Farideh Veisi and Sirous Abbasi, two civil society activists from Kurdistan; another account of detention and torture for forced confessions on camera

An informed source says that Farideh Veisi, a civil rights activist from the Kurdistan province of Iran, and her husband, who were arrested by security forces in late January of last year, were forced to confess on camera.

The source, who asked not to be named for security reasons, told VOA that the two civil society activists, who live in Dehgolan County, were violently arrested by security forces at their workplace in January of last year. According to the source, they spent at least two months in a prison in Sanandaj, known as the “Reform and Correction Center,” during which time each of them was tortured and forced to confess on camera.

The informed source added that the investigators in the case of these two civil society activists have forced them to confess in front of a camera to their connections with "Kurdish movements and parties, including the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran," as well as their connections with foreign media; accusations that, according to the informed source, have no supporting documents, and that Ms. Veisi and Sirous Abbasi, her husband, have had no political activity or connections with political parties to date.

According to information provided to VOA, interrogators have presented the civil activist's case to her husband, Sirous Abbasi, at least once, 58 days after her arrest. During this meeting, Mr. Abbasi, seeing Mrs. Veisi's poor physical condition, told her to stand in front of the interrogators' cameras if necessary and confess whatever they want on camera.

The informed source told VOA that the two civil society activists were each forced to confess at least once, for five hours, in front of a video camera by the IRGC intelligence in Sanandaj, to activities they did not commit. According to the informed source, these same forced confessions and confessions have now been cited as evidence in their convictions on charges such as acting against national security, propagandizing against the regime, insulting the leadership, and several other charges.

Iranian state television usually broadcasts footage of televised confessions of security suspects to prove the veracity of their convictions. However, almost all detainees have so far denied their televised confessions after being released from solitary confinement and transferred to the general ward of the prison, citing pressure, torture, and threats of harm to relatives by interrogators.

The issue of forced confessions on Iranian state television has been raised many times before. However, despite the fact that this propaganda method of the Iranian regime in broadcasting confessions on television has been criticized many times by human rights organizations, the judiciary of the Islamic Republic continues to do so. Among the victims of this behavior are names such as Maziar Bahari, Manouchehr Bakhtiari, the father of one of the people killed in the November protests, Maziar Ebrahimi, Sepideh Qolyan, Ebrahim Bakhshi, Saeed Malekpour, and dozens of others.

The informed source further told VOA that Farideh Veisi, who was subjected to the most severe mental and psychological torture during her detention, suffers from epilepsy. He said that Ms. Veisi was not allowed access to a doctor during her detention. The informed source says that the civil rights activist apparently suffered from hair loss, vision impairment, and multiple seizures during her detention as a result of the pressures exerted during interrogations.

According to information received by Voice of America, Ms. Veisi's request to see a doctor was denied twice during her detention. According to this informed source, Farideh Veisi was only able to meet with the prison doctor once, after the interrogations ended and a forced confession was obtained.

This informed source also told VOA about the process of hearing the couple's case, saying that the first hearing of the case was held on July 10 in the first branch of the Sanandaj Revolutionary Court, presided over by Judge Saeedi, and the judge did not give the two civil activists a chance to defend themselves.

According to this informed source, in recent days, a new summons has been sent to these two civil society activists to attend the second court session on Monday, November 12, but Ms. Veisi and Mr. Abbasi have refused to attend the court session due to the unfairness of the case process.

According to information provided to VOA by this informed source, Farideh Veisi and her husband Sirous Abbasi were arrested on January 14, 2019, when security forces from the Dehgolan city raided their workplace, the "Zanst" scientific and educational center. According to this informed source, they were finally released from prison on March 15 of the same year, after the interrogations ended, and after posting a total of 150 million tomans in bail until the end of the trial.

Human rights organizations say that the Islamic Republic does not handle accusations fairly, and that sometimes innocent people have been tried and even executed.

The US State Department has also repeatedly and on various occasions condemned the violent confrontations and widespread repression of protesters, as well as the repeated and persistent violations of the rights of Iranian citizens by the ruling regime in that country.

Source: Voice of America