Sepideh Qolyan arrested again after the release of the confessions film
The Bidarzani Twitter channel reported Sepideh Qolyan's arrest, citing Jamal Heidari, her lawyer. Qolyan was arrested in the Esmaeil Bakhshi case and had confirmed that both he and Bakhshi were tortured during their arrest.
Hours after the broadcast of the confessions of Sepideh Gholian and Esmaeil Bakhshi on the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, Sepideh Gholian and her brother were re-arrested on Saturday evening, January 19.
In a film that aired on the 20 and 30 news segments of the Iranian Broadcasting Corporation's Channel One, Sepideh Gholian and Esmael Bakhshi "confess" to the camera to having connections with subversive individuals and groups, including the Workers' Communist Party.
These prisoners also name those who are abroad and claim that these people have tried to teach them how to organize.
According to the film broadcast on the Iranian Broadcasting Corporation, creating a link between the protests of Ahvaz steel workers and the Haft Tappeh workers was another goal of these groups and individuals. Also, linking the protests of various trade unions, including workers, teachers, and students, was on their agenda.
In this film, the magazine "Gam" is referred to as the "Gam Subversion Group" and the magazine's editorial meetings are introduced as secret meetings. There are also photos of a party at the home of one of the members of the Gam editorial board, which is introduced as a team house meeting.
This film, produced by a person named "Ameneh Sadat Zabihpour" at the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting Agency, calls the coverage of news about labor protests in Persian-language media abroad "the key to the project of magnifying union protests."
After his release from prison, Haft Tappeh workers’ representative Esmaeil Bakhshi described in a letter the torture he suffered during his arrest and detention. Sepideh Gholian later confirmed Bakhshi’s claims. Asal Mohammadi, another civil society activist, also wrote that she witnessed the torture of Esmaeil Bakhshi and Sepideh Gholian in Ahvaz prison.
The Ministry of Intelligence, the government spokesperson, and the judiciary rejected these claims.
Zibakalaam's reaction to the release of Bakhshi and Qolyan's "televised confessions"
Sadegh Zibakalam, a professor of political science, wrote on his Telegram in response to the broadcast of the confessions of Esmaeil Bakhshi and Sepideh Gholian by the Iranian Broadcasting Corporation: "The fundamental problem with the Iranian Broadcasting Corporation is that it has not yet realized that for years, people have been accepting the latter between the narrative of that organization with its multi-trillion dollar income (four trillion tomans is the proposed budget of the Iranian Broadcasting Corporation for 2019) on the one hand, and the narrative of Ms. Sepideh Gholian and Mr. Esmaeil Bakhshi with income they have not received for months on the other."
Source: DW
