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Study says Iran textbooks urge martyrdom February 8, 2007 Textbooks used in Iran's schools are instilling students with hatred toward the West, especially the United States, and urging them to become "martyrs" in a global holy war against countries perceived to be enemies of Islam, a new study says. An Iranian human rights activist, Ghazal Omid, praised the findings, saying they prove hard-liners in Iran are using the books to turn children into "ticking bombs." Article from Boston World News Ottawa Citizen Tuesday, August 2, 2005 Staff Reporter Aron Heller 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.'" Vancouver Sun August 6th, 2005 Ghazal Omid doesn't mince words in the title of her nearly 500-page memoir about growing up in Iran. It's called Living in Hell. "I am certainly not the only woman who has suffered. I am just one of the few who dares to tell it like it is," she writes near the beginning. Omid, 35, came to Canada nine years ago and lives in Vancouver. In her book, subtitled A True Odyssey of a Woman's Struggle in Islamic Iran Against Personal and Political Forces, she tells of feeling second-rate, despite having been a bright child, interested in photography and medicine. Il Foglio Quotidiano Italian Newspaper 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". 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. Il Foglio Quotidiano Italian Newspaper "Gli iraniani vivono come farfalle in un barattolo di vetro da 26 anni", ci dice la scrittrice Ghazal Omid Oklahoma News Sunday, September 14th, 2005 Author outlines life in Iran Ghazal Omid's "Living in Hell: A True Odyssey of a Woman's Struggle in Islamic Iran Against Personal and Political Forces" (Park Avenue Publishers, $26.95) warns readers that if Iran becomes a nuclear power, we should all start digging either shelters or graves. After reading her book, this reviewer agrees. This is not an easy read and can hardly be called entertainment. Intended to be biographical, it takes a reader down a number of avenues. For instance, after a foreword by author Loretta Napoleoni, a section on Iranian politics and the mullahs, another on terrorism and Islam, a third on Iranian culture and a letter to Omid's readers, we almost begin at the beginning. From that point, we cover her difficult childhood, family problems, life with Jewish friends, politics, the Islamic Revolution, her hellish high school years, higher education, reaching young womanhood and surviving eight years of war with Iraq. North Shore News August 19th, 2005 I met Ghazal Omid at a book signing event to launch her book, Living in Hell, at Chapters, Richmond. I was drawn to her since my own daughter nursed in Saudi Arabia for nearly two years and has described the plight of women in the Middle East. Omid is a courageous and gifted woman who at the young age of 35 has spent almost 10 years in Canada. Her book details how a corrupt government uses the name of God to manipulate and suppress people, especially women, in the most barbaric ways in Iran. Omid sees herself as "a woman who feels the pain of my sisters". I see her more like an Esther, a young Jewess in the Old Testament who won the Miss Persia beauty contest and became the queen of King Ahasuerus who ruled the vast Persian Empire. Richmond News Aug 6th, 2005
Ghazal Omid
wants the world to know the horrors that continue
to take place in the Iran of her birth. The Richmond writer
is the author of Living in Hell. Richmond Review August 11, 2005 Richmond resident Ghazal Omid pours three decades of her stormy life into her first book that fights against injustice, including molestation at the hands of her brother. Immigrant documents personal and political struggles in Islamic Iran and aims for change Ghazal Omid started to write the story of her life at a time she wished it was over. After decades of abuse in her home country of Iran and years of struggle in Canada as a refugee, Omid finally became a Canadian citizen in March 2000. It was the high point in her tumultuous life, but realities of adjusting to her new life alone in a new country threw her into the depths of depression. Persian Journal Iranian Women Provide Catalyst for Change Today with the publication of her book, Ghazal Omid has become an important spokesperson for the Iranian Islamic and non Islamic expatriates working for regime change in Iran. And like her sisters in arms, Pari and Roya, she is a target and cannot be adequately protected. Her excellent website, www.livinginhell.com, she established to promote not just her book but her cause -the liberation of Iran. |
