A survivor of a field hospital

Sayed Kamal, Born in 1963, Isfahan, Iran

Fatemeh-Zahra, a field hospital located near the southern front of the Iran-Iraq war, was a place to provide medical cares to war casualties and local people but it was attacked by airplanes and artilleries of Iraqi army several times and the medical staff had got used to this condition.

Sayed Kamal, as a lab technician replaced the previous group whom were wounded during an air strike and what was unusual for him was that he had to learn how to use protective equipment against chemical attacks and undergo training to be prepared for a possible gas attack.

In March 1986, the bad thing happened and the field hospital was targeted by chemical bombs containing Sulfur Mustard. The gas attack, resulted in serious exposure of doctors, nurses, medical staff as well as the patients and wounded soldiers, Seyed Kamal was also among those who were exposed and sustained injuries. He knew that this was a violation of humanitarian law about protection of hospitals during the armed conflicts.

The hospital was contaminated and became dysfunctional so Sayed Kamal was unable to return to work by the time he was partially recovered from initial injuries.

Despite suffering from long term health effects due to his exposure to Mustard Gas, he continued his life by participating in social and educational activities. Due to lung problem, he had to move to other part of the country with more humid climate.. Currently he is working with an NGO to advocate for chemical weapons victims.

From Gas attack to Peace activism

Asadollah Mohammadi was

Born on 1964 in Kashan, at the center of Iran. He was 22 when he was seriously injured during a gas attacks by Iraqi airplanes in Majnoon island in 1986. He spent several months in the hospitals following his exposure to Mustard gas and due to severe pulmonary and visual problems; he couldn't get back to work and normal life any more.

Inhalation of Mustard gas caused stenosis and scaring in his trachea (windpipe) and main airways of his lung so he had to travel to Germany from time to time to undergo complicated surgery to keep his airways open and had to be under strict medical care for his lung lesions.,

Despite all his physical and psychological difficulties, he did not lose his hope; he returned to the society, started a family and began his social and cultural activities in his hometown. To have access to better medical care he had to move to the capital and studied Chemistry in the University then he joined the NGO Tehran Peace Museum as a volunteer. He is currently involved in several educational activities to raise public awareness on catastrophic consequences of war and Chemical Weapons and to promote a culture of Peace among young generation and other citizens..

Mehri Melkari

She was born in 1964 in sardasht and got married in 1987 her son was less than a year during the chemical bomb attacks in sardasht.

Lots of her family members got poisoned by mustard gas and many of them died or sent to other cities for special treatments and some of them were sent overseas.

Mehri and her husband were sent to Spain and she got her health back but without her son and husband, she lost them…

Nowadays she is still suffering from chemical injuries late effects and living her life with hope that someday there is a world without war, sanction or mass destructive weapons.

Chemical Weapons and Travel from Poetry and Flower City to Flower Country

Amir Amiri

Born in 1965 in Shiraz

Saddam Hussein's incursion in 1980 transformed a peaceful life in city of Shiraz with rich heritage, human civilization and extensive communication and social friends to a volunteering presence on the battlefields.

On 13/02/1986, during a massive chemical bombardment of the war zones and civilian areas, he and his soldier friends were injured by the Iraqi aircraft chemical rocket when they had not yet enter in operation area.

The large number of injured people in the country's hospitals, severe ocular and dermatological and pulmonary complications caused him to be sent with a number of his friends in hospitals to the Netherlands, Germany, Spain and Belgium.

His wounds reminded of the painful days of World War I and the use of chemical weapons. The world should have opened its eyes.

Now, the monster that had been dormant for many years had re-emerged, and a global determination was needed to deal with it.

The determination that was made in 1992 by the ratification of the draft of UN Chemical Weapons Convention and in 1997, with its the entry into force, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in The Hague was established.

Amin returned to Shiraz after treating injuries, peace returned to his home and Shiraz is still the city of poetry, flower and the heritage of human culture.

Poetry of Sa’di who sang in the seventh century:

Human beings are members of a whole, 
In creation of one essence and soul.

If one member is afflicted with pain, 
Other members uneasy will remain.

If you have no sympathy for human pain, 
The name of human you cannot retain.