I am writing to thank you for the article in the Hendon & Finchley Times about the loss of Dr Mandana Alijani (Iranian campaigner loses cancer fight', April 12).

Although it is with deep regret for her loss that I write, I would like to express my support and encouragement to your newspaper to write about Mandana as the symbol that she was. I had the great pleasure and honour to know Mandana, as I had seen her in many different conferences in Europe where she was an ardent supporter for the cause of women and human rights in her homeland, Iran.

Her wit, charisma, compassion, and above all strength are the qualities that she carried with her at all times. Although her illness made her physically weak, Mandana was the pillar that so many leaned on in their darkest hours.

It is with the ultimate wish of carrying on her dream that I write to you in the hopes that the UK media will write about and come to know the plight of the Iranian people. It is now to her family, and especially her steadfast mother, that my heart extends, and it is my wish that yours would as well. I can only hope that I will be able to carry the torch Mandana held so proudly with the same grace and passion that she had until her last moment.

It is with great joy that I celebrate Mandana's life and the example she left myself and others to follow. Her sacrifice and love have left an imprint on our hearts that will be remembered always. I will miss my beautiful sister, my friend, and in her passing I am renewed in my resolve to advocate that which she held most dear: freedom for Iran and its peoples. After all, it is for this that she truly lived, and will indeed live on and endure.

Ana Sami Golden, Colorado, USA