Taghi Rahmani: The culture of the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence is to diminish culture

Narges Mohammadi's husband says that recording the video of his children in protest of not hearing their mother's voice for 11 months was a spontaneous act. According to Taghi Rahmani, the culture of the Iranian judicial and security system is to "slap the face of the prisoner."

Taghi Rahmani, Narges Mohammadi's husband, has released a video of their two 13-year-old children, in which the two teenagers say that they have not heard their mother's voice for 11 months and ask the audience to make their voices heard by the world.

Narges Mohammadi, a civil activist and member of the Step by Step Campaign to Abolish the Death Penalty, has been transferred to Zanjan Prison for six months and is denied the right to leave despite her frequent illnesses and recent coronavirus infection.

Her husband, Taghi Rahmani, told Deutsche Welle Persian that recording this video was a spontaneous move by the children because their stress and anxiety had increased since they found out their mother had contracted the coronavirus, and this video was a way to express their feelings and opinions.

Mr. Rahmani had previously confirmed in an interview with Deutsche Welle that his wife had tested positive for COVID-19. However, the 20:30 program of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting released a video from inside the prison infirmary, showing Narges Mohammadi sitting with her back to the camera and facing a doctor, and in response, the doctor only says, “I’m fine.” The video was released with the explanation that Narges Mohammadi is healthy and has not contracted COVID-19.

Taghi Rahmani tells Deutsche Welle that after the film was shown, 12 of Narges' fellow prisoners in Zanjan Prison protested against it. The head of Zanjan Prison responded by saying that the film was not our work, but Tehran's.

Even one of the female prisoners says, "If you had said that these people had contracted the coronavirus and that we were treating them, it would have been better to deny the truth of the matter just because of Narges Mohammadi."

Two children who have always had either no mother or no father.

Taghi Rahmani says about the video released of his teenage children that their lives have been very turbulent: "They have been involved in our political and civil life since they were five years old, being arrested at night, raiding their homes, seeing interrogators, throwing several interrogators in their bedrooms at midnight, and then being exiled. The standard of living of an exile abroad when he starts out is lower than the standard of living he had inside. Well, they are all subject to these deprivations, and an additional thing is that they are not allowed to talk to their mother. They have seen that when mom is there, dad is not there, and when dad is there, mom is not there."

Did Narges cause a riot or protest?

Yesterday, Monday, July 20, Ebrahim Raisi, the head of Iran's judiciary, stated in a speech that a distinction should be made between protest and riot. He said: "We accept the protest and we must listen to the protest and deal with it rationally, but protest is different from riot, and riot and chaos are the red line of the judicial system, and no one should be allowed to create insecurity in the country."

Referring to these words of the head of the judiciary, Taghi Rahmani asks: "What is Narges Mohammadi's crime? The campaign to abolish the death penalty, is this a riot? Narges went to the parliament with several other women and protested against acid attacks on women, this is another crime of Narges. Is this a riot? Mr. Raisi, when did you pay attention to the protest? You drive the protester to the point of madness, so that later he either develops a mental and psychological problem or turns to extremism, then suppress him, this is a method."

Rahmani emphasizes that Narges' family in Iran has gone through all legal channels; they have requested leave, they have requested that Narges be returned to Tehran and to Evin Prison, but the Ministry of Intelligence is not allowing these requests to be implemented.

"Reduce the culture"

This political activist, who himself has been in prisons of the Islamic Republic for many years, says that the dominant culture in Iran's intelligence system is a "culture of humiliation": "One thing became popular in the culture after the revolution: humiliation. We grew up in the south of the city of Qazvin, it was a culture of prostitution, which when they came to power, turned into prostitution; that is, it's not about the law at all, I have to humiliate you. They say that a prisoner has to humiliate himself and then ask us in a shameful manner; well, that's no longer a citizen."

Taghi Rahmani referred to his experience in Evin Prison in 1986 and said: "I heard this exact sentence in 1986 from Mr. Mojtaba Halvaei, the director of Evin Prison; he said, 'We will reduce your burden.' I asked the prison chief, 'What are your regulations?' Let us follow them in our ward.' He said, 'Our regulations are those of the ward guard. Whatever he says at any time is the same regulation.' Mr. Lajevardi also said the same thing. He said, 'I don't make regulations for you to abuse, whatever the guard says at the moment is the regulation.' We are facing such a system."

Narges Mohammadi has been in prison since May 5, 2015, serving a 16-year sentence. Six years of this sentence were issued for the charge of “propaganda against the system” and another 10 years were issued in connection with her activities in the “Step by Step to Abolish the Death Penalty” campaign.

Ms. Mohammadi, who is serving her sentence in Evin Prison, was forcibly and physically transferred to Zanjan Prison by the warden of Evin Prison in January 2019. The reason for this transfer was her and several other prisoners' sit-in at the Evin Prison office in solidarity with those affected by the floods and earthquakes and the November protests.

Source: DW