Esmaeil Bakhshi, the beloved leader of sugar cane workers of Haft Tapeh in Iran, has published an open letter on his Instagram page in which he reveals the tortures he was subjected to in prison and invites Islamic regime of Iran’s Minister of Intelligence, to a live television debate.
Esmaeil was arrested on November the 8th, 2018 at the height of the strike and protest of the sugar cane workers and spent 25 days in jail. In the letter as a courageous leader, challenges the oppressive anti-worker system of imprisonment and torture. He exposes the severity of torture and crimes against jailed activists and shows that neither torture nor prison can silence the workers who have legitimate demands, nor the people whose lives are being ruined.
Esmaeil Bakhshi has become the voice of workers, teachers, retirees, students, farmers, and the protesting people who fight every day to defend their livelihood; people who chant “neither threats nor prison are effective” and demand a life worth living. Esmaeil Bakhshi’s letter is an indictment by workers and the people against the Islamic regime and its floggings and tortures.
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Esmaeil Bakhshi’s letter:
Dear Mr Alavi,
During the 25 days of my unfair imprisonment, in the custody of the Ministry of Intelligence, I suffered distress and agonies, which I’m still not free of, and for which I have had to take medications for my mental health. But I have been struggling with two main questions, which only you have the answer to, and it’s my right and the right of the honourable people of Iran to know the answers.
First of all, in the first days of my arrest I was brutally beaten up and tortured. I was unable to move for 72 hours and couldn’t sleep because of the excruciating pain. Until today, almost two months after those difficult days, I steel feel pain in my broken ribs, kidneys, left ear and my testicles.
The torturers called themselves “the unknown soldiers of Imam Zaman” (an eschatological redeemer of Islam), but insulted me and Miss Gholiyan with the crudest sexual insults and beat her up too. But worse than the physical abuse, was the psychological torture. I am not sure what they did to me to feel so broken and still my hands shake because of the tortures.
I was so proud but felt so humiliated and weak that I didn’t recognise myself. Still, despite taking medication for my mental health, I have aggressive panic attacks.
My first question from you who are the Minister of Intelligence and someone who is a religious figure is this: with respect to morals, with respect to human rights, and especially with respect to the religion of Islam, what is the torture sentence of a detainee? Is it right? If it’s right, how much of it?
My second question, which to me and my family is even more important than the physical and psychological torture, is listening to the conversation between me and my wife by your intelligence services.
My interrogator told me that they know everything about me, even how many times my wife argued with me about my activities. When I asked about it, he said they had been listening to my phone calls for a long time, which made me furious during the interrogation.
My and my family’s question from you as the Minister of Intelligence and a religious figure is this: is listening to the most personal conversations of people right morally and with respect to human rights and the religion of Islam? What gives your intelligence system the right to listen to the personal conversations between me and my dear wife?
So, Mr Alavi, I, Esmaeil Bakhshi, invite you to a live television debate to hear your answers.
Esmaeil Bakhshi
4th of January 2019
[Translated from Farsi original]
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The supportive letters (protest letters) should be addressed to Islamic
Republic of Iran’s spiritual leader; Sayyid Ali Hosseini Khamenei:
contact@leader.ir, CCed to the current president Hassan Rouhani:
media@rouhani.ir; as well as to the ILO (International Labour Organization):
ilo@ilo.org.