TEHRAN -- Seyyed Nasser Hosseinipur, a former Iranian prisoner of war, has dedicated the Arabic translation of the memoirs of his long captivity in Iraq during the 1980s to Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, who ruled the country for over two decades.
“With a deep love, I dedicate this book to Saddam, because it was created as a result of his actions,” Hosseinipur said during a ceremony held in Tehran on Tuesday to introduce the Arabic translation of “A Foot That Was Left Behind”.
In “A Foot That Was Left Behind”, Hosseinipur describes the torture he suffered during his 880 days of captivity in Iraq.
He is captured by the Iraqi soldiers after he is injured in his leg during a military operation when he is only 16. His leg is cut off after he is transferred into Iraq.
Hosseinipur dedicated the Persian version of the book, which was published by Sureh-Mehr in 2012, to Walid Farhan, an Iraqi sergeant of the Tikrit War Prisoners Camp 16, who tortured him during his captivity.
“To Iraqi Sergeant Walid Farhan, the commander of the guards of the Tikrit War Prisoners Camp 16,” he wrote in the beginning of his book.
“I don’t know, perhaps, he was killed in the first Persian Gulf War by George H.W. Bush. Or, maybe he was killed during the second Persian Gulf war by George W. Bush. Or maybe he is still alive. [To] a man, whose leaders’ actions caused an eternal curse on his homeland. [To] a man, who tortured me near the shrines of my ancestors. [To] a man who when he annoyed me, Shia Iraqi guard Ali Jarallah looked and wept. Maybe he (Walid Farhan) feels ashamed… With a deep love, I dedicate this book to him, for all the beauty he created by his behavior. And, what happened to me was nothing but beauty,” he added.
Hosseinipur wrote the book based on notes he had inscribed in the margins of newspapers and books the terrorist group MKO (Mojahedin Khalq Organization) distributed in the prisoners’ camps in Iraq. He hid the notes in his canes to transfer them to Iran after his release.
“A Foot That Was Left Behind” was translated into Arabic by Kamal al-Sayed.
MMS/YAW
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