Nosrat Ghufrani Yaldaie - Bahá'ís of Ireland

Nosrat Ghufrani Yaldaie

Nosrat Ghufrani Yaldaie was born in 1937 near a village in Iran called Neyriz. Her father was a farmer but he died of influenza before she was even one year old. The family moved to Shiraz when she was five and that’s where she started school. Nosrat loved school, she particularly loved reading. If she could have done so she would have like to stay in education past elementary level but that wasn’t possible, her mother didn’t have the money to keep her at school.

Though she had to leave school when she was very young Nosrat continued to study. She taught herself Arabic and studied literature and religious texts in Arabic. Nosrat married when she was sixteen, which nowadays seems young but was quite common in Iran in the 1950s. Her husband husband, Ahmed Yaldaie had four children and, though they were never very wealthy they became renowned for their hospitality. Nosrat’s daughter said that throughout her childhood there was almost always someone extra at the Yaldaie dinner table.

After the Revolution things became difficult for everyone so Nosrat offered as much help as she could to those in need. On October 23rd 1983, she, her husband Ahmed and their son, Bahram were arrested.

Nosrat had been a very active Baha’i and she was involved in the Baha’i administration which meant that she was severely tortured and ill treated in prison. She was frequently subjected to severe lashing on her back and the soles of her feet as well as being kept in solitary confinement. Like all other Baha’is the was pressurised to renounce her beliefs but, in her case, the authorities believed she could give them names and details of other Baha’is. She refused to tell them anything.

As well as being subjected to torture Nosrat also met with courage and kindness especially from her fellow prisoners. Sometimes when she wasn’t in solitary confinement she was put into a tiny cell with 2 or 3 other women. These cells were so small that only one woman could lie down. Because they could see how badly injured she was as a result of. The constant torture, when Nosrat was put into these cramped cells the other women let her lie down while they stood up.

On another occasion after she had been severely flogged on her back and the soles of her feet, she couldn’t even walk but was dragged along a corridor and thrown into a cell with more than 80 women. The Guards warned the women not to help her but a young woman named Mahvash, a political prisoner impriosned with her two year old son. She removed Nosrat’s clothes and cleaned her wounds saying, “I’m not afraid of them. I don’t care whether you are a Baha’i or a Muslim you are a human being so it is my duty to help you.”

Nosrat worried a lot about her son, Bahram, during her time in prison because she knew they were also treating him badly. When she heard he’d been hanged on June 16th with 5 other Baha’i men her predominant feeling was relief as at least his suffering was over.

Nosrat was hanged with 9 other Baha’i women two days later on June 18th, 1983. She was 46 years old.

*Wherever there is a hyperlink on Nosrat's name (hover over her name to find it) you can connect with art work produced for the #OurStoryIsOne campaign.

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