Demoralization of Prisoners

Translated by: Zahra Hosseinian

2021-12-07

I was not familiar with prison rules because I had not been in prison before. The political prison was governed by certain rules and regulations which I was unaware of.  One of the inmates, named Kheirollah, who was a teacher from Nahavand, and another one, named Harami, who now works in IRIB Corporation, and I were brought here from the committee. ‘Haji,’ they said, ‘thanks to the fact that we got rid of committee and torturers, will fast tomorrow.’ I said, ‘Ok.’ We kept the evening meal and got up at midnight to eat them and then fast. It was very cold. We ate the food. It was a few minutes before Morning Prayer. We had stood next to the heater when the spyhole on the door was opened and the warder and the head of warders saw us. We did not know that no one has the right to get out of bed in the middle of the night, and only those who want to perform the Morning Prayer have the right to get up. The head of warders commanded the officer who was in the corridor, ‘Bring these three people.’ There was a place outside called ‘Zir-e Hasht’, where a four-leaf door was opened to it. We were taken to the Zir-e Hasht. ‘Why did you get up?’ he asked. We replied, ‘We got up to eat the pre-dawn meal to fast.’ He was a very dishonest man. He beat us hard. We did not find him after the revolution. He slapped me hard and one after another. My feet were wounded. ‘Turn around yourself and jump by your finger on the ground.’ he said. I couldn’t do it, so he began beating us badly. Then he took us behind a door that opened onto the courtyard. It was bitterly cold. He took off our shirts and then sat us behind those bars for about two hours. Then he dressed us and said, ‘I forgive you because it was your first time. Remember, you no longer have the right to wake up at midnight, and you do not have the right to get out of your bed when it is off time.’[1]