A tragedy of thirty years ago,and a tragedy from last week

At the vigil in solidarity with Iranian protesters at Vancouver Art Gallery tonight, an old tragedy displayed beside a tragedy from last week still brings tears.

by Linda Solomon
Mahbubeh Maya Moj (pictured here) held up a poster with a photograph of her husband, who she said was shot in a mass execution in 1986 by the government of Iran. Beside his portrait was a photograph of a young man killed in the violence last week.

"We'd been married two years and we arrested while I was seven months pregnant," she said. "They put us in a jail. My son was born in a jail.The day they released me, they told me they killed my husband."

In 1986, she said, "they executed 4000 people in one month." Her husband was one of the 4000.

Moj's son is now a student at SFU.

"His father would be so proud of him. They never met each other."

She wants young people to understand the historical context of the current struggle and the deaths that occurred in the past, reflections of the deaths that are occurring in Iran today.

"I still cry over it," she said.