Shirin Karimi

Following Rooz’ publication of the interview with Ahmad Reza Batebi, a large number ‎of students who were in ward 209 of Evin prison or the torture ward of ‘Komite ‎Moshtarak’ prison in central Tehran have spoken of their tortures through letters they ‎have written to Rooz. Mohammad Reza Kasrani is one of the students who explains his ‎plight in these words:‎

I am a student who became a victim of the 18 Tir events at Tehran University (18 Tir ‎corresponds to July 8 and is celebrated as Student Day in Iran to commemorate the ‎violence that broke out, resulting in the death of one student, when students were ‎demonstrating the closure of a newspaper during President Khatami’s administration). I ‎was a political activist and a reporter (working for Hoviyate Khish newspaper under the ‎editorship of Tabarzadi). I was arrested because of the knowledge that I had about the ‎National Front, Iran Freedom Movement and Mellat Iran party, and because I was an ‎activist of the National Front and therefore had participated in student protests of July 14, ‎‎1999 at Tehran University. What I have to say has been said many times before and it is ‎the story of those who have struggled for freedom and Iran’s dignity. But since these ‎crimes continue to be perpetrated, talking about them again is only natural. After my ‎arrest I was initially taken to a building on Shohadae Gendarmerie street where I was ‎subjected to all kinds of physical violence. Right from the moment I was pushed out of ‎the car into the courtyard, commando officers formed a terror tunnel and began beating ‎me up with batons and fists and kicks with utmost intensity. It was as if this was a foreign ‎force that had conquered a nation. There was no sign of any humanity in their behavior. ‎A barrage of kicks and fists hammered me all over, while I was blindfolded. I then ‎realized that there were also other people who had been detained as I could hear them ‎moan and cry as well.‎

We did not stay a long time in this building and were soon transferred to another ‎building. 24 hours later we were transferred to Evin prison. During the next 3 to 4 days ‎my initial interrogations took place. Following that I, along with Tabarzadi, Ahmad ‎Batebi and a few other prisoners were moved to Tohid prison. This is in the middle of ‎Tehran and used to be Anti-Sabotage Headquarters during the pre-revolutionary Iran. ‎

At the beginning of the corridor where I was kept was the torture house. I was taken for ‎interrogation the same day I arrived from Evin. They used all kinds of methods during the ‎interrogation process, but the thing that I noticed was they were very keen on getting a ‎video confession from me. I refused to heed. They tried every trick and I still refused. ‎Then they changed their practices and turned to a different method of torture.‎

They took me to the torture room, tied me up against a bed and began beating me with ‎cables. They beat me up so much that my feet gave in and their beating stopped having its ‎effect. They stopped, untied me and then pushed me to run in the small pond in the centre ‎of the prison building. They did this to prepare me for another round of beatings, as they ‎themselves explained. When they seemed satisfied, they returned me to the torture room, ‎tied me up and began beating me with the cables. And again they continued this until my ‎feet became so numb that I could not feel anything. The cables they used had names such ‎as “speaking cable” or “saw cable”, among other torture tools that they used. I would be ‎beaten until blood would gush from my feet and there would be no life left in them. I ‎would then return to my cell like a lifeless vegetable. I could not even stand up for my ‎prayers.‎

To break my morale, or resistance, the interrogators and torturers would use curse words ‎against Foruhar (the National Front opposition figure who was murdered with his wife in ‎lat 1990s), Bazargan (the first Prime Minister of the Islamic Republic in 1979 and a ‎member of the Liberation Movement), and Dr Sahabi (a member of the National Front). ‎

Sometimes during the interrogation and torture process when they realized that their ‎methods were not producing their desired effects, they would resort to play bad cop good ‎cop. One of them would appear to be the brutal torturer exterminator, while another ‎would take the role of a guide and counselor. One of them would say: “Tell them ‎everything you know. These people have broken much stronger prisoners than you. Do ‎whatever they say. They have no faith and will resort to anything to break you. Have ‎merci on your parents, and on your own youth.” In the conversations among themselves, ‎they would talk about executing me. A number of times they came to my cell and talked ‎to me about my execution the next morning. ‎

When these methods of physical torture failed, they would resort to psychological torture. ‎They would keep me undisturbed in my cell for months, while I could hear the yelling ‎and screaming coming from the tortures of my parents. Or they would play audio tapes of ‎torture of my friends. At one time the recordings of torture of men and women were so ‎effective that they almost had their intended impact on me. Which is why I am now ‎undergoing psychological treatment. And during all of this time, my family was not left ‎alone either. Once when they called my parents, they told him that their only child would ‎be executed the next morning. My father had a stroke right then, and now suffers from ‎Alzheimer’s. It is interesting to note that when they would begin beating me with a cable, ‎they told me that I was not allowed to use the name of the Prophet of Islam or God. Every ‎Thursday the prison radio would broadcast prayers at night. After the prayers, programs ‎would be broadcast that would appear as if the public demanded that we be executed. ‎They wished to demonstrate that everybody in prison had been duped by foreigners and ‎was their agent. Mohammad Reza Kasrani ends his letter with these words: “To imagine ‎that another day would begin the next morning was in itself a horrific idea.”‎