Death Row in Iran

Radio Télévision Suisse - Transcript

00:00:02,740 VO: -Every night, in Tehran, screams can be heard. It is mostly from the balconies that the Iranians have been making the storm in the past few weeks.

00:00:12,985 Voices from the balcony: -Death to the dictator!

-Death to the dictator!

00:00:17,826 VO: -Since the death of Masha Amini, killed in September for a strand of hair sticking out of her scarf, nearly 20,000 people have been arrested. More than 500 people lost their lives and four were executed. All hanged in the early morning. Accused of having committed crimes against God. Moshen Shekari, an employee of a café in Tehran. Executed on December 8. Majid Reza Rahnavard, 23 years old, a shoe salesman and a wrestler, hanged on December 12, 20 days after his arrest. And on January 7, Sayed Hosseini. With Medhi Karami. His parents were hoping to save their 22 year old son by publishing this video.

00:01:16,541 Medhi’s father: -My son is a karate champion in Iran

00:01:20,936 Medhi’s mother: -I ask the judiciary authorities, particularly Mr. Hajrri, to withdraw the death penalty for my son.

00:01:31,436 VO: -Medhi's last words to his father, with whom he was training in karate: "I am going to be executed. Don't tell Mom."

2’03 Title: On Death Row in Iran

00:02:05,795 VO: In the face of this brutality, in Iran almost everyone remains silent. This woman agreed to testify, at the risk of her life. Talking to foreign press is forbidden. The revolution must remain a drama behind closed doors. An acquaintance of hers is being held in this prison, in Isfahan, since December. He is facing the death penalty, like a hundred others in the country. She records the phone conversation she has with him.

2’39 Communication from central prison, Ispahan

00:02:42,531 Arash: -Hello.

Woman: -Hello.

Arash: -How are you doing?

Woman: -Are you doing ok?

Arash: -How are things going outside?

00:02:50,262 VO: -The man who is talking, is Arash Ghanbari. He was arrested for posting Instagram videos denouncing the conditions of workers. He was accused of insulting the regime and the Supreme Leader. This woman takes such high risks because she is desperate. She doesn't want this worker, born in this village, the youngest of five siblings, to be one more name on a list. She wants to show where he grew up, where he worked. She doesn't want him to be forgotten.

00:03:23,598 Woman: -Arash asked his family not to intervene because the regime may turn against them. He said: "You could also be arrested." "Everything they claim that I did or said is false."

00:03:36,729 Woman on phone: -Were you given warm clothes?

00:03:40,506 Arash: -No, no, they don't give anything here, not even a blanket. I have to buy everything. It's the same at the infirmary, they won't take you there, even if you're dying. You have to pay for that too.

3’42 Communication from central prison, Ispahan

00:03:54,780 VO: -Every week she prepares clothes and medicine, takes this streetcar passing by the prison. The prison service refused to pass on the parcel. She leaves with her bag and a letter from him addressed to us.

00:04:12,906 Arash’s letter, read aloud: -"I too, like you, would like to be free and live normally. I suffer a lot from the conditions of my incarceration. Despite this, I don't regret anything I did.

00:04:25,974 VO: -Shariar Shams is a former prisoner. He is 22 years old and he is a known activist in Iran. He has spent three years in Tehran's Evin prison. Sentenced for participating in in the protests in the 2017 protests that were already shaking the country. Since his release from prison, he expresses himself freely on social networks. He takes the risk to talk to us to support these prisoners for whom he is a kind of spokesman.

00:04:55,130 Shariar: -I am also afraid of being arrested. But when I see the price that some people have paid, I can't remain indifferent, let this fear take over me.

4’57 Shariar Shams

00:05:08,421 VO: -He knows the methods of the regime to put pressure on families. The threats, the hope that by not saying anything, the judges will be merciful. But he is convinced that talking can save lives. The proof is this demonstration in front of Karaj prison in January.

00:05:25,953 Woman outside prison: -The one who died was killed elsewhere! They are falsely accusing my son!

00:05:35,752 VO: -The execution of this woman's son who is crying out her pain and that of Shariar's former cellmate Mohammad Boroghani, age 19, seemed imminent.

00:05:47,758 Shariar: -We thought they would be executed at dawn. But after the rally in front of the prison that evening, they renounced their execution.

00:06:01,138 VO: -On the eve of the 44th anniversary of the revolution, mid-February, Ayatollah Khamenei pardoned some of the detainees. On the condition that they sign letters of remorse and pledge not to act again against the regime. For Shariar, this is all smoke and mirrors.

00:06:18,513 Shariar: -The detainees with whom I'm in contact with said: "We do not agree to be released under any such condition. We do not agree to give up our thoughts and our opinions in order to be liberated."

00:06:37,057 VO: -This is confirmed by Arash Ghanbari from his cell.

00:06:41,616 Woman on phone: -It's all a propaganda show.

00:06:45,800 Arash on phone: -Of course, it is all completely false. None of my other comrades, even in other cells, who are accused for the same things because of the demonstrations, the so-called riots, no one has been released. It is lies for the television.

6’48 Communication from central prison, Ispahan

00:07:04,380 VO: -It is impossible to know how many have accepted the deal. But the arrests continue regardless. Like this couple dancing in front of the Azadi tower, which means freedom in Persian. They were sentenced to 10 years in prison. Guilty of disrupting national security and encouraging corruption and prostitution. So many people are silenced. To carry the voice of these prisoners, a network of political sponsors has been set up around the world. Germans, French, Canadians, Americans: hundreds of politicians accepted to take part in the movement. In Switzerland, the association Free Iran launched the movement. Since mid-December, they have mobilized national councillors in Berne. The aim was to make them take an Iranian prisoner under their wing, by posting regular news on the networks. 

00:08:07,130 Maryam: We believe that if this political sponsorship was not active around the world, Islamic Republic would definitely kill more people.

8’15 Maryam Banihashemi, Co-founder, Free Iran Switzerland

00:08:18,917 VO: -But it is not easy to convince Swiss politicians. Only 60 responded to the appeal and less than 20 agreed to sponsor a prisoner.

00:08:30,060 Maryam: Between those 20 political sponsors, not all of them are really active. We haven’t got what I expected from Swiss politicians. I guess they didn’t take it that seriously how much value this activity has, and how much difference this activity from a Swiss politician can make on someone’s life.

00:09:08,494 VO: -There are those whose name, whose face we know. And there are the victims that nobody talks about. Those who sometimes, in order to escape from this regime of terror, flee abroad. Even if it means taking the same route as these Afghan migrants who cross over to Turkey. As shown in the videos that this Iranian has sent to us. Sarah didn't have to go through this. She arrived in Istanbul by plane. Somewhere in this city, she has been hiding for three weeks. She was arrested one night, abused, tried for writing a message on a signpost.

00:09:48,499 Exiled woman: -I didn't do anything, I had my hijab on. I had my hijab on and I just had a signpost. I didn't say anything wrong, even about the army. I just asked: "Please don't kill. Don't kill."

00:10:08,262 VO: -Three days after her trial, she received this document. She is under judicial supervision for six months, and faces execution at the slightest misstep.

00:10:18,050 Exiled woman: -If I have political activities, even stories on social media they will execute me. Who did I kill? Who did I abuse? Who did I hit? I lost my job, I lost everything. I am under control for everything. So the feeling, is that you are already dead even before they actually kill you.

00:10:56,683 VO: -Parmida also left Iran to take refuge in Turkey. She is alone, without resources, her visa only valid for three months. To tell her story, she preferred a hotel room, for safety reasons. From the beginning of the protest, she has been part of all the demonstrations in Ahwaz, southwest of Tehran. Like here, with her red hair and her white coat. At 19 years old, Parmida has the looks of Instagrammers her age. Her thirst for freedom is not to the mullahs' taste. She was arrested in mid-October in a store. For two days, her family did not know where she was.

00:11:43,262 Parmida: -My family went to see the morality police. They said: "Your child is not here. Go file a kidnapping notice, maybe your child is dead."

11’47 Parmida Mehdipuor

00:11:52,608 VO: -She spent 14 days in jail, isolated in a cell, she was interrogated every day, naked, hands and feet tied, blindfolded.

00:12:01,778 Parmida: -I was standing up, a man ran up to me and knocked me down. My head smashed on the floor and I thought my skull was cracked. I thought, "This is the end." He said to me, "You are hideous." "You should be raped like an animal." During the rape, I bled and it didn't stop. And when he wanted to kiss me, I spit in his face.

00:12:37,213 VO: -Every day she was asked for names, confessions, but she refused.

00:12:41,881 Parmida: -Since I didn't give in, he took the confession papers, and stuffed them into my mouth.

00:12:51,219 VO: -Parmida was released on bail: $14,000. An amount that was seized on her mother's salary. Early January, her lawyer told her that her trial was held without her and that she was sentenced to six years in prison. So she ran away.

00:13:11,687 Parmida: -I'm glad to be alive and to stand up for our rights in front of these cruel people. I can keep on denouncing the regime. To give strength to others to keep them strong. They should not be unhappy and suffer these aggressions. This does not diminish our value, neither mine nor other people's. All those who have been raped or sexually assaulted.

13’47 Credits:

Béatrice Guelpa
Parissa De Montenach
Jacques Méry
Vincent Loup
Julien Cassez
Remo Häberli
Laurence Dussey
Edgard Biondina