Living In Hell: A True Odyssey of a Woman's Struggle in Islamic Iran Against Personal and Political Forces [Hardcover]

Ghazal Omid (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 2005

Ghaza Omid was born in Iran, during the reign of the Shah, into the second of her father's two families, both of whom he abused, neglected, and deserted. As a child she witnessed death and destruction daily and faced near starvation while surviving the armed conflict to escape the danger of the Iranian revolution and Iran-Iraq war. She grew to adulthood under the dictatorial Islamic regime of Khomeini and his mullahs. In reprisal for daring to quietly defy false Islamic rules imposed by authorities and for demanding to be treated as an equal, she was abducted by Sepah Pasdaran, the Islamic Iran special police, a prelude to an orchestrated death sentence for alleged resistance to the regime. Escaping her abductors by jumping from a moving car, she made her way through France and Holland to Canada. Today she resides in Washington, D.C.

--This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Somewhere inside this ungainly behemoth of a memoir lies an absorbing account of a middle-class girl's life in Iran. Yet only the most patient reader will follow the travails of Omid (a pseudonym meaning "lost soul") from conception into middle age. After five introductions that each repeat approximately the same point (women are ill treated in Iran), Omid launches into extensive backgrounds on both sets of grandparents; her shrewd, bigamous businessman father (whom she hates); her mother (on whom she blows hot and cold); and her brothers (her feelings range from dislike to hatred). Omid appears to be a contentious person as well as a grievance collector, and her clashes with family, friends, teachers and, later, when she emigrates to Canada, employers, seem more personal than political. The protracted detailing of grudges becomes so numbing that when genuine iniquity occurs—she claims to have been raped and briefly kidnapped—a reader's reaction is somewhat muted. In the 150-page Canadian section toward the end, Omid quarrels incessantly with her brothers (who also emigrate), becomes anorexic, has plastic surgery and is diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Iran would seem to be the least of her worries. (June)
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Review

A frightening memoir of growing up under Iran's male-dominated oppressors, confirming that the mad ayatollahs have, in 27 years, wrecked a once-vibrant nation and destroyed its culture. Omid's Iran is a dysfunctional society in a "coma of ignorance," led by "mindless fanatics." Males are obsessed with money and hymens. Women, if they aren't victims, have sold out and joined the Pasdar spies who hound female violators of the ayatollahs' decrees. Throughout, Omid displays numerous perceptive, valuable observations: Ayatollah Khomeini's command of Farsi was so weak he could barely be understood; his mullahs took the Shah's palaces after the overthrow, then cornered the black market for food to become "even richer" than the Shah; 70 percent of Iran's villages have been destroyed or abandoned under the mullahs. She also harbors no illusions about Iran's wickedness: "If Iran becomes a nuclear power," she warns, "the world should start digging, either their shelters or their graves..." What is most riveting, however, is her striking journal of personal pain within her abusive family--her brother forced her into persistent incest, her wealthy father humiliated her and abandoned the family to destitution and she was forced to battle her way out of one arranged engagement after another. Little wonder she has emerged on the far side, in Vancouver, as a brittle manic-depressive finding it difficult to outrun her past. Omid wrote most of Living in Hell in a single month while under a therapist's care, imbuing the work with a powerful sense of urgency.

Passionate and commanding.

Kirkus Discoveries -- Kirkus Reviews

Executions a sad reminder of home for Iranian author: Human rights activist says hanging of two gay teens shows Canada must get tough with Iran's regime, which she describes as 'a cancer,' writes Aron Heller.

When Ghazal Omid first heard about the public hanging of two gay teenagers in Iran, she instinctively started to cry.

"I was devastated. When I saw those pictures it was like someone putting a hand to my heart and pulling it," said Ms. Omid, 35, a Vancouver-based author and human right advocate from Iran. "That's what the government of Iran does. The government of Iran is about oppression, it's about abusing other people and showing off that 'I can do it, and if you say anything I will kill you, too.'"

On Jul. 19, Mahmoud Asgari and Ayaz Marhoni were executed at a public square in Mashad, in northeast Iran. Iranian officials said both were over 18 and were sentenced for kidnapping, rape and homosexual activities. Prior to their execution, the two were also given 228 lashes each for drinking, disturbing the peace and theft, according to Amnesty International Canada.

Gay rights and Iranian opposition groups, though, said the two were only 16 and 18, and have suggested the rape charges against them were meant to undermine public sympathy. The groups have further suggested the boys made their confessions under torture.

Canada's Foreign Affairs Department has warned same-sex married couples to be wary of the law when travelling or moving to foreign countries, like Iran, that do not recognize their marriages.

Iran enforces Islamic Sharia law, which dictates the death penalty for gay sex.

The incident has sparked outrage around the world, with human rights groups saying this is just the latest example of widespread abuse in Iran's Islamic theocracy.

If anyone knows the horrors of living under the Iranian regime, it is Ms. Omid.

She was born in Abadan, Iran, in 1970, the only daughter in a very religious family. At 12, she says she was raped and molested by her older brother, but could never speak about it. Muslim women who have been sexually abused are often killed by their own relatives, for bringing shame upon the family. In high school, she became active in opposition groups and, as a result, was denied entry to medical school or any public university. Ultimately, she enrolled at a private university where she continued her resistance, participating in student protests. She was monitored and eventually abducted by the secret police for her activities. She escaped and fled the country, arriving in Canada ten years ago.

Ms. Omid recently published her life story in a book entitled Living in Hell. In an interview, she said it was just that.

"How you live, how you breathe, how you have relationships with other people is for government to monitor. Your nails, your outfit, the colour of your outfit, these are the simple freedoms. If these are taken away from you -- it's a hell," she said. She said she has also had a "brush" with lesbianism and said "if they would have found out, they would have killed me. It's as simple as that."

But the real issue in Iran, she agreed, is not about gay rights in particular, but human rights in general.

"We can not kill other people just because we feel like it," she said. "It's almost like they are paralyzing people to what they want to do. They say that 'I'll decide who lives and who dies.'"

Hopes were high in 1997 when Mohammad Khatami, a seemingly reform-minded and moderate candidate, was elected president on a platform of reform and democratization.

But with only a few weeks left in his presidency, the consensus among analysts and human right groups is that those efforts have failed miserably. Iran is still governed primarily by a group of hard-line conservative mullahs, loyal to the ways of Ayatollah Khomeini, leader of the 1979 revolution.

In addition to children and homosexuals, women, ethnic minorities and political dissidents are commonly abused and persecuted in Iran, according to human right groups. Aside from its domestic policies, Iran has drawn the ire of the western world, as well, for its aggressive pursuit of development of nuclear weapons and for supporting Islamic terrorist groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah.

Ghazal Omid fears Iran's ideological tyranny will spread, perhaps to next-door neighbour Iraq, and taint the image of Muslims around the world.

She has made the religious pilgrimage to Mecca and still considers herself a devout Muslim despite living a modern, western life.

"Islam is not what the government of Iran does," she says. "The government of Iran says 'you have to cover your head because I say so.' But there is no 'I say so' in Islam."

And she said physical appearance was just the superficial example of this. "They made Islam look like a bloodshed, look like a monster who wants to eat everybody. What they are doing, the terror and terrorism, is essentially a cancer that is eating the body of Islam," she said.

Canada's interest in the situation in Iran has grown since the case of Iranian-Canadian photojournalist Zahra Kazemi came to light. Ms. Kazemi, 54, died in an Iranian prison in July 2003, about three weeks after being detained for taking photographs during anti-government protests. She was reportedly beaten to death.

Iran's judiciary charged a low-ranking intelligence official with unintentionally killing her during interrogation. The official was cleared of the charge at a trial last July, and, last week, an Iranian appeals court rejected demands for a new investigation into whether Ms. Kazemi's death was premeditated murder, effectively ending the case. Canada has continued to demand a thorough investigation, but many critics have said the federal government needs to take a tougher stand.

Ms. Omid agreed. "You're talking about a government that does not have any fear of hurting anybody," she said. "How much are we willing to sacrifice for our human rights?"

Canada's policy towards Iran has remained one of "controlled engagement," limited primarily because of human rights concerns.

"Canada is very concerned about Iran's performance -- especially relating to the independence of the judiciary, arbitrary detention, freedom of expression and the treatment of women, inmates and religious minorities," said Marie-Christine Lilkoff, a Foreign Affairs department spokeswoman. "Canada's objective is still to promote and accelerate positive change in Iran. This objective underpins our general approach to Iran's human rights situation."

Ms. Lilkoff said the death sentence for minors violates Iran's obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which bans executions of persons who were under 18 years of age at the time of the offence. "Canada calls on Iran to abolish child executions immediately, and to impose a moratorium on all executions, with a view to abolishing the death penalty," she said. But Ms. Omid said this tough talk is far from enough and called Canada's soft approach toward Iran a mistake. "This is not the way to go with governments like Iran," she said. "Something people in this part of the world don't know is when you are dealing with people like mullahs in Iran you absolutely have to be firm and put your foot down and say 'I don't care what is going to come, you are going to do it my way.' That is the only way they are going to understand. Sometimes you need to speak the language of that person in order for them to understand you," she said.

So far this year, Iran has executed at least four people for crimes committed when they were children, including one who was still a child. Amnesty International has recorded 42 executions so far in 2005, but says the actual number is likely higher.

Ms. Omid called he latest incident "a symbolic execution" meant to intimidate and show power.

"I am very sad and very angry that we have come to this point that two kids are hanged publicly and we sort of stand and do nothing," she said.

Illustration: * Colour Photo: Richard Lam, The Vancouver Sun / Ghazal Omid, author of Living in Hell, says she would have been put to death had authorities ever learned that she as a teenager had a 'brush' with lesbianism living in Iran. * Colour Photo: The Associated Press / Blindfolded teenagers Mahmoud Asgari, 16, left, and Ayaz Marhoni were executed at a public square in Mashad, in northeast Iran. They were sentenced for kidnapping, rape and homosexualacts, but human rights groups say the rape charges were trumped up. -- Ottawa Citizen

Ghazal Omid: An Iranian Woman's Plight for Personal & Political Freedom

A young Iranian woman, Ghazal Omid, has written a courageous and powerful book entitled "Living in Hell: A True Odyssey of a Woman's Struggle in Islamic Iran Against Personal and Political Forces" (488 pp., Park Avenue Publisher). As Loretta Napoleoni has written in her forward, "Omid's terrifying life story encapsulates all the extraordinary elements of growing up in a far-away land of which Westerners know very little". Indeed, Omid masterfully highlights through her nightmarish personal tale not only the continued violence against women in her country, but also provides a valuable account of the historical events of Iran before and after the rise of Ayatollah Khomeini. She gives a first hand account of the dysfunctional nature of Iranian society that has been transformed by those she defines as "mindless fanatics who have taken the Iranian people as fools for the past 26 years and who", according to Omid, "are waiting to do the same with the rest of the world". Although Omid now lives in Canada, the publication of her book has made her a target of numerous death threats and her website livinginhell.com has become a technical battleground that is continually hacked by those who oppose her and her criticisms. When probed about these events, Omid laughs nervously and says, "I'm not surprised", adding "what do you expect from those who don't tolerate dissent"? What are the main criticisms of those who oppose you and what you've written? "Most of the criticism comes from people living in Islamic societies. They criticize me for writing about my own personal life - the fact that I've written about being raped by own brother and about growing up in a culture where I had no way of speaking up. They call me a whore and keep saying that I'm nothing but an opportunist. Despite being hassled by my compatriots and other Muslims, I must say that non-Muslims and non-Iranians have been very supportive". You are very critical of the mullahs in Iran, but not of Islam? In your opinion, is it possible to separate religion from politics in the Islamic Republic of Iran? "I'm not critical of Islam, but it's very difficult to separate the two in Iran. I'm not only criticizing Islam, but any religion that is exploited by its practitioners. I say that I believe in God, but only the God that created me and not the God that these mullahs have created for me and tied to a political agenda. I draw a specific line between religion and power". How crucial are women's rights to any serious transformation of the current regime? "They are very important, but you have to remember that women in Iran have been manipulated for so many years that they often don't see themselves as a force anymore - although they are. If any change is to occur in Iran it is in the hands of women. I'm trying to encourage them that it is their right to demand greater rights. I have a saying that I often use that nobody would put your right on a golden plate and offer it to you. If it's yours - you have to rightfully demand it. It is crucial that Iranian women stand up and say you know what, we're fed up with you, we're a force and we're going to kick you out, but they haven't gotten that far yet. It doesn't help that they are often brought down and treated as dirt. I've seen girls being married off at age nine. These girls grow up to become nothing and all they know is to serve men. I wonder how a future generation of women can be independent and free thinking individuals who could stand up to the regime when they're conditioned in this way. Unfortunately, this practice continues to be encouraged by the regime". Amy K. Rosenthal NOTE: An Italian version of this article appeared in the Italian newspaper, Il Foglio, on 1 November 2005. -- Il Foglio

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 488 pages
• Publisher: Park Avenue Publishers, Oklahoma (July 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0975968300
• ISBN-13: 978-0975968307
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,052,131 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must Read, January 27, 2006

By 

Peter Gehringer (California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Living In Hell: A True Odyssey of a Woman's Struggle in Islamic Iran Against Personal and Political Forces (Hardcover)

This book is an amazing account of an Iranian woman who learned the value of civilized society the hard way. To her it was not some college exercise in philosophy, it was life or death. I cannot stress enough what a unique perspective this book brings. Although raised as a devout Muslim, she reasoned, on her own at a young age, the difference between the "True Message" of God, and religious manipulation.
Although at first the book may sound like a long series of complaints, it makes some extremely serious points. I read it cover to cover and then had to take a couple of days to think about it. If she were talking about our society, we might consider her a chronic complainer. We would, as a caveat, automatically make the assumption our system itself was correct. Instead I consider her one of the first to see the overall problem and expose it for what it is, a barbaric culture which has failed to develop into a modern cooperative society.
After all this author has been through in her life most people would be completely devastated and unable to function. She, on the other hand, still believes in a civilized world and wishes to do all she can to promote peace.
This is a book that screams for women's rights, and helps you understand why they are an absolutely essential part of any civilized society. I have puzzled for years over why fanatic behavior exists and is tolerated. This book shows first hand a direct connection between how women are treated and how their lack of a voice in family dynamics cause high numbers of insecure children. The insecure grow up to be selfish and self centered, totally lacking a self generated moral compass. Out of these insecure children grow the suicide bombers of tomorrow, who, unlike this author, do not understand that there is no reward in heaven for being manipulated in the name of religion.

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Omid's book is one the best books I have recently read ......, October 10, 2005

By 

HMD "HMD" (Ameirca) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Living In Hell: A True Odyssey of a Woman's Struggle in Islamic Iran Against Personal and Political Forces (Hardcover)

A frightening memoir of growing up under Iran's male-dominated oppressors, confirming
that the mad ayatollahs have, in 27 years, wrecked a once-vibrant nation and
destroyed its culture.
Omid's Iran is a dysfunctional society in a "coma of ignorance," led by "mindless fanatics."
Males are obsessed with money and hymens. Women, if they aren't victims, have sold
out and joined the Pasdar spies who hound female violators of the ayatollahs' decrees.
Throughout, Omid displays numerous perceptive, valuable observations: Ayatollah
Khomeini's command of Farsi was so weak he could barely be understood; his mullahs took
the Shah's palaces after the overthrow, then cornered the black market for food to become
"even richer" than the Shah; 70 percent of Iran's villages have been destroyed or abandoned
under the mullahs. She also harbors no illusions about Iran's wickedness: "If Iran becomes a nuclear power," she warns, "the world should start digging,
either their shelters or their graves..." What is most riveting, however, is her striking journal of personal pain within her abusive family-her brother
forced her into persistent incest, her wealthy father humiliated her and abandoned the family to destitution and she was forced to battle her way out of
one arranged engagement after another. Little wonder she has emerged on the far side, in Vancouver, as a brittle manic-depressive finding it difficult to
outrun her past. Omid wrote most of Living in Hell in a single month while under a therapist's care, imbuing the work with a powerful sense of urgency.
Passionate and commanding.
Omid, Ghazal
LIVING IN HELL: A True Odyssey
of a Woman's Struggle in Islamic Iran
Against Personal and Political Forces
Park Avenue Publishers (488 pp.)
$26.95
July 30, 2005
ISBN: 0-9759683-0-0
-Kirkus Discoveries
Kirkus Discoveries, VNU US Literary Group, 770 Broadway, New York, NY 10003 646-654-4602 fax [phone]
[e-mail]

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A book difficult to put down!, October 11, 2005

By 

C.J. Miller (St. Paul, MN USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Living In Hell: A True Odyssey of a Woman's Struggle in Islamic Iran Against Personal and Political Forces (Hardcover)

Seldom do I read a book that I have a hard time putting down. This is one of those books. Ms. Omid's story from her childhood in Iran to her struggles in her adopted country of Canada is the story of a life that most of us can not even imagine. Still, through all of her problems, Ms. Omid stands out as a woman who has the courage of her convictions to carry her through adversity to the place where she is today! I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the status of women in the middle east and to those who simply wish to read a story about how inner strength can lift any of us out of intolerable situations.