«Son of Mangasht»; A Narrative of Captivity in Mosul Camp 1

According to Iran Book News Agency (IBNA), the book ‘Son of Mangasht’ is a memoir by Bijan Kiani Shahvandi about his period of captivity in Iraq, published by Payam Azadegan Publications.

Bijan Kiani Shahvandi, a free man from the Bakhtiari tribe, was born on October 7, 1963, in Shivand village, Izeh County. He officially joined the Izeh IRGC in 1981 and went to the front four times between 1981 and 1982 to fight and defend his religion and homeland. Finally, at noon on February 10, 1983, during Operation Valfajr-e Moghadamati, he was captured by Ba’athist forces.

Since his period of captivity was spent solely in Mosul Camp 1, his memoirs can undoubtedly be a good source for researchers and those interested in this field. What distinguishes this work from others in this area is the narrator’s fluent pen. In this book, in addition to exploring the culture and geography of his birthplace, he has not overlooked the minor and major events of the camp. Empathy, accurate and vivid depiction of events, reliance on dates and narratives, and the mention of real and precise names and times are other features of this work.

Several books by Kiani have been published to date, including; ‘Lonely Prayer and the Sun Again’, ‘As Gentle as Rain’, ‘Laughter on Chains’, ‘Reward and Punishment’, ‘Hojjat al-Islam’, ‘For the Swallows’, ‘The Glory of Resistance’ (winner of the 12th Sacred Defense Book Award), ‘Messenger of Freedom’, ‘Heroic Freed Prisoner’ (Children’s), and more.

Excerpt from the book:

I was no more than nineteen years old, but I behaved like a trained and experienced person. I held my head high so they wouldn’t see any sign of wavering in me. As much as I could, I looked directly into the eyes of the people who had come to watch and stared at us. I pretended not to care about the commotion. I knew they would get nervous if I stared them back in the eye.

One of the people standing by the vehicle, like a misshapen monkey, kept looking at me and boasting. I saw that he wouldn’t back down, so with all the anger and rage I could show, I looked at him and said, ‘Go get lost.’ I knew he didn’t understand Persian, but from my furious look and facial expression, he understood that I had insulted him. He was initially shocked; for a few seconds, he stared at me in disbelief…

The book ‘Son of Mangasht’, a memoir by Bijan Kiani Shahvandi about his captivity, has been published in 644 pages by Payam Azadegan Publications.