I am attempting to convey my voice to the civilized world through the writing of this text, which recounts the story of my 130 days of detention and my condition during this entire period. Under continuous surveillance by informants and prison monitoring systems, and naturally experiencing compounded and constant stress, focusing on writing is not an easy task.
On April 17, 2023, I received a phone call from a person named Saeedi, who introduced himself as an agent from the Intelligence Department of Bukan. I was called to a location near the Rozh Hall on the outskirts of Bukan at 5 PM. Upon arriving at the designated place, I was transferred to the Bukan Intelligence Department by Saeedi and another individual whom I later learned was the investigator of my case, named Qorbani, whose organizational alias is “Victim”. I was detained in a room until around 10 PM, and from 10 PM onwards, I was subjected to the most brutal forms of torture and beatings by a team of six interrogators, including Saeedi, Qorbani, and the head of the Bukan Intelligence Department, known by the organizational alias Hojjati, along with three other unidentified agents.
In addition to the beatings, I was constantly threatened with death, insulted, and humiliated, with Hojjati, Qorbani, and Saeedi repeatedly reminding me that I was in a place where, according to them, dozens of so-called “rioters” had been killed under torture, and I would meet the same fate. They told me that my corpse would be disposed of like theirs, in the waters of the Bukan dam, in sewage channels, or in mass graves. They did everything in their power to make me understand that I had reached the end of the line, that those torturing me were fully immune to any legal consequences, and that my death would not affect them in any way. Indeed, their brutality in the torture showed that they were completely unconcerned about my death under torture. Over the course of three nights of torture at the Bukan Intelligence Department, I lost consciousness multiple times from the beatings and electric shocks.
After more than 72 hours of continuous torture, I was transferred, along with several other detainees, under heavy security measures and escorted by a convoy of armed plainclothes agents, to the detention facility of the West Azerbaijan Intelligence Department in Orumiyeh.
From the outset in Orumiyeh, I was subjected to what they called “specialized,” “professional,” and “diverse” planned torture. Various techniques were employed during the interrogations, which I will briefly outline to give the reader a better understanding of the terrifying atmosphere of the torture:
1. Suffocation Technique: With my hands and eyes bound, a bag was placed over my head, and I was laid flat on my back in a place resembling a bathroom or toilet, while water was poured over my head and face, inducing the terrifying sensation of drowning.
2. Mock Execution (Hanging): In the dead of night, I was suddenly moved from my solitary confinement cell to an unknown room, forced to stand on a stool with a rope around my neck for hours while being threatened with execution in secret, aiming to intimidate me as much as possible.
3. Mock Execution (Firing Squad): With my hands, feet, and eyes bound, I was repeatedly threatened and mocked. They would cock the weapons, telling me that my name had never been officially registered as a prisoner, so that when I was killed during the interrogation, they could easily dispose of my body like that of the “rioters” (protesters) in sewage channels, lakes, or unmarked mass graves.
4. Electric Shock Technique: With my eyes blindfolded and hands bound to a chair, agents from the Intelligence Department subjected me to electric shocks on my earlobes, testicles, nipples, spine, ribs, armpits, thighs, and temples, inflicting excruciating pain to coerce me into writing or repeating whatever they wanted in front of a camera.
5. Constant Sleep Deprivation: For several consecutive nights, agents would repeatedly check on me, make noise, insult me, enter my cell, beat me, and use any means necessary to prevent me from sleeping, aiming to break my resistance and force me to write and repeat the interrogators’ scripts.
From April 17, 2023, until September 23 of that year, this inhumane situation persisted, more or less. Despite the threats from the Intelligence Department agents, as soon as I was transferred to Orumiyeh Central Prison, I made every effort to report the torture and other violations committed by the interrogators and prosecutors handling my case to the judicial authorities through legal channels. After months of delays and evasions, I finally succeeded in filing a complaint against the interrogators and torturers from the Intelligence Department, and Case Number 140335920002257834 was opened at the Orumiyeh Prosecutor’s Office. After several weeks, it was referred to the Military Court of West Azerbaijan, but the prosecutor of the first branch of the Military Court of West Azerbaijan, under the pretext that one year had passed since the torture, issued an order of dismissal against the torturer and refused to refer me to an independent doctor, effectively preventing any legal action against the human rights violators and granting them impunity.
It is evident that torture is an anti-human crime that takes place in secrecy, far from the eyes of witnesses and cameras. The only evidence a torture victim can present to prove the crimes committed against them is the physical signs of torture on their body, and denying access to an impartial doctor essentially means providing immunity and protection to torturers and human rights violators. If torture and human rights violations are not systematic, why then do competent courts remain silent in the face of complaints from torture victims? How can a security agency summon me, a victim of torture, to prison and threaten me with execution for filing a complaint about my torture? Why does no institution stand up to defend the victim? Why should humanitarian assistance lead to such punishment?
How is it that the Orumiyeh Revolutionary Court, and Judge Reza Najafzadeh, despite my statements and those of other defendants in the case regarding the various forms of torture, responded with the shameful remark: “Did you expect them to grill you?” It seems that in the eyes of this judge, torture is a natural consequence for anyone who helps others.
The granting of power without oversight and accountability, along with blind sectarian and ethnic prejudices, personal frustrations, material interests, promotion, increased salaries, etc., turns a law enforcement officer into a lawless, brutal, and terrifying individual who tramples on all human boundaries to satisfy an insatiable thirst for violence and cruelty, even for a short time, reinforcing a totalitarian system that spreads fear among its citizens.
The civilized world, free people should not remain silent in the face of this organized, sometimes sanctified, violence. Human rights organizations and institutions such as the International Criminal Court must not remain idle in the face of these ongoing crimes. Human dignity should not be trampled upon so easily.
End
Date: April 10, 2025
Orumiyeh Central Prison – Reception Ward 2
Rezgar Bigzadeh Babamiri