The Case of Behnam Mohammadi: Report of ‘Death Under Torture’

The case of the final five days of Behnam Mohammadi’s life—a political prisoner and Gonabadi dervish whose body was held hostage by judicial authorities in a hospital—has been described by many social media users as ‘death under torture’ and ‘crime.’

News of Mr. Mohammadi’s death was first announced on Tuesday, the 28th of Bahman, by some of his friends and relatives. That same day, Mehdi Kashtdar, CEO of Mizan News Agency (affiliated with the judiciary), who plays the role of the judiciary’s spokesperson on Twitter, wrote that ‘counter-revolutionaries and some factions have repeatedly killed Behnam Mohammadi,’ yet this prisoner was ‘under special medical supervision.’

The denial of Mr. Mohammadi’s death was a prelude to a multi-act show whose direct result was the confusion and tears of this prisoner’s mother and wife, and whose purpose was to prepare material for subsequent claims by the judiciary.

Mehdi Kashtdar also published the text of a letter that same day, claiming that a 200-million-toman bail had been issued for Behnam Mohammadi’s release, placing responsibility for failing to secure the bail and the circumstances that arose on the shoulders of Mr. Mohammadi’s supporters.

However, in that letter dated the 12th of Bahman, there was another point related to the core of the show. The letter stated that if the prisoner could not afford to pay the bail, he should be ‘under the continuous supervision of the prison’s health physician,’ have ‘quick, easy, and timely access to necessary medications,’ and if needed, be ‘transferred to medical centers outside the prison.’

The judiciary in this statement was insinuating to its audience that it was continuously caring for Behnam Mohammadi’s life.

This claim was evident in two statements from the prison organization as well. The prison organization wrote that this person ‘had been under the supervision of a physician during the execution of his sentence,’ and after being poisoned due to ‘excessive drug use,’ ‘all necessary medical care during the period of detention and also special medical measures during the defendant’s hospitalization in the hospital were fully provided, and he is currently also under special medical supervision.’

The judiciary in these statements also emphasized that during imprisonment they allowed this prisoner to visit his mother, and in the hospital there was ‘no restriction’ for Mohammadi’s relatives to visit the patient.

All of these statements were in fact different curtains of a show with the central axis of playing with the body of a prisoner to make the judiciary appear innocent and even compassionate.

Not based on the tweets of Behnam Mohammadi’s relatives, but on the prisoner’s own account, from the 21st of Khordad this year when he introduced himself to prison to serve a two-year sentence, he had been a victim of organized and deliberate pressures from judicial and security authorities.

Understanding that the physical and psychological pressures of recent months were the main cause of Behnam Mohammadi’s death, the judiciary sought to buy five days to announce his death and during those five days conducted heavy propaganda about continuous medical treatment of this prisoner.

Saleha Hosseini, Behnam Mohammadi’s wife, in a letter published on the 6th of Shahrivar this year addressed to the Islamic Republic’s authorities, wrote that her husband, according to a doctor’s certificate, ‘was not fit to withstand imprisonment,’ and in prison they threatened him that ‘they would not provide his medications and would not allow us to provide them from outside the prison.’

She wrote at that time that ‘I fear I will lose Behnam’ and ‘the Islamic Republic is responsible for my husband’s life.’

The 33-year-old Behnam Mohammadi, in a phone call from prison whose audio file was released on the 7th of Aban, with difficulty and in a tired and sad tone, emphasized that he was being told ‘you must die like a dog here.’

During the past few months, the judiciary paid no attention to these documents, which were a report of the gradual death of a protester in prison, but when the situation became critical, it executed a media show to discredit these documents.

The judiciary’s next step, which has already taken on the posture of mourning and demanding compensation, is predictable in this case.

The General Administration of Prisons of Tehran Province, several hours after announcing Behnam Mohammadi’s death, in a statement, while reiterating that ‘all medical care during this convict’s detention was fully provided’ and in recent days ‘special medical measures’ had been considered for him, claimed that ‘when Behnam Mohammadi entered the hospital and underwent specialized examinations, doctors found several packages containing black powder-like substances in his stomach.’

In this statement, quoting Behnam Mohammadi’s cellmates, it is stated that this prisoner ‘arbitrarily consumed several of his own and others’ medications simultaneously.’

Two phrases—’arbitrary consumption’ and ‘several packages of black powder-like substances in the stomach’—illuminate the line and lines of the judiciary’s subsequent explanations. They will say that Behnam Mohammadi died due to ‘arbitrary actions’ or committed suicide.

Presenting Behnam Mohammadi’s death as ‘suicide’ is the final curtain of a planned scenario that was designed and executed from the 21st of Khordad to the 3rd of Bahman of this year.

The components of this show include pressure on the prisoner, torture and humiliation of him, threats and intimidation of his family, neglect of the prisoner’s health condition, denial of news and playing with words and media to distort the situation and fabricated reports about the prisoner’s condition or cause of death—all these are repeated curtains of a show full of malice and terror that the Islamic Republic’s judiciary has played regarding the lives of many people over the past forty years.

Behnam Mohammadi, whose tragic and grim death has angered and bewildered thousands of people on social networks, is one of these thousands of victims—people who, in Behnam Mohammadi’s own words, have been victims of the ‘decline of humanity.’

Source: Radio Farda