That night, after his impassioned speech, his cousin drove him home. ‘We’re going through such terrifying days,’ the ayatollah sighed.
‘And such terrifying nights,’ the cousin said as he drove into a side street.
‘Where are you taking me?’ the ayatollah asked.
‘To hell!’ the cousin said. And he pumped him full of bullets.
Nobody was safe any more. All it took was a whisper of suspicion against your neighbour, and he or she was immediately carted off to jail. The opposition went underground. Everyone who could possibly escape tried to flee the country.
The Mujahideen weren’t the only ones behind the assassinations. The armed factions of the leftist opposition carried out their own acts of revenge.
Despite the widespread fear, the ayatollahs refused to give in to the terror. They went about their business as usual. This was also true of Ayatollah Araki of Senejan. Everyone knew that he was a potential target, so he was surrounded by bodyguards.
Araki was a fanatic who wanted to turn Senejan into a model Islamic city. He spoke with loathing of the families of the men and women who had been executed, and he had given Zinat carte blanche in the women’s prison. She tortured the women until, at a sign from her, they lined up like robots and turned to face Mecca.
The residents of Senejan held their breath and waited for this hated ayatollah to be assassinated.
They didn’t have to wait long.
The sun had just set, and the heat in the courtyard was making way for the cool evening air when the door to Aqa Jaan’s study opened softly and someone came inside. Aqa Jaan, sitting in his chair and reading a book, thought it was Lizard.
He looked up. The last time he’d seen Shahbal had been the night they’d taken Jawad’s body to the mountains for burial. Shahbal had left immediately afterwards. Now, here he was, standing in the study.
Aqa Jaan took off his glasses. ‘I wasn’t expecting you. When did you get home?’
‘Just now.’
‘Have you seen your father?’
‘Not yet. I happened to be in Senejan and thought I’d drop by.’
There was a tremor in his voice.
Fate, Aqa Jaan thought, was about to strike again.
The door opened softly a second time and Lizard crept in. He could see by the look on Aqa Jaan’s face that he wasn’t welcome, so he quietly shut the door behind him and sat down outside.
‘What do you mean you happened to be in Senejan?’ Aqa Jaan said.
‘I had a couple of things I needed to do here, so I thought I’d take advantage of the opportunity to come by and say hello.’
‘Why don’t you sit down? Here, have a chair.’
‘I can’t stay long. I have to leave soon. Actually, I came to say goodbye.’
‘Goodbye? Why? Where are you going?’
‘I’m not sure. I have to wrap up some unfinished business, then I’ll probably be leaving the country for a while. I wanted to see you before I left. I’m sorry, but I . . .’ He looked at his watch. ‘I’ve got to go.’
‘What are you trying to tell me, my boy?’
Through the window Aqa Jaan saw the silhouette of Muezzin, though he made no move to come in.
‘Shall I ask your father to join us?’
‘No, there’s not enough time. I’ll phone him later. You’re the one I came to see. I’m worried about you. But I’ve got to go now. Someone’s waiting for me,’ he said.
Aqa Jaan sensed that something was wrong. It was still early in the evening. Why didn’t Shahbal have time to say goodbye to his own father? Why did he keep glancing at his watch? There was something odd about his solemn goodbye.
Then suddenly it dawned on him. He knew what was going to happen. Ten minutes from now the prayer would begin in the mosque. Ayatollah Araki’s Mercedes would be arriving shortly.
‘It’s time to go,’ Shahbal said, and he gave him a hug.
Aqa Jaan hugged him back, and as he did so, he felt the hard outline of a gun. With unexpected swiftness, he pushed Shahbal against the wall and yanked the gun from his waistband.
‘What’s got into you, Shahbal?’ Aqa Jaan enquired fiercely.
Lizard rose to his hands and feet.
‘I don’t need to spell it out for you, Aqa Jaan,’ Shahbal said, his face as hard as steel. ‘There’s no time. Give me back the gun, please, before it’s too late!’
Aqa Jaan felt powerless to resist. He wanted to shout, ‘You can’t do this! Get out of my study!’ But he couldn’t. He realised to his horror that he didn’t want to stop Shahbal, that a part of him actually approved.
Shahbal wrenched the gun from Aqa Jaan’s hand.
Aqa Jaan wanted to snatch it back, but Shahbal held him at arm’s length with his free hand. ‘Don’t say anything! Don’t do anything!’ Shahbal said. ‘Save your words for later. Wish me luck!’
Dazed, Aqa Jaan suddenly found himself alone in his study. He felt as if he’d momentarily stepped out of his life. For one long minute he’d been unable to move or to say a word.
Shahbal squatted next to Lizard, kissed him and hurried outside, where he bumped into his father and accidentally knocked him down.
Shahbal knelt, took his father’s head between his hands and planted a kiss on top of it. ‘I’m in a hurry, Father. I’ll call you later!’
Lizard scuttled off behind Shahbal.
The ayatollah’s Mercedes pulled up a few feet away from the mosque.
Shahbal was standing in the darkness of the alley, waiting.
Three bodyguards got out and took a quick look around. They didn’t see anything suspicious, so one of them opened the door, while the other two started walking towards the mosque.
Shahbal slipped the gun out from under his waistband. Lizard, who had been crouching silently behind him, began to crawl towards the Mercedes. Shahbal wanted to stop him, but it was already too late. Lizard, scrabbling along on his hands and feet, was heading straight for the ayatollah. The bodyguard, who had just helped the ayatollah out of the car, recoiled at the sight. The ayatollah took a step backwards and shouted, ‘Scram!’ as if Lizard were a stray dog.
But Lizard crawled up to him anyway and stuck his head under his robe, which completely unnerved the man.
‘Ayatollah!’ Shahbal yelled.
The ayatollah looked up in surprise, not sure where the voice was coming from.
Three shots rang out. The ayatollah raised his hands, took two steps backwards and fell to the ground.
The bodyguards pulled out their guns and started shooting wildly at anything that moved.
‘Al-l-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-ah!’ It was the voice of Aqa Jaan on the roof.
A motorcycle came roaring round the corner. Shahbal hopped on and it sped off.
The ayatollah’s body lay in front of the mosque. His turban had fallen a few feet away, near the spot where Lizard now lay stretched out on the pavement. He no longer looked like a lizard, but like a little boy asleep in the dark, amid the pool of blood that was seeping out of his body.
Aqa Jaan knelt beside him, kissed his cold cheek, lifted him up and cradled him in his arms.
Tayareh
Whenever you were in the courtyard, you heard aeroplanes flying overhead. They took off in Tehran, crossed the desert and flew down to the Persian Gulf, where they continued on to Europe or America. On the return trip they usually took another route, crossing the Gulf of Oman and entering Iran at Bandar Abbas.
When the children were small, they used to sing a song whenever they heard a plane, looking up at the tiny, mysterious bird in the sky and singing:
Tayareh, tayareh,
Where are you going, tayareh?
Who is on board, tayareh?
When will it be my turn, tayareh?
Fakhri Sadat was sitting on the bench by the hauz, knitting. Since Lizard’s death, the jumper she’d been making for him had been left unfinished.
Aqa Jaan was working in the garden, burying his sorrow in a pit
along with the dead leaves.
Suddenly a passenger plane flew over the house, so low the noise was deafening. The sun glinted off its broad wings and lit up Fakhri’s face, the trees, the hauz and the windowpanes.
Aqa Jaan, fearing that it was a bomber, grabbed his wife’s arm and dragged her down to the cellar. They peered up at the sky through the trapdoor, but the plane had already disappeared.
When they got over their fright, they saw Muezzin standing by his workbench. For once his hands weren’t covered in clay. Instead, he was dressed in a navy-blue suit and hat, and had already donned his usual travelling glasses. There was a suitcase at his feet.
‘Are you leaving on another one of your trips, Muezzin?’ Fakhri asked, saddened.
‘I can see that you’re all packed,’ Aqa Jaan said. ‘Where are you going this time?’
‘You’re the man who records everything,’ Muezzin said. ‘Make a note of this: I’m moving out.’
‘You’re moving out?’ Fakhri echoed in surprise. ‘Why?’
‘I hear the boy crying, all night long. He’s dead, but he still comes down to the cellar and plays around my feet when I’m working. He’s buried in the garden, but I see him sitting in the cedar tree. At night he weeps outside my door and crawls through my sleep.’
Fakhri Sadat began to sob quietly. ‘It’s the same for us. We hear him in the garden too, but that doesn’t mean you have to move out.’
‘I don’t want to, but the house is telling me to go. It’s turning me out. Look at my hands – I can’t make a thing any more. The cellar is piled high with my work, the garden is full of my vases, my plates are stacked up on the roof. Nobody buys my pottery. I’m being chased out. Let me go, brother, and wish me luck.’
Muezzin embraced Aqa Jaan, kissed Fakhri, picked up his suitcase and went up the cellar stairs. He paused for a moment in the courtyard and listened to the familiar sounds. ‘Old crow!’ he yelled. ‘Take good care of the house. I’m moving out!’
After Muezzin had shut the gate behind him, three warplanes flew over the house with a thunderous roar and were swallowed up in the clouds.
‘Iraqis!’ said Aqa Jaan.
But they weren’t Iraqi warplanes. They were Iranian air-force jets in hot pursuit of the passenger plane.
The president of Iran, Bani-Sadr, was inside the plane. He was trying to flee the country, and the jets were hurtling through the sky at top speed in an attempt to stop him. A week ago, Khomeini had accused him of working for the Mujahideen and dismissed him from office.
Bani-Sadr had gone into hiding, and the Mujahideen had devised a master plan for smuggling him out of the country. They had planned the escape down to the last detail and even informed Saddam Hussein of the flight, so that Iraqi aircraft would be standing by to escort the ex-president’s plane through Iraqi airspace.
The three Iranian jets didn’t catch him. Bani-Sadr’s plane reached Iraq in the nick of time and flew on towards Europe.
Four and a half hours later, when the plane was approaching Paris, the pilot radioed the control tower: ‘This is an emergency. I have the president of Iran on board, and he’s requesting political asylum.’
The control tower passed the message on to the airport manager, who immediately contacted the French president, then asked Bani-Sadr a few questions, which he answered in flawless French. ‘I am the elected president of the Islamic Republic of Iran,’ he announced. ‘I have on board with me the leader of the Mujahideen. I am requesting political asylum for myself, the leader of the Mujahideen and the pilot.’
The plane circled above Paris while the airport manager and the French president discussed the matter.
Bani-Sadr, who had a PhD in economics from the Sorbonne, had lived in Paris for years. In fact, he still had the key to his Paris apartment. He had been doing some postgraduate work when Khomeini had left Iraq and moved to Paris.
During his studies, Bani-Sadr had come up with an economic model that combined capitalism and Islam. His plans were ideal for Khomeini, who knew absolutely nothing about economics.
When Khomeini flew from Paris to Tehran, Bani-Sadr was one of the seven men educated in the West who went with him. Later he was elected the first president of Iran.
The plane was circling Paris for the fourth time when the airport manager informed Bani-Sadr of the decision: ‘The French government has agreed to offer asylum to you and your fellow passengers. Your plane may land. Welcome to France.’
Bani-Sadr’s escape was the lead story on French television that night.
Khomeini had just come to the end of his evening prayer when Rafsanjani, then commander-in-chief of the armed forces, knelt by his side and broke the news to him.
Khomeini stood up and immediately launched into another prayer. Now that he had been informed of this unfortunate news, he hoped that an extra prayer would bring him closer to God. He needed Allah’s advice. After he’d uttered the last rakat, his eyes gleamed. He turned to Rafsanjani. ‘Our moment of glory has come!’
Ever since the war began, the Iranian army had been waiting for the right moment to liberate the occupied city of Khorramshahr. The largest oil refinery in the Middle East was located in its strategic harbour. Up to now the operation had been impossible, because American satellites relayed every movement in and around Khorramshahr to the Iraqis.
‘Allah is on our side,’ Khomeini said to Rafsanjani. ‘We will liberate Khorramshahr. The moment has come. Call a meeting of all your generals!’
Saddam had toasted his good fortune and was on his way to a cabinet meeting to break the news of Bani-Sadr’s escape to his ministers when the Iranian army attacked Khorramshahr simultaneously from six sides.
Thousands of Iraqi and Iranian soldiers were killed. The streets were lined with corpses. After half a day of heavy fighting, two Iranian soldiers managed to tear down the Iraqi flag on top of the refinery and replace it with the green flag of Islam.
The Iraqis regrouped, but the ayatollahs unexpectedly opened a new front: the Iranians attacked the Iraqi harbour of Basra. The Iraqi soldiers were so shaken by the news of the invasion that they went on the rampage, destroying every house in Khorramshahr and torching the trees before retreating in a vain attempt to save Basra.
After this historic victory, Khomeini appeared on television and was seen to be smiling for the first time. He gave thanks to Allah and congratulated the parents of the fallen soldiers on their sons’ bravery.
Millions of people took to the streets to celebrate the liberation of Khorramshahr. They set off fireworks, drove around in cars, honking and flashing their lights, danced on top of buses and treated each other to biscuits, sweets and fruit.
The rejoicing went on until deep in the night. It was the first nationwide celebration since the ayatollahs had come to power.
A full moon shone that night, comforting those who had suffered the pains and sorrows of war. Not everyone was rejoicing, however. Some people took advantage of that joyful night to exact revenge.
The light of that same moon shone down on a saltwater lake near Senejan, where the half-submerged body of Zinat Khanom lay. There was a note in a plastic holder round her neck: ‘She forced young unmarried women who had been sentenced to death to sleep with an Islamic fundamentalist before being executed. She has been tried and punished here at this salt lake, at the express wish of the mothers whose daughters were unwillingly made brides on the last night of their lives.’
Soon the moon would fade, and the sun would take its place. A flock of desert birds would spot Zinat’s body by the lake and circle noisily above it.
A traveller riding by on a camel would stop at the lake to see what had attracted the birds’ attention. And he would get down from the camel, kneel by the corpse and read the note.
Akkas
Aqa Jaan strolled along the banks of the river. Instead of going back to bed after the morning prayer, he had come here for a walk. He sat down on a mound of sand to rest. Despite the cold, a woman was washing her
feet in the river.
She dried her feet on the hem of her chador, put on her shoes and approached Aqa Jaan. ‘Do you have any change?’ she said. ‘I don’t have any coins to put in my mouth.’
‘Qodsi, is that you?’
The once so young and lively Qodsi now looked old. Her hair was grey, her face wrinkled.
‘I haven’t seen you for a long time, Qodsi. Where have you been? How’s your mother?’
‘She’s dead,’ Qodsi said sombrely.
‘When did that happen? Why wasn’t I told?’
‘She just up and died one day,’ was all Qodsi said.
‘How’s your sister?’
‘She’s dead too.’
‘Your sister too? When? What did she die of?’
There was no reply.
‘Where’s your brother?’
‘He’s dead too.’
‘What’s all this you’re telling me?’
‘But you won’t die,’ Qodsi prophesied. ‘You will stay until they’ve all gone and come back again.’
She turned and walked away.
‘Where are you going, Qodsi? You haven’t told me the latest news.’
‘Seven men are left. Three of them will come, one will go, one will lie where he is, one will die and one will sow. But you will stay until they’ve all come and gone,’ she replied, without turning round to look at him.
Aqa Jaan stood up and continued his walk.
Who was going to come and who was going to go? he wondered.
Suddenly he thought of Nosrat.
During the turbulent nights of the terror, only one man had had access to Khomeini’s nights: Nosrat.
Khomeini and Nosrat would shut themselves off from the harsh reality of daily life, and Nosrat would transport him to another world, in which there were no Iraqi jets, no bombs and no executions.
Nosrat beguiled him with his cinema. He showed him documentaries and nature films about birds, bees, snakes and the river of stars. It was their secret. No one else knew what went on behind Khomeini’s closed door.