Shadi Parsi

Shadi Parsi was arrested by the guards of the Islamic Republic of Iran in 1981, almost three years after the Iranian Revolution of February 11, 1979. She was 18 years old and had just finished high school. At the time, the universities were closed due to the so-called Cultural Revolution.

In high school, Shadi had developed sympathy for an opposition organization. Political activity was not illegal at that time. The revolution had initially created a relatively open political atmosphere. The atmosphere changed on June 20, 1981, when, following a series of simultaneous demonstrations coordinated by an opposition organization, the regime began to massively and frantically arrest anyone who had been connected to the opposition groups in any way. Shadi was arrested about six months later.

Because of her political beliefs and affiliation, Shadi Parsi remained in prison for five years. She served her sentence in Tehran’s infamous Evin prison, built for political prisoners in Shah’s regime and later utilized and expanded by the Islamic regime.

Shadi began to write poems and her prison memoirs while she was still in Evin—not using pen and paper, since these were forbidden tools in prison—but in her mind. Once released, she began to reconstruct and write on paper, first in Farsi, and, when she left Iran, in English. In “The Five Seasons” section of We Lived to Tell, Shadi narrates parts of her experience as a political prisoner in Evin.

Shadi Parsi holds a Masters Degree in English Literature, and is currently working on a full-length prison memoir. She lives in Canada.