Mohsen Nejat Hosseini is a graduate of the Master’s program in Chemical Engineering from the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Tehran. While studying, he also participated in the political and social struggles of his time and was one of the founding members of the People’s Mujahedin of Iran organization. Nejat Hosseini was active in this organization until 1976. In his book “Across the Persian Gulf”, he recounts his memories of his life.

The book “Across the Persian Gulf” by Najat Hosseini has been examined multiple times from different angles. But in this interview, the childhood friend of the author, “Asghar”, and the issue of slavery in Iran have been discussed, and Hosseini shares his memories of Asghar and other children in Iran with us.

Mr. Najat Hosseini, the issue that led to this conversation with you was your book “On the Shores of the Persian Gulf” in which you discussed your childhood memories in Mashhad and your experiences with discrimination and the motivations that led you to political activism. Please introduce “Asghar” and tell us how you became acquainted with him?

The house we lived in was on the outskirts of a noble house. In fact, due to my father’s occupation, they had given us a small house on the outskirts of that noble house to live in. Asghar, who was in the care of this family, had been brought from a village called Kalateh Barfi near the tomb of Ferdowsi in Mashhad to work for them.

As far as I can remember, there were vast poppy fields in that village and they would harvest a lot of opium through planting those poppies and export it to England. The amount of opium was so much that in order to prepare it, they would spread the brown opium paste on a white cloth and a relatively large stone floor in the courtyard of the aristocratic house and let it dry in the sun. The smell of this amount of opium would fill the entire house until it evaporated and turned black. Many people were in contact with this family, and one of these farmers was Asghar’s father. Asghar’s mother had passed away years ago and he lived with his father and stepmother. Asghar’s father was in his old age and since he was unemployed, he had no income or means of livelihood, so he sent Asghar to work in exchange for a monthly salary and some food. Asghar had been working in that arist

All of this was happening while Asghar had one less eye; one of his eyes had been lost due to a previous illness. He was our playmate, but he didn’t have the courage to play with us, as he would say. At that age, children play and experience a series of issues, but Asghar didn’t have the courage to do so, and sometimes he would sneak out and play with us in secret, so that his family and relatives from the aristocratic family wouldn’t see him. When he played with us, he was always afraid that someone might see him. He would say that if they saw him playing, they would scold him and ask why he was playing instead of working.

As a slave, what rights and human rights were taken away from Asghar? For example, if we were to compare, what was the difference between your life and Asghar’s?

In any case, I had a warm family gathering, with my sister and brother; but Asghar was alone. He worked regularly during the days and slept alone in a small room in the corner of the courtyard on a mat at night. In our house, a large spread was laid out and we all ate together; but Asghar would sit in the corner of the kitchen after helping to transfer the food from the kitchen to the master’s building, and eat the leftovers that were left for him. We had the opportunity to play, run around and have fun together in that house, and experience both joy and sadness in our childhood, but Asghar was often just a spectator and was afraid to get close to us (unless he knew that no one from the master’s family was around).

When the other children went to school and were busy with books, notebooks, and pens, and dressed in new clothes, Asghar, who was deprived of all these things, was busy collecting garbage and doing other household chores.

You mentioned a time period of approximately one year when Asghar was in that house. What was Asghar doing after this time? Do you know anything about his fate?

After a while, he developed a headache and constantly complained, saying that his head was hurting. The headaches became so severe that some days he couldn’t even get up from his place. As I have mentioned in my book, one day they made Asghar ride in the master’s car (jeep) and sent him from a city with doctors, medicine, and large hospitals to a village with no facilities. After six months, I heard that Asghar had passed away.

Was the illegal keeping of slaves not prohibited by the law that was passed and enforced in 1307?

See, at that time and about Asghar who was not illegal; now I don’t think it’s illegal either. Now there are many people in Iran who work for others as servants, laborers, or nurses, and the law does not provide any special protection for them. In fact, there is no law to give someone who helps a family in their home for a short period of time without any contract their rights and privileges.

Was the phenomenon of child marriage common in society at that time?

Yes, this was the norm at that time and as I mentioned, it is possible that even now such a situation exists for some people.

Is there a specific example that you have in mind that you are saying currently exists?

About 10-12 years ago when I traveled to Iran and stayed at the house of one of my acquaintances in Tehran, one day there was a knock on the door. The landlady went and opened the door. I became curious to know who had come, so I peeked. I saw an elderly man standing at the doorstep with a girl who looked about thirteen or fourteen years old. The man was telling the landlady that he used to work in that house and she should remember him. After a moment of thinking, the landlady said she remembered. The man said he came from Arak. He had a son who used to bring bread for him and come to Tehran to work. With the money he earned, he could support his daughter’s life as well. But his son had died in a car accident a few weeks ago and now they had no one to bring them bread. They only had this daughter who he had brought to work at their house.

So do you think that in today’s Iran, the younger generation still exists and the revolution that you also worked for has not put an end to this issue…

Yes, perhaps the names of individuals have changed from “slave” and “servant” to “servant” and “nurse”, but the relationships are still master and servant. In the past, slaves were bought and sold, but today, individuals in need sell themselves to the wealthy and move from hand to hand for the lowest wages. As you know, those at the lowest level of society easily sell their labor, and those who employ such labor do not give them anything other than a meager salary to survive and continue working, and do not recognize any rights for them.

Given that our society values religious interests and in Islam, although conditions and rights for slaves are mentioned, owning slaves is not prohibited. Therefore, using the labor of others for minimal wages, even by religious standards, is justifiable. Some may argue that servants and maids exist in every part of the world and people hire help for household tasks. However, in many advanced societies today, families in all social classes and positions do their own household chores, except in exceptional cases such as illness or excessive travel. In such cases, if they hire someone for household tasks such as cleaning, cooking, and laundry, they must employ them. They do not have the right to bring someone in without paying them a fair wage and without any responsibility towards them, or to cheat them out of their employer’s payment. Now in Sweden, when you hire someone to clean your house, the first thing you do is inform the tax office and the wages you pay include insurance and retirement benefits, and if this person gets

Do you believe that in societies like Iran, there is still slavery present, while in more advanced societies, this is not the case? Am I correct?

Let me give you an example from Sweden. About seven years ago, during a time when the bourgeois government came to power, a journalist named “Maria Borelius” who was an active politician from the Moderate Party (Moderaterna) was chosen as the Minister of Commerce of this country. The day after it was announced that this woman had become the Minister of Commerce, the newspaper Aftonbladet wrote that a woman with this name and title had contacted us and said that twenty years ago, when she was 18 years old, she had illegally and secretly taken care of her baby for a month at the home of this Minister. There was a lot of commotion about this, questioning why this woman had hired her without informing the tax authorities and in an illegal manner. As a result, this Minister appeared on television and apologized to the people. She said that she knew that what she did was wrong, but twenty years ago, we were not in a good financial situation and

But that was not the end of the story; at the same time, a young blogger, through the website of the Swedish Tax Agency – which publicly discloses people’s income levels – revealed the income of the Minister’s wife from twenty years ago and published this information on his blog. The published information showed that at that time – twenty-seven years ago – this woman and her husband had an annual income of one million Swedish kronor; which was equivalent to the monthly salary of an average employee at the time, which was around seven to eight thousand kronor. It didn’t take long for the newspapers to report that this woman had resigned within a week, sold everything she had, and went to England so that she wouldn’t have to face the people she had lied to.

With this example, you understand how big the difference is. In Sweden, if a person does the most difficult or simplest tasks, their life is of a relative quality and they have their rights. They can have a union by their side and file a complaint against the employer in court and protest against their low wages. It must be noted that while it is true that wage labor exists everywhere in the world, the issue of exploitation is another problem that varies in intensity and weakness in different places.

Although there are various social problems in Sweden, many of these issues have been relatively resolved in this country. It is our duty as Iranians living in this country to share the positive and constructive achievements that we witness and can be educational with our fellow citizens in Iran.

You mentioned in your memories that Asghar was one of your motivations for joining a political group with the goal of creating justice and equality. How did this phenomenon affect other citizens similarly?

Well, this question should be asked from other citizens, but generally, different perspectives stem from various social and familial backgrounds that each individual has experienced and their level of awareness. Nowadays in Iran, we witness many young people who, in the same age group as us, search for their ideals and desires in an imaginary world that is out of reach. This feeling is a result of their daily experiences in the circumstances they are living in. During our youth, there were political and social changes and revolutions in Cuba, Algeria, and Palestine, which had an impact on society in Iran, including people like me. However, not everyone was thinking about solving societal issues at that time. It is natural that family life, economic situation, and level of awareness of individuals affect their way of thinking.

I go back to my childhood. In the same yard where I used to play with other children or my father’s employer’s relatives, all the children did not have the same feeling that I had towards Asghar. The reason was clearly related to the living conditions and facilities that they had. It is possible that some living conditions may be such that they consider themselves entitled to take advantage of the younger ones and the younger ones provide services to them.

Thank you for the time you have given us.