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Organization for Support of the Surviving
Families of the Unsung Heroes
Members of the Imperial Iranian Armed Forces
and
A Letter to My Countrymen: The Pain of Exile Renews Itself with the Loss
of Ambassador
Fereydoun Hoveyda and Mrs. Shalaa Samii
November 9th, 2006
To Beloved Iranians in Oppression and Exile:
It is not long ago that I was speaking with my friend, Mark Dankof, the American
Lutheran pastor, writer, and radio broadcaster. Our conversation concerned the
future of Iran, and the pain of exile for those of the Persian Nation who now
reside elsewhere in the world, or at home under the iron-fisted rule of the IRI
regime.
Mr. Dankof told me he had discovered a quotation from an 11th century Pope of
the Roman Catholic church, Gregory VII (1020-85), which must certainly apply to
the pain of the expatriates of my Beloved People. It is as follows: "I have
loved justice and hated iniquity: therefore I die in exile."
These words from a man of the 11th century, representing a religion other than
my own, speak to my heart now as I contemplate the latest heart wrenching losses
to the Persian Nation in the passing of Ambassador Fereydoun Hoveyda, and Mrs.
Shalaa Samii. As one who knows the pain of losing my beloved Mother over 2 1/2
years ago in an adopted homeland, I extend my love and my own identification
with the fellowship of suffering to the family of Ambassador Hoveyda, and the
children of my dear friend Shalaa, Ali and Golnaz.
These passings remind me of my mother's final wish, that I would one day be able
to insure her final resting place in Tehran next to my father, General Ali
Neshat, Commander of the Imperial Guard of His Majesty Shah Mohammed Reza
Pahlavi. I am overcome with emotion now as I contemplate the fact that this may
never be possible, and that it may well be that my own exile of 28 years may in
a brief instant evolve into a lifetime outside my beloved homeland. Will this be
the fate of the other exilic figures of the Persian Nation, and their children
and grandchildren? What will become of us in these long sun less days and
endless nights of perpetual darkness? Will the light of dawn ever arrive for us,
and Iran again?
Only God and the ongoing unveiling of world history know the answer to this
question. But on this dark night in Los Angeles in the United States, I again
cry out on behalf of my people and their desire for deliverance and restoration.
And on behalf of my people, and the now-stilled voices of my beloved Father and
Mother, brothers Amir Abbas and Fereydoun Hoveyda, and Mrs.Shalaa Samii, I
pledge to the depths of my eternal soul before the Great God of the Universe,
Creation, and History that my love for Iran will never die, and that I and the
Persian Patriots of Sarbazan, dedicated to the memory of the martyrs of the
Imperial Iranian Armed Forces, will rededicate ourselves to the reclamation of
our Land, the defeat of the dark evil that has enshrouded our Land since 1979,
and the Day when the Spirit of King Cyrus the Great and the Divine Favor that
rests upon him, again resides in our Nation's capitol and in the heart of every
Persian who awaits the dawning of a new day---the re-establishment of the good
and divine, the comprehensive eradication of every form of evil, and the
re-institution of justice as the foundation of the rule of our Nation as it was
2500 years ago.
We can, we must, we will prevail.
Payendeh Iran,
Shirin Neshat
Sarbazan
Los Angeles, CA
United States of America
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