Now, once again the Iranian regime divided to its very core has decided to assert its power to extract another series of forced confessions under torture in order to stir up the political climate and achieve its pathetic aims. For three decades and almost exactly in the aftermath of every single political challenge faced by the regime, the Iranian people have witnessed very dramatic televised programs. In these not very entreating shows defendants wearing prison uniforms literally denounce all their former political beliefs and comrades. Apparently they are absolutely repentant for what they have done and are desperate to convince their audience about their motives. They are, under extraordinary set of circumstances, driven by so called foreign enemies in order to oust the Islamic regime. The Irony of the situation is that in all the occasions the suspects used to be part of the establishment and had occupied high rank posts.
Sadegh Ghotbzadeh (1936-1982) was probably one of the first people who was implicated in this kind of coercion. He was a close assistant of Khomeini during the revolution. After the Islamic Revolution took power he became the Director of National Radio and Television. He was then appointed as the Foreign Minister before being arrested and accused of plotting the assassination of Khomeini and the overthrow of the Islamic regime. In a series of televised programs he confessed to everything and begged for merci. Ghotbzadeh was executed when the Military Revolutionary Tribunal found him guilty and sentenced him to death.
Mehdi Hashemi, a cleric and a senior official in the Revolutionary Guard was another example of this notorious process of forced confession. After eight months from his arrest, Hashemi produced a taped confession aired on National Television and headlined in newspapers as “I am manifest proof of deviation”. Soon after his confession Hashemi was found guilty by a special clerical court on charges of treason, sedition, murder and related charges. Hashemi was executed even before his guilty verdict was announced.
These above examples were among hundreds of people who were forced to confess during the last thirty years in Iran. This routine practice of the regime is an attempt to bring about necessary benefits:
a) People who confess are easily eliminated because of their crimes and no longer able to endanger the regime.
b) The whole process is a clear demonstration of the power and strength of the regime to eradicate any possible threat.
c) People who may support the suspects are terrorized by the charade and would no longer follow their way.
d) These forced confessions are meant to divert the attention of people from the real obstacles faced by the regime.
e) The most important aim is to run a smear campaign against more prominent comrades of the people who confess. This method in fact enables the government to implicate its high rank political rivals at any given time and in consequence prepare the ground to marginalize or even eliminate them for good.
Last week, 100 people including former Vice President (Mohammad Ali Abtahi), former Deputy Speaker of the Parliament (Behzad Nabavi) and former Deputy Foreign Minster (Mohsen Aminzadeh) were taken to the court in Tehran. The charges included rioting, vandalism and acting against national security. The former Vice President, who could hardly be recognized because of 3 stone weight lost during a month, accepted the charge of treason and told the court that his earlier claims of fraud about the 12th of June election were completely unfounded.
Sadegh Ghotbzadeh (1936-1982) was probably one of the first people who was implicated in this kind of coercion. He was a close assistant of Khomeini during the revolution. After the Islamic Revolution took power he became the Director of National Radio and Television. He was then appointed as the Foreign Minister before being arrested and accused of plotting the assassination of Khomeini and the overthrow of the Islamic regime. In a series of televised programs he confessed to everything and begged for merci. Ghotbzadeh was executed when the Military Revolutionary Tribunal found him guilty and sentenced him to death.
Mehdi Hashemi, a cleric and a senior official in the Revolutionary Guard was another example of this notorious process of forced confession. After eight months from his arrest, Hashemi produced a taped confession aired on National Television and headlined in newspapers as “I am manifest proof of deviation”. Soon after his confession Hashemi was found guilty by a special clerical court on charges of treason, sedition, murder and related charges. Hashemi was executed even before his guilty verdict was announced.
These above examples were among hundreds of people who were forced to confess during the last thirty years in Iran. This routine practice of the regime is an attempt to bring about necessary benefits:
a) People who confess are easily eliminated because of their crimes and no longer able to endanger the regime.
b) The whole process is a clear demonstration of the power and strength of the regime to eradicate any possible threat.
c) People who may support the suspects are terrorized by the charade and would no longer follow their way.
d) These forced confessions are meant to divert the attention of people from the real obstacles faced by the regime.
e) The most important aim is to run a smear campaign against more prominent comrades of the people who confess. This method in fact enables the government to implicate its high rank political rivals at any given time and in consequence prepare the ground to marginalize or even eliminate them for good.
Last week, 100 people including former Vice President (Mohammad Ali Abtahi), former Deputy Speaker of the Parliament (Behzad Nabavi) and former Deputy Foreign Minster (Mohsen Aminzadeh) were taken to the court in Tehran. The charges included rioting, vandalism and acting against national security. The former Vice President, who could hardly be recognized because of 3 stone weight lost during a month, accepted the charge of treason and told the court that his earlier claims of fraud about the 12th of June election were completely unfounded.
The defendants in their dictated testimonies were trying to blame the main challenger Mir Hossein Mousavi and former presidents Khatami and Rafsanjani for directing the mass demonstrations after the election results. They told the court about their premeditated secret plan to carry out a velvet revolution in Iran following the pattern in former Soviet Union Republics. Some of the pro-government senior conservatives have already asked the prosecutor to act swiftly against those who are directing the protests behind the scene. As unprecedented as these events seem, this is crucial for the survival of Ahmadinejad’s government to put an end to this already over long demonstrations and protest at all costs.
These events raise huge questions in people’s minds:
a) Do these engineers of human souls with their Stalinism’s style ever think about their own destiny while they are becoming overly strict authoritarian?
b) Our country is changing and because we should be part of it, do not we have every right to condemn the perpetrators of these shameful events and demand nothing more than justice?
c) How can we ever be able to restore what we have lost?
In memory of those who have been martyred.
Shahin M
These events raise huge questions in people’s minds:
a) Do these engineers of human souls with their Stalinism’s style ever think about their own destiny while they are becoming overly strict authoritarian?
b) Our country is changing and because we should be part of it, do not we have every right to condemn the perpetrators of these shameful events and demand nothing more than justice?
c) How can we ever be able to restore what we have lost?
In memory of those who have been martyred.
Shahin M
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