Without a doubt, I have been doing my best not to exchange my honor with money. I am grateful to all those people who have supported war veterans, prisoners and martyrs’ families.”

Speaking at the same event, Jafar Khaksar, a paraplegic war veteran, spoke about particular initiatives for veterans that did not receive government or public support. “There are 120 paraplegic veterans in Fars province. They founded a basketball team. Despite their participation in national competitions, nobody is willing to support them.”

“People look at us as though all our wishes are easily fulfilled. It has been two years now since I applied for support, but I have not received it.”

Director of the Foundation of Martyrs in Fars province, Rajabali Rahi, was also invited to address the Shiraz audience. “The basketball team in Shiraz is the only one in the country whose players are war invalids. Annual expenses amount to 120 to 150 million tomans ($4000 to $5000). None of it goes to its members. The foundation provided 30 million tomans ($1000) to players last year.”

He asked Shiraz City Council to support the team “so that they can participate in competitions in the name of the city council and municipality.” In response, Gholam Mehdi Haqdel, the head of the city council said: “According to the guidelines of the Ministry of the Interior, city councils and municipalities are not to support any teams. Temporary support is the only possibility.”

ISNA also reported on efforts to coordinate campaigns to support veterans and prisoners of war.

“War veterans are lost people who are remembered once a year, on national veterans’ day,” said Jafar Khaksar. “Today we wonder how to reply to the next generation who ask us: ‘why did we go to war?’”

Read the original article in Persian