Gholam-Hossein Saedi: “AFTER DEATH, I WILL ALSO SCREAM!”

By Hasse-Nima Golkar

Gholam-Hossein Saedi: “AFTER DEATH, I WILL ALSO SCREAM!”
We, too, are the resounding voices like “Gholam-Hossein Saedi,” and we will scream even after death!

Following the release of a video clip on December 24, 2024, showing a disgraceful and vile act where “someone urinates on Gholam Hossein Saedi’s tombstone” and violates his human dignity, perpetrated by a supporter of Reza Pahlavi (The son of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi), some of Saedi’s friends have issued an invitation for a protest gathering on Sunday, December 29, 2024, at 3:00 PM at Gholam Hossein Saedi’s grave in the Père Lachaise Cemetery (Paris). The event will include a ceremony to adorn the grave with flowers in support of freedom of expression.

We remind you that defenders and advocates of the failed monarchical system, regardless of how they present themselves, are fundamentally no different from the defenders and advocates of the current Islamic regime in Iran, especially in matters such as this.
Therefore, we condemn this vindictive and fascist act against every progressive political and cultural figure, wherever they may be in the world!

A Brief Biography of Gholam Hossein Saedi:
Gholam-Hossein Saedi was born on January 15, 1936, in the city of Tabriz in northwestern Iran. He was one of the most prolific writers, playwrights, journalists, and Marxist intellectuals in Iran. Known by the pseudonym “Gohar Morad,” he created dozens of diverse and excellent works in areas such as short stories, plays, and film scripts. In his realistic and imaginative works, he often used symbolic elements to depict and critique the oppressive and security-driven atmosphere of society, addressing themes such as lack of freedom, inequality, and injustice.

Works:

• First works published in 1953
• 20 plays between 1960 and 1979
• 8 short story collections between 1955 and 1998
• 5 novels between 1965 and 1976
• 8 film scripts between 1969 and 1982

Gholam-Hossein Saedi had a profound social vision and an exceptional ability to create vivid characters and settings, which gave him a significant impact on contemporary Iranian literature and art.

Political Engagement and Persecution:
Gholam-Hossein Saedi studied and worked in general and psychiatric medicine, but due to living in a sociopolitical dictatorial atmosphere governed by the absolute monarchical system of the “Pahlavi dynasty,” his primary interest lay in literature and drama, which focused on the political and social-psychological issues in society.

His involvement in the “Youth League of the Tudeh Party” led to his first arrest and imprisonment in the summer of 1953. He was also arrested by the Shah’s secret police (SAVAK) in June 1974, detained for about a year, and subjected to brutal torture.

He fled to France in 1981 because of his continued sociopolitical activities after the overthrow of the dictatorial monarchical system under “Mohammad Reza Pahlavi” and the seizure of power by “Ayatollah Khomeini” on February 11, 1979. This occurred as the same fascist dictatorship of the Shah’s regime persisted (but this time tens of times more brutal than before). Exile had a profound psychological impact on him, contributing to depression and suffering, until his death on November 23, 1985, in Paris. He is buried in the Père Lachaise Cemetery.

Gholam-Hossein Saedi met Ayatollah Khomeini once as a member of the “Iranian Writers’ Association” and later wrote an article titled “Meeting with a Crocodile.” He described how Khomeini emphasized that writers should only write about Islam, stating, “The most important thing is Islam!”