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.”
