What happens when you refuse to walk on a flag—and get caught listening to music?

In the Shadows of the IRGC is the harrowing true story of Sherman Jason Niamehr, born in Florence, Italy, to a Muslim mother and a Jewish father. Raised between two cultures, Sherman’s life changed forever the day he refused to step on a painted American and Israeli flag during his mandatory military service in Iran. Days later, he was caught listening to music—both acts seen as dangerous defiance by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

He was branded a spy. Interrogated. Disappeared into a secret IRGC black site.

What followed was years of secret detainment, brutal psychological warfare, and solitary confinement. After barely surviving Iran’s system, Sherman returned to the U.S.—only to be locked in another solitary cell, this time in New York during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

He lost his country, his freedom, and years with his children and wife. But he never lost his story.

This memoir is not just about survival, it is about identity, injustice, and rediscovering peace through meditation after a life of trauma. It is about a man born between religions, raised across continents, and silenced by powerful regimes who feared the truth.

They tried to erase him. He chose to write it down.

He is the author of "In the Shadows of the IRGC: What Happened After I Refused to Step on the American Flag at an IRGC Military Base."

https://www.amazon.sg/Shadows-IRGC-Happened-American-Military/dp/B0F3P564PK

http://www.yourlotandparcel.org