Witness Statement: Ensafali Hedayat
Ensafali Hedayat is an
independent journalist who has reported extensively on human rights
violations, particularly in the Iranian provinces of Ardebil, Western
and Eastern Azarbaijan. In this witness statement, Hedayat briefly
explains the history of secret prisons in Iran and describes his own
experiences in Iran’s prisons.
Full Name: Ensafali Hedayat
Date of Birth: June 20, 1965
Place of Birth: Village of Kalan; Kalibar Township (East Azerbaijan Province), Iran
Occupation: Freelance Journalist
Interviewing Organization: Iran Human Rights Documentation Center (IHRDC)
Date of Interview: October 24, 2008
Interviewer: Habib Rahiab
Witnesses: None
This statement was prepared pursuant to a
telephonic interview with Mr. Ensafali Hedayat. The statement consists
of 67 paragraphs and 20 pages. The interview was conducted on October
24, 2008. The statement was approved by Mr. Hedayat on November 24,
2008.
Witness Statement
The History of Secret Prisons in Iran
1. I don’t have exact information about
secret prisons in Iran. If [we view] secret prisons as prisons and
detention facilities situated in undisclosed locations wherein
government agents illegally detain citizens, [it becomes clear that] the
issue is not a new phenomenon in Iran’s political history and dates
back to the Qajar era. Specifically, in the period after Qajar rule
elements linked to the [new government] arrested influential politicians
linked to the Qajar dynasty, journalists, members of the Majlis
and others and detained them in undisclosed locations. During the rule
of Reza Khan these types of illegal government activities increased
pursuant to the establishment of a permanent military and security
apparatus. These unlawful activities continued and, in fact, worsened
after the Iranian Revolution.
2. During the early years of the
revolution, every political group or faction (especially those allied
with Ayatollah Khomeini) had their own revolutionary committees. These
groups and parties arrested individuals (even those linked to the
government), detained them in prisons outside the government’s control
and failed to inform the detainee’s families of their whereabouts. Many
of these individual – perhaps more than 10,000 of them – were executed
in these undisclosed locations following the period of unrest during the
revolution. Their families were never able to gather information
regarding [the status of] their loved ones. Months passed before
government officials notified these individuals’ families that their
loved ones had been buried in one of the cities’ cemeteries. They were
not, however, allowed to exhume the bodies for the purpose of
identifying the disappeared.
3. I do not know the extent to which
high ranking officials were aware of the illegal activities of these
groups during the early years of the revolution. But the construction of
the prisons and the method of interrogations suggest that these
activities were systematic in nature, though I don’t know the extent to
which Khamenei was aware of these activities.
4. Slowly and surely the regime began to
control all the nation’s affairs, and power became concentrated in the
hands of high ranking government officials. To the extent that when
Ayatollah Montazeri became aware of the directive to execute tens of
thousands of individuals both inside and outside [Iran’s] prisons in
1988, he complained about Ayatollah Khomeini’s order. As a result of his
criticism Montazeri was removed as a successor to the Supreme
Leadership and placed under house arrest. This position was later
eliminated under Iran’s [new] Constitution. This indicates that, at a
minimum, Ayatollah Khomeini was aware (and approved) of a series of
illegal prisons [and the] tortures and executions [that accompanied
their administration]. During the reform movement Khamenei was aware of
these illegal activities. In fact, many journalists, writers and
intellectuals who were victims of these activities wrote detailed
letters to Khamenei and other agency officials and kept them informed of
what was going on. Despite this, government officials denied any
responsibility for or knowledge of these actions. At other times they
identified non-government elements and civilians as the culprits.
5. I’d like to give you an example of this. In 1994 I was employed by the newspaper Salaam.
We had received two letters indicating that secret prisons existed in
the woods near Lavizan. A while later an older gentleman came to the
newspaper office and alleged that his private lands in Lavizan had been
confiscated and secret prisons had been built on them. (I never
personally met this individual.) The old man told us that despite the
fact that he wasn’t a supporter of the Shah, he was never reimbursed for
his lands. He wanted our help and support.
6. Salaam’s editor requested
that I investigate the validity of the claims made by the old man (and
the ones made in the two letters). I took the letters and went to the
wooded area near Lavizan along with a personal friend who was close to
20 years old. My friend was unaware of the reason for my expedition.
7. Lavizan is a heavily wooded and hilly
area covered with tall pine trees. Anyone who enters the wooded area
and proceeds beyond 20 meters disappears [into the thick brush]. The
Revolutionary Guards and the Army have large factories, bases and depots
in this area. The wooded area in Lavizan is situated between two
highways – Abbaspour and Baba’i. This area is a part of Greater Tehran..
8. My friend and I entered Lavizan. We
were about 100 meters away from the area that I had been ordered to
investigate when suddenly we were confronted by four or five uniformed
individuals. There was nothing unusual about their behavior. As they
approached us I noticed that they were wearing military boots. One of
them asked “Who are you?” I said I am a reporter. One of them suddenly
placed his military knife under my throat and another positioned a knife
behind my neck. I could not move either forward or backward. The other
two [soldiers] held my friend. They then started punching and kicking us
with their military boots. They beat us for more than an hour. All of a
sudden, one of them cut a 4 centimeter piece of my scalp (behind the
right corner of my head) and told me that it will serve as a reminder
that I should never again come around these parts to obtain information
[for my news stories]. After we’d received a good beating, they let me
go and I ran away. But they kept my friend and raped him. I went to the
closest residence and called the police. I waited for the police more
than an hour, but they never came. I gave up and returned to my home.
One or two hours later I found out that my friend is alive and has
returned to his own home. He swore that, along with the assistance of
his friends, he would make them pay [for what they did to him.] [Soon
after the attack] I visited the Salaam office and described the way
which I was attacked [to my coworkers.] As a result of the beatings and
psychological trauma I sustained, I became ill and bed-ridden for a
month.
9. I am 90% sure that the individuals
who attacked us and sexually assaulted my friend were employees of the
government of the Islamic Republic. The area in which they attacked us
is under the control of the military. No investigations were ever
launched pursuant to the complaints we filed. After I went back to work I
realized that the police never investigated my complaint. Similarly, Salaam newspaper failed to ever publish anything regarding my attack.
10. My guess is that secret prisons also
exist in other parts of the country, but I don’t have any specific
information regarding this issue. It was alleged that in Tabriz – the
capital of East Azerbaijan province – several secret prisons exist. One
of the areas people often talked about was at the intersection of Bahar
and Monajjem streets, which used to house a revolutionary committee
office and was later taken over by the Revolutionary Guards. Residents
of the area claimed that the Revolutionary Guards ran a secret prison
underneath this facility. It was also said that another secret detention
facility existed at the northern corner of Tabriz railroad. The Tabriz
railroad is a very expansive area that covers the Tabriz power station
until the beginning of Qaramelk. This whole area is fenced off. One of
my friends who had disappeared for a while told me that he had been
detained in this area. He said that he could hear the sounds of many
passing trains coming through the top of the prison. Another friend of
mine, who was the chief editor of a daily in East Azerbaijan, also
disappeared for a short while. A couple of days later he showed up with
injuries. They had tortured him with electric shocks. When I went to
visit him I noticed a one centimeter deep burn mark behind his leg. This
friend of mine was an engineer and was very familiar with the layout of
Tabriz. He told me that when they arrested him in Manzariyih, they
blindfolded him and drove him past Azadi Street towards Division 31 of
Ashura [of the military]. From there they took him to the technical
factory at Jahad Sazandegi. He said that the Sazandegi factory is a
secret prison, and that he was tortured by Revolutionary Guard agents
there. It’s possible that this detention facility is linked to the
Revolutionary Guard’s Division 31 of Ashura, because it is located
within 200- 300 meters from their base.
11. During the reform movement of Mr.
Khatami the reformers paid little attention to the problem of secret
prisons outside of Tehran. There are two reasons for this. The first is
that from 1924-25 the Iranian state sought to perpetuate Persian
identity and transform it into a political ideology. This ideology
encouraged central government authorities (who were primarily of Persian
ethnicity) to pay less attention to the problems of other areas in the
country. The other is that the reformists were in fact some of the most
radical government officials in Iran during the 80s and 90s. Some of
them were responsible for running secret prisons during the early years
of the revolution, and were involved in the assassination and torture of
the regime’s opponents. Most of the reformists also have military
experience. They were commanders and lieutenant-governors and played
important roles in the establishment of the Islamic Republic. But the
reformers were slowly removed from the mid-1980s. Later, in order to
regain power they became part of the reform movement and founded
newspapers such as Salaam.
12. Mr. Khatami’s presidency was marked
by factional in-fighting between two groups. Those who had been removed
from power allied themselves with more genuine reformist groups who
opposed the regime, and worked to expose evidence regarding events and
violent interrogations linked with the Chain Murders. You will note that
after regaining power, the reformists made no attempt to investigate
and discuss the political killings, silencing of dissidents and massacre
of political prisoners that marked the period of Hashemi Rafsanjani’s
(and the years before that). Reformists linked to the government
remained silent on these issues. For these and other reasons, the
reformists failed to investigate and talk about the existence of secret
prisons in areas such as Kurdistan, Sistan and Baluchistan, Khuzestan,
Azerbaijan and others.
13. The Sixth Majlis, which was
under the control of the reformists, established an investigative
committee to look into the events surrounding the Tehran University
dormitory and Tabriz University. This committee announced the results of
its investigation following the Tehran University dormitory incidents.
Regarding the events surrounding Tabriz University, however, the
committee remained silent despite the fact that what happened there
amounted to a tragedy that involved acts such as murder and sexual
assault. The central authorities in Tehran have always adopted a
discriminatory approach towards serious issues which occur outside the
Persian-speaking areas of the country. This approach is to some extent
understandable because on the one hand Tabriz is not located in a
Persianspeaking area, and on the other the hand high-ranking reformists
(including the head of security, governor-general and governor) ran the
provincial government.
The Parallel Intelligence Apparatus
14. Now I’d like to talk briefly about several issues linked to the parallel intelligence apparatus (PIA).
15. The first issue is that prior to the establishment of the PIA, the Majlis
engaged in a theoretical debate regarding the extent to which the
government was accountable to its citizens. According to [some] in this
debate, accountability is a fundamental religious responsibility of an
Islamic government, and the people request accountability and launch
investigations into the activities of all government agencies, including
the Ministry of Intelligence. [In other words,] if the government is
accountable, then so is Khatami and the Ministry of Intelligence. And if
the Ministry of Intelligence is accountable, then so is the Supreme
Leader (since pursuant to the Constitution the head of this ministry
must be a cleric who is confirmed by the Office of the Supreme Leader,
and the President has little say in the selection process). At the same
time, this debate [was raging in the Majlis], Ayatollah Shahroudi – the
head of the Judiciary – spoke of the existence of secret detention
facilities outside the jurisdiction of the State Prisons Organization
(SPO), and issued a 15-point directive protecting the citizens rights of
arrestees. The Sixth Majlis adopted this directive and passed
it as the Citizens Rights Law. Up until this point, most journalists,
writers and dissidents had been arrested by the Ministry of Intelligence
and the Law Enforcement Forces. But after [the Sixth Majlis
began to address these issues in a more serious fashion], the
Intelligence Protection Organization of the Revolutionary Guards, the Basij,
the Intelligence Protection Organization of the Law Enforcement Forces,
and the Intelligence Protection Organization of the Prosecutor’s Office
(which had recently been established) began to get more involved in
arrests and political prosecutions [against the reformists]. This is
because these agencies lay outside the control of the [Presidency], and Majlis
could not investigate and scrutinize their activities. These agencies
are not accountable to the nation and its people – they are directly
under the control of and solely responsible to the Office of the Supreme
Leader. When these agencies increased their activities and became more
openly involved in the issues referenced above, they became known as the
“PIA.” The intelligence operations and arrests executed [by these
agencies] were, in effect, designed to insulate the Supreme Leader from
accountability to the people or the Majlis. During this time, I
was arrested by the Ministry of Intelligence. When I was arrested, the
ministry agents told me that I should actually be indebted to them and
that they had done me a favor. This was their indirect acknowledgement
of the existence of the PIA – they were suggesting that by arresting me
they had saved me from the PIA (which [they alleged] was largely
controlled by the reformists).
16. The second issue was that evading
responsibility had in fact become a regular policy of the Islamic
Republic. During the reform period, high ranking officials decided that
in order to distract the public away from criticizing the actions of the
regime and the Ministry of Intelligence (and prevent them from holding
agencies such as the Basij and Revolutionary Guards responsible
for torture and violent interrogations), it was necessary to allow
people to believe in the existence of the PIA. In this way, they
effectively ascribed a level of legal (or extralegal) legitimacy to the
secret detention facilities and the PIA. Let me provide you with an
example. Before Khatami’s government identified Saeed Emami as the main
individual in charge of the Chain Murders, the Iranian public believed
that the Revolutionary Guards and the Supreme Leader were responsible
for these events. In discussions amongst themselves, journalists
strongly suspected the Office of the Supreme Leader and the
Revolutionary Guards. But in a brilliant maneuver, Dorri-Najafabadi
placed responsibility [for the murders] on the Emami Gang, and freed the
Supreme Leader and the Revolutionary Guards from the burden of
accusations. In my estimation, this was a pre-mediated move. Saeed Emami
and the Ministry of Intelligence were sacrificed in an effort to
protect the Supreme Leader and the Revolutionary Guards. From the point
of view of those in power, it was better to sacrifice a minister and an
agency operative rather than the Supreme Leader and his allies.
17. Third, the PIA was not solely
interested in opposing reformist factions within the regime. In fact,
the PIA arrested a large number of bona fide reformists who opposed the
regime. All of Iran’s intelligence agencies – whether controlled by
reformists or conservatives – uniformly engaged in the arrest of genuine
and independent reformists and opposition members who were not tied to
the regime. In fact, most of the detainees held in secret prisons were
individuals who were affiliated with these independent opposition
groups, not those tied to the government. “Reformist” lawyers were not
interested in defending these types of detainees. As long as the
reformists remained unconvinced that defending a detainee or the accused
could in some way benefit them, they generally shied away from getting
involved on their behalf. For example, none of the reformists came to my
defense during the first two or three months after my second arrest.
They only got involved after they were certain that I would not confess
under torture, and after charges related to my spying for the United
States, Turkey and Azerbaijan were dropped without my having confessed
to any of them. It was only after that that several lawyers agreed to
come to my defense. This despite the fact that immediately after my
detention I requested that several reformist lawyers take up my case.
They refused, and instead asked for my forgiveness.
18. Fourth, I am not convinced by the
theory that the PIA operate outside the control of the government. Most
of the high ranking officials of Iran’s intelligence agencies know each
other and make decisions in a coordinated fashion. In Iran, if one
intelligence agency makes a move, other agencies either know about it or
become informed later on. If they wish to expose these activities, they
can. Despite this, none of the intelligence agencies in Iran exposed,
attempted to expose or will ever expose the unlawful activities and
secret detention facilities of other agencies.
My First Arrest
19. I was arrested and interrogated
several times during the time of Khatami. Here I will talk about two of
the more important incidents.
20. The first incident occurred on June
16, 2003 in Tabriz. I and several other journalists were covering events
unfolding in Tabriz University when several plainclothes agents
attacked us. I soon realized that only me and Aghabeigi, another
journalist, were left. The others had escaped. They didn’t say anything
to him. During the course of interrogations I gathered, from the
interrogator’s hints and suggestions, that [Aghabeigi] was in fact an
agent of the Ministry of Intelligence. (I also came to this realization
during the course of a meeting prior to my exit from Iran.) I remained
in detention for 28 days, most of which I spent in solitary confinement.
21. In my letter to Khatami, the former
President, I explained the violent methods used by the police during my
arrest (which I will now recount to you). Seventeen or eighteen
policemen attacked me near Tabriz University. This happened in the month
of May 2003, from about 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. until after the sun went
down. They beat me and hurled obscenities involving my mother and wife,
such as “motherfucker,” “we’ll service your mouth,” “son of a bitch,”
and others. The police kicked and hit my testicles, waist, back,
buttocks, stomach, head and face. They struck at my testicles so many
times that I thought I wouldn’t be able to have children anymore. I bled
from my anus. When a group of policemen got tired of beating me,
another group replaced them. Colonel Roustai, the then-acting deputy of
the Intelligence Office of Law Enforcement who had a hand in cracking
down on the student movement, threatened to cut my testicles and said he
would kill me if I didn’t leave Tabriz in six months. Under Roustai’s
command, they took me to the police station near Tabriz University. They
confiscated my work instruments and seized all of my belongings other
than my personal clothes. A while later Colonel Roustai came straight to
the police station in order to beat me again. I don’t know how much
time actually elapsed, but for me it took forever. Colonel Roustai and
four other people took turns beating me. My testicles, stomach, head and
face were constantly targeted. All of a sudden an officer approached me
and punched me in my chest as if he were striking a 80 kilogram boxing
bag. I couldn’t catch my breath. I have not experienced such a blow
since then (even after I was transferred to the Intelligence Protection
Organization of the Law Enforcement Forces).
22. They threw me in a military vehicle
and transferred me from the police station to the office of the
Intelligence Protection Organization of the Law Enforcement Forces on Saeb Avenue. We entered the building through the Tabriz passport office.
23. They fingerprinted and registered me
at the Intelligence Protection Organization office, and then they threw
me and two others inside an underground cell. The prison was very
crowded. A few minutes passed and Ebrahimi came. He saw the other two
with. He grabbed them by the neck and threw them out of the cell. I
spoke to him for a bit. I was in awful shape. Several of my teeth were
loose – when I spoke they chattered and made noise. I had been beaten up
pretty badly and had bruises all over. The interrogation was short.
They left me in the solitary cell all by myself and did not feed me
until morning. I was detained in solitary confinement from then until
July 13th, at which point I was released.
24. At night they took me to Police
Station 15 in Pasteur Avenue and instructed the guards not to allow
anyone to see me, contact me or speak to me. They threw me in a solitary
cell which had a dingy and worn out carpet.
25. The midnight guard came, blindfolded
me and took me to the underground basement of the Law Enforcement
Force’s Intelligence Protection Organization office. My interrogator
wanted to me to reveal the radio and television stations, news agencies,
newspapers and foreign magazines which I reported to, and the amount I
received [for my work.] According to him, I should have received [at
least] $100,000. He pointed out my pressed suit and suspender as signs
of my wealth.
26. The third day, the judge of the
Revolutionary Court came to visit me. I requested that he allow me to
see a medical examiner. He told me that I had just arrived, but that he
would look into it. Then he left. After a short while they let me out of
the solitary cell. We passed by scores of young men who were sitting in
the yard under the hot sun on our way to the buildings which housed the
Intelligence Protection Organization offices of the Law Enforcement
Forces. (Some Revolutionary Court judges also worked out of this
location because it was located further away from the courts and they
could make decisions regarding whether they should continue detaining or
release the students.) I spoke with Judge Abizadeh for a short while in
detention. The judge’s behavior took me by surprise. He didn’t once ask
why my eye, face, chin, head, forehead and body were swollen and
bruised. He didn’t ask “Would you like to be seen by a physician or a
medical examiner?” Nor did he ask “Would you like to complain about
anyone?” I told the judge that I was beaten and am in prison for no
reason at all. Instead, Abizadeh asked me if I accepted my charges. I
said, “No, I did not.” Then the judge issued my arrest warrant according
to the wishes of NAJA’s Intelligence Protection Center. The warrant was
issued for an unspecified period of time (not to exceed three months).
The charges were “propaganda against the regime,” “interviews with
foreign radio stations,” and “armed attack against a police officer.” I
rejected all three charges and insisted that I be seen by a medical
examiner. He asked me if I wanted [to see a doctor in order to document
my condition]. I said yes. But he postponed making a decision and said
he would do so at an unspecified time in the future (which never
arrived).
27. They took me from the judge’s office
inside the police’s Intelligence Protection Organization office to a
solitary cell in the detention center. Later, one of the guards
announced the arrival of Commander Eini-Baher – the Police Commander of
East Azerbaijan Province – who had come to inspect the arrestees. I had
interviewed him several times. He was familiar with me and knew that I
was a journalist. I thought he would help me, but he insisted that I had
evil intentions when contacting foreign media and that I deserved to be
arrested. I told him: “Commander, you are neither a judge nor a
lawmaker and should therefore not pass judgment. You were given this
weapon in order to guarantee the safety of people like me, not to issue a
ruling instead of the judge or pass a law in place of a legislator.”
Then I requested he give me two warm meals and a cold one pursuant to
the SPO Law. Colonel Roustai, who had accompanied Eini-Baher, said in
response that arrestees must purchase food with their own money. Then
Eini- Bahar said he’d look into the matter. He left. I was placed under
interrogation. My interrogator was named Ebrahimi. He threateningly
informed me that I had the right not to answer his questions. I was
scared, so I answered his questions. On the third day I was extremely
hungry, so I told him that I would answer his questions on the condition
that they take off my blindfold and bring me food. Ebrahimi gave 200
toman (about 20 cents) to a guard and instructed him to bring me some
bread and cheese. During Eini-Baher’s meeting with the accused, I saw
Colonel Roustai. I was very frightened. Colonel Roustai or his officers
could have easily accused me of being a hooligan, knocked me around
again and caused serious trouble for me. He was the direct commander of
the officers who had attacked me in front of the university – he himself
had beaten me up harder than anyone else.
28. During the first day I paid little
attention to my diarrhea. But on the second night in Police Station 15 I
realized that I had bloody stool and was bleeding profusely. At my
request, the police offers contacted their superiors at the Intelligence
Protection Organization office of the Law Enforcement Forces several
times. Around 12 midnight a kind and gentle guard by the name of Seyyed
took me (along with Ebrahimi) to the Kosar infirmary, which belonged to
the Law Enforcement Forces. When the doctor examined me he asked what I
did for a living. I said I am a journalist. He didn’t believe me. I had
been tortured so much that I no longer resembled a journalist. After
examination the doctor administered a shot and gave me a prescription
for two different kinds of medications. A while later I felt better.
Until that moment (from the police station to the infirmary) I hadn’t
been handcuffed.
29. After I was arrested, my family
contacted various police stations and detention centers to obtain
information regarding my whereabouts. However, each time, the
authorities told them that no one matching my description has been
detained. After two days, I was able to notify my family (with the
assistance of a guard) that I was being detained at NAJA’s intelligence
office on Saeb Avenue in Tabriz. My family contacted other journalists
and asked them to pressure Eini Baher, the Police commander of East
Azerbaijan, to give them permission to visit and interview me, or at the
very least to allow my family to visit me. As a result of these
pressures they were able to gain permission to visit me from the police
commander of East Azerbaijan.
30. It was around 6:30 p.m. on the third
day of my arrest when the guard came, told me that I had a visitor and
gave me permission to leave my solitary cell. He refused to give me my
glasses. My family – mother, wife and older daughter – were waiting for
me inside the yard of the Tabriz passport office (which was affiliated
with the Intelligence Protection Organization office of the Law
Enforcement Forces). My face was all bruised up and my clothes were
still blood stained. I looked completely different, and my family
couldn’t recognize me. I said hello. My family recognized my voice, and
we embraced. I assured my mother that I had only beaten during my
initial arrest and transfer to this facility – that I hadn’t been abused
in detention. But I also told them that I was afraid and extremely
worried that they would abuse me. I told them that I feared for my life,
that they may kill me. I told my mother to go and give interviews to
foreign media, to describe the condition I’m in. The supervising guard
became uncomfortable with our discussions and terminated the meeting.
When we entered the yard of the Intelligence Protection Organization
office and before he could blindfold me, I recognized several of my
plainclothes attackers. I was terrified. I didn’t expect them to be
here. I couldn’t hide my fear. My hands were tied – theirs were not.
They were interrogators and plainclothes police. They had already beaten
me and claimed that I was the one who had attacked them. No one
believed me.
31. A few days after I and the other
arrested and detained students had been transferred to the central
prison in Tabriz, we were taken to the solitary cells of the Ministry of
Intelligence, located in Baghshomal, in order to be interrogated. I
remained there for about 17 to 18 days, during which I was asked
questions about all sorts of topics. I answered their questions, most of
which involved my contacts with foreign radio stations and the content
of my news reports and had little to do with the charges the police had
brought against me.
32. Three days later – around 3:30 a.m.
on June 19, 2003 – they transferred me and 64 other detainees to Tabriz
prison in a minibus. They gave us prisoner uniforms. Before noon they
separated me from the students and young men who had been similarly
charged. The others were sent to solitary cells in two different wards:
one for “children” and the other for “youth.” The [guards] were told to
provide me with a newspaper, books and a radio, and instructed to allow
me to visit the yard in order to get fresh air or go to the bathroom
whenever I wished. When this happened, the “youth” and “children” were
required to return to their wards – no one was allowed to see me.
33. Here the guards treated me with lots
of respect. Every evening at around midnight they allowed me to go out
and get a breath of fresh air. I wrote lots of articles while I was
detained there. I managed to secretly send some of them to my family.
34. I was not interrogated while in
solitary confinement at the general prison in Tabriz. One time several
Judiciary officials came to inspect the prison, but facility officials
hid me in the infirmary and prevented the judge from seeing me. My guess
is that they did this because I was still pretty badly bruised. But
Judge Abizadeh [was looking for me] and since he couldn’t find me in my
solitary cell he asked where I was. He found me in the infirmary.
35. About ten days later at around 5:30
in the afternoon on June 29, 2003, they came to visit me again. I was
afraid that I would be beaten and tortured again. The guard told me that
I had an escort. I said, “To where?” He replied, “To the Judge.” The
patrol vehicle exited the facility. We (me and the several other
students who were also in the vehicle) passed the prosecutor’s office.
As soon as we turned toward Baghshomal, they pulled our prison shirts
over our heads and told us to get down. We got out of the cards in the
yard, entered a building and sent each of us to solitary cells. This was
an intelligence office run by the Ministry of Intelligence in East
Azerbaijan. Here they blindfolded us with a piece of cloth (which they
referred to as “glasses”).
36. About 22 days later, I was summoned
for an interrogation. [I entered] a small room with two chairs lined up
next to each other. I took the front seat. My interrogator greeted me
and placed his chair in front of me. I recognized him. He was one of the
three interrogators from the Ministry of Intelligence – I had seen him
several times before. The next evening I was asked to answer written
questions. I answered four of them. Two or three days later I answered
two more questions, and I answered another four on July 7th, which were
rather aggressively worded. One of the questions asked if I would cut
off contact with foreign media outlets. I said, “No.” Do we have laws in
this country or not? If there is a law, I will be obligated to obey it.
But if there is no law, [my agreement to cooperate with them] will be
solely based on fear. Of course, they can always get the judge to issue
an order that would take away my right to be active as a journalist.
This was my answer to them.
37. Of course, [in one of the questions
asked] my interrogator referred to an order of the Supreme National
Security Council regarding restrictions on giving interviews to foreign
media outlets. In response, I wrote that if there is in fact such a
provision, then I will obey it.
38. [They suggested that] I change
careers. I suggested that in light of my educational and 13 year
professional experience, they should put me in charge of the
municipality’s public relations. There was silence, and they dropped the
issue.
39. It was around July 7th when my family informed me that the judge had issued an order on July 6th
allowing them to meet me in person. They had gone to Room 37 at the
Tabriz central prison which was administered by the East Azerbaijan
intelligence office. The guard there informed them that I had been freed
four days prior to their visit (on July 2nd).
40. At noon on July 9th they took me to
the Judiciary. The judge refused to see me. The returned me to the
Ministry of Intelligence again. On July 10th (which was a
Thursday) they took me to prison and delivered me to the authorities.
They transferred me to the same cell next to the “children’s” ward. The
kids and teenagers came to greet me in the yard and expressed their joys
and concerns upon seeing me again.
41. That same night I called home from
prison. They told me that they would post bail and free me on Saturday.
The judge had set bail at 300 million toman. I protested that this was
too high a price for my freedom.
42. Saturday rolled around and I kept
staring at the cell door. I repeatedly asked the guard for the time
because they had broken my watch at the Ministry of Intelligence. (Of
course they had forced me to sign a paper saying that nothing had been
broken. I didn’t want to deal with another set of irrelevant questions,
so I just signed the paper.)
43. At night my name was on a list of
those who were going to go in front of the judge to be released. Just as
before I couldn’t sleep that night. At least the other nights I was
able to sleep for two or so hours. This time I couldn’t sleep for even a
minute. At 7 a.m. on July 13th they took me to the Ministry of Justice in a minibus and finally released me.
44. While in prison I requested to be
seen by a medical examiner several times – from the time the judges came
to inspect the General Prison in Tabriz. But the police and judge did
not allow me to see the examiner. Instead, they detained me and the
students and arrestees until any and all the signs of physical abuse had
disappeared and were no longer visible. After my release I refused to
see go to a medical examiner for several reasons. The first was that my
injuries had, to a certain extent, healed. The second was that the
medical examiner was affiliated with the police and often cooperated
with intelligence forces in Iran, so I didn’t trust its impartiality.
The third was that I had asked the judge to allow me to see a medical
examiner, but he refused. It was clear that they didn’t want to see me.
The fourth was that the courts or law enforcement are required to send
plaintiffs for examination to the medical examiner. They had not, and I
didn’t think I’d be able to gain access by myself. In the beginning I
insisted on being seen by the medical examiner because the signs of
physical abuse were visible. The medical examiner could not [avoid the
obvious] and issue a false report. But after my wounds had healed there
was a possibility that the examiner would issue an inaccurate report.
Regardless, I have three documents proving that I had been tortured by
the intelligence forces of the Law Enforcement Forces. One of these is
of a photograph taken by police intelligence during the first day of my
arrest. The second is another photo taken on the third day when I was at
the Tabriz prison. [Finally], the third was a photo taken at the
Ministry of Intelligence office in Tabriz which definitely shows signs
of torture. All three of these photographs showed signs of abuse
including bruising in or around the head, ears, eyes and face.
My Second Arrest
45. After 6 months, I went to prison for
the second time. It must be noted that prior to this I had been
threatened several times by Colonel Roustai in connection with my first
arrest. Colonel Roustai told me to leave Tabriz. During the beatings
that occurred in the police station close to the Tabriz University, he
told me “that if I didn’t leave [Tabriz], [he] would cut my balls off.” I
indicated this in the extensive letter I wrote to Seyyed Mohammad
Khatami, in which I mentioned that I am a journalist and that I’d like
to continue to stay in the city of my birth. Despite these threats, I
stayed in Tabriz and continued my work as a journalist. But every so
often, I would be interrogated by the intelligence agency of NAJA. They
referred to these interrogations as “friendly encounters.” These
friendly encounters were intended to be mutually beneficial. I had the
phone number of the intelligence office’s director, and if I ever
encountered any security problems I could contact him. But I never
called him – instead he would often call me and tell me that he wanted
to see me for lunch. I would then go to see him and he would ask me
questions about my work and activities.
46. In late December 2003 a strong
earthquake destroyed the city of Bam. I went to Bam as a reporter. In
early January 2004, I spent 7 or 8 days in Bam providing news reports
for various radio stations and magazines regarding the status of relief
efforts, statistics on those injured and killed and the difficulties
facing survivors of the earthquake. It was also time for me to attend
the second gathering of the United Republicans of Iran in Berlin. Around
the same time, I received a call from Mohammadi, the official from the
intelligence of in Tabriz. He told me he wanted to see me. I told him
that I was currently in Bam and that I would definitely see him upon my
return to Tabriz. He didn’t say anything.
47. I went to Germany on December 18th
and participated in the gathering on the United Republicans of Iran. I
spent 10 days in Germany and returned to Tabriz after that. I arrived at
my house in the morning. I unwound and was about to change my clothes
when the phone rang. My daughter, Fatemeh, picked up the phone. They
asked her if I was home or not. She said I was. I could hear their voice
on the telephone – they informed their superiors that I was home. Then
they received the order to “enter!” Suddenly they invaded my home. They
showed me the arrest warrant which had been issued by the Branch 1 of
the Revolutionary Court in Tabriz. The warrant indicated that I was
under arrest for spying for the United States. I looked at the date on
the warrant. I realized that it had expired during the time I was in
Bam, but the warrant had been extended for an additional 10 days. The
warrant indicated that the Ministry of Intelligence had the authority to
arrest me and confiscate evidence related to my crime. Three or four of
the agents who had entered my home confiscated my computer, cell phone,
telephone contacts, more than 50 CDs, 20 books, documents related to my
work as a journalists and my passport. When they inspected my passport
they noticed that I had gone to Germany. Before that they knew nothing
of my trip to Germany (and my arrest had nothing to do with my journey).
Yet [my trip] became the basis of a serious charge against me during my
interrogations.
48. They took me to the intelligence
office. There they took pictures and fingerprinted me. After registering
my information they transferred me to a solitary confinement cell and
blindfolded me with a piece of black cloth. The cloth was extremely
filthy and my eyes began to hurt after two or three days. On the fourth
day I washed the cloth. (It turned from black to a sky blue.) I realized
that the pain in my eyes had been caused by the filthy blindfold.
49. After 48 hours, they took me from
the solitary cell in the intelligence office of East Azerbaijan Province
to the court and the judge issued extended my arrest warrant for
another month pursuant to my interrogators’ request. The interrogations
started on the second day. During the first 8 days my interrogators
focused solely on my execution, the manner in which I was to be
executed, the date of my execution and the individuals who had thus far
been executed because they had been guilty of espionage. They informed
me that I was charged with espionage and that the punishment for spying
is execution. I could neither sleep nor eat. There was no one else in
the other cells. I was completely broken as a result of the loneliness,
worry, and fear regarding what would happen next. The stress prevented
me from having normal bowel movements. My stomach was swollen. When I
went to the bathroom I had severe bleeding, but I could not dispose of
anything. I couldn’t take it any longer. I told my interrogators that my
insides were swollen and I couldn’t go to the bathroom. A doctor came
to see me but his eyes were blindfolded. He asked me what was wrong. I
said I was extremely stressed out, my insides were swollen, I could not
go to the bathroom and I suffered from bleeding. He prescribed some
medication. I took the medicine and went to the bathroom about half an
hour later. My sores opened up again (they were about 1.5 centimeters in
width). My bleeding got worse. There was no first aid equipment but I
did have access to warm water there. But when I was transferred to the
central prison in Tabriz after 74 days I was forced to use ripped up
pieces of clothing in order to stop my clothes from becoming
blood-stained. I stayed in solitary confinement for more than two months
at the central intelligence office. Despite my repeated requests, no
one tended to my hygienic needs and the interrogations continued. Four
and a half months later and after 23 days of a hunger strike, I was
taken to a hospital in the city and operated on.
Witness Statement: Ensafali Hedayat
50. Sometimes I would hear sounds of
moaning coming from underground or elsewhere while [I was detained at]
the intelligence office. These sounds increased my sense of worry. I
imagined that they had detained my children and were torturing them. I
didn’t really have a reason to worry this way. My interrogators had
never actually arrested my kids or family members. But I couldn’t help
thinking these things, in part because they had arrested the children of
a few of journalists in order to secure confessions out of them. I
would read the Jomhuriyih Islami once or twice a week and I
remembered that I’d read something about this in that newspaper. Once I
read an article in this newspaper about how they had threatened to
detain Abbas Abdi’s daughter during his imprisonment. I imagined that
they had my daughters in custody and that the voices I was hearing were
there voices. I would then call home and talk to my wife and daughter.
This would calm me. But then a few hours later I would hear the cries
and moans of a child and I would start worrying again. I would somehow
convince myself that up until then my family had been safe, but now they
have them. These horrible thoughts and other concerns regarding the
possibility of torture kept me up at nights.
51. My interrogations were accompanied
by stress and psychological pressure, but there were no beatings. They
changed my interrogators on three separate occasions. Each time they
repeated the same old questions so that they could find inconsistencies
in my testimony. Every evening, after the interrogations, I signed and
numbered the top and the bottom of the questions that were asked. At the
end of the interrogations I realized that I had answered 512 total
questions.
52. The next set of interrogations
addressed the 17 other crimes they had charged me with, including
insulting Khamenei, insulting Ayatollah Khomeini, propaganda against the
regime, separatism, Pan-Turkism, spying for America, spying for Turkey,
spying for the Republic of Azerbaijan, spying on behalf of Radio Farda,
contacts and meetings with foreign elements in Turkey, interviews with
foreign media, participation in the United Republicans of Iran
conference in Germany with the aim of overthrowing the Islamic Republic
of Iran, insulting religious sanctities, attacking the police, inciting
people to revolt against the police, carrying a knife, attempts against
the national security of Iran and altering Iran’s history.
53. However, for several days my
interrogators asked about my relationships with various women, which had
nothing to do with the charges against me. They came up with most of
the questions and charges (which had nothing to do with the first set of
charges against me) during the course of interrogations. They attempted
to find a moral point of weakness which they could use against me. It
wasn’t an interrogation – it was bargaining. They had searched through
all my bank statements. One day during the interrogation the
interrogator asked me if I knew Mrs. Mohammadi. I was surprised. They
said, “You have accepted 50,000 toman from Mrs. Mohammadi.” I
had borrowed the money from my uncle’s wife, Mrs. Mohammadi. I said,
“Yes, I know her. She is my uncle’s wife.” The interrogators pressured
me. I said, “Mrs. Mohammadi is my uncle’s wife. We are family, and
borrowing the money is a personal matter that has nothing to do with my
social activities.” But they didn’t listen to me.
54. The next set of questions were about
[the charge] of altering the history of Iran, which related to several
articles and speeches I had written. In one of my articles I had written
that city officials had destroyed the burial sites of those executed
during the early years of the revolution, and of grave sites which
Baha’is had built (and continue to build) in order to commemorate the
execution of their loved ones. Similarly I had included a Radio Farda
story which stated that according to scientists and experts, Urumiyih
Lake will eventually dry up. Another time I had written an article
criticizing the work ethic of government officials in Tabriz. My
interrogators wanted to know my motivation for writing these articles
and speeches. Each and every news report which I had given to Radio
Farda (which is connected to Radio Liberty/Radio Free Europe in the
Czech Republic) was treated as a separate charge for which I had to
answer for.
55. The laws of the Islamic Republic
don’t allow the interrogator to ask questions irrelevant to the charges.
Questions related to my relations with women and my motivations for
writing articles had nothing to do with the list of charges against me.
In addition, the law does not allow interrogators to blindfold the
accused, force them to face the wall and interrogate them in a
threatening fashion. They did all of these things regardless. When I
asked what my charges were and why they weren’t asking me questions
related to them, the investigators responded that they would discover
the main issues related to my charges during the interrogation. In
reality, they had no evidence regarding any of my activities. They
simply wanted to use the interrogations to fabricate evidence against me
and others whom I was in contact with. They wanted to use my
confessions to put pressure on me and my colleagues. They wanted to use
my confessions to indict and convict tens of others and force them to
confess as well. During my interrogations and thereafter (even during
the trial), I kept insisting that they first provide evidence for their
claims and charges – anything at all, a document, a photography, film,
articles, writings – and then proceed with the interrogations. But they
paid no attention. When we reached trial, all they had brought to court
were four unfounded and unsupported charges.
56. During my time in solitary
confinement, I met with my family three times. Each time two police
officers were present during our conversations. The first and second
time they took me back to our home around midnight. The third time they
summoned three or four members of my family to one of the public office
buildings of the intelligence office of East Azerbaijan. The environment
was particularly oppressive because we were not allowed to talk about
[anything of substance]. During the third meeting my mother became
extremely upset and complained: “What is the point of meeting if we
can’t talk about anything? It’s better to just end things here.” So we
terminated things prematurely. This meeting was set up in response to
the written request of the court judge, who was in turn responding to my
complaints regarding the extension of my period of detention for
interrogation purposes. He had allowed me permission to return home and
meet with my family for 6 hours.
57. After 74 days, they transferred me
to a solitary cell in the financial fraud ward of the central prison in
Tabriz. I felt less stress and psychological pressure in the central
prison. I felt a deep calm and was able to sleep for two days. Several
days later they transferred me to the prison’s infirmary because my
bleeding worsened. From then on several reformists and family members
would come and visit me at night when everyone else was asleep. We would
talk for a short while.
58. Since my first arrest by the police
was illegal and I had been severely tortured both physically and
psychologically, I decided (while I was in my solitary cell) to file a
suit against the Law Enforcement Forces and the people who had kept me
in solitary confinement for about a month. But I decided not to complain
against the intelligence office of East Azerbaijan, and instead write
indirectly about their unlawful activities. I did not wish to incite all
the security and intelligence forces against me. On the other hand, the
intelligence forces are much stronger than the police – if I complain
against both I may suffer worst treatment next time around. My
predictions came true. After all signs of abuse disappeared from my body
and they released me after I posted bail, I wrote an open letter to the
then-president and described the torture that I had sustained. In this
letter I also made a small reference to my watch which was broken at the
intelligence office. Six months later I was again arrested by the
provincial intelligence office and spent more than 70 days in solitary
confinement. They asked me why I had spoken of the watch and I verbally
answered their questions. (Remember that the written questions alone
added up to 512!) But they also asked me many verbal questions which
were not recorded in any document. After my first release from solitary
confinement I prepared two complaints against the police and officials
responsible for my torture (in addition to the open letter I had sent to
Mr. Seyyed Mohammad Khatami, the then-President of Iran). I referenced
one of them in a visit to the military prosecutor’s office (responsible
for prosecuting members of the armed forces), but they never initiated
legal proceedings and those responsible for torture escaped prosecution.
I submitted the second complaint to the general courts for prosecution
in case the guilty police officers attempted to bypass responsibility in
military court by arguing that they were not on duty (nor were they
wearing their uniforms) during the Tabriz University incident. To date
nothing has happened on this front.
59. One day, the judge of the First
Branch of Revolutionary Court, Mr. Naghvi, came to see me in the Public
Prison, and informed me that if I withdrew my complaints against the Law
Enforcement Forces and plainclothes individuals who mistreated me, I
could be released with bail. I did not agree, and told the judge that I
would not do it. My court was postponed because of my complaint, and I
stayed in prison for another month and half. This period neither counted
towards my prison term, nor was I free. My internal bleeding worsened
due to lack of access to a doctor and warm water. After Tasu’a and Ashura1
of that year I was approached by the same reformists who had said
nothing regarding my condition [of confinement] until my release from
the intelligence office. My uncle’s son, who was an influential member
of the police, also came to meet me. It was after these meetings that I
was eventually taken to the infirmary of the central prison in Tabriz.
60. Eventually the judge came to prison and informed me that I would be released if I paid 300 million toman. I told him I didn’t have that kind of money. Because of this I remained in detention until my court convened.
My Trial
61. My first court session convened on
April 11, 2004 and was closed to the public. I complained and informed
them that I should be tried in the Press Court pursuant to a jury since
the charges were related to my career as a journalist. My next court
session convened in the Revolutionary Court. It was an open session but
there was no jury. Many journalists, friends and influential members of
the reform movement were present during these court sessions.
1 Shi’a religious ceremonies commemorating the death of Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Prohpet Muhammad.
62. During the trial, I complained about
several illegal interactions to the judge in my case. One of these was
my arrest warrant. I argued in the court and said that according to the
law the state should put forth compelling evidence against the accused,
based upon which the judge must issue the arrest warrant. I challenged
the judge to provide evidence justifying the issuing and extension of my
arrest warrant on two occasions. The judge failed to respond. The
judge’s ruling was not based on the rule of law. The law does not allow
officers of the court to arrest individuals in order to search for a
proper charge. The state must provide evidence, and the judge must issue
an arrest warrant [based on the evidence]. Interrogators are not
permitted to create a case file based on the information they extract
during detention and later present it to the court as proof of the
crime. Similarly, the court is not allowed to convict and punish the
accused based solely upon the allegations of the state, and without
reason and evidence. For example, once I was very troubled by the crying
and pleading that I could hear from my solitary cell. I told my
interrogators that I would answer their questions if they let me go
home. They agreed. I answered their questions and they took me home that
night. Then the interrogators used those same answers that were
obtained under conditions of terror and pressure as evidence against me
in the court. This despite the fact that I hadn’t even confessed against
anyone, including myself. This is why they (the Ministry of
Intelligence and the judge) did not have a shred of evidence – not even
my own confessions – to present during the open court session. In the
end, the judge only accepted 4 of the 18 charges, which included
propaganda against the regime, insulting Khamenei, inciting the people
to riot against the police and participating in the second conference of
the United Republicans in Berlin. I was sentenced to 18 months in
prison.
63. I spent 9 months in prison.
According to Iranian law, if an accused who is imprisoned for the first
time has already served half his prison sentence and has not created
trouble inside prison, he can be placed under “conditional release” and
freed. After spending nine months in prison, I asked the judge to set
aside half of my prison sentence pursuant to the law and release me. He
refused. Instead he placed a precondition on my conditional release. He
wanted me to write a confession letter. I refused and told them that if
they wanted to stop me from writing in the future they must legally
forbid me from doing so. If I can’t write, what can I do? Agreeing to
write a confession letter means that after all this time, I will
voluntarily accept guilt and ask the court’s forgiveness. But this is
not right – I was not guilty even under Iranian law. I was illegally
arrested, interrogated, detained, put in solitary confinement, tortured
[both physically and] psychologically, and tried and convicted without
any proof. I suffered from bleeding for four and a half months and
endured severe physical pain. I endured this pain because I was not
guilty. If I confess now, all of my efforts would be for naught, and
[they] would be proven right. I have also written these sentiments in a
letter that I snuck out of prison and published. The letter is available
on the internet.
64. After my release, I first issued a
complaint in the military and public prosecutor’s offices in East
Azerbaijan against the Law Enforcement Forces and plainclothes agents
who beaten me. I submitted a complaint against the Law Enforcement
Forces in the public court because there was a possibility that the
police would claim (in the military court) that the plainclothes agents
who attacked me were not in fact members of NAJA. Ninety percent of the
plainclothes agents who attacked us belonged to the police cadre of Amaken,
the Intelligence Protection Organization of the Law Enforcement Forces,
and the police’s anti-drug office. The remaining ten percent were
composed of Revolutionary Guards and Basij affiliated to various offices
and factories.
65. The military prosecutor forwarded my
complaint to the Second Branch of Military Court, which was under the
auspices of Judge Mahmoudian. You can review the text of my complaint
here: http://news.gooya.com/2003/08/21/2108-ff- 04.php.
I thoroughly briefed Judge Mahmoudian about my complaint and informed
him that I am filing a claim against NAJA and plainclothes individuals
who attacked and beat me. Judge Mahmoudian scolded me. He said, “It was
your fault for going in front of the University. You shouldn’t have
gone. Why did you go? Does this country have laws or not? When the
police requested you not to go, why did you? This is the punishment for a
disobedient individual.” I argued with the judge and hopelessly left.
66. The public court never investigated
my complaints. A year after I submitted my complaint, the 38th Branch of
the Public Court summoned me to court. I took a copy of my complaint
with me. But I was subjected to interrogations there. I told the
magistrate that the individuals who attacked me were wearing
plainclothes, but they were military individuals and addressed each
other with military titles, such as colonel, etc. And that I saw some of
them in the Intelligence Office of Law Enforcement Forces a couple of
times.
67. The Prosecutor’s Office my complaint
letter. After waiting for a long time, two years ago (after I had left
the country) the Prosecutor’s Office sent me a letter summoning me to
court so that I could prosecute my claim. Some of my writings from the
time I was in Tabriz’s central prison, along with parts of my complaint
letter, were collected and put on a weblog: http://insafeli.blogspot.com. I do not know who ran this site at the time.
http://www.iranhrdc.org/english/publications/witness-testimony/3173-witness-statement-ensafali-hedayat.html
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