نیما, [04.01.19 19:35]
An open letter from Mr. Ismaeil Bakhshi (a representative of Haft Tapeh Sugarcane workers) on his experience while incarcerated and severely tortured.
An invitation to Hojatoleslam Alevi, Islamic Republic’s Minister of Intelligence for a live television discussion.
Mr. Alevi, while I was unjustly incarcerated for twenty-five days, such unspeakable suffering and agony was forced upon me that even now I have not yet been able to overcome and get rid of their effects and have to resort to medication for relief. But during this period two significant queries have constantly occupied my mind, and you are the main person responsible for answering them. Me and the noble nation of Iran have an inalienable right to know the answers to my questions.
First of all, in the beginning of my incarceration I was beaten to death senselessly and tortured so badly that I could not even move for seventy-two hours and remained frozen and paralyzed in my jail cell. The pain was so great that even the slightest movement itself was torturous. The aching was so tremendous that I couldn’t even sleep, and now after months I still feel severe pain in my broken ribs, kidneys, left ear and testicles. It should be noted that while these torturers were calling themselves “The Unknown Soldiers of Imam ,” they were constantly abusing me and Ms. Sepideh Gholian with most vulgar sexual insults and kept on beating her up. Worse than physical tortures were the psychological tortures which we were subjected to. I am still not sure how they turned me into such an impotent being that I could not stop shaking and shivering. Even now, at times my hands are still trembling. Before this experience I was an exceptionally confident person, but after being so humiliated and abused, now even despite taking various medications at times I still experience great panic attacks and serious stress. At this juncture I have a question from your excellency as the Minister of Intelligence, and as a member of clergy: From an ethical and moral point of view, based on values of human rights and especially Islam itself, what is the decree and verdict for torturing an arrestee? Is torture warranted and justifiable? And if yes, to what extent?
The second query, which is much more important for me and my family, more significant than all the physical and psychological tortures, is the issue of how all my communications with my family members and my wife were monitored and listened into, by your intelligence apparatus. My interrogator used to tell me how they knew everything about me, even how many times my wife has had arguments with me because of my activism. When I asked how they were aware of such details, they said they had been monitoring all my personal, family conversations, which greatly enraged me during interrogations. Now, my query and my family members query from you, as a religious person and as a member of clergy is this: Based on ethical, moral, human rights and Islamic values, is listening on and monitoring the most private conversations of human beings permitted? Based on which authority is your intelligence apparatus allowed to monitor the most personal phone conversations between me and my beloved wife?
Hence, I invite your excellency to a live television discussion to hear your responses to my queries.
Ismaeil Bakhshi
January 4, 2019
14 Day 1397
Source: Mr. Bakhshi’s Instagram page.
