Azarin Sadegh

Last night we heard that Ali was going to be executed in 15 days and today we found out that it was a false alert. Such a nightmarish night!

My highest gratitude goes to all the Stop Child Executions (SCE) volunteers who keep working hard to save lives, and have never been paid a penny, or even have to pay for their expenses (lawyer fees, travels, phone calls, etc.) from their own pocket. And still I am not talking about the load of repetitive emotional scars you take every time you fail. Because of you, Ali (and all those others who are as desperate as he was) might have a chance to live and it really – really -- means a lot.

Still you, how do you do it?

It is amazing the amount of time you put in this task, with its ups and downs, hopes and despairs. And I am so amazed at your unselfish attitude toward these strangers, who might have been murderers or not. Look at other people here. Look at the rest of us! Most of us we really don’t care, or maybe we come up with excuses, like the use of the word “child”, the psychology of a 17 years old compared to an adult, or the real meaning of the word “child-prisoner”.

I live in LA and believe me, most of our compatriots here, would spend easily on shoes or jewelry or chelo-kabobs, but we would think twice before refusing to donate (much less than the price of a pair of shoes on sale) to any charity. “These charities are all charlatans!”, “If we help this charity, we wouldn’t be able to go back to Iran, ever.” We keep letting you down, and we are not ashamed, as long as our vacation is not messed up.

Please, don’t take it wrongly! There are always exceptions and I am not accusing anyone. I am definitely one of these same people I am describing and the “we” goes back to “Most of Iranian in Diaspora I have met, me included”.

This is how Ali and Delara and Soghra might join the list of forgotten victims of your lost fights.

I am embarrassed to say but if Ali wasn’t my friend’s nephew, I wouldn’t have even read your blogs. If my friend wasn’t so desperate, I would have forgotten about Ali, just in a second.

I am no hero. I just dreamed to have an ordinary life and the chance of having an ordinary death, after living through the revolution and the war. I dreamed to reach this simple happiness, wrapped in a blob, living in the same “Room full of Joy” as Azadeh dreams about. I was tired of images of misery and tired of my own helplessness.

That’s why what you’re doing just amazes me and I have the most respect for your work, no matter if Ali lives, or even if he dies, still you did manage to show him (Ali, who has still the heart of a 16 years old child. Since people in prisons don’t grow up. They just get old.) a little piece of that "room full of joy", through your desperate struggle.

Thank you SCE! Thank you a thousands times!

Azarin