Hassan Jangju
Hassan, pictured in 1980
Born1967
Tabriz, Iran
Died1984 (aged 16–17)
Majnoon Island, Iraq
NationalityIranian
Parent
  • Jeyran Pourali (mother)
Military career
AllegianceIran
Service/branchBasij
Years of service1980–1984
Unit31st Division
Battles/wars

Hassan Jangju (Persian: حسن جنگجو; 1967–1984) was an Iranian Basiji during the Iran–Iraq War who became subject to an iconic photograph taken by Alfred Yaghobzadeh in 1980.[1] He was declared missing in action in 1984, and his body was returned to Iran in 2017.[2]

Shot

In the photo, Jangju is crawling through muddy ground of the marshes in south of Iran while he is holding a rifle in ready state.[1] The photograph was widely shared and was published in several media outlets both due to the special style of the soldier and it also attracted a lot of attention since the family name of the boy, "Jangju" meaning Warrior in Persian language was a good fit for the picture.[3] Alfred Yaghobzadeh was working for the Gamma and Associated Press news agencies at the time of capturing the famous photograph. The same photo was used as propaganda for recruiting volunteers by the Iranian authorities during the Iran–Iraq war and afterwards.[1]

Background

Jangju was a volunteer Basiji.[3] He was killed in February 1984 during Operation Kheibar, which was part of the Battle of the Marshes, when Iran sent soldiers back over the Iraqi border, before they too became bogged down north of Basra.[1]

Funeral and aftermath

The remains of his body were discovered and identified in the former Iran-Iraq war zone and sent back to Tabriz after 34 years on 5 September 2017. On 6 September 2017 the coffin of Hassan Jangju, which was draped in the Iranian flag, was borne through the streets by a huge crowd and laid to rest with full military honours. The ceremony for condolences to the Jangju's family was led by Ali Larijani, speaker of the Iranian parliament.[4][5] A few hours after the funeral, his mother Jeyran Pourali died.[1] Jangju's family described how the mother would lay out his clothes on a chair at the dinner table every evening, resembling his presence at home. One of his sisters explained: "My mother always believed that she had given her child in the service of God, and therefore was calm, but she always looked forward to his return."[6]

See also

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Richard Spencer. "Hassan "Jangju", boy soldier of the Iran-Iraq war, laid to rest at last". Retrieved 9 September 2017.
  2. ↑ "Revolutionary Guards Deny Using Child Soldiers", IranWire, 14 September 2017, retrieved 31 October 2017
  3. 1 2 "Iran, dopo 37 anni trovato il corpo di un soldato". Pars Today (in Italian). 6 September 2017. Retrieved 10 September 2017.
  4. ↑ "مراسم تشییع پیکر شهید تازه شناسایی شده"حسن جنگجو" برگزار شد+تصاویر". خبرگزاری تسنیم - Tasnim (in Persian). Retrieved 10 September 2017.
  5. ↑ "مادر شهید جنگجو در روز تشییع پسرش دار فانی را وداع گفت". خبرگزاری تسنیم - Tasnim (in Persian). Retrieved 10 September 2017.
  6. ↑ SNN.IR, خبرگزاری دانشجو. "مادر شهید حسن جنگجو به فرزند شهیدش پیوست". خبرگزاری دانشجو | SNN.IR (in Persian). Retrieved 10 September 2017.

References

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.