Out of Iran: A Woman's Escape from the Ayatollahs

Lin Good, a consultant, was Associate Librarian at Queen’s University.

Sousan Azadi was born into a life of privilege and promise in Teheran in 1954. Her father was a khan, a member of the land-owning elite. At the age of twenty, she married a wealthy Iranian businessman who lavished property and presents upon her. In this “gilded cocoon” she lived happily unaware of the poverty and resentment of the vast majority of the population.

Sousan’s tolerant, intelligent, and independent mother helped her daughter reconcile the family’s Moslem tradition with the Western customs being introduced by the Shah. On her mother’s death in 1966, Sousan was sent to relatives living in the USA to continue her education. She returned to Iran in 1973 just as the brief Arab-Israeli war broke out. The Arab countries wanted money to support Egypt because most of the Western countries were supporting Israel, so the oil cartel, OPEC, put an embargo on Israel’s friends. The price of crude oil rose sharply, and Iran’s revenues increased dramatically.

The Shah used the new money to buy weapons, and to open Iran further to Western influence. The ensuing excesses caused even some previous supporters of the Shah to protest. Meanwhile, neglected and ignored, the devout Moslems, especially the poor, sought their saviour elsewhere.

They found him in the Ayatollah Khomeini. When the Shah left Iran on January 16, 1979, the Ayatollah seized power and proclaimed the creation of an Islamic state. Alcohol was forbidden, the traditional punishments for misdemeanours and crimes were reinstated, and women were again expected to use the chador, the shapeless black covering worn oven their regular clothing. In this new regime, the wealthy privileged with Western habits were branded “taghouti,” the devil’s followers.

Sousan’s account reveals a sympathetic understanding of Iran’s wish to live by the Moslem faith; the American way is not necessarily best for all people. Yet her view of Islam seems different from that of the Ayatollah. Indeed, her tolerance is remarkable in view of the terrifying experiences she had, from which she escaped with her young son by a highly dangerous route. Today, she lives in Toronto, having survived mainly by her own courage and ingenuity.

This fascinating account of one woman’s journey through time and space benefits from the assistance of Angela Ferrante. The combination of talents has produced an absorbing story which is also useful in understanding the history and politics of the Middle East. It shows that true feminists are produced in many countries in varying cultures. It is a pity that Sousan Azadi’s talents are not available to her native country at this time.