Produced in collaboration with SBS Persian
TRANSCRIPT
Amin is a 31-year-old protester who is now seeking asylum in Australia. He fled Iran earlier this year after clashing with plain clothes police in the capital Tehran. ]
“We are in the park with some of my friends; they want catch or they want arrest the woman because they actually, they haven't some things for the hair. We start a battle and we said, you haven't right for arrest this person, They push me and with the hand in my chest and I was so angry and I actually, I boxed my hand. But when one of the officer saw me, they use pepper spray in my eyes and again pushed me and I went back. The other person in the park or public place, they helped me and they helped me to run. They helped me to escape.”
Amin had also joined Woman. Life. Freedom protests last September over Mahsa Amini’s death.
But after this year’s run in with police, he feared the worst.
“I'm really worried they wants to catch me and they know me because they watched my face and I have some battle with them. I'm really scared. And so I never go back. I never go back that place.”
Earlier this year, Amin flew to Australia.
While Iranian he is grateful to live in relative safety here, he fears for those left behind.
authorities claim to have detained 20,000 people over the past year.
Many protesters remain behind bars and some are under a death sentence.
“I'm really sad about my country, about my young person in my country. I'm really sad and I'm really angry. Because we have a lot of pressure of the government for everything in your life.”
Iran’s human rights abuses, including the treatment of protesters and dissidents, is the subject of an Amnesty International report due out next week.
The human rights organisation is also calling for an investigation into the recent death of 31-year-old Javad Rouhi who was seen on social media, dancing in the street at a protest.
“Amnesty International has documented that he was tortured while in detention. He was severely beaten and sexually assaulted and we know that he had no pre-existing health conditions prior to his detention. So, it's really concerning that he has died after suffering this torture after being in detention in horrible conditions for nearly a year. And we know that the Iranian authorities do not independently investigate deaths in custody.”
Ms White says protesters and their families are under increasing pressure this week.
“As we approach the anniversary of Mahsa Amini’s death and the anniversary of this uprising and protest movement across Iran, Amnesty is witnessing a lot of harassment of the families of those who have been killed during these protests. So, we have documented them being surveilled. We have documented them actually being detained and charged because they are mourning the deaths of their family members. We hear reports of many women being tortured, being held in solitary confinement, being denied healthcare not having access to adequate food and water. And again, this is used to wear women down so that they either confess to a crime or that they no longer want to speak out against the regime.”
Australian academic Kylie Moore-Gilbert was also kept in solitary confinement during her 804 days in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison:
“Solitary confinement is classified as a form of torture by the United Nations if it's for a prolonged period of time. And Iran routinely instrumentalize a solitary confinement as a form of psychological torture to break the prisoner for purposes of interrogation. This largely involves shutting a person up in a very confined space with no natural light, no access to fresh air. Sometimes there's sound or noise that is made in the cell in order to irritate the person as well. I had kind of a static noise that was coming into my cell 24 hours a day in addition to the lights being on and basically over days or weeks or even months, in some cases, years exposed to such a confined space, your brain can't handle it.”
Rights groups are also concerned about two imprisoned Iranian journalists Niloufar Hamedi and Elahe Mohammadi who are being portrayed as spies after drawing attention to Mahsa Amini's death.
Iranian authorities have blamed the uprising on foreign interference.
Prominent dissident Jamshid Sharmahd is a 68-year-old American resident, who is also detained and sentenced to death in Iran.
His daughter Gazelle Sharmahd says her father has been held in solitary confinement for three years.
“It's torture. It's absolutely torture to be in solitary. You don't see the light of day, you don't know what time it is. You don't know how long you've been there. You go insane. That's how they break you.”
As the anniversary of the September uprising approaches, Ms Sharmahd, like other relatives of those on death row, is waiting anxiously for news.
“My greatest fear for my dad at this moment is that the Islamic regime is going to execute him. They execute him by hanging him in public from a crane strangulating him for 20 minutes. To put fear and pressure on everybody who's trying to stand up for the people of Iran like my dad did for 16 years.”
Mr Sharmahd was born in Iran but lived most of his adult life in Germany.
He moved to the United States 20 years ago, and worked as a software engineer, journalist, and radio host, as daughter Gazelle explains:
“My dad was always first and foremost for the freedom of the people of Iran, freedom of speech, freedom of expression, freedom of religion, any kind of human rights.”
The American government is reportedly negotiating a deal with Iran, in which billions of dollars of Iranian funds will be unfrozen in exchange for 5 American hostages.
However, at this stage Mr Sharmahd is not included.
Amnesty’s Nikita White describes his situation as precarious.
“We are really concerned about the conditions of his detention, particularly given his health. He suffers from Parkinson's disease and he's not receiving adequate medical treatment.”
Despite the many risks - Ms White praises the resilience of Iranian dissidents, particularly women who are fighting for greater freedom:
“We see so many women who suffer from these horrific conditions who are tortured in detention and when they are released they continue to advocate for women, for the people of Iran. It does not stop people from being human rights defenders. And I think that is a testament to these women and to the Iranian people that in the face of this repression they haven't backed down.”
Although Amin fears he can never return to Iran, he has no plans to stay silent.
“The world needs the kindness, the world need, the peaceful. And we must help together. I want to do that all my life because I want my country be free.”
