Prisoner of Tehran: A Memoir

By Marina Nemat

In 1982, 16-year-old Marina Nemat was arrested on false charges by Iranian Revolutionary Guards and tortured in Tehran's notorious Evin prison. At a time when most Western teenaged girls are choosing their prom dresses, Nemat was having her feet beaten by men with cables and listening to gunshots as her friends were being executed. She survived only because one of the guards fell in love with her and threatened to harm her family if she refused to marry him. Soon after her forced conversion to Islam and marriage, her husband was assassinated by rival factions. Nemat was returned to prison but, ironically, it was her captor's family who eventually secured her release. An extraordinary tale of faith and survival, Prisoner of Tehran is a testament to the power of love in the face of evil and injustice.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Penguin Group
• Release date: Apr 8, 2008
• ISBN: 9780143179207

Marina Nemat

Marina Nemat grew up in Tehran, Iran. In 1991, she emigrated to Toronto, Ontario, where she now lives with her husband, Andre, and their two sons.

Reviews for Prisoner of Tehran

[periodista_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The writing is pretty crude, but the story is so powerful--dare I say unique?--that it's nonetheless a page-turner. If it's true, of course, but I'll get to that--or you can skip to the third-to-the-last paragraph of this review.Crude: try as she might, she can't describe character, so her friends blur together. (Whatever happened to Sarah, btw?). I don't have a picture of the prison. Clothes and food and meals are often detailed ... you get the feeling that prison may have stalled her development at high school age.Good parts: This filled in what, for me, were big omissions in Reading Lolita in Tehran. What had happened to those girls in prison? I kept wondering. What were the various anti-Shah movements?This tells you that at least the female prisoners in Evin prison weren't alone; they were in large groups in a too small cell, but still. Perhaps rape before execution wasn't so common, after all (though there's the coda re the Iran-Canadian journalist who was murdered in Evin in 2003). This book gives you the impression Marina's fellow prisoners were all about the same age as well--high school or university. Middle class, urban. Hard to tell if any of them had done anything as criminal as throwing a bomb. Nonetheless, safe to say, that most had done little more than mount a feeble protest in school, just like Marina, had a communist or Mujaheddin sibling, perhaps attended a protest. What drove Marina to take the risk of attending protests, by herself, again and again? She isn't able to convey that sense of crazy youthful risk-taking or fervent hatred of the new rule. And what does her future husband Andre think of the revolutionary convulsions?Right. I digress. The good parts. Her parents are eerily, weirdly cold but their Russian ancestry (both on the maternal side) is very interesting. Then Andre's Hungarian parents. All the ripple effects of the Russian Revolution, WW2 (when Hungarians were sent to be interned in India. Could someone write a memoir or novel about that?). Her grandmother's first love killed in a demonstration in Russia. This reminded me, momentarily, of the generations of suffering in Vietnam--one trauma and heartbreak again and again. Except: this family, and Andre's, seem to achieve middle class-hood so easily in a new country that still has and had such a huge underclass. Marina is a Russian Orthodox Catholic, her faith pulls her through--but this means she can't explain much about the forces that supported the revolution. Who's secular? Who's not? In her school, there are other Christians (Armenian, Syrian), Zorastrians (in fact, the school is Zorastrian), Jews and, of course, Muslims. But she doesn't make any distinction between Shiite and Sunni!It surprised me that the devout family of Ali--the prison captor that saved her life, then forced her into marriage--was so well off. Also kind and probably educated at least to office jobs. What do they think he is doing in that prison? Would/could a family so devoted to the Khomeini cause really pull strings to get a Christian widowed daughter-in-law released?That was a tiny thing gnawing at me. Bigger was the scene where she was saved from execution while others fell before the firing squad. Biggest of all was the ease with which she went in and out of prison with this Ali fellow. But, as she says, she's taken liberties, especially by altering and conbining certain characters. The prison: well, I've read prison memoirs and about certain prisons (colonial French, notably) and one aspect doesn't naturally follow another. Some people are kept in little boxes for years on end. Then in the same prison, large groups are able to meet everyday in an open area, etc.But then ... go to amazon.com and start with the one-star reviews of this book. They're by Iranians abroad. One by a representative of former Iranian prisoners (see the pdf link). They don't provide enough detail, but they do refer to the kind of prison details that give one pause. Sounds like it wasn't much like a school dorm, after all. Probably that was a standard "fake execution" torture. Maybe she took up with a temporary marriage to a prison officer ... it's embarrassing to her now, maybe shameful, probably a sign of collaboration ... so she made this story up and conveniently got rid of the husband. If this were a Holocaust-type memoir, all the inconsistencies would be tracked down, as would the identities of Ali and family. Wouldn't other ex-prisoners know who he was, given that he seems to have been in a very high position?The ex-prisoners refer to other suspicious things ... Nemat doesn't seem to know much about the nature of trials, trials by hospital bedside, minute trials--things that other prisoners would have talked about. One also mentions the description of a single cell isn't right. Nemat even gives cell numbers, so that would seem easy to verify. Many of these women were prisoners during the same period, so do they recognize Marina? The ex-prisoners also don't think that Marina's transgressions would be enough to get her thrown in prison. Now that, I don't buy. She was definitely friends with people who were members of clandestine organizations. She could be linked in various ways--perhaps a friend's confession under torture, a fanatical teacher, confusion with another Marina ... I've read enough memoirs to know that in this kind of atmosphere so many "innocent" people get sucked in. Think of how Obama's grandfather-- not even a Kikuyu--ended up in one of those horrendous concentration camps during the Kenyan independence struggle.

[ms8c8earthsci · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Read this book in about one day while traveling back from Europe. Amazing story of one woman's struggle against the islamic regime of Iran. I can't believe this stuff is still happening around the world and read books like this to remind myself not to forget those who are victims of corrupt regimes. Highly recommend to anyone interested in the politics of the Middle East and human rights (particularly women's rights issues).

[priscillamylove · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It is well written, in that the author, Marina Nemat, didn't put the horror or being a prisoner into everything she wrote. Throughout the book when the violence, or horrors became too much, she would swtich us to memories that led up to her arrest, and inprisonment at the Evin Prison.She was only 16 when she was arrested, tortured and sentenced to death for political crimes. Up to then, her life was more of a typical teenagers life, school, summer parties at the lake, and her relationship with Andre, a young man she met at church.Sentenced to death, but Ali, an interrogator, intervened just moments before her scheduled death. Ali was able to get her sentence reduced to life, although Marina did not think it was fair. Death would have been better than the torture of lifeAli then went to the front lines of the Iran war & didn't return for months. Once he did return, he dropped a surprise on Marina, he wanted to marry her, he couldn't get her off his mind, even being at the front. And if she didn't want to marry him, well her family may come to some harm.Marina gave in and married Ali. If only to protect her family, but Ali was also able to get her life sentence reduced by having a new trial.Meanwhile, Ali's family insisted that Marina convert to Islam. After being a Christain her entire life, this was very hard for her to do, but she had no other choice. She felt that God wasn't there for her in many ways anyways.Married, and trying to have a life together, Marina becomes pregnate. Unsure if she feels joy at this turn of events or not.Then one evening as they were leaving Ali's parents home after dinner, Ali was shot down in murder. He did manage to push Marina to the ground, so she wasn't hurt, saving her life. Unfortunatly, she did lose the baby.Freed from her forced marriage, Marina was now able to try & continue the life she once knew before being a political prisoner. Andre, her love, had waited for her. They were married and after her husband worked for the University for 3 years, they were able to emmigrat to Canada, where they live now with their 2 children.The loose end I felt in this book was her religion, or faith. She never talked about it again after converting to Islam. SHe was married to Andre in the church, and she mentioned that it was risky, since the government was watching her and converting to Christianity was something that was not allowed, but she never addressed her own faith.It was a good book, and it's one that I will keep and read again, but it's so annoying when I'm laying in bed, trying to fall asleep and all I can think about are loose ends in the book I just read.

[lynnb_64 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Marina Nemat was arrested as a teenager, tortured, forced into marriage and spent over two years in prison. Right from the beginning, you know the story ends well: she has re-married, this time to the man she loves, has two children and emigrates to Canada. After several years here, she and her husband are able to afford a nice home, the children are doing well in school, the neighbours have become friends. That's when he nightmares start. For the first time, Marina feels compelled to talk about what happened to her as a teenager.Hers is an important story for what it teaches us about life in a totalitarian regime. Grown men torturning children for crimes such as writing a critical article for their school paper, or asking a math teacher to please teach math and not political or religious dogma. A world of fear and strong power imbalances. She also gives us a glimpse into how women supported each other in the prison.I sensed, at times, that she downplayed the horror or fear she was likely feeling. She was a young girl forced to marry and sleep with a prison guard, yet she speaks more of his kindness to her than of her pain in being forced into this situation. There are depths of feeling she hasn't shared, or perhaps has yet to come to terms with herself. Ms. Nemat says she needed to tell her story; I think we need to hear it and think about what she is saying.

[smits_52 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Marina tells the true story of her life before, during and after Evin Prison and the trials and torture that she had to endure to survive. This is a horrible tale of the evils that masquerade as justice. Nemat writes beautifully of maintaining hope, faith and love during the worst time of her life,What an admirable woman Marina Nemat is. She helped me to remember how lucky I am to live in a free country. So proud that she is a Canadain.

[chellebearss · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

At the age of sixteen Marina is taken from her family and placed in Evin Prison as a political prisoner. She is interrogated, tortured and sentenced to death by firing squad. At the last second she is saved by an interrogator that has used his connections and has gotten Marina's sentence reduced to life in prison. However that kindness comes with a price; Marina must convert from Christianity to Islam and become his wife.Marina tells the true story of her life before, during and after Evin Prison and the trials and torture that she had to endure to survive. This is a horrible tale of the evils that masquerade as justice. Nemat writes beautifully of maintaining hope, faith and love during the worst time of her life.

[ldvoorberg · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It's always difficult to respond to stories that are real, not fiction. It's a compelling tale, very well crafted in terms of its presentation -- the flashbacks and segues and how concepts are introduced so later there relevancy will be seen. If I didn't know it was a true story I would have said it was unbelievable. Instead it is an important story for the world to read, to know that these things happen(ed).

[craftimommi · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

one of the most interesting books i've read

[zumbanista · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Prisoner of Tehran by Canadian author, Marina Nemat is a memoir written in 2007. A part Russian Christian girl caught up in the Iranian Revolution, she was held as a political prisoner for 2 years in the notorious Evin prison when she was sixteen years old under the regime of the Ayatollah Khomeini.The author writes a riveting tale of torture, death, forced conversion and marriage. Her tone manages some balance while her emotionally gut wrenching ordeal is revealed. Her parents are not sympathetic characters: her father is distant and her mother a temperamental woman who only showed her daughter affection sporadically. Thank goodness she had her Russian grandmother to love her during her childhood. Marina's relationships with her aunt, her friends and their families provided some comfort to her as well as the family of the husband she is forced to marry.A real eye opener about the gender and human rights abuses of the Iranian Islamic Revolution, that unfortunately continues to this day.

[bythebeatles · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was a very inspiring book of faith, love, and hope. The book starts out as a recollection of memories Marina has of her past, and all the beautiful, scary and dangerous moments of her life. She is a Christain living in a Muslim world, and is not seen as one to fit in. She stands up to what she believes is right, which is seen as conspiracy against her government, which eventully leads her to a infamous jail. How she is able to keep hope for her freedom, and not give up hope after many of the people close to her die. I could harly put the book down!

[spectralbat · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I read this book last year and wish I had written this review then. Unfortunately my memory of specifics in books diminishes quickly after I'm finished, so I can only talk about my overall impressions as opposed to particular events. This book fascinated me, especially the forced relationship between Maria and Ali. I despised Ali on Maria's behalf throughout the book, but had to accept that even this man who forced Maria to marry him and then even forced intimacy, had actually genuinely cared about her on some strange level. To me, one of the strongest messages that this book reinforced was that people are never "good" or "evil".

[janismack · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Easy to read book about a Christian girl jailed in Tehran in the 80's during the exile and death of the Shah of Iran. Just a glimpse at the atrocities toward women during the beginning of the Ayatollah Khomeini's regime.

[librarycin · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Marina was 16 years old in 1982 after the Iranian Revolution when she was arrested and taken to a prison in Tehran. There for a little over two years, she was tortured, imprisoned and blackmailed. She is now married with two kids and living in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The back of the book actually tells more than my summary, but I wanted to leave some of that out, so be cautious reading the blurb unless you want to know more. This was very good. It was quicker to read than I'd expected, as well. At the start, her chapters alternated between her arrest, then back to when she was younger, then back to follow after her arrest, until her younger life caught up. It was easy to follow, though. The book primarily focused on the two years she was a prisoner. I thought it was very good, easy to read and well worth the read.

[auntieclio · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

In a truth is stranger than fiction memoir, Marina Nemat writes about how speaking her mind in 1980 Tehran, Iraq got her arrested and sent to the political prison, Evin. All she wanted to do was actually learn calculus in her class, not Islamic doctrine. But speaking up, peacefully protesting and leading others to walk out of class, go her name on a list of troublemakers.During her 2 years, 2 months and 12 days in prison, she is saved from certain execution by an interrogator who falls in love with her and has enough clout the Ayatollah Khomeini to get her sentence commuted to life in prison. This same interrogator threatens her with the death of her family if she doesn't marry him. Through a serendipitous series of events, she is released from prison and builds her life again. Currently living in Toronto, Canada with her husband (not the interrogator) and children, Nemat wrote this memoir as a way to come to grips with the memories which kept intruding into her life.Nemat brings to vivid life the horrid life many Iranians lived after Reza Shah Pahlavi was deposed in the revolution in 1979. She also illustrates how suspicion and totalitarianism create violence. This is a worthwhile book, one which gives a graphic view of life in prison and the oddities that made up her life and escape from execution.

[glitterlife · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Great story, very well written and really impresive how this woman handeled her ordeal in Iran.Great read!

[imperfectmanx · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Marina was a political prisoner under the Khomeini government for two years. In thsoe years she was initially tortured, lived in Evin and forced to marry her interrogator. I am ambivalent about the book. While I agree that the story needs to be told,Marina Nemat seems to have had an easier time than most other prisoners at Evin. She was initially tortured, but having caught the fancy of one of her torturers, he goes out of his way to reduce her execution to a life sentence and then forces her to marry him. However, contrary to the monster that one is expecting, he turns out to be a loving man to her despute his horrendous job, and she finds a family that is more compassionate and living than her own family is. When her husband dies, he makes his father promise to have her freed, and Marina soon finds herself released from prison and on the way to a life she left behind. I found the book losing focus. While the intention of the book was to spotlight the plight of political prisoners in Iran at the time, the impact is lost amid the stories of a marriage that isn't quite as ideal, but certainly not horrific, reminisces about parents that were emotionally unavailable and ultimately unhelpful. The story of women in Iran needs to be told, but Marina Nemat's story is not the most compelling. I would have liked to have read more about the other prisoners and their pasts than a memoir of a woman who spent two years in better conditions than most of her fellow-inmates

[aliciamalia · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Nemat was imprisoned as a teenager for her political views, one of tens of thousand such prisoners. After two years (and forced marriage to one of her captors), she was freed and eventually able to move to Canada. She buried her memories for nearly twenty years. Although not a natural writer, Nemat has a fascinating story to tell, and very successfully captures the conflicting emotions she's had about her past.

[mpethick_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Marina was just 16 when she was arrested and thrown into prison. Fortunate enough to escape the death penalty, she is forced to marry an official with the prison or face terrible consequences.This was a compelling personal account of the major shift in cultural attitudes that took over Iran after the Shah was overturned in the Islamic revolution of 1978. The blind acceptance of new laws that were illogical and ill-founded is disturbing, as are Marina's experiences in the infamouse Evin prison for political dissidents. Not only is the story fascinating, but the writing is very well done. I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading about other cultures and who wants to gain a little insight into the culture and attitudes in some of the Middle East. This is also a great book for those who don't normally read non-fiction.

[dfullmer_3 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A memoir of a young girl who is thrown into prison and tortured for minor offenses against the Iranian government such as speaking out at her school because they were no longer teaching the school subjects but rather spewing anti-revolutionary rhetoric. Once in prison she is given a death sentence and is rescued just minutes before she is to be shot. Her rescuer turns out to be one of her jailers, he tells her he has fallen in love with her and wants to marry her. She is cooerced into marriage and a conversion to Islam. Hard to believe that a society can justify torturing teenagers but here it is in black and white.

[clik4 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Marina is a young girl growing up in safety and comfort in Tehran in the 70’s and early 80’s. A spirited soul with convictions of what is right, she questions her new government's replacement of a teacher and asks to be taught the subject matter, calculus. This rebellion is remembered by the new regime who picks her out of her home and places her into Ayatollah Khomeini’s notorious Evin prison. She finds herself in a new world, full of fear and without physical or emotional comforts. she is saved from execution by a conflicted and lonely interrogator who blackmails her with the safety of her family and those she loves, into marriage. Although still considered a prisoner, she gives up one set of horrors for another in the name of survival. The lines between good and evil blur for Marina. Now living in Canada, the wife of her childhood sweetheart, she has kept her silence about her life, until now. The Prisoner of Tehran honors those who were not blessed with her good fortune.

[meggyweg · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I found this to be a fascinating, well-written memoir, and highly recommend it. The author's story is certainly worth telling. Arrested as a political prisoner at age 16, she was sentenced to death for "crimes against the state" after Iran's Islamic Revolution. Marina's life was saved by a guard who fell in love with her; she was then forced to marry him on pain of her family being harmed. Marina's story made me feel grateful to live in a country where such things don't happen. I also found it very impressive that she did not paint everything in shades of black and white, and was even able to show the human, kind side of the guard who threatened her loved ones, married her against her will and raped her.I would recommend this book for anyone interested in the Middle East. I think it would also be good for use in the college or high school classroom.