Azizeh Nodinian (1953–2004)

Azizeh Nodinian was an activist in Kurdistan and part of the region’s second generation of justice-seekers. She was the sister of two slain political activists and the daughter of Dayeh Kali (Kokab Mohibi). Born in Sanandaj as the second child—and only daughter—of a large family with seven sons, she assumed heavy household responsibilities from a young age. As her brother recalls: “Azizeh would wake at five in the morning, knead the dough, bake bread for a ten-person family, and then go to school.” She also organized a division of labor so everyone shared the burden.

By her own choice she married a Sepah-e Danesh (Education Corps) teacher serving in Mariwan. A year and a half later—with one child and full responsibility for that child—she chose to separate from her first husband. After returning to Mariwan, she completed an auxiliary-nursing course in Sanandaj, then went back to Mariwan to work in public health. During the fighting between the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iraq and Saddam Hussein’s regime, when wounded and displaced civilians crossed into Iran’s border towns, Azizeh would finish her shift and go house to house to treat the injured.

The Nodinian family was left-leaning and, even before the 1979 revolution, under SAVAK surveillance. In one raid, Azizeh cleverly created a commotion—waking the children and prompting tears—so agents would not discover the hidden library of banned books.

After marriage she moved to Sanandaj and worked at the city hospital. During the siege of Sanandaj and the popular resistance, she helped physicians and nurses secure medicines and treat the wounded. These activities led to the dismissal of Azizeh and several staff; she was reinstated, spent a period in Bijar, and then returned to Sanandaj, remaining active in health services until the end of her life.

Between 1978 and 1980, as protests in Kurdistan rose against first the Pahlavi monarchy and then the Islamic Republic, Azizeh stood beside her mother, Dayeh Kali, in marches, citywide strikes, and sit-ins in front of prisons. Her justice-seeking intensified after her brothers Nemat (Nematollah), Heybat (Heybatollah), and Shoki (Shokrollah) were arrested. She repeatedly joined her mother and other families staging sit-ins outside the prisons of Sanandaj, Kermanshah, Kamyaran, and Tabriz to demand releases.

After her brother Abeh (Abdollah) was killed while serving with the peshmerga, and Nemat was executed in prison, Azizeh fully joined the circle of bereaved families. She attended most memorials—at homes and in cemeteries—carrying portraits and singing revolutionary songs and poems to keep memory alive. For this she was arrested multiple times. In prison, agents tried to force her to sign a pledge not to attend or sing at such gatherings; she refused.

Azizeh’s account of being forced to face “Shoki” and the interrogators’ staged “confession”

“They told me, ‘Your brother Shokrollah (Shoki) has confessed to everything; stop resisting.
They took me into a dark room. By the faint light from the ceiling I saw two men throw someone, wrapped in a blanket, onto the floor. From that dim light I realized it had to be Shoki, my brother.
I shouted at him: ‘What secret of yours did I ever keep that you’ve now told them? What could I possibly have done with you that I’d need to confess to?’
I knew they wanted to pit us against each other. From my reaction they understood they wouldn’t get a forced confession out of me, and they took me out of the room.
Seeing Shoki—so lifeless from torture—hurt me more deeply than any beating they could give.”

During the years of resistance, a central part of women’s and mothers’ work was caring for peshmerga children. Many fighting couples entrusted their infants to relatives in the cities to spare them bombardment and the lack of medical care in the mountains. These children often lacked state birth certificates and, under wartime rationing, could not receive coupons for infant formula. Azizeh took on major responsibilities: she became the guardian of Navid, the son of her brother Nesan, even while raising her own three children and working at the hospital. Each year she turned Navid’s birthday into a small gathering of mothers and activists to remember the fallen—meetings that carried real security risks but which she continued with courage.

Witness accounts. Years later, when Azizeh traveled abroad to visit family, former activists and ex-prisoners—people who had been in contact with her through clandestine city networks—told the family (and thus Asad): “Whenever prison visiting day came, we knew Azizeh would show up; she would bring a message, news, or something we needed.

Because of her hospital work and access to supplies, Azizeh became a key conduit of medical aid to the wounded and to resistance networks. She worked with groups of doctors and nurses—among them Dr. Ardalan—some of whom were dismissed, imprisoned, or executed, and others who later joined the peshmerga. In those years she cooperated clandestinely in Sanandaj with Komala, later with the Communist Party of Iran, and also with the Worker-Communist Party of Iran.

At a memorial held after her death in Sweden, former prisoners, activists, and friends spoke about her persistence and care. According to her family, she died in 2004 in Sanandaj of a heart attack; they consider it an early death brought on by decades of pressure and repression.

In memory of Azizeh Nodinian—an activist of Kurdistan who carried pain and hope together, and made justice-seeking part of everyday life.

Notes

[1] “Activist in Kurdistan.” Throughout, “Kurdistan” refers to the Kurdish region within Iran (especially Kurdistan Province and nearby areas), not the broader transnational Kurdish regions unless otherwise noted.

[2] Dayeh Kali (Kokab Mohibi). Dayeh (Kurdish: دايێ) means “mother” and is an honorific used for respected older women; Kali is her colloquial name. Her birth name was Kokab Mohibi.

[3] Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iraq (KDP-Iraq) and the Saddam Hussein regime fought intermittently; wounded and displaced often crossed into Iranian border towns. Azizeh assisted such civilians in Mariwan.

[4] SAVAK was the Shah’s secret police and intelligence organization (1957–1979).

[5] Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is the post-1979 security/military force; in Kurdish and Persian sources often called Sepah-e Pasdaran.

[6] Komala (The Revolutionary Organization of the Toilers of Kurdistan) emerged after 1979 and later helped found the Communist Party of Iran (1983). The Worker-Communist Party of Iran (est. 1991) split from it. Azizeh’s cooperation refers to clandestine aid and support roles in Sanandaj.

[7] Peshmerga are Kurdish guerrilla fighters; here the term refers to Kurdish armed units operating in and around Iranian Kurdistan during the 1980s.

[8] Bijar is a city in Kurdistan Province; Azizeh’s transfer there functioned as an administrative punishment before she returned to Sanandaj.

[9] Ration coupons. During the 1980s war economy, basic goods (including infant formula) were distributed in Iran via coupon books; lack of legal documents often excluded families.

[10] Names and nicknames. In family and activist circles, the brothers were commonly referred to by shortened Kurdish forms: Abeh (Abdollah), Shoki (Shokrollah), Heybat (Heybatollah), and Nemat (Nematollah). Given the family’s leftist outlook, the shorter forms are used in this narrative.