"VICTORY OF LIGHT OVER DARKNESS IS NEAR IN IRAN", SHAHBANOO FARAH
CAIRO, 27 July. (IPS)
In a message on the occasion of the death of her husband, the late Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, former Empress Farah Diba-Pahlavi said with the courage and steadfastness of the young Iranian generation as well as all those who relentlessly fight for the freedom of Iran both inside and outside the nation, "the day Iran would recover freedom and democracy is not very far".
Not willing to shed blood, Mohammad Reza Shah left Iran on 16 January 1979, leaving the place to the Islamist revolutionaris led to triumph by Grand Ayatollah Roohollah Khomeini, and died of cancer a year later, on 26 July in Cairo, where the late Egyptian President Mohammad Anwar el Sadat had received him and offered sanctuary and medical care.
"In the last years of his reign, Mohammad Reza Shah had forecast a black future for both his beloved Iran and the whole of the region, saying if security leaves Iran, its aftermath and consequences would endanger the whole of the region and the world", the former Empress, better known by Iranians as the Shahbanoo (the wife of the Shah) said at the Cairo’s al Rifa’i Mosque on Sunday.
"And on his last days, he saw dark years looming over Iran, when a great fear would descend over the nation, replacing promised justice by injustice and the worse kind of dictatorship replacing freedom", she added.
As every year since 1980, she flew to the Egyptian Capital with several members of the family and close friends and was accompanied by Mrs. Jihan Sadat, the widow of the late Egyptian president, assassinated by an Islamist fundamentalist after he established official relations with Israel.
"My husband was however certain that the years of misery, sadness, terrible fear and awkwardness would not last long and now, here, I can assure him that thanks to the courageous Iranians, both inside and outside our nation, the path to freedom, justice and democracy is being paved. That day is now at hand", she said with determination.
After laying flowers on the tombs of both her husband and the late Egyptian President, Mrs. Farah thanked Mrs. Sadat and expressed gratitude to President Hosni Mobarak, and particularly the people of Egypt "who have always shown affection" towards the Iranian Royal family.
Princess Farahnaz, the late Shah’s eldest daughter, accompanied her mother during the private prayers.
As usual, many Iranians exiles traveled from afar to attend the ceremonies while others sent bouquets of flowers.
Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was born in 1919 and reined over Iran from 1941 to 1979, during which Iran became one of the strongest and most prosperous nations in the Middle East.
"As the days of national salvation nears, it is my duty to thank in my own name as well as on the name of all my children all the brave, fearless and gallant Iranian people who, in these exceptional days, mourns the memory of my husband in different countries all over the world and wishes them swift and quick victory, for the triumph of Iranian nation in this struggle is also that of the mankind for fulfilling its aspiration to peace, prosperity, civilization and light", the Shahbanoo noted. ENDS 27 703
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