Habib refers to the sweet moment of standing up against the rulers. And also their allies who trying to force his friends and Navid to surrender. He refers to the sweet moment of resistance in prison and not giving in to oppression
According to Iranian Human Rights Society, in the days leading up to anniversary of eternalization of Navid on September 12, 2020. his older brother Habib Afkari wrote a description of his own dark days in solitary confinement, which awakens every conscience.
Afkari brothers arrested after the protests in the summer of 2020 in protest against inflation and high prices. Navid Afkari, a 27-year-old wrestling champion, hanged. His brother Vahid sentenced to 27 years in prison and Habib sentenced to three years. Habib writes about his brother’s participation in the protests: “When our acquaintances asked Navid why he was going to the protests, since he was successful and should just live his life, he responded, ‘If I don’t stand up, who will?'” Habib’s letter about his days in prison can be presented as a document of crimes against humanity in international courts.
Explanation of Prison from the words of Habib Afkari
Habib Afkari writes in a part of his letter:
“In solitude, time stops. Nothing becomes old and you relive the past for the thousandth time every moment. Sounds, laughter, screams, even after months, they are still fresh as if they just happened. Even silences have a different nature in solitude and not forgotten. Colors, words, walls, food, clothes, wounds, pains, and all bitterness repeat constantly without any change. And also no new information enters the human brain to fade the past.
A repetition that burns the human bones to the core.”
I lived 550 days moment by moment in solitude with the scene of Navid’s execution. 550 days, a thousand times in front of my eyes, they took my dear brother more precious than my life to the death squad, and every day I became more powerless than the day before to save his dear life.
Vahid has been living this painful repetition for three years now.
But among all these painful repetitions, the only pleasurable repetition that keeps a person standing is the joy of resistance and not giving in to oppression. Every day you spend in solitary confinement, you know that all the suffering and pain you are going through will make a better future for your country. You believe in that forgotten and dark part of this earth. With your standing, the tomorrow of the freedom of this land will come sooner.
Against all the torments of solitary confinement, this joy of resistance against oppression is so deep that I remember one day Vahid said. If they open the door of solitary confinement right now and say you are free, but my freedom is not for the benefit of the Iranian people, I will never leave here.
It has been three years since the day they took me, Vahid, and Navid individually. They took Navid’s life, I released after 550 days, and Vahid still enduring in solitary confinement. I remember Navid once said near the date of his execution, “I hope I go in a way that Vahid can be proud of me.” Navid left with pride and Vahid remained with pride, staring into the eyes of the oppressors, reminding them with his resistance every moment that these honorable people do not bow down to injustice.
“Yes, standing against oppression and tyranny is honorable. And also sacrificing one’s life for this path is the least price to pay. May the memory of the hero and resistance of honorable Afkari brothers and sister be revered.”
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