Letter from political prisoner Meysam Dehbanzadeh to the public regarding his sister's arrest

Political prisoner Meysam Dehbanzadeh wrote a letter to the public about his sister's arrest from prison.

"Kowsar Dehbanzadeh", the sister of Meysam, a political prisoner imprisoned in Qezl-e-Hesar Prison, was arrested by security forces in Shiraz on October 26 and transferred to solitary confinement in the Shiraz Intelligence Department detention center, where she is currently being held in this detention center known as No. 100. She had been summoned to the Intelligence Department and interrogated many times due to her support and legal pursuit of her brother.

Political prisoner Meysam Dehbanzadeh wrote a letter from prison to the people of Iran in protest of his sister's arrest, which he considered a tool to further pressure him and his family, asking people to be his sister's voice.

He noted that the aforementioned pressures led to their mother's two heart attacks, and now, Kausar's arrest has worsened her condition, writing: "We were born and raised in a traditional religious-religious city and family, completely under the education and upbringing of a family in which more than ten of them were constantly at the front and often died or were greatly injured in the war itself."

From childhood and adolescence, we learned to be zealous and fanatical, of the "honor worship" type, so that not a single hair was left on them, or that they would come home from school alone, speechless. Because we are a family of martyrs!! When the image of "Agha" was broadcast on television, if we did not send blessings, we would be considered a sinner, and if we asked a question outside the norm or said something like that, we would receive immediate warnings from our closest people, accompanied by threats, humiliation, discounts, and...!

At the same time, there were nights when we had nothing to eat, not even a morsel of bread! Under the sky, with hungry stomachs, we would praise "Photograph on the Moon" in the caretaker's house. Our desire was to die for this sacred system, with bare feet that were sometimes cut to the marrow and bone, our tears and laments were for the oppressed children of Palestine, and we asked God not for a pair of slippers, but for the health and well-being of the master.

We were proud to see our relatives in the army (uncles, uncles, etc.), especially when we knew that they had gone on a mission to fight the counter-revolution, and we wished that we would grow up as soon as possible and defend the people and the security of our country like them in difficult times!!

We would go to the mosque to pray, on soft carpets that didn't scratch our knees like the rough carpets in our homes, and unlike the Aladdin of our home, its heaters produced heat instead of suffocating gases and the smell of smoke. We would chant slogans of death against the authority of the jurist!!

Time passed and we entered society ourselves, to our astonishment and pain, we saw that everything was a lie and a dagger of deception had been stabbed in our backs, especially in January 2017, we witnessed those who were ready to protest in the streets. They were also young people like me, the same counter-revolutionaries that my relatives used to join the ranks of the revolutionary forces to kill.

When I graduated from university and joined the wave of unemployed and educated people living below the poverty line, I was just getting to know the catastrophic social conditions of our people and, like all young people, I set out to protest the existing conditions and demand my trampled rights. Therefore, I became one of the counter-revolutionaries who wanted nothing more than shelter, an honorable job, or a shred of dignity, human rights, and freedoms. For this very crime, they were targeted with bullets in the streets and in their homes, or were hanged on gallows, and were subjected to the most severe cruelty in prisons.

Now, after them, in 2020, it was my turn to be the subject of the brutalities and crimes of these atheistic "Velai". They were very resentful and took revenge for the fact that I had become a political opponent, an opponent of the Velayat-e-Faqih, and, as they called it, an anti-revolutionary in such an environment. They directly or indirectly pressured my family (father, mother, and my sister Kausar) and did not hesitate to do anything mean or oppressive. Whether in my case in prisons (Evin, Central Yasuj, Gohardasht, Greater Tehran and Qezl-Hesar) or solitary confinement and exile, etc., or in the case of my family, who in the most recent case have arrested my sister (Kowsar) and, in order to intimidate and put more pressure on me and my family, they have arrested her and taken her directly to the solitary confinement cells of Shiraz Prison, while she has no other crime than her love for me (the love of every sister for her brother) and has not committed any religious offense except for not being afraid to pursue my legal work.

The pressures of these information criminals have already led to two strokes for my mother, and now, with the arrest of Kausar (our close friend and, coincidentally, the family's assistant in obtaining my mother's medicines), she has suffered another heart attack. Of course, these criminals are capable of any crime, and for this very reason, without any knowledge or in complete ignorance, they have transferred her to solitary confinement so that they can inflict whatever harm they want on her and force her to confess whatever they want. But these information monsters also know that they will not hear anything from her except that she confesses that she is my sister. Although we have not forgotten the promise of Afkar, who was unjustly martyred on the gallows there, despite her innocence. Now, I ask all awakened consciences to be the voice of my sister (Kawsar Dehbanzadeh). Although my sister and I are no more dear than all the sincere people of our country who were also martyred without any sin.

Political prisoner Meysam Dehbanzadeh

"Mehr 1403 Qezl-e-Hasar Prison"

It should be noted that Meysam is currently serving his sentence and is deprived of any of the rights of a prisoner, including the right to medical treatment, in Qezl-e-Hesar Prison in Karaj. In addition, he was sentenced by the Tehran Revolutionary Court to 6 years in prison, a ban on leaving the country, and social deprivation.

Meanwhile, as of the time of writing this report, no information is available about the charges or allegations against Kausar Dehbanzadeh.