Last Week, after the passage of seven years, Esmaeil Eftekhari was released from Gohardasht prison in Karaj near Tehran. According to court documents, just a part of his crimes were related to tens of rapes and/or kidnappings in the city of Tehran alone.
During his long term so called “prison term”, Eftekhari brutally attacked many political prisoners (including Nasser Zarafshan and Behrouz Javid Tehrani) using iron rod, knife and other means.
Even though Esmaeil Eftekhari’s name is well known among those who follow prison events in Iran, he remains an illusive figure, with little knowledge about his background. Here is a brief description about him, which is also indicative of the kind of connections and relationships that our judiciary embraces.
Eftekhari, as he had come to be known in prison, has a record that dates back to pre-1979 revolution days. He was among the hooligans and gang members in a gang-section of the capital known as “Jamshid” who was extracting ransom and extortion from prostitutes. After the revolution, he suddenly found his way into one of the “Islamic Revolutionary Committee” (the Revolutionary Police, active up to 1989, which sprang up across the country to enforce its own version of justice and law and order). He is a perfect example of many others who suddenly rose from the lowest social strata to become a member of one of the most influential bodies, such as the Islamic Revolutionary Committee or the Public Prosecutor’s Office.
Esmaeil Eftekhari’s name appeared publicly for the first time in the November of 2000, when he was being tried in court for the first time (See Iran newspaper, November 12, 2000). In the course of these trials, it was revealed that Eftekhari, had many important responsibilities in the past (such as head of the “strike force” in one of Tehran’s security committee’s), and he confessed to have been involved in many horrendous crimes. These included the kidnapping of young girls and married women, rape, involvement with local kidnappers, threats, creation of fake legal charges (in one case leading to a 10-year prison term for a store owner whose crime was the delayed payment of a ransom).
In those days everyone expected the judiciary to promptly pass a heavy sentence on such criminals, and execute the judgment. This did not happen and so 2 years later, Eftekhari’s name again became public when he was tried for espionage and the drug trafficking in a revolutionary court under the judgeship of judge Ahmadi. During these trials it became publicly known that he had held other official positions in the revolutionary court system, Passdaran Revolutionary Guards Corps, Mostazafan Foundation, and in Tehran’s municipality. And according to the representative of the ministry of intelligence at the trial, Eftekhari had a licence to carry any gun he wished.
During these trials it was revealed that for example, in the summer of 1999, under the title of General Ahmadi, Eftekhari kidnapped a 16 year old girl in Tehran. Subsequently, he threatened her family members so much that they dropped charges against him out of fear that this ministry of intelligence general could hurt them (see Etemad newspaper of July 11, 2003).
It was interesting to note that despite such horrendous crimes, Eftekhari received a mere 8 year prison term. It was shocking to see that a person with such a heavy criminal record, who had unusual connections and means at his disposal, and who even in prison continued to assault other prisoners with white weapons, received such a disproportional light sentence. In fact, he has not even been tried for the crimes he has committed inside the prison.
But even more instructive is the fact that this Tehrani notorious criminal did not spend even his meager 8 years in prison, as sentenced, but because of what officials termed as “good behavior” behind bars (which probably meant physically attacking political prisoners) was released earlier than his term and given repeated leaves while in prison. And more recently officials concluded that since this prisoners had not utilized his “due leaves” he could be released from prison by deducting his “due leave” days from his term. So he was released this year instead of next. That is how easily he was let loose!
Esmaeil Eftekhari’s case is a live testimony of how the guardians of “social security” under the Islamic republic of Iran deal with criminals whose acts terrorize ordinary Iranians. Even if such criminals commit rape and kidnapping, they know that by simply cooperating with government authorities and inflicting pain and suffering on dissidents, they will not have any serious issues with authorities.
Eftekhari’s issue is just one case study out of hundreds and thousands of others indicating leniency-for-cooperation cases in the judiciary and security apparatus of the Islamic Republic of Iran. This serial rapist was released from prison as an exemplary “first class citizen” as scores of educated and idealist political prisoners who bear the scars of his knife and beatings, remain behind bars, or are outside the prison, but continue to be only second-class citizens.
Congratulations on your freedom, serial rapist!
