Sunday, January 27, 2013

How far will they go?

By Paul Iddon

Recent testimonies from families of Iranian citizens targeted by the regime show just how cruel and savage that regime is.

Evin prison.
When one hears emancipated foreigners contend that Iranian women, among others, have their rights in their country one finds ones general appetite has been unalterably lost. You may arrive at a similar feeling my reader when you realize such empty assertions are made in direct contradiction to the reports and investigations of human rights organizations, as well as the numerous victims of the regimes brutal methods themselves. 



Following a recent visit an MP of the theatrical parliament in Tehran recently, rather lamely, referred to Evin prison as not a prison but a hotel. This particularly depraved comment isn't the first time a member or token representative of Iran's dictatorial system has made such flippant remarks with regard to the infamous prison. In the 1980's for example prison governor Asadollah Lajavardi referred to the prison, not as “Evin hotel”, but “Evin university.” The logic being that at “Evin university” political prisoners would be taught why they are wrong until they 'conceded' this was the case, following brutal, cruel, degrading mental and physical torture that is. They were tortured to the point that they are 'broken'. On top of this, several thousand of these political prisoners were callously murdered without being given any discernible form of a trial or even an actual reasonable charge for their initial imprisonment! 



Reliable reports from inside the country's prison systems reveal that regime thugs are actively distributing condoms to criminals and encouraging them to rape young activists and demonstrators. The extent of the rape is very unsettling and utterly revolting. Analysts who deny or ignore the distressing human rights reports and recorded and documented violations by the regime of the most basic semblances of civil and human rights are below contempt and should be vehemently distrusted. Because, in essence, defending the facile moral equivalences of an analyst and saying that aside from their, by their very subject matter questionable, consistently selective omissions pertaining to the regimes cruelty and heinous human rights record their work is objective and valid is the equivalent of arguing that writer David Irving's accounts of the Second World War are credible histories with the salient exception of his ridiculous denial of the existence of the gas chambers at Auschwitz. And along with that his consistent exculpation of, and distortion of the historical record when it came to, Adolf Hitler. A few too many exceptions to make if you ask me.



There is barely a semblance of elementary rights or justice in Iran today under this regime. Peaceful activists, religious minorities and political demonstrators alike face show trials of a Stalinist nature for participating in peaceful protests where they try and voice their many justifiable grievances with the system. These Iranians, like their Shi'a kinsmen in Bahrain, have their ultimate fate decided by the brute men who interrogate them. Interrogators who are prone to coerce them and make them confess to over-the-top crimes which they did not commit. This serves as a deterrent against any open expression of the rampant discontent among the Iranian populace.



One finds that a very simple way to go about determining whether or not a states 'law-enforcement' agency is merely an in-name only oppressive arm of a tyrannical government, hence a litmus test, is to see if it seeks out rapists and psychopaths in order to jail them or hire them.



Take this account of the apparent systematic nature of these sexual assaults and rape of prisoners described by a family member of one of Iran's many political prisoners:

“During exercise periods, the strong ask for sex without any consideration. Criminals are repeatedly seen with condoms in hand, hunting for their victims. If the inmate is not powerful enough or guards would not take care of him, he will be certainly raped. Prison guards ignore those who are seen with condoms simply because they were given out to them by the guards at first place.”

As is often the case when one is pondering the motives of the morally depraved one finds oneself questioning how this system came into place. Was there a decision making process that upon discussion over the merits and demerits of the matter determined that rape is okay once the rapist wore protection?



As much a cliche as the nature of oppressive regimes is one cannot nevertheless help but to recline in disgust when one reads, or ponders, about the grisly details and torturous and murderous exploits of such oppressive systems. When one does this one can henceforth comprehend to an extent the depraved, rotten and sick nature of tyrannical regimes. 



We have recently been given a series of renewed anxieties about potential things to come in Iran following the recent public executions in Tehran. Perversely we're also seeing the introduction of rather bizarre amputation devices that will be used to amputate the fingers of thieves. We have in the past seen seen similar developments, widespread regime implemented amputation practices to torture thieves for the smallest of offenses and in turn terrorize the entire beggared and trod-on population, in Iraq in the 1990's following the Persian Gulf War when the United Nations upheld the sanctions which crippled the Iraqi economy.



On that occasion the Iraqi regime had to be as cruel and as brutal as it possibly could, it had to go miles beyond the pale of civility. Its cruelty and violence towards ordinary Iraqi citizens had to be indiscriminate and widespread in order to coerce everybody. So the mere thought of speaking out against the oppression would immediately bring to a persons mind the haunting prospects of what might ultimately be their fate if they were to stand up for themselves and voice their heartfelt grievances. 



Hopefully the severity of those dark years for the Iraqi people aren't a historical precedent for the brutal means the regime in Tehran will utilize to terrorize and subvert a discontented populace. 

But the essential question remains, how far will these tyrants go?

And furthermore, what lame pretexts will be cited for the implementation of rape and torture, the continued negation of the most basic of rights and justice and the implementation of cruel and oppressive means of coercion?



It would be counterproductive and nausea inducing to ponder, but the simple reality remains that Iran is an authoritarian state. The very tight-knit minority who have plundered it and are maintaining through force of arms their monopoly on the states capital and resources are proving to be getting consistently more violent and oppressive. As the excellent truism John F. Kennedy famously said upon his inauguration goes, “those who make peaceful revolution impossible, make violent revolution inevitable."

14 comments:

Mark Pyruz said...

It's so brutal, a number of non-violent offenders at Evin get temporary leaves outside prison to spend time with their families. It's also so brutal, offenders and convicts of national security crimes like Dorothy Parvaz and Roxana Saberi, were granted release and allowed to go home to their respective hostile countries.

Not that I'm necessarily advocating that such releases and temporary leaves should be allowed in the United States, but if you're characterizing such treatment in Iran as "brutal" and "savage," how does that make for things here in the U.S.?

Personally, on my late dad's side of the family, we have folks that left Iran and folks that stayed over there. The one's that left had the desire and expectation for Iran to adopt a liberal, secular government, however unrealistic that is and however that remains not the wishes of the majority of Iranians inside Iran. On the other hand, the ones that stayed have no problem with their Islamic Republic.

We used to have a blog member here at Uskowi on Iran that lives in Iran and has no problem with the Islamic Republic of Iran. He became offended by views such as yours, Paul, you being a non-Iranian that doesn't live in Iran. So he left Uskowi on Iran. His name is Amir Taheri and he's an educated young man that owns his own small business in Iran. I have to say that as an American, if I had a blog member continually characterizing my country, America, as "brutal" and "savage", I'd be offended too, particularly if the blog resident was hypothetically from a hostile country like Cuba and Venezuela.

The Islamic Republic of Iran isn't perfect, but neither is the United States or UK. However the everyday lives of ordinary Iranians inside Iran would get a lot better if the U.S. would take the lead and make an honest effort toward rapprochement with the Islamic Republic of Iran. On the other hand, playing up hypocritically with characterizations of "brutal" and "savage" only serves to contribute towards the national security challenges Iran faces, and with it the domestic countermeasures this generates, From your point of view, Paul, this is counter-productive to what you'd like to see, if your advocacy of improving the lives of ordinary Iranians inside Iran is sincere, that is.

Anonymous said...

Paul with all due respect for your convoluted "news", HAVE YOU EVER BEEN TO IRAN? just wondering where you get this nonsense. A recent delegation of independent MP's visited Evin and they concluded that it was in between a hotel and a summer camp. Seriously, you guys are going overtime on this anti-Iran rant idiocy lately. What's up with the fantasy spaceship "news items". At least don't try to put wool over your eyes. Ever considered writing for Debka? LOL. They are the delusional kings of blogs and even more humourous.

Anonymous said...

Well said Mark!

Anonymous said...

if you state facts your labelled cyber basij mr pyruz dont bother and the blog has been deleting comments that contain facts

you dont have to be a supporter of the current regime to give a balanced opinion but if you do to these people its the worst thing you can do

Anonymous said...

Haha, Evin a summer camp? Tell that to my mother who was both locked and tortured in Evin, in section 209. She still carries the scars on her sole.

Paul Iddon said...

Roxana Saberi was arrested without a proper charge and told there was a possibility that she would get 8 years if she was lucky or even executed. So you're so solipsistic and clueless -- pretending to be at any rate -- that you're implying the Iranian state must have just have been defending itself by carrying out such an action?

So state-mandated torture and rape isn't "brutal" or "savage"? I would have thought that was putting it conservatively! Obviously I'm not able to gloss over and relativize rape and murder like you are. What would you dub it, "corrective punishment", "penetration-rehabilitation"? How would you euphemism rape Pyruz, you're already relativizing it.
It's even disgusting and degrading to get on the level of argument propagated by such a disgusting apologist.

Mark YOU ARE an American, non-Iranian, who is advocating an American policy that is essentially the same as under the Shah, the recognition and cooperation with a tyrant whose paramilitary secret police force seek out and eliminate all and any form of dissent. You're no better than the propagandists and imperialists of the world powers of the day who helped a minority in Persia subvert and run their country into the ground to enrich themselves so imperial powers wouldn't have to worry about a strong independent Persia and could reap the benefits of a weak dependent Persia -- as well as an exploitable one.

As for me, I come from a state that never harmed Iran, has no intention to and I advocate that the Iranian people get the most basic of civil and human rights. It's quite fascinating you have such a problem with that. I always wonder how it feels for someone like you to work tirelessly everyday to, through cyber space, essentially aid in the collective kicking of Iranian citizenry whilst they are down and advocate that the United States "come to terms" with their very real oppressors.

Amir, yes I remember he wrote a column after I suggested the idea. I remember never infringing on his work or some of his more absurd views ever. I also remember that I was the one who suggested he adapt a name for his column, "Ground Perspective", so that it could be properly archived and so new readers interested in his stuff could with relative ease read his older columns. Just because there was something he didn't like that wasn't forced on him isn't a good enough excuse to leave. He could easily, something I didn't do with his posts as I didn't want him to feel unwelcome (even though I disagreed with 60% of his stuff), have critiqued what he disagreed with in anything I wrote by addressing the points he found object-able on their merits and demerits, something you've proved you're actually not able to do -- resorting to facile moral equivalencies, completely irrelevant unrelated subject matter and ad-hominem attacks isn't a form of critiquing.

You don't have a goddamn idea what most Iranians inside Iran want. We haven't had a referendum under this regime, so you cannot even pretend to know. And where is your evidence to substantiate your claim that 90% of Iranians support the regime?
I've only been asking you since you made such a ridiculous claim 19 months ago to give a source but you haven't been able to, fitting.

Anonymous said...

The day will come when Evin will be converted & maintained as a museum just like those Nazi-built places in Poland, to serve as the pinnacle reminder of a brutal, oppressive and evil Islamo-fascist regime. One day a concerted Allied effort will free Iran from the grip of the rotten zombie clerics.

Anonymous said...

Ha Ha Ha! "Independent MP's"? That says a lot about you.Boy you are really dumb to believe that nonsense.

Anonymous said...

If 90% of Iranians support the regime according to Mark Pyruz then why is it the regime has turned the country into an ultra religious fascist police state?

Anonymous said...

Mark Pryuz why are you like some batty boy of Khaayehemani ?

Unknown said...

@anon 3:00
You don't have to be in Iran to read and analyze. In cause you doubt Paul's assertions here are useful links that might persuade you to comment on the topic being discussed and not attack Paul instead (in know you're not allowed but you can try)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-21159392
On Monday, a group of Iranian MPs who visited the notorious Evin prison described Iran's biggest jail for political prisoners as a "hotel".
"From now on, I will call it Hotel Evin, rather than Evin prison," one of them, Safar Naeimi, said after his six-hour tour of the complex in the capital, Tehran.

http://isna.ir/fa/news/91110201467/نعیمی-رز-پس-از-بازدید-امروز-نام-زندان-اوین
با غیر واقعی خواندن گلایههای فائزه هاشمی از وضعیت اوین؛
نعیمیرز: پس از بازدید امروز، نام زندان اوین را هتل اوین خواهم گذاشت!
» سرویس: سياسي - مجلس
کد خبر: 91110201467
دوشنبه ۲ بهمن ۱۳۹۱ - ۱۷:۲۸

Unknown said...

@anon 5:40
Show us your facts!
I'm sure a few will get through, just like this comment of yours.

B.M.A said...

JF why only 'a few'- -- seems someone is ruling this kingdom [blog]with an iron fist!!.

Anonymous said...

perhaps BBW is reading with an iron head