On the Day in Honor of Prisoners of War and the Missing.
The historical memory of the Islamic Republic embraces Palestinian and Lebanese prisoners and all victims of detention.
On the Day of Honor for Prisoners of War and the Disappeared, the historical memory of the Islamic Republic embraces Palestinian and Lebanese prisoners and all victims of arbitrary detention around the world.
Today, June 26, the Islamic Republic of Iran celebrates the Day in Honor of Prisoners of War and the DisappearedIt is a commemoration that profoundly unites the past with the present, extending its gaze well beyond national borders: from Iranian prisoners during the Imposed War (1980-88) to Palestinian children held in Israeli prisons without any charge; from Lebanese detainees accused only of resisting oppression, to the unjustified and arbitrary kidnappings of Iranian citizens in the West, up to the climate of terror created in Europe against Muslims and their places of worship.
Iran honors those detained and those who never returned home, mindful of a great truth that is often ignored in the West, but which actually provides another key to understanding current Iranian society: an epochal event such as a revolution never springs from a single cause, yet it would not be incorrect to say that the Islamic Revolution, in its first act, began precisely with an arrest.
It was June 5, 1963 when the arrest of Ayatollah Khomeini by SAVAK, the Shah's ferocious secret services, following a fiery speech by the latter against the corrupt autocrat – provoked the so-called riots Khordad, a series of very harsh protests bloodily repressed by the monarchic regime. In light of this, Ayatollah Khomeini could only be considerate of detention and prisoners, having experienced firsthand the harshness of prison.
Similarly, the next Leader of the Revolution, Ayatollah Khamenei, considered by SAVAK to be a dangerous agitator against the oppressive monarchy, was arrested on several occasions: in 1963, immediately after the aforementioned Khordad riots, then the following year, then again in 1967 and 1970, again in 1971, and finally in 1975. He himself recounts his firsthand experience of imprisonment and torture in his biography, published in Italian with the title that bears the name of one of the cells in which he was held: Cell No. 14.
Leaders shaped by such trials could only inspire the new Republic with special care for prisoners, their rights, and their protection. Indeed, Islamic clemency underpins the approach to prisoners, whose detention is aimed not at repression but at re-education. Every year, on the occasion of major religious holidays and political anniversaries, Ayatollah Khamenei, before his martyrdom, granted pardons or commuted sentences to thousands of ordinary prisoners. In his official speeches to the heads of the Iranian judiciary, he often insisted that prisons should not be merely places of punishment, but genuine "schools of education and reform" to reintegrate citizens into society. Such an approach faithfully reflects the ethical direction of the Revolution and the policies of the Islamic Republic.
Remembering prisoners of war, the disappeared, and those still unjustly languishing in prison in Palestine, Lebanon, and throughout the world is not just an act of remembrance, but an act of resistance.