A Little About Mokhtar

 

 

 

Las Vegas Tribune

Local Headlines

Vol 3, No 45 05-08-02

Iranian Freedom Fighter Mistreated by Catholic Charities in Las Vegas

By D. Eukel - Las Vegas Tribune

5/8/02

 

There are many who don't know, or possibly even want to know about particular events, which have transpired in other countries – that have both affected US policy, and influenced attitude here in "The Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave."

 

However, there is a necessity to be informed. Because it is genuinely possible that the influence has been wrongly motivated. It is more than apparent that the results of this faulty predominance, has helped destroy particular immigrants' confidence in American justice, and in the principles of the United States of America.

 

Take Hossein Mohktar for example. He was born in Iran. His father was a decorated Colonel in the Imperial Air Force of Iran in the 70's. But when the Sha of Iran was ousted from power and Ayatollah Kohmeni gained the seat of government, Mohktar's father became an enemy of the state. He was murdered by execution in 1981.

 

This led Mohktar down the path of life he has chosen. He was what is commonly referred to as a "Freedom Fighter." He joined a resistance group that opposed the Iranian regime. This regime today is accused of promoting and supplying terrorists around the world with weapons and suicide killers. He's been fighting them for over 22 years. In 1986 he was captured and imprisoned until 1991. During his nightmarish stay, he was put into an isolated cell, room enough only to curl up in a fetal position and fed bits of onion in a cup of dirty water for two years. During his solitary confinement, he was repeatedly beaten and tortured. His head was smashed into a concrete wall so many times that he was ultimately fitted surgically with braces attached to his neck and spine. His arms were grotesquely pinned behind him, which ripped sockets out of place, and then hung from a ceiling for threeday periods until he was unconscious. After 72 hours, he was removed and sent to a makeshift clinic, where doctors put his shoulder sockets back into place. And then after a short period of time, it started all over again.

Several times he was to be executed by firing squad. During a 10-day period in 1988, the Iranian regime murdered over 30,000 political prisoners, by hanging and firing squad. Someone was able to get pictures of this brutality and smuggle them out of Iran. But the world turned their face from these atrocities, just as they did in WWII against the Jews.

 

On the day Mohktar was to be taken out and summarily shot, a relative who was forced to work for the Iranian regime, saw Mohktar, bribed a few guards and miraculously rescued the man. He was released from prison but spent the next seven years periodically being arrested and tortured savagely to get information about an underground intelligence agency that was secretly fighting the murderous Iranian regime.

 

Although Mohktar had paralysis on his left side, in 1998, he escaped Iran and made it to Ankara Turkey. The United Nations High Commission for Refugees accepted him as a political refugee and began medical treatment.

 

But because he refused to stay quiet about Iran's penchant for murder, by giving news conferences and testifying to the tortures, Turkey began deportation proceedings. His medical treatment was discontinued.

 

Mohktar was once again on the run. With the help of several Turkish friends, he stayed hidden for more than three months. And then in August 1999 Turkey experienced an earthquake in eleven cities that hadn't been as destructive for more than 50 years. Thousands were killed.

 

Despite Mohktar's medical condition and that his own apartment had been demolished, he selflessly began helping victims. He is credited with saving over 30 lives by himself and assisting in rescue of hundreds of others.

 

In one case, he was forced to cut away the legs of a pregnant woman, to save her and her baby's life. He assisted teams of rescuers from the

United States, Canada, Vatican and Australian Embassies utilizing skills he had acquired as a master mountain climber in Iran. His caring won him the approval of the Turkish government and deportation proceedings stopped.

 

Mohktar was then introduced to the International Catholic Migration Commission, where he was given the opportunity to go to any country in the world and receive the medical attention he badly needed. He chose America.

 

He had heard that in America the opportunities were endless, and that if he applied himself, (and Mohktar applieshimself with a passion to anything he sets his mind to) he would finally have a happy life. A fax was sent by the ICMC office in Turkey explaining Mohktar's medical condition and plans were set to send him to Las Vegas Nevada, where the Catholic Charities of Southern Nevada, an organization under the umbrella of the ICMC was to receive and care for the hero. He arrived in January 2000.

 

However, CCSN did not fulfill their responsibilities immediately. There was paperwork to fill out, forms to be sent to the proper authorities, and it seemed to be a battle to make sure this was accomplished. For almost two months, Mohktar was without the insurance that was guaranteed by the ICMC and the US Government. He suffered greatly and his illness progressed. He had what is referred as C.S.F. leakage from both ears, which was from the skull damage inflicted by the Iranian regime's torture. His spinal column required surgery and braces to keep him from collapsing. He would need braces in several places including his neck. And without surgery, Mohktar could have died. However, as he put it in a letter to President George W. Bush, "..my friends always supported me additional of the protections by the Lord." The 'pain-killers' that he had been prescribed in Turkey (aspirin, which was all they could get at the time, because of the earthquake) could not be purchased. Ensuring that Mohktar, a political refugee with special circumstances and extraordinary medical needs, was taken care of seemed too difficult a task for an organization that is funded both by the federal government and through private donations as well as fund raisers.

 

The federal government funds the refugee program with outright grants, and as well pays the premium for an insurance coverage to last a minimum of eight months. Finally in March of 2000, Mohktar had his first of a series of surgeries.

 

In June 2000, nearing the end of Catholic Charities limit of help because of a "rigid set of guidelines." enforced by both the federal government and the Archdiocese of Southern Nevada, -- Mohktar gave all of his medical documents and an application to his CCSN caseworker.

 

She in turn was obligated to send the documents to Social Security, so that when his insurance program was ended from CCSN, SSI would then pick it up. She failed to do so.

 

Mohktar was forced to send medical documents and letters to Washington D.C. begging the United States Catholic Charities to continue his benefits. They ignored his pleas. Four months later and after Mohktar's willingness to do what he had to arrive at the appointed times at SSI, and other required places, which meant walking for miles, though he was unable to walk without major pain, he received aid. And not before first being cut off from Catholic Charities only days after his sixth surgery, being notified that he would be evicted from his apartment, which would have taken place had not the Metropolitan police department officers who arrived on the scene showed compassion for a man totally disabled. When the landlord met Mohktar for the first time to evict him from an apartment he'd never actually lived in for more than a week at a time (he was in the hospital mostly for eight months.) She was astounded that Catholic Charities had allowed this to happen. When the checks stopped coming from CCSN, she had no choice but to follow eviction procedures. But when she saw the man and the condition he was in, she apologized to Mohktar and said she'd work something out. CCSN finally paid an additional month's rent of about $500 dollars, a month and a half after that event.

 

After calling the Las Vegas Tribune, because his situation had become desperate, an interview was scheduled with the Director at CCSN,

Redda Mahari. With Mohktar in attendance, Mahari explained to the Tribune that there was nothing they could have done differently. "We are under a rigid set of guidelines from the federal government and our church hierarchy, but at no time did we just drop Mohktar from the program." He said. Mohktar differed with the director on several issues, pointing out that CCSN had failed to fulfill their responsibilities. Mahari explained that if there had been a breakdown in communications between his office and caseworkers, he was "sorry." and that he would do what he could to make it right.

 

Indeed, before the interview was over, Catholic Charities had ensured Mohktar that they would again assist him in whatever way they could.

Mohktar will be attending UNLV in a motorized wheelchair sometime in the near future.

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