Eyewitness Account of the Conditions in Evin and How AmirJavadifar Died
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Wed nesday, September 09, 2009
Seyed Au Akbar Kheradnejad is among the many protesters who were detained
after June 12th election. During his detention, he was subjected to torture and many
other illegal acts. He has a bitter story of his detention to tell. We sat down to talk
to him to shed light on countless crimes that Ali Akbar and other prisoners have
been subjected to. During the conversation he refers to AmirJavadifar's death
whom he had seen in Evin prison. He says Javadifar was very ill and the refusal of
the prison guards to let the doctor take Amir to the hospital led to his death later.
Seyed Ali Akbar Kherdnejad was arrested by plain clothes forces on July 9th 2009 at
about 4.30 pm around Vali Asr square. He says “They beat me brutally; pepper
sprayed my eyes and dragged me into a police van while beating me.”
Kheradnejad goes on to say “They tied my hand behind me and put me in the van.
They were attacking me from behind and were beating me. All kinds of insults and
threats of rape were flying in the air. I was taken to police precinct 148 which is
located on Felestin Street. There were three other people who were arrested with
me and were sitting at the back of the van. When we arrived, we were body
searched and were beaten again at the court yard of the precinct. First they put us
in a cage and insulted us in obscene language. Police officers in the precinct were
not in charge. Plain clothes forces were beating us with baton through the bars and
were laughing at us. The cage was small and we could not move. Then we were
taken to another part of the precinct and from there they took us to the basement.
We had to keep our heads low during the movements while they were beating us at
the back of our heads. Once in the basement, our Ids were taken.”
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But the detainees were not kept in the basement according to Kheradnejad who
goes on to say:” Then they put us in a van and took us to the investigative police
unit near Enghelab square where we were photographed. They gave to all us a
paper to write down our home addresses along with our emails and passwords. We
stayed there until noon of the following day. There were about 200 of us in that
place and we could barely breathe. The air was heavy and there was not enough
space for every one to move. We had to sleep on the floor.”
We ask Ali Akbar about the charges and whether legal procedures were respected
“one day into my arrest a man who was called Haydaifar came to see us and said
that we were not going to be released before the of the summer and we would all
be taken to Kahrizak. We were given a paper that contained the charges. When I
read the paper I was convinced we were all going to be executed; we were charged
with acting against national security, disturbing public order, disregarding police
orders, taking part in riot and many other charges. But then they took us to Evin in
a police bus. There were 4 police cars that were escorting the bus along the way.”
Where did they take you and how many other people were with you?
“I don't know the exact number but there were probably 60 or more of us on the
bus. There were 3 people sitting on some of the seats. Once we arrived we were
photographed again and they opened files for us. Then we were taken to the
security ward 240 of Evin.”
I asked him about the conditions inside the cells.
“We used to jokingly call our cell a suite because it had a shower and a washroom.
At first there were six of us in the cell. In the following hours they brought in two
other people who had been arrested by Basijis. The air was hot, humid and hazy;
our cell was located on the floor above section 9. No one was speaking to us. Some
times a guard would come in to the cell with his face covered and then would leave
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without saying a word. The food was horrible and often caused food poisoning.
There were no doctors or nurses to take care of the prisoners. The guards refused
to give medication to the prisoners. Everybody had bruises on their bodies and
heads. I had bruises on my back, left leg and left arm. Reza Taheri who was an
aeronautics student in Sharif University had bruies around both his eyes. He had
been beaten with a baton on his nose. We could barely sleep. The cell was very
tight. We kept wondering what would happen to us next. They were not letting us to
call our families. Then on Sunday were allowed to make a short phone enough to
ask our families to follow up on our cases.
After several days of finger printing and other procedures we were blindfolded and
taken to the lower floor. Later I realized that it was probably the famous ward 209 of
Evin. We all thought that the interrogations were over. But we stayed there between
five to six days. The windows were closed and we all thought we were going to
suffocate. But then they opened the windows. The place had wooden doors and we
were convinced that they were listening to our conversations. We were totally
unaware of what was happening outside. They were giving us false news. I was told
that my father had a heart attack. Some one else was told his grand mother had a
heart attack. We all assumed that these were false news and we were right.”
Kheradnejad had this to say about his interrogations:”We were blindfolded during
the interrogations. I could only see the paper that was put in front of me. The
interrogator asked the question and we had to write down the answer on the paper.
The questions included: what were you doing the day you were arrested; what do
think of the election; what do you think of the protests and the demonstration?”
The torture and pressure tactics that have been used on the post election detainees
have raised serious concerns among human rights organization. Kheradnejad has
this to say on the issue: “being in the ward 209 is a torture in itself. Before being
transferred to Evin they were beating and insulting us. In Evin, not being able to call
my family was a torture in itself, not only to me but also to my family. I used to
blame myself every day for putting my elderly parents in that situation. I knew they
were dead worried. My mother thought I was dead. Every day we were threatened.
We were told that we would never see the sky again. We were told to say good bye
to this world. My feet and my eyes got used to distances that were 2 to 3 meters
long only. I lost 6 kilos. Most of the food portions were cold or uncooked. There were
no doctors to take care of us.”
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I asked Kheradnejad about other prisoners' physical conditions. He had this to say:
“most of them had bruises all over their bodies. Koorosh Khorasani had two
fractures but they never let him to see a doctor to put a cast around the fractured
parts. Most detainees were graduates or university students. There were also some
prisoners who were older and in their sixties. There were some prisoners who were
transferred from IRGC or Basij units and were in particullary bad shape. Following
their arrests, they had been threatened to die with a gun on their heads. They were
forced to repeat sit-ups until they fainted. Their condition had become so critical
that some Basijis had protested their treatment. I also saw three female detainees. I
do not know why they were brought in.”
Kheradnejad goes on to talk about his release and his current conditions: “I was
released on bail. They put a blank paper in front of my aunt and told her to sign it
and she did. I still don't know the amount of the bail. I did not dare to call other
prisoners after I was released. They said they would come after me if I tried to
contact others. When I was walking out of gates a woman showed me a picture. I
could not remember the face on the picture at the time because I was feeling very
weak physically. A few days later I recalled seeing him in the Precinct 148. When I
arrived in the UK I called them and was told that the person on that picture was
AmirJavadifar and he had been martyred.”
I ask Ali Akbar if he remembers anything about Javadifar. He says; “I remember that
finally a doctor showed up who wanted to take Amir and one other prisoner to the
hospital but the plain clothes forces were not letting him. The doctor got into an
argument with them and asked them to put that in writing, the doctor said that he
did not want to be responsible for their deaths.”
“It is extremely hard for me to recall all those days. I am ashamed to think that they
were my compatriots. They were barbarians. My head is still swollen of their
beatings. Every time I think I could have been in AmirJavadifar;s place, I cry.”
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