Pars Today

Welcome to the two-part article titled: 'Resistance leaders exposed to threat and martyrdom.' Following is the first part of this article:

It is a divine law that the followers of truth will always face obstacles and wrongdoers. Since the dawn of creation, divine Prophets as the symbol of justice-seeking and campaign against oppression and superstition were always in danger and many of them were martyred by oppressors.

Stripping Sheikh Isa Qasem of his nationality exacerbated the situation in Bahrain. People staged a sit-in around the house of the Bahraini clergyman which has been surrounded by Bahraini and Saudi forces. Sheikh Isa Qasem has declared that despite the demand of Ale Khalifa regime, he would never leave his country. Thus the illegal regime which has no popularity among Bahraini people has paved the way for more violence against people and their leader Ayatollah Sheikh Isa Qassem. This comes at a time when Ale-Khalifa regime has dissolved Bahrain’s al-Wefaq National Islamic Society the biggest popular party of the country and sentenced its leader Sheikh Ali Salman to 9 years imprisonment. The regime’s measures against the people and the leader of peaceful rallies are so despotic that forced the world circles to protest though in words.

Of course, pressuring the leader of the five-year uprising of Bahrain, Sheikh Isa Qasem and endangering his life is not new for truth and freedom-seekers. Those who revolted against oppression and despotism have been threatened, pressured and even martyred. In ayah 214 of Surah Baqarah, God says:

“Do you suppose that you shall enter paradise though there has not yet come to you the like of what befell those who went before you? Stress and distress befell them and they were convulsed until the apostle and the faithful who were with him said, ‘When will Allah’s help come?’ Look! Allah’s help is indeed near!”

In addition to reminding the ample hardships of Prophets and their companions, this ayah stresses the divine law, namely, helping the faithful and truth-seekers.

Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) and other great leaders did not keep silent against oppressors and strove against them. In ayah 112 of Surah Hud, God says to the holy Prophet:

“So be steadfast, just as you have been commanded— and whoever has turned to Allah with you— and do not overstep the bounds. Indeed He sees best what you do.”

The holy Prophet of Islam endured many hardships to establish Islamic government and spread this religion and his successor Imam Ali (AS) was martyred in this path. The main symbol of struggle in the way of God against oppression and corruption is Imam Hussein (PBUH) and his companions who sacrificed their lives in this path in Karbala and attained martyrdom.

Therefore, uprising and revolution in the current era and resistance against the wrongful governments have a root in the teachings of Prophets and religious leaders. This confrontation has intensified since the victory of Iran’s Islamic revolution in 1979 which is the harbinger of truth-seeking, justice-seeking and struggle against oppression. For this reason, killing people and leaders of resistance by oppressors and dictators has increased. Founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran Imam Khomeini (God’s mercy upon his soul) was sent to exile for years by Pahlavi regime and the current leader of the Islamic revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei was exposed to assassination attempt by the MKO terrorists which injured him seriously. A large number of the efficient and influential officials of the Islamic Republic of Iran and people were assassinated and martyred by the henchmen of US. After the Islamic revolution tens of thousands of Iranian people were martyred while plots against them continue in political, economic and cultural spheres.

Killing resistance leaders is not limited to Iran and wherever some popular personality invites people to campaign against oppression and occupation, he will be imperiled. This goes on with more intensity in Palestine which has been occupied for almost 70 years by the child-killer regime of Tel Aviv. So far, dozens of resistance leaders have been assassinated by Zionists and perhaps the most outstanding one was Hamas’ leader Sheikh Ahmad Yassin. The Palestinian spiritual leader, due to opposition against compromise with the Zionist regime and his struggle against the regime’s expansionism, was imprisoned for several times until March 22, 2004 when he was hit by three rockets of the Zionist regime helicopters and martyred while returning from congregational prayer.

Among the Palestinian leaders of anti-Zionist struggles Fat’hi Shaqaqi enjoyed the characteristics like those of Sheikh Yassin. Thus, he was put on the terror list of the regime. During his 44 year life, Shaqaqi always fought the Zionist enemy. He was engaged in studying and political activity in Egypt from 1974 to 1981. But his support for the Islamic revolution of Iran especially writing a book about the viewpoints of Imam Khomeini led to his expulsion from Egypt. Having returned to his country he formed the Islamic Jihad movement of Palestine for countering the occupiers of his country. So, he was arrested and imprisoned several times. The agents of the ususrper regime’s spying aparatus Mossad assassinated Shaqaqi upon his return from Libya in Malta Island on October 26, 1995.

The Zionist regime’s acts of terror are not restricted to Palestinian combatants and whoever opposes the regime is exposed to the risk of terror. For instance, the second secretary general of Lebanon’s Hezbollah Seyyed Abbas Musavi was martyred along with his wife and child on February 16, 1992. Under the influence of the revolutionary ideas of Imam Khomeini and Ayatollah Mohammad Baqer Sadr, Musavi first fought Saddam’s Ba’athist regime and then he was forced to leave Iraq. In Lebanon he along with a number of combatants founded Lebanese Hezbollah movement in 1982 for fighting occupation of his country by the Zionists and 9 years later he became its secretary general. The effective blows of Hezbollah combatants on the Zionist regime forces and their agents and the prominent role of Abbas Musavi in guiding the movement infuriated the regime so that its helicopters hit and destroyed his car while returning from commemoration ceremony of martyr Ragheb Harb. Sheikh Ragheb Harb was another leader of the Islamic resistance of Lebanon who played an important role in encouraging people to stand firm against Zionists and was martyred in February 1984 by terror squads of the fabricated regime in Tel Aviv.

Emad Moghniyeh was one of the top commanders of Lebanese Hezbollah who was martyred by the Zionist terrorists. He had an active and effective role in anti-Zionist struggles and lived many years in secrecy. He was martyred in an explosion in the Syrian capital Damascus in 2008.

Now Seyyed Hassan Nasrollah, who assumed the leadership of the legendary anti-terrorist movement Hezbollah, is constantly threatened by the Zionist regime. His meetings are made under full security and no one is aware of his place. The Zionists openly speak of their effort for assassinating a personality who is the hero of fighting the Zionist regime. Seyyed Hassan Nasr Allah not only has not given up his attempt for defending the oppressed people of Lebanon but he spread it to Syria to counter the Takfiri terrorists.

In the next part, we will become familiar with other leaders of resistance and their characteristics.

FK/RM/ME