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Vol. 78/No. 47      December 29, 2014

 
Letters
 
Meeting with Kurdish fighter
During a weekend trip to Vancouver, British Columbia, Dec. 7, I met Mohamad Khademyani, who is Kurdish and was a teacher in Sardasht, northwest Iran, where he was elected city councilor in 1999. His support of Kurdish rights led to imprisonment and a death sentence. He left the country and now lives in Canada, where he is spearheading a successful campaign to raise money for refugees in Turkey from Kobani, Syria. Kurdish forces there have been beating back Islamic State.

Proceeds from cash donations, children’s sale of chocolate and sales of T-shirts saying “My sister is protecting Kobani,” all doubled by a matching fund, have brought in more than $42,000. Khademyani and others have worked with aid agencies to obtain medicine worth roughly $600,000. He and others will leave Jan. 11 to deliver supplies to Kobani refugee camps.

I showed Mohamad I Will Die the Way I’ve Lived, Pathfinder’s book of prison watercolors by Antonio Guerrero. “This is very powerful,” he said. He told me about a fellow prisoner in Iran. “If I had not gone through prison, and met people like him, I do not think I would still be fighting for freedom today.”

Katy LeRougetel
Calgary, Alberta  
 
 
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