Message from the Directorate of Martyrs and Veterans Affairs of Lorestan University on the Occasion of the Commemoration of the Return of Honored POWs to the Homeland

The 17th of August marks the anniversary of the glorious return of the POWs of the Sacred Defense era to the Islamic homeland. On this occasion, the Directorate of Martyrs and Veterans Affairs of Lorestan University commemorated this day by issuing a message.

The text of the message sent by the Directorate of Martyrs and Veterans Affairs of Lorestan University is as follows:

In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

Breaths are held in chests, and hearts beat the drum of victory. Clouds part to allow the sun to cast its first golden smile upon your weary yet steadfast faces. Behold! O caravan of the dawn of freedom! O standard-bearers of resilience and honor!

You are those who, in the depths of dungeons, warmed your eyes with "Ya Zahra" and with bloody nails, etched the calendar days of your hearts onto the cold walls of oppression.

You are those who, in the onslaught of torture chambers, kept the stature of religion straighter than the enemy's spears, and in the dust of exile, stored the scent of Kashan's jasmine in your hearts, so that today, as you tread upon the pure soil of the homeland, the earth may sing odes to your footsteps.

O glorious freedmen! Your return is greater than the liberation of Khorramshahr; for you defeated the contemptible enemy not on the battlefield of bullets and tanks, but in the depths of their own souls and consciousness.

You created an epic that neither a cannon could forge nor a war, but rather love for the homeland and faith in the future manifested it in the peaks of your patience.

Now, as the airplane wheels touch down on the hallowed runway of the homeland, and the dust of migration gives way to the dew of reunion, behold how mothers, with eyes that have waited for years for a mirror to see you, shed tears of joy, and fathers straighten their bent backs to raise the flag of their child's honor high on the shoulders of history.

"Indeed, with hardship comes ease." Truly, after every difficulty, there is relief, and today, your great relief is the most beautiful interpretation of this verse on earth.

You are the ones who proved that the ultimate outcome of patience is the renewed sunrise, and your glorious return is the most magnificent anthem of faith's victory over disbelief, and love over hatred, in the golden pages of this ancient land's history.

Welcome, O stars who were the light of generations' path in the dark night of captivity.

Welcome to the home that you dreamt of for years in the solitude of your cell, with your counted breaths.

Today, the "glorious freedmen" have returned not only to the homeland but to the bright horizons of history; to be the guiding lights for the freedmen of tomorrow, forever.