Reported by PMOI/MEK
Iran, Dec. 15,2018 – I’ve never have seen anything like this with my own eyes. It is like watching a horror movie on TV. The fingers of many men and women, boys and girls are amputated in this village. “For God’s sake, are we in a war zone?” a friend asks. “Of course we are not,” I whisper back. Yes, the scene was shocking.
We were in Ibrahim Abad village with the approximate population of 100 people in Lorestan province, southwest Iran. Most amputations in this region are the result of transportation with an elevated passenger ropeway or kind of chairlift called “Gargar” in the region.
An elevated passenger ropeway or kind of chairlift called “Gargar” in Ibrahim Abad.
The villagers have to use this chairlift to pass the river and reach the main villages of the region or the city. The closest bridge is 15 kilometers away from the village and the roadway is often damaged or inaccessible due to river flooding. However, children or elderly cannot pace 30 kilometers every time for reaching the other side of the bank to go to school or even visit a doctor. “We are poor people. We are farmers. I cannot afford taxi expenses each time to take my daughter to school. The school is 200 meters away but on the opposite bank,” says a woman.
Talking with the people, I ask villagers about any bridge construction for the village. They show me a semi-constructed bridge nearby. “We have asked authorities time and again to build a bridge for us, but no one is responsible,” says a man. “It has almost been 10 years since government employees last came here, have checked and filmed our problems and promised us to construct a bridge for us. But they haven’t completed the bridge after 10 years. Every year they bring a new contractor to fill their pockets with our taxes,” says another. A woman hopelessly raises her voice saying, “If someone is in critical health conditions, we must take them to the doctor through this Gargar. Many people have fallen from the height to this date.” People come round me to see who this new curious stranger is. The woman continued while her eyes filled with tears, “I feel nervous each time my children go to school. Sometimes the Gargar jams and people get stuck in the middle of the wire above the river. This river is dangerous and impassable on some days. We have to bring rope and agricultural machinery to rescue them.”
Among the people who have lost fingers are children aged 10-15. I can see and feel the sadness in their eyes while they try to hide their hands behind their backs or in their pockets. “I feel embarrassed,” says a boy aged 10. Another child comes to me and asks in a pure childish honest manner, “Can you fix my hand and bring my finger back?” I don’t know what to say… just drop my head down for a second and then look at her eyes, and innocent smile… I think to myself how long it would take to fix the whole situation in Iran.
An elevated passenger ropeway or kind of chairlift called “Gargar” in Ibrahim Abad.
I wondered if anyone outside Ibrahim Abad knows about these shocking facts. Searching the issue in social media and internet, I can see many items including video footages released even by some state-run news agencies. I can even recognize some of the villagers I talked to. They are saying the same things to the regime’s news agencies. Nobody in the government is trying to solve their problems. This is not surprising in Iran when you hear news about corruption. The regime authorities’ routine is to adopt some legislation in their parliament and allocate a credit for the construction project. But in advance, the authorities will give the project to a regime-affiliated contractor such as the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and put the money in their pockets or spend it on their terrorist activities rather than on solving the people’s problems.
While the regime is spending billions of dollars for construction of schools and hospitals in Syria and Africa as a doorway in their countries and to export its terrorism around the world, the Iranian people are suffering from lack of basic necessities after 40 years of dictatorship rule in Iran.
I think about those children in Lorestan that have to suffer for their entire life, those children who are the victims of this regime’s nasty and evil ambitions. I think to myself how long it would take to fix the whole situation in Iran and to establish a democratic and popular government. Something that everybody is sure about is that the solution is regime change in Iran.
The fingers of many men and women, boys and girls are amputated in this village.
