The Situation of Political Prisoners in Khorramabad during the Pahlavi Era

Compiled by: Iranian Islamic Revolution Website
Translated by: Fazel Shirzad

2024-3-1

On 22 May 1976, I was arrested by the Gendarmerie in "Gachsaran" on the side of "Ahvaz" road while returning from the presence of Martyr Madani. They took out from Sachem a cassette tape of the messages of Martyr Madani, which was for the students of the Kamaliya Hossein in Khorramabad, and a cassette tape of the lecture of Hujjat al-Islam Phalsaphi. I was in SAVAK Gachsaran for five days. In the interrogation, they asked every door. They even asked me questions about the martyrdom of Shamsabadi, which happened in Isfahan those days. They accused me as much as they could. A few days later, two gendarmes took me to Khorramabad by bus, according to the arrangement they made with Khorramabad. The gendarmes did not know the way. In Khorramabad, they handed me over to SAVAK and left. They interrogated me in SAVAK. After the interrogation, they searched my house. At home, they found nearly thirty volumes of books and a large number of leaflets. Notices were next to the books. During the search of my house, one of the officers of SAVAK said to my old mother: "You didn't take care of your son, that's why he went astray!" In response, my mother said: "Even though I have only one son, I am ready to give him in the way of God and Imam Hussain (pbuh)." They returned me to SAVAK and took me to solitary confinement. They interrogated me day and night. They asked different questions: "Who gave you money to take for Mr. Madani?" What instructions did they give you for Khorramabad district? What is your relationship with Mr. Khomeini? Who gave you the notices?" And questions like this. During the interrogation, they asked about my reference. Although I was an impersonator of the imam, during the interrogations, I introduced another authority who was affiliated with the regime. But whenever I said this, they treated me as a lie by being rude and insulting me. They considered me to be an impersonator of the Imam and they were telling the truth. I was in SAVAK for nearly ten days. Then I was transferred to Shahrbani prison. After entering the prison, they had to do some things. One was to take a photo with a prisoner's clothes and a number plate, and the other was fingerprinting.

I was imprisoned in a three-by-five police station room where drug addicts were kept. Inside the room, two walls were made of wires and metal fences for the meeting place. With the transfer of the meeting place to the new building, this part was allocated to quarantine and solitary confinement, and a space of ninety centimeters by two meter and half was allocated to me. I didn't even have room to pray. Due to the emergency, I performed prostration. It was a dirty place. So dirty that lice were crawling through the door and the wall. Addicts had run over the wall. You could smell the stench and dirt everywhere. I was imprisoned there for a month and a half. I had no special hobby. Sometimes a piece of newspaper would fall into my hand. I read it over and over again. With great request and with the permission of SAVAK, they brought me some books from the prison library. Among those books was "Qasses al-Anbiya"(The story of the prophets); with that heavy pen and unfamiliar names. Maybe if I wasn't in prison at the time, I would never have read it. Commuting with drug addict prisoners made me learn a lot from them. Among them was the request to read the file. They said that it is better not to get a designated lawyer, but to choose a captured lawyer. Finally, after two months in prison, they took me to the military court. There, after the interrogation, I requested to read the file. They also accepted. I read the whole file in two sittings. During these visits, it was in the prosecutor's office that I met the prosecutor who was a Sunni. He was very polite. One of the things that happened to me was meeting a person named "Reza" as a stable person. A sergeant major, the officer was with the prisoner and it was known that his job is to speak against the prisoners in front of the prosecutor. I was a smoker in those days. I lit a filter cigarette. Sergeant major Reza said to the prosecutor: "He smokes in prison too." In response, I said: "It has nothing to do with you. You are a security guard. These things do not concern you." The prosecutor also forbade him from doing this.[1]