“O my companion in the cage! How many cruelties we saw together,
how many favours too and blessings in our isolation…
In the end we will forget these pangs of separation for they’ll be
no more.
The bane of this cup which it’s been our lot to drink will be no more.
A hundred stones have bruised our breasts and lips, but they are sealed;
all the false charges which were hurled against us shall melt away.
O my companion in my cage! May your cup fill with faith
and your breast brim with the remembrance of His loved ones.
May your land flourish, your heart leap in ecstasy forever,
and your memory redound with the jubilation of the people of Iran.”
(Excerpt from To Fariba Kamalabadi by Mahvash Sabet)
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Teacher and poet Mahvash Sabet is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence in Evin prison, Tehran. She is one of a group of seven Baha’i leaders known as the “Yaran-i-Iran” – “Friends of Iran” – who have been detained since 2008 for their faith and activities related to running the affairs of the Bahá’í community in Iran. Mahvash Sabet began writing poetry in prison, and a collection of her poetry entitled Prison Poems was published in English translation on 1 April 2013.
PEN International is calling on the Iranian authorities to release Mahvash Sabet and all other writers imprisoned in Iran solely for exercising their right to legitimate freedom of expression.
To take more action for Mahvash Sabet visit here
To read more about, and take action for, all of the cases highlighted by PEN International on the Day of the Imprisoned Writer visit here