Maryam Rostampour - Captive in Iran: A Remarkable True Story of Hope and Triumph amid the Horror of Tehrans Brutal Evin Prison

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Captive in Iran: A Remarkable True Story of Hope and Triumph amid the Horror of Tehrans Brutal Evin Prison

Copyright 2013 by Maryam Rostampour and Marziyeh Amirizadeh. All rights reserved.

Cover photograph of chain copyright Radius Images/Corbis. All rights reserved.

Cover photograph of woman copyright Jose AS Reyes/Shutterstock. All rights reserved.

Interior photographs are the property of their respective copyright holders and all rights are reserved. Woman on phone AP Photo/Vahid Salemi; women in prison ATTA KENARE/Getty Images; prison guard Abedin Taherkenareh/epa/Corbis; behind prison bars Kaveh Kazemi/Getty Images; Judge Salvati AFP/Getty Images; Ayatollah Larijani AP Photo/Vahid Salemi; Tehran skyline Elmira Torabi/iStockphoto. All other photographs are from the personal collection of the authors and are used with permission.

Designed by Jennifer Ghionzoli

Edited by Dave Lindstedt

Published in association with the literacy agency of Calvin Edwards & Company, 1200 Ashwood Parkway, Suite 140, Atlanta, GA 30338.

Scripture quotations are taken from The Holy Bible , English Standard Version (ESV), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Because of the sensitive nature of the stories told about women imprisoned in the Vozara Detention Center and Evin Prison in Iran, many names have been changed to safeguard the privacy and dignity of the individuals involved.

ISBN 978-1-4143-7120-7 (hardcover)

ISBN 978-1-4143-8304-0 (International Trade Paper Edition)

ISBN 978-1-4143-8220-3 (ePub); ISBN 978-1-4143-8221-0 (Kindle); ISBN 978-1-4143-8219-7 (Apple)

Build: 2014-01-22 16:38:26

To the memory of our dear friend Shirin Alam Hooli, whose courage, kindness, and love live on in the hearts of all who knew her; to the precious women who were with us in Evin during our imprisonment (some of whom have since been released); and to all the women in Evin today still waiting for the justice that only a free nation can give them.

CONTENTS

FOREWORD

RECENTLY I RETURNED from a ministry trip to India, but within thirty-six hours I was on the road again. This time my destination was a womens retreat about ninety minutes from Atlanta, Georgia. I spoke in the evening, and the next morning the director of the retreat came to my cabin with two Iranian women she felt I would be interested in meeting. I was given the American version of their names: Marcie and Miriam.

We chatted for a moment, and then, knowing they were both from a Muslim nation, I asked them each to share how they had come to place their faith in Jesus Christ. I wasnt prepared for the thrilling blessing they began to pour out upon me as they shared their personal journeys of faith. They hadnt been just saved from sin. They hadnt just converted to the Christian religion. They were both in love with Jesus! For the next hour or so, they shared with me whyit was a love forged in the fires of pain and persecution.

Toward the end of our time together, with tears streaming down their lovely faces, they made a comment that haunts me still: They said it had been easier for them to experience Gods peace and presence and power inside Evin Prison than on the outside in America. Evin Prison! The prison in Tehran that has a worse reputation than Alcatraz or Angola in the United States. A place that causes even the strongest to shudder. How could that be?

Because I had a plane to catch, there was no time to find out why they would make such a comment. Or to hear some of their experiences inside Evin Prison. Or how they had known God there. Or how their faith had not only survived the experience, but thrived in it! So several weeks later, when I received a letter from them asking for permission to send me the manuscript of their new book for the purpose of writing the foreword, I quickly agreed. I couldnt wait to plunge into the details of their experience. And I was not disappointed.

As I read, I was held spellbound page after page, story after story. But what impacted me most was not the words they used to describe life behind prison walls, but what I read between the lines. I was, and still am, blown away by their boldness, their strength, their steadfastness, and their unwavering declaration of Jesus as the Son of God, the Savior of the world, the risen Lord and King. They lovingly and fearlessly presented Him to broken women who responded with tearful desperation, to manipulative women who tried to use them for their own purposes, to hostile officials and guards who had the power to torture, to judges who could have released them earlier if they had just been willing to compromise their faith.

Inside the dark hell of Evin Prison, Marcie and Miriam turned on the Light! Their love for the least, their kindness to the meanest, their gentleness to the roughest, their willingness to serve in the dirtiest place imaginable is truly a stunningly clear reflection of the Jesus they love, as well as evidence of His presence inside those walls. He didnt just carry them through somehow He carried them through triumphantly!

And I wondered... has God brought them here, to America, to share their remarkable stories in order to prepare His people for whats coming? So we will know that our God is faithful and true, wherever we find ourselves? Because we all have our prison experiences, dont we? Prisons of physical pain, of financial ruin, of emotional brokenness, of spousal abuse, of marital betrayal...

Captive in Iran has strengthened my faith. Read it, and I believe you will be strengthened in yours, also.

Anne Graham Lotz

CHAPTER 1

NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT

MARYAM

I arrived home from the dentist to an empty house, and my jaw was throbbing. As I poured a glass of water to take some pain medication, the phone rang. It was my sister, Shirin.

Im so glad I caught you at home, she said, her voice anxious. I had a terrible dream about you last night. I dreamed you had disappeared, and a voice told me you would be in a dark and dreadful place where you would be afraid. Suddenly the sky opened above your head and you were pulled upward by your hair into a beautiful green landscape. Then the voice said, This is what is happening to your sister.

Forget about it, I said lightly. Youre getting yourself all worked up over nothing. Everythings fine. Marziyeh and I are going on vacation for two weeks during the New Years holidays, and you and I can talk again while were on the road.

The truth was that Marziyeh and I would be traveling, but not on vacation. That was just the story we told our friends and family for their own safety. We would actually be spending the time in other Iranian cities, handing out New Testaments.

To be honest, Shirins dream bothered me more than I would admit, because I had also recently had a disturbing dream, one in which Marziyeh and I were standing on a hill with a group of boys and girls. A shining old man told a prophecy about each of us. When he looked at Marziyeh and me, he said, You two will be taken.

With our upcoming trip, and now these two dreams occurring so close together, it was more than a little unsettling.

Whatever God has planned is what will happen .

I was dozing on the couch when the doorbell rang. I heard Marziyehs voice in the hallway and some other voices I didnt recognize.

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