EXTERNAL (for general distribution) Al Index: MDE 13/03/84
Amnesty International
International Secretari
1 Easton Street
London WC1X 8DJ
Date: 17 August 1984 United Kingdom
EVIDENCE OF TORTURE IN IRAN
INTRODUCTION
The following extracts are from testimonies given by former Iranian prisoners
to representatives of Amnesty International in Europe. Their names and other
details which could identify them have been changed by Amnesty International
in order to protect their identity, and that of their families still living
in Iran, who might otherwise suffer reprisals.
The following testimonies refer to experiences of torture and imprison-
ment dating from August 1981 to early 1984 and are representative of many
others collected by Amnesty International during the same period. Although
Amnesty International is not in a position to vouch for the details of each nf
these testimonies, the high degree of consistency and the detail of evidence
produced leads Amnesty International to conclude that they reveal a
pattern of torture of political detainees. Some of those who gave testimonies
were accused of being supporters of various illegal political organisations
opposed to the Iranian regime, such as the People's Nojahedine Organisation
of Iran, the People's Fedayeen Organisation or the Kurdish Democratic Party
of Iran. Others were critical of certain policies of the Iranian Government
but were not members of any political organisation.
- Some of those interviewed by.Amnesty International have also been examined
by Amnesty International medical doctors, who have concluded from detailed
examination of these individuals that the signs and symptoms were consistent
with both the kind of torture alleged by the people concerned and the date
of such torture as reflected in the testimonies.
The method of physical torture most commonly reported by former prisoners
in Iran is beating, sometimes applied indiscriminately to all parts of the
body, frequently concentrating on the soles of the feet, the back or the
genitals, for prolonged periods of time. The prisoner is usually blindfolded,
with hands and sometimes ankles bound. The beating is administered with
whips or cables of varying thicknesses. Former prisoners have consistently
reported that they were beaten until they lost consciousness, and many have
described how, after prolonged beating on the feet, the feet were so swollen
and painful that they were unable to stand or walk, and were forced instead
to crawl along the floor.
Former prisoners have consistently reported having been su1 jected to
tfootballu, often shortly after arrest, when the prisoner, blindfolded and
with his hands bound together, is pushed from one guard to another while being
beaten, punched and kicked. As one former prisoner stated in his testimony,
reproduced below, this form of torture affects the prisoner not only physically
but psychologically, in that he feels isolated, insecure and disorientated.
Other torture methods commonly reported to Amnesty International include
suspension from the ceiling by the hands or feet for prolonged periods of
time, and various forms of sexual abuse.
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Physical torture is frequently accompanied by or alternated with forms
of psychological torture. This may consist of insults to the prisoner and/or
his family, threats of execution, and sometimes mock execution as described
in the fourth testimony below. Some former prisoners have reported
being told by guards that relatives, friends or colleagues had been executed
or were in prison, had become insane or were gravely ill, slid found out on
their release that this was untrue. One former prisoner, when interviewed
by Amnesty International, described how he had spoken from a prison tela—
phone to his brother and sister, who begged him to tell the guards everything
he knew, as they were to be arrested by Revolutionary Guards at their home
unless he confessed. Other former prisoners testified that they were forced
to watch groups of prisoners being executed, or to collect the bodies after-
wards and load them onto lorries, to be taken away for burial.
On 8 February 1978 Iran made a unilateral declaration against torture,
thereby reasserting its support for the United Nations Declaration on the
Protection of All Persons from Being Subjected to Tortureana Other Cruel,
Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which was adopted by the
United Nations General Assembly on 9 December 1975. The use of torture is
expressly forbidden in Article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights, which Iran ratif .ed on 24 June 1975. Although these
initiatives took place before the February 1979 revolution, Iran has taken
no steps to revoke them, and is therefore still considered to be bound by
these international human rights instruments. In addition, Article 38 of
the Constitution.of the Isla mic Republic of Iran, promulgated on 15 November
1979, states:
“Any form of torture for the purpose of extracting confessions
or gaining information is forbidden. It is not permissible to
compel individuals to give testimony, make confessions or swear
oaths, and any testimony, confession or oath obtained in this
fashion is worthless and invalid. Punishments for the infringe-
ment of these.principles will be determined by law.”
• Amnesty International is concerned that the torture and ill—treatment
of prisoners in Iran will continue unless decisive measures are adopted by
the appropriate Iranian authorities to safeguard prisoners from such
treatment. Amnesty International believes that such measures should include:
— a clear public condemnation of the use of torture by the highest
authorities in Iran,
— a limit to incommunicado detention, and prompt and regular visits
from relatives, a medical doctor and a lawyer of the prisoner 1 s
own choosing.
Amnesty International has repeatedly expresse d its concern regarding
allegations of torture of detainees in Iran and recommended that an inde-
pendent investigation be initiated into such allegations. In this respect
Amnesty International also calls on the Iranian authorities to pay due
attention to compensating the victims, and bringing the perpetrators to
justice.
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1. The following extract is taken from a testimony given by a former
teacher:
“I was arrested in September 1983, when four armed Revolutionary
Guards came to my home. They searched it thoroughly, and took away
five or six books. Then they told my mother and brother that I was
being taken for investigation and would afterwards return home.
I was taken blindfolded to a Revolutionary Guards building located
in a deserted backstreet. They put me in a room on my own, where I was
handcuffed to a water—pipe, and remained there, still blindfolded,
until the following morning. I was told I could remove the blindfold,
but that whenever a guard was about to enter the room I had to replace
it. I didn't know the reason for my arrest and asked one of the guards.
He said he didn't know, but that there must have been a good reason.
Nothing happened for three or four days, and then someone came to
interrogate me; I was blindfolded and handcuffed at the time. He asked
me a lot of questions, but didn't give me time to answer, he just kept
slapping my face. Then he left me, saying that I had one day in which
to write down everything about my political organisation and the people
connected with it.
I was not a member of any organisation, but wrote some things down
about my past. When the interrogator came again, he said this was
rubbish and punched me in the face and on my chest and back. He repeated
that I should write down details of the organisation to which I belonged,
and again punched and kicked me.
Later I was put in a room with no windows, with five or six others.
We were told not to communicate with each other, but remained without
blindfolds except when a guard came in.
One of them was badly wounded: he had lost a hand and was vomiting
constantly. After three days he was given some piils, but they didn't
help, an4 the following day they had to take him to the hospital. He
returned later, but was still vomiting, and after two days he was taken
away again. We didn't see him again. After awhile the guards allowed
two àr three of us to speak, but we were told to talk about ordinary
things only. Three or four days later I was taken again for interroga-
tion. The interrogator told me I hadn't come to my senses, and told me
again to write down my confession. He rarely asked me questions, and
if he did he didn't allow me any time to give an answer. He just told
me to write down my problems, and afterwards I would be questioned
about them.
At about 6 pm one day in November, a guard took me to a different
room for interrogation. They put a sack over y head and over that a
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piece of cloth around my mouth, so that I couldn't shout out. There
were three or four people there. First of all they punched me hard
and repeatedly in the face. I found out later that I had bruises
around my eyes, my lip was split open and I lost a filling from a
tooth. Then they removed my shirt and told tue to lie face down on a
bench. I heard the crack of a whip and I felt as though my back was
being cut by a huge knife. They gave me six lashes and then they
asked tue questions about my political organisation. The pain was so
bad that, had I been able to, I would have counnitted suicide. I was
punched and kicked and thrown by different people against the wall.
One of them jumped on my chest. This same treatment, beating and
kicks, the five or six lashes, and questions, was.repeated over and
over for about two hours. They didn't believe me when I said I didn't
belong to any organisation.
When I returned to the room where the others were, I was given
some soothing powder for my back and a Novalgene injection. Some of
the others were taken away for blood transfusions.
The beatings usually took place at about 11 am, 6 pm or after
midnight — before meals, so that the prisoners wouldn't vomit. The
beatings continued for about ten days. We spent all the time lyiag
down on our stomachs, we even had to eat in that. position, because of
the pain.
They continued to order me to write down my problems. One day the
interrogator said that unless I wrote down all my problems within 24
hours I would be responsible for what followed. He punched me twice
in the back and kicked tue as I was taken out. Two nights later the
interrogator said “You're a Marxist, and if you don't write anything
down this time, we'll execute you.” I knew that this needn't be just
an empty threat, and for the next three days I was so nervous I
couldn't eat.
After three days I woke to find one of my testicles badly swollen,
and complained to the guard. He dismissed my complaint, but after five
days I was taken to the hospital and given antibiotics, then I returned.
The antibiotics should have been given to me within a five—day period,
but were spread over 15 days, and had no effect.
Eventually I was tried, (by this time I had written sixty pages
of “confessions” and “problems”) but I had no lawyer. In the courtroom
were a judge, a guard holding a machine gun and two others. The judge
accused me of participating in meetings of the People's Mojahedine
Organisation and the People's Fedaycen Organisation, and of supporting
both organisations, of writing letters and spreading political ideals,
and applying to foreign embassies for visas. I was not informed about
the verdict or the sentence, but my family later told me I received a
suspended sentence of five years' imprisonment.
I was released in January 1984.”
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In May 1984 this prisoner was examined by an Amnesty International
medical doctor, who stated in the resulting medical report:
“1 was able to count eighteen distinct marks on his back
consistent with whipping. These marks ran in several directions
and appear to have been made with one type of ‘whip' which
produced lesions like tramlines with parallel outer pigmented
tracks mm. across with a central pale channel. The lesions
were up to 30 cm. in length.
the whip lesions were impalpable and clearly of several
months age. Three small lesions were present on the left side of
the chest ... these could well have been caused by the tip of
whatever whip was used. There were very small scars on each leg,
probably caused by kicks.”
2. The following testimony was given by a supporter of the People's
Mojahedine Organisation who was arrested in northern Iran in
September 1981:
“I was searched and blindfolded and put in a cell with my hands
tied behind me. I was beaten with cables from midday to the evening,
while they interrogated me. One of the first things they did was to
play “football” with me:- still blindfolded, with my hands bound, I was
pushed and beaten, punched and kicked from one guard to the next, who
insulted me at the same time. This “football” game is often used on
people who have just been arrested. It breaks down the resistance,
and can make one feel lonely and unstable. I received the same
treatment, and the interrogation continued, for four days, and the
next morning I was taken from my cell, blindfolded and with my hands
still tied. They wrapped a blanket round me and tied it in place
with ropes and covered me with a sack. I was put into the. back of
a van to be transferred back to my home town. During the journey two
guards beat me, and taunted me by asking why I didn't try to escape,
and threatened me with execution. We arrived at midday and they left
me in the courtyard in the hot sun. Later they fetched me and removed
the blanket, and the beatings began again.
After I'd gone to the Prosecutor's office, they put metal hand-
cuffs on my hands: the kind which have serrated edges, and which
tighten their grip if you move. I remained handcuffed for more than
one month — the only time they were removed was after 10 days, when
my hands were bound in front instead of behind my back. I had to eat
my food while wearing them, which was very demoralizing, and also while
going to the toilet or performing ablutions. During torture sessions
the handcuffs would tighten, and the wounds on my wrists became infected.
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My new cell was completely waterlogged as rain drained from the
roof of the building into the cell. There was only one chair and I
spent all my time sitting on that chair. I couldn't lie down to sleep
on the floor because of the water, and my movements were very restricted
because of the handcuffs. The interrogations continued, and they told
me to repent and to confess on television. The beating was different
this time. Before it had been fairly haphazard, intended to frighten
or disorientate, and was applied to all parts of my body, but now it
was much more systematic. They find out your weak spot and then
concentrate on that: for example, they stripped me and laughed to see
how I reacted to that kind of humiliating treatment. They beat me
repeatedly on the soles of my feet with a thick electric cable, and
from time to time they would pour cold water on my feet and then start
all over again. They continued for hours. The beating was the most
painfuithing, the hardest to bear, and I often lost consciousness.
The next day two guards held my hands and two others my feet. They
raised me up and then dropped me on the floor. One of them jumped
onto my stomach, and I felt something snap in my back. Then I fainted.
During that month, apart from the beating, I was burned with lighted
cigarettes, and my fingers were crushed together after a pencil was
inserted between them. I was also suspended by my wrists from the
ceiling for ten hours, and subjected to.a mock execution.
After one month I had lost a lot of weight, I was in a lot of
pain and very weak. I had to crawl along, as I couldn't walk. I saw
a doctor, who said I should be hospitalized but instead I was trans—
ferredto the main prison and the handcuffs were removed at last. The
physical torture stopped, but the taunts and insults continued, and
loudspeakers in the prison broadcast speeches by the mullahs all day.
I was sentenced to death, but eventually managed to escape from the
prison. Afterwards I learned that both my parents had been arrested
and three people who were in the same prison were executed after my
escape.”
More than two years after he was subjected to torture and ill—
treatment, scars on this prisoner's wrists, apparently left by the
handcuffs, are still in evidence and he also complains of spinal
problems which have reportedly been diagnosed as partial muscular
paralysis.
3. The following description of torture and imprisonment was given to
an Amnesty International representative by a Kurdish office worker:
He was arrested at his office in October 1983 by uniformed
Pasdaran (Revolutionary Guards) who took him away by car. They
told him they wanted to ask him some questions and were “inviting”
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him for a few days. He was taken to prison at Pasdaran headquarters
by a unit of Pasdaran who had surround the building. He was blind-
folded. In the evening he was given some blahk paper in order to write
down all he knew about the Democratic Party of Kurdistan. He refused
to write without having been asked specific questions.
In the evening, after three hours, the torture began. It
continued for eleven days. The first day, one group beat him on
the feet with a telephone cable 1 cm. in diameter. This went on for
five hours, with interruptions for verbal threats; he was also
kicked and punched. The session ended at 10 pm.
On the second day, the torture began again. In a dark room in
the basement, he was made to lie face down on a bed, to which he was
bound by handcuffs attached to the legs of the bed.., His head was
wrapped in some kind of covering to stifle his cries. He was stabbed
with long needles. They injured his bare feet by trampling on them
wearing shoes. He was then forced to walk in the prison courtyard.
The physical torture was accompanied by moral torture: threats
to prevent him from sleeping; being falsely informed that his brother
and sister were in the cells next to his.
After seven days the torture was intensified:
— They tied his arms and legs to the four corners of an iron
bedstead, then placed a block of cement on his back (he was tied
face down and they continued to beat him). The block of cement
measured about 0.20 in. by 0.40 in. and was about 0.20 in. thick;
it weighed approximately 20 kilos. His nose was injured. He
once remained like this for twelve consecutive hours and at other
times for six, eight or ten hours.
He was almost paralysed and had to be carried. When he went to
the toilet there was blood in his urine. Bones were displaced in his
hands and feet.
After the period of torture, he remained in isolation, incommunicado ,
for eighty—three days. A doctor from the prison dispensary saw him after
three days to remove the clotted blood which was forming haematomas; this
doctor was in fact only a student. He was given four doses of anti-
biotics per day. At the beginning his dressings were changed every three
or four days, then the visits to the dispensary stopped and the dressings
were changed every two or three weeks.
Paralysis in his hands persisted. A doctor from the town came on
the eighty—third day: he was examined blindfolded. An X—ray was pre-
scribed. The hospital was in the town. He was taken there blindfolded
but managed to escape. He was never able to see his torturers.
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In June 1984 this prisoner was examined by an Amnesty International
medical doctor.
In his report, the doctor describes scars, particularly on the
feet and ankles, which could result from blows with sticks or cables
or from being tightly bound for prolonged periods of time. He
concludes that these scars are consistent with the allegations of
torture made by the prisoner.
4. The following extract is taken from the testimony of a young man
living in central Iran:
III was arrested in August 1981, while driving in town. I was
blindfolded and taken to the local komiteh building, (equivalent to
a local police station), and put in a cell with three others.
The window was covered up and when I tried to look outside the
door, a guard. told me that if I wished to leave i should name my
political contacts. I was treated better than the others initially:
I was given a good meal and generally treated well, but the interro-
gator told e to tell everything I knew. When I was on my way to the
toilet I saw a man coming towards me with very swollen feet. I was
shocked and didn't understand. I asked him what had happened, but a
guard interrupted and hit me hard in the face. I was blindfolded and
pushed into a room with four or five guards who played • t football” with
me for ten to twenty minutes, during which time I was severely beaten,
particularly in the genitals. Afterwards I was put in a cell on my own.
I was in great pain, particularly in one testicle.
Later that same night I was transferred with others to another
prison in a nearby town. My head was shaved and I was blindfolded.
There I was put in a cell with four guards who alternately beat me,
again concentrating on my genitals, and abused me sexually. Later I
was told I could speak to relatives on the telephone, who told me
that they were being arrested and that they would be sent to prison
unless I gave the names of other so—called political contacts. The
line was then cut.
The following day the sexual abuse and beating was repeated,
after I refusedto give information. I remained in the same prison
for fifteen days, during which guards threatened me with execution,
and to tell my family that I was in possession of heroin or weapons.
I was also subjected to prolonged whippings until I fainted. I was
twice subjected to mock execution. One evening I was taken by car
to an unknown place. I was blindfolded and my hands were tied behind
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my back. I was told that I was to be executed, unless I named my
friends, in which case I would be released. The guards discussed
how to execute me, and asked me whether I would prefer to be executed
quickly or slowly. I said “quickly” but the guards then disagreed,
saying that they preferred to kill me slowly, in stages. Then they
discussed whether to kill me there or return me to the prison to be
hanged, and whether or not I should remain blindfolded. Finally,
they fired shots around me. I was deeply shocked and confused, but
then realized that I had not been hit but had been the victitn.of a
mock execution. This was repeated the following evening, but in the
meantime I was treated in a friendly way, given a good meal and coaxed
to give information.
Later I was transferred back to the prison where I was initially
held and kept in solitary confinement. I was repeatedly beaten with
cables of different thicknesses, particularly on my genitals. This
resulted initially in my losing consciousness, and afterwards I was
unable to urinate for 24 hours. The next day, still blindfolded, I
asked the guard for permission to go to the toilet, and he told me
to take three paces forward and one to the right. Following these
instructions, I fell from a height of four to five metres, while the
guards laughed. I broke two teeth and badly damaged my knee.
I was again transferred and held in solitary èonfinement at the
prefecture in the same town. I had so far spent two and a half months
in detention and had no bath or medical treatment, and received no
visits from relatives during this time. Then another prison was put
in the cell with me. This man had been badly beaten, was disorientated,
confused and incontinent. His clothes were badly soiled with his own
urine and excrement. We remained together for several days, and I was
then given permission to take a shower and to wash the other prisoner
at the same time. On returning to the cell I saw a young Kurdish woman
whose feet were grey and swollen. She was being carried by a guard who
was telling her that her feet would be amputated.
I received a visit from relatives only after four months in
detention, and was tried (my trial lasted only five minutes) after
seven months. I was accused of giving assistance to others who had
taken up arms against the Islamic Republic. The religious judge spoke
of my date of arrest as being one and a half months after the actual
date, but when I tried to protest the judge ordered that I be taken
out. I was sentenced to ten years' imprisonment, but was released
after fifteen months.”
In May 1984, eighteen months after his release from prison, this
former prisoner was interviewed and examined by an Amnesty International
medical doctor. He complained of the following ailments, which he felt
to be related to his experiences of imprisonment and torture: pain in
the genitals, particularly in the testicles (the right testicle is
situated in the abdomen as a result of the beatings sustained); spinal
pain in the region of cervical vertebrae and lumbar vertebrae; headaches
in the occipital and frontal regions; disturbed sleep with frequent
nightmares; loss of ability t. concentrate, with intrusive flashbacks of
his prison experiences; constrictive anxiety—related chest pains.
