An overview of Islamic Republic detention centers and interrogators
At the time of arrest or detention, the accused person is transferred to a place called temporary detention center to complete the case and send it to the court for issuing a verdict. Detention centers in Iran are divided into IRGC detention center, police detention center, central, and security detention center.
In each of them, according to the type of charge, the accused is questioned and interrogated by the interrogator or investigation officer.
Perhaps the most concise definition of interrogator and detention center is summarized in these few sentences. Although, in dictatorial and religion-oriented regimes, the meaning of accused and interrogator is similar to hunting and hunter.
In a place where a person is prohibited from all his physical and mental authority and has no control over his life and even his body, no definition can describe it.
According to personal observations and reports of detainees in IRGC and intelligence detention centers, the existence of small cells known as grave cells among detainees has been uncovered.
The estimated dimensions of these rooms, which are one meter square and one meter from the ceiling to the floor, and the same length and width, the prisoner is forced to sit cross-legged and bowed head for hours.
The worst type of torture for people who have not experienced it may be physical torture, but the systematic torture of the soul, which is done by people who have experienced chronic sadism of physical abuse, who reach a mental ejaculation when they see the tortured person. There is no way to understand or reconcile them.
The Ministry of Intelligence, the Intelligence Organization of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the intelligence of the security forces and the security police each separately have secret detention centers in different cities of Kurdistan.
IRGC intelligence organization has several secret detention centers in each of the provinces of West Azarbaijan, Kurdistan, Kermanshah and Ilam in the capital cities of the province, they have several secret detention centers and the location of some of them has not been determined yet.
Moreover, the Ministry of Intelligence has a central detention center in each of the provincial capital cities, where usually all detainees from different regions are transferred to this central detention center and subjected to interrogation.
The intelligent department of each city also has a small detention center in its office, which is used in emergency situations, for example, in cases of sudden street protests, strikes on the living conditions, and similar cases, which often lead to mass arrests of citizens.
In addition to the headquarters of this military-security institution, the IRGC detention centers also include villas in residential areas, which are used as detention centers for the interrogation of foreign nationals and top-secret cases.
All the cells of the intelligent detention center have no windows. Only in the roof of these cells are channels for air entry and exit.
Through personal observations and from the words of some people who have spent some time in these detention centers, we have come to believe that the IRGC and intelligence detention centers in the cities of Kurdistan are among the dirtiest and most dangerous detention centers of the Ministry of Intelligence in Iran.
The toilets and bathrooms in each of its cells are extremely inappropriate and smelly, and dirty blankets are provided to the detainees.
In the meantime, the interrogators carry out physical tortures that violate human dignity and personality. Stripping the accused person, threatening to rape, hanging weights on men's genitals, reaching out to women and touching their bodies by male interrogators are the main physical and mental tortures that are used to force confessions from mostly political accused and opponents of the Islamic Republic.
With such observations, one can understand the depth of the disaster in the prisons and detention centers of the Islamic Republic.
On January 7, 2023, Mr. Arslan Diwargar, a citizen of Divandareh, was arrested and transferred to an unknown location after being summoned to Sanandaj Intelligence department. After his arrest, no information about his physical and mental conditions is given to his family until his release. By looking at the photos before and after his release, the mental and physical tortures that can change a person so much are quite obvious. Perhaps none of them can testify due to security reasons and threats from the security forces, but personal observations and interviews with people who have been released from prison lead us to believe that the Islamic Republic of Iran is committing an unimaginable crime in prisons and detention centers that the international community should not tolerate or remain be silent.
By looking at the photos before and after the release, you can see the mental and physical tortures that have changed a person so much. Perhaps none of them can testify due to security reasons and threats from the security forces, but personal observations and interviews with people who have been released from prison lead us to believe that the Islamic Republic of Iran is committing an unimaginable crime in prisons and detention centers that the international community should not tolerate and remain silent.
Hana Human Rights Organization
By: Shorsh Mohi