Remember - All Mothers Are Grieving, They Burn; Gohar Eshghi: The People Are a Fire Beneath the Ashes!

Not only in the past year and following the "Women, Life, Freedom" protests, but for over four decades, many Iranian mothers have mourned their freedom-seeking and protesting children. These children have been killed or executed by the Islamic Republic. Gohar Eshghi is one of these grieving mothers whose son, Sattar Beheshti, was arrested by the Islamic Republic's Cyber Police in November 2012. Sattar was a worker and a blogger who wrote about oppression, discrimination, corruption, and deprivation, and against the ruling dictatorship in Iran. He was tortured so severely that most of his organs suffered internal bleeding. He was killed during the interrogations and was buried in Robat Karim wrapped in a bloody shroud. For the past eleven years, Gohar Eshghi has not ceased her quest for justice. She has been threatened, arrested, and interrogated multiple times. Islamic Republic agents have even attacked her and physically assaulted her, but Gohar Eshghi has not remained silent; she is now also seeking justice for Mohammad Hosseini, one of the executed during the "Women, Life, Freedom" protests. In an interview with Fahimeh Khodr Heydari, the host of "Remember" on Voice of America, she said: "My Sattar was brave. He did not remain silent in the face of oppression. The Islamic Republic feared this, which is why they killed my child in four days. I went to Rajai Shahr looking for Mohammad's body. They did not answer me. [Mohammad] came to me in my dreams and said I must take revenge for him too. Now I am the mother of two children, both Mohammad and Sattar. As long as I am alive, I will not be silent. I seek justice for my two children." She spoke of a grief that does not extinguish, of the mothers' quest for justice against the Islamic Republic, and said, "The Islamic Republic thinks the people have forgotten," while "hearts are burning." She added: "All mothers are grieving... they burn." In the midst of the "Women, Life, Freedom" protests and in support of the women and girls protesting against compulsory hijab, she removed her hijab after eighty years. In part of this week's "Remember," she said: "I have removed my hijab for my daughters who were on the streets. Whenever I have an interview, I take off my scarf for the compulsory hijab that the Islamic Republic wants to impose on my daughters. I have removed this hijab in honor of my daughters." Gohar Eshghi's quest for justice will be broadcast on Saturday, November 6, in the fifth episode of "Remember."