“Solitary confinement in Iran will not be the identical as isolation in Western prisons,” Taghi Rahmani defined.
And Rahmani possible is aware of greater than most: He is “Iran’s most regularly jailed journalist,” in response to the help group Reporters Without Borders.
“In my cell in Iran, locked up, with no communication services, no conferences, no books, no essays. […] “We had been blindfolded and all we might hear was sound,” Rahmani informed DW at a latest screening of “White Torture,” a movie that exposes psychological torture strategies inflicted on jailed political activists within the Islamic Republic.
Documenting psychological torture in Iran
Rahmani’s spouse and fellow activist, Narges Mohammadi, who was awarded the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize by the Nobel Committee on October 6 for “preventing towards the oppression of girls in Iran,” has been imprisoned a number of instances over the previous 25 years and stays incarcerated as a result of Iran’s unwillingness to topic its human rights file to scrutiny.
She was first imprisoned for a yr in 1998 for criticizing the Iranian authorities and has been preventing the regime ever since.
Mohammadi, vp of the banned group Centre for the Defence of Human Rights, was sentenced to 16 years in jail in May 2016 for founding the Human Rights Campaign for the Abolition of the Death Penalty, amongst different jail phrases.
Despite the regime’s finest efforts, Mohammadi’s voice couldn’t be silenced, and he or she started documenting the struggling of her fellow prisoners, ultimately compiling the interviews right into a e-book known as “White Torture.”
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The documentary of the identical title highlights the appalling remedy of political prisoners in solitary confinement.
White torture refers to a kind of psychological torture approach utilized in Iran wherein prisoners are stored in isolation for lengthy intervals of time, indefinitely, in all-white cells.
The movie “Very Hard to Watch”
A screening of the movie “White Torture” in Berlin, organised by the human rights group Hawar, introduced collectively human rights activists, former political prisoners and relations of twin nationals at the moment imprisoned in Iran.
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Some of the tales had been so harrowing, the truth is. “Solitary confinement is a extremely robust state of affairs,” stated documentary maker Gelare Kakavando. “There had been numerous feelings behind the scenes that we weren’t capable of seize within the interviews, and I hope that audiences who watch the movie will get nearer to these feelings.”
A covert operation to movie a documentary
“The circumstances underneath which this movie was made had been robust,” stated director Vahid Zarezadeh, who was compelled to flee Iran after being interrogated and threatened for his work highlighting circumstances in Iranian prisons.
“In the primary jiffy of the movie, the viewers sees that one of many Ministry of Intelligence brokers is an individual named Narges Mohammadi. We went out for interviews unannounced. The complete group didn’t go to the taking pictures location collectively. For instance, Narges went individually and we went individually. Even Narges rode a bike in order that our pursuers wouldn’t lose sight of her.”
Back to Prison
Mohammadi’s ordeal continues as he’s imprisoned for the fifth time since his first arrest in 1998. His trial in 2022 lasted simply 5 minutes and he was sentenced to eight years in jail and 70 lashes.
In December 2022, amid widespread protests sparked by the dying in custody of Zina Mahsa Amini, Mohammadi detailed sexual and bodily abuse of girls in custody in a report printed by the BBC.
In January 2023, she shared her horrifying story from jail, detailing the circumstances for ladies in Evin Prison, which has held primarily Iranian political prisoners since 1972. The story included an inventory of 58 prisoners and the interrogations and torture that they had been subjected to.
Former Evin prisoner warns of plight of detainees
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This article was first printed on September 29, 2023, and up to date on October 6 following the information of Narges Mohammadi receiving the Nobel Peace Prize.
The interviews for this text had been carried out by DW’s Persian division.
Editor: Elizabeth Grenier