Amir Hossein Mousavi Behind Closed Doors of Justice in Iran

Amir Hossein Mousavi’s forced confession is a sign of the continuation of governmental case-building behind the closed doors of justice.

The broadcast of Amir Hossein Mousavi’s forced confessions from the Islamic Republic’s state radio and television once again lifted the curtain on the repetitive cycle of scriptwriting and case-building against dissenting citizens and religious and political minorities.

In a program that aired last night on Iranian state television, Mousavi was introduced as accused of “inciting riots,” “contact with Israel,” and several other charges, but observers say these confessions were extracted under pressure and in inhumane conditions.

Sources close to the case have confirmed that during his detention, he was deprived of the most basic legal rights, including access to a lawyer, contact with family, and fair legal defense, and spent almost the entire period of detention in solitary confinement.

In part of the reactions, social media users rightly reminded that: “People no longer believe these lies, and this will not continue to pivot on the same heel.”

The broadcast of televised confessions in the Islamic Republic is not a new phenomenon. From the 1980s to the present, this method has become a recognized tool for legitimizing political and religious repression. The victims of this policy are not only political activists, but followers of religious minorities, journalists, and even ordinary citizens whose only crime is having a different voice.

International human rights organizations have repeatedly emphasized that televised confessions in Iran are obtained as a result of torture, psychological pressure, threats, and isolation, and have no judicial credibility. Amnesty International stated in one of its recent statements: “The broadcast of forced confessions from Iranian state television is part of a repressive apparatus aimed at humiliating and silencing opponents, not administering justice.”

Security in Iran today has become a scarce commodity for minorities and dissidents. Bahá’ís, Christians, Darwishes, Kurds, Balochs, active female civil rights activists, and political protesters each face threats of detention, torture, and case-building in one form or another.

Amir Hossein Mousavi’s forced confession is just one of hundreds of examples from an endless project of organized repression; a project in which government media plays the role of the propaganda arm of security institutions. An independent political analyst on this matter says: “In the Islamic Republic, the media is not an information tool, but a tool for extracting confessions and creating fear. Every time official television shows a face, the viewer knows that behind that image, a cell, torture, and forced silence are hidden.”

The broadcast of such confessions deepens public distrust in Iran’s judicial system and national media more than anything else.
In a society where justice has been silenced and faith in human dignity has been questioned, the moral duty of all of us is to be the voice of political and ideological prisoners; because as long as the voice of the oppressed is silenced, no one will be safe—not minorities, not majorities, and not even those who today sit in the seat of power.