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Hirbod Human is an Iranian-American writer, filmmaker, and researcher whose work explores the intersection of politics, art, and critical imagination. His practice spans creative writing—including short stories, screenplays, and poetry—academic research, and research-based documentary filmmaking, often engaging themes of social justice, aesthetics, and cultural resistance. Born in Iran in 1978, he began his career in journalism and television before relocating to the United States. He holds degrees in Fine Arts, Graphic Design, Art Research, and Print/Publishing, Cinema and Communication and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Design, Aesthetics, and the Arts at Florida Atlantic University. Hirbod is also a human rights advocate, with a particular focus on public education across cultures. He produces and curates a wide range of programs from Farsi-language radio and podcasts to museum talks and cultural forums in the U.S. all aimed at fostering civic awareness, dialogue, and creative engagement.
Reviewed by Lucinda E Clarke for Readers' Favorite
Last Moments by Hirbod Human is a collection of six short stories based on true accounts of the treatment of dissidents in Iran under an oppressive regime. Human, an Iranian, now lives in the United States and, as an artist, hopes to raise awareness of the cruelty and oppression against those Iranians who have refused to obey. The first story is about a young girl arrested at the airport; we assume she is trying to escape, but we are not told that. The second story is of a young man taken before a firing squad with five others, but is then returned to his cell for further torture. Rojan is heavily pregnant and wants to meet her husband, who is being released from jail, but we then discover he will never return. Hamed is killed in his car, stuck in a traffic jam in broad daylight. We have no idea why. He thinks there may have been another uprising, but he was not involved. We read of his last moments from the point of view of his wife and mother at home as they see Hamed being killed. In a hospital, a doctor tries to save a sixteen-year-old girl named Sanaz who has been blinded by soldiers intent on dragging her away.
Last Moments: The Dark Shadows of Protest in Iran documents tales of oppressed people in Iran, those who oppose the current regime, which brutally puts down any opposition. The author documents the truth for those unaware of the realities and as a historical record for future generations. This is an important anthology as it raises awareness of man’s horrendous inhumanity to man. While ordinary people suffer, so many turn away and pretend nothing is wrong. This is a soul-searing book, and it shakes the reader to the core. Hirbod Human has changed the real names of the victims, but we feel and weep for each one of them. In these stories, the reader is left to fill in the gaps, the crimes the victims are purported to have committed, the reasons for arrest and torture, and the descriptions of the armed soldiers who are so young and so brutal. This is a read to make you think, raise awareness, and remember all those who suffer because they struggled against tyranny and injustice.
