Mari Frank, Esq. InterviewsGhazal Omid, Privacy Proponent, Human Rights Activist, Author of Living In Hell, Media Commenator on Iran and the Middle Ea...

Ghazal Omid, Iranian expatriate author of Living in Hell, an autobiography and political memoir has caused quite a controversial stir in ultra-conservative Iranian society. Omid is possibly the first Muslim woman to challenge a traditional taboo in speaking out publicly against child abuse and incest among some Iranian families and to challenge Iranian society which prefers to hush up rather than address this greatly ignored problem and looks down upon the women who have been victimized. A disturbing truth about Ghazal Omid's life is that it is also the story of millions of Muslim women. As a result of standing up for herself she was shunned by her family which she in turn divorced. Surviving a lonely life was as hard as surviving the Islamic revolution, the Iran/Iraq war and the US embassy hostage crisis, all of which she witnessed up close and personal. Throughout the Iran/Iraq war, with her home in a prime Iraqi target area, she and her mother went to bed at night expecting to be killed in bombing raids. She grew up in an oppressed society that taught children to hate people of different cultures but she refused to hate someone she didn't know. Strengthened by her Islamic education and curious mind, she was not poisoned by the propaganda of a government that was imprisoning and killing its opponents by the thousands. During her university years, she was abducted by the secret police from the streets of Isfahan, the nuclear plant city. She escaped, temporarily, by jumping from the speeding kidnap car. Seriously injured, she was rescued by people on the street but, soon afterwards, was taken to prison and given a Hobson's choice; sign a document stating the abduction never happened or remain in prison until she did sign it. She describes the fetid prison conditions in which women and babies were being held indefinitely. After being released, she was constantly watched and received threatening letters. Realizing she was marked for an orchestrated death sentence on trumped up charges, a common occurrence, she fled Iran, thru France to Holland from where, using a fraudulent Algerian passport, she flew to refugee status in Canada; arriving alone, penniless and without language in an alien land. She describes her life in Canada, her personal growth and adjustment to a new culture and how she arrived where she is today; determined to help others with her message.It is important that everyone knows about her experiences. Her unsuspecting contact with an Al-Qaeda sleeper cell illustrates that the enemy we fear is already living among us but we would not know it if 9/11 had not occurred. She constantly receives threatening hate e-mail in the genre, "God will send you to the devil and you will roast in hell." Her response; "I'll be sure to pay you a visit." She established her website, www.livinginhell.com, not just to promote her book but also her cause--the liberation of Iran through regime change. Ghazal calls herself "A rebel with a cause," and encourages others not to be afraid of the unknown; saying she lost much but gained more in her liberating process and feels freedom outweighs past abuse and intolerable traditions. Brought to her knees, she nearly committed suicide before she learned to speak up. She believes if she can do it, any individual from any place on earth can do it too. And says, "What doesn't kill me makes me stronger. Ghazal is considered a personal privacy and human rights activist. She has become an expert commentator on Iran and the issues of terrorism in the middle eacst. and appears frequently on Fox news and other national media to speak the truth of what is happening in Iran and the interplay between the insurgents in Iraq and the Iranian regime. To learn more visit:: www.livinginhell.com www.ghazalomid.com