“Solitary confinement in Iran isn’t the identical as isolation in Western prisons,” Taghi Rahmani defined.
And Rahmani most likely is aware of greater than most: According to the help group Reporters Without Borders, he’s “Iran’s most incessantly jailed journalist”.
“In a cell in Iran, locked up, with no communication amenities, no conferences, no books, no essays. […] “We have been blindfolded and all we might hear was sound,” Rahmani advised DW at a current 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 “combating in opposition to the oppression of girls in Iran,” has been imprisoned a number of instances over the previous 25 years and stays incarcerated on account 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 combating the regime ever since.
Mohammadi, vice chairman 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 horrific therapy of political prisoners in solitary confinement.
White torture refers to a sort of psychological torture approach utilized in Iran wherein prisoners are stored in isolation for lengthy intervals of time, indefinitely, in all-white cells.
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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 kinfolk of twin nationals at present imprisoned in Iran.
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Some of the tales have been so harrowing, actually. “Solitary confinement is a extremely powerful scenario,” mentioned documentary maker Gelare Kakavando. “There have been a variety of feelings behind the scenes that we weren’t in a position to 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 have been powerful,” mentioned director Vahid Zarezadeh, who was pressured to flee Iran after being interrogated and threatened for his work highlighting circumstances in Iranian prisons.
“In the primary couple of minutes 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 demise in custody of Zina Mahsa Amini, Mohammadi detailed sexual and bodily abuse of girls in custody in a report revealed 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 a listing of 58 prisoners and the interrogations and torture they’d been subjected to.
This article was first revealed 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 have been performed by DW’s Persian division.
Editor: Elizabeth Grenier