![]() The largest religious minority in Iran, the Baha’i community has borne the brunt of persecution since the middle of the 19th century. At her arrest, with six other colleagues known as the Yaran, she was carrying out the tasks of the democratically elected Baha’i institutions, disbanded when Khomeini came to power. Mahvash Sabet was unjustly condemned to prison for her Baha’i beliefs, which are considered heretical by the mullahs. But though I had worked for months on her poems, nothing had prepared me for her nonchalant grace after so long in prison. We have only spoken once, during her brief furlough after eight years of unbroken detention. We have never met, and I have only read her words in translation. When I saw the press photo of Mahvash Sabet standing outside Evin that night, I was struck by that glance. ![]() There was no surprise in her glance, no eager anticipation. Her hair, shoulder length and dark when she first entered those doors, now reached her waist and was grey beneath her purple headscarf. ![]() ![]() Her face was pale from long confinement but her eyes shone bright. Poet Michael Longley, who shares the PEN Pinter Prize with Sabet, announced the award at a ceremony in London on October 10.Ī woman walked out of Evin Prison in Tehran late one evening. Writer Bahiyyih Nakhjavani celebrates the inspirational poet and teacher Mahvash Sabet, who has been honored with the PEN Pinter Prize for International Writer of Courage. ![]()
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