They did not give me the news at once. I was informed gradually. On the first or second day after the incident, somebody briefly said to me that an explosion had occurred at the party office, but I was not in a stable condition [due to being in hospital recovering from an assassination attempt] to correctly understand what had happened. In other words, I was not completely conscious, but I remember that something was relayed to me and after that, I forgot it. That was because I was mostly experiencing post-anaesthetic symptoms due to numerous operations which involved acute pain. They mostly kept me in a state of anaesthesia – in other words, in a state of confusion resulting from surgery.
Eight, nine days after the incident, I insisted that they bring me a radio and some newspapers, but they kept refusing with different excuses in an effort to keep the news from me, but in the end, those around me could not resist my continuous insistence. They had to inform me one way or another.
The person who could pass on the news to me was none other than Mr. Hashemi. They knew that because of our special relationship, he could naturally give me the updates and that was exactly what he did. Of course, I was not aware of things. One afternoon, Mr. Hashemi and Hajj Ahmad Aqa – Imam’s son – paid a visit to me and a person taking care of me at the hospital said to them that I had asked for a radio and a newspaper, but that they did not deem me fit and he asked for their opinion. That was how they began to give me the updates.
Mr. Hashemi said with his typical sweet way of talking – he would always bring up matters in a soft, peaceful and digestible manner: “In my opinion, it is not necessary for you to give him a radio. Is the news sweet and satisfactory outside for him to know about it while sleeping in a hospital bed?” I somehow figured out that something bad had happened. I asked, “Why? What has happened?” Mr. Hashemi answered, “Well, they keep exploding this and that place, some have been martyred and some are wounded.” This was how he began to break the news. I asked again, “Who has been martyred? Who has been wounded?” He answered, “For example, Mr. Beheshti is wounded.” I became really worried. I became extremely concerned at the news that Mr. Beheshti had been wounded.
I asked, “What is his condition? Where is he now? How does he feel?” Mr. Hashemi answered, “He is in the hospital and there is no need to be worried.” I asked, “How serious is it?” He answered, “Well, he is wounded and naturally he is unwell.” I asked, “Compared with me, does he feel worse or better?” I was trying to get a hint about how serious it was. “Well, he is so-so. You don’t need to dig any further. To put it in a nutshell, the news is not really desirable and interesting because some have been martyred and some have been injured.”
Thus, he kept me in the dark and left. However, I figured out that something important had happened during which Mr. Beheshti had been injured. Before Mr. Hashemi left, I beseechingly asked him to take as much care as necessary and to deploy all the medical resources of the country to save Mr. Beheshti in whichever way possible so as to prevent him from being seriously damaged.
After his departure, I managed to gradually find out what had happened through the people around me. I did something to make the people around me divulge the information and I finally learned that he had been martyred. Naturally, it was very difficult for me despite the fact that I was not aware of the exact dimensions of the issue – for example, how many people had been martyred, and the like. Nonetheless, the very essence of Mr. Beheshti’s martyrdom was an extraordinarily difficult blow for me. For many consecutive days, I was always worried and concerned and the slightest thing would remind me of that bitter incident. Yes, in any case, that was a very hard and bitter matter for me.
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