Interview with a Medic from Sardasht on the Anniversary of Sardasht Chemical Bombing: Sleeping Children in Silent Alleys

I forgot my own pain when I saw the close eyes of the innocent children who had said good bye forever during their final games in the alleys and streets of the city…My heart was really aching for those persons who had lied down on the ground and they had left this world. They had closed their eyes forever and they did not wish to open their eyes anymore…

For a few moments I listened to the words of a rescuer. I attempted to write down what he expressed regarding the crimes of the Iraqi Baathist regime about the first city of the world that was victimized by chemical weapons; Jamal Nik Pei was born in Sardasht city. He expresses some memories regarding the bitter day of June 28, 1987 on which he was only 18 years old and now he is a 70 % chemically injured patient:

It was different with the previous times.

It was close to the evening that suddenly the Iraqi aircrafts appeared in the sky of Sardasht city once again. I did not think that their bombardment to be different with the previous times, but the type of the bombs was apparently different with the previous times. I noticed that they dropped the bombs in the middle of the city. I went to the Sarcheshmeh Square of the city in order to help the injured patients. Sarcheshmeh Square of the city was the place where the city’s drinking water would be supplied from there.

Sarcheshmeh and eyes with tears:

The scenes of Sarcheshmeh square could make any person to cry; a mother had hugged in a sorrowful situation and she was groaning; many children whose age was only 2 years old, 5 years old and 8 years old had closed their eyes forever; some old men who were fighting with death and some youths who had been exposed to chemical weapons…

It was a disaster that still has not stopped and it is being continued…

Seeing those events makes the heart of every human to ache. In fact all the humans will be influenced by such scenes. This issue caused that I forget my own pain and I attempt to help the injured patients. I can remember that there was a family whose all eight members of the family had been exposed to chemical weapons; I can remember a nine-member family that six of them had been martyred and still no one has any news about their two year old child. This little child was lost during the gathering of the crowd and they don’t know where their little child went to…

From consciousness to unconsciousness:

A few minutes had passed since the time of my helping; suddenly I felt that my health condition was getting worse time to time and gradually. But I would try to help the injured patients and I took them to a clinic in order they receive the first heath cares. The more I would continue my efforts; my health condition would get more critical. I was feeling irritation in my eyes and I was coughing continuously. But seeing those dreadful scenes would not allow me to give up helping the injured patients and those who had been badly exposed to chemical weapons. I got unconscious after an hour and when I opened my eyes, I observed that I was on a bed in hospital. I was in the hospital ‘Shahid Labafi Nezhad’ located in Tehran city. My first health cares in the hospital lasted for 45 days and after that respiratory health problems became my permanent suffering. I have to be hospitalized at least two times a year in order to receive treatment. Still the nightmare of those horrible scenes has not left my mind yet…

The End