A PRISONER who spent 9 months in one of many world’s most horrifying prisons has revealed the barbaric horrors she witnessed – from torture to executions.
Marziyeh Amirizadeh has fearlessly stepped ahead to raise the lid on the horrific circumstances and staggering in Iran’s despicable Evin Prison.
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She was arrested and despatched to the jail – generally known as the “The Torture Home” – merely for the ‘crime’ of being a Christian in 2009.
The desolate compound outdoors Tehran is reserved for political prisoners – and has a repute as one of many worst lockups on Earth.
Marzi’s expertise was horrifying – being first thrown in an airless, lightless underground dungeon earlier than being transferred to Evin.
She witnessed actually horrific atrocities, from seeing folks having their ft flayed of flesh to her pal witnessing lifeless our bodies hung from the ceiling like in a slaughterhouse.
And he or she is bravely talking out as protests proceed to rage over the loss of life of Mahsa Amini – who was killed by the Iranian regime’s so-called “morality police”.
It is likely one of the most sustained challenges to the hardline regime in a long time – and has seen practically 600 folks killed.
Marzi and her pal Maryam Rostampour had been arrested for “apostasy” for his or her Christianity in Iran and sentenced to loss of life.
Marzi recalled: “The decide stated to me: “I’ll ensure you get executed. He pushed our instances to execution due to the apostasy.”
Marzi and Maryam had been despatched to Vozara Detention Centre – the identical holding centre utilized by so-called morality police that beat Masha Amini to loss of life in September 2022.
Marzi stated: “It’s an underground dungeon, no one can see it. You may’t breathe. There’s no air, no gentle. They throw meals at you.
“We slept on a chilly concrete ground and saved heat with urine-soaked blankets. We had been thrown in with homeless ladies, prostitutes, anybody on the streets. We weren’t criminals however we had been in the identical scenario as everybody else.”
The brutal remedy on the centre would solely final for 2-3 days for most ladies taken there, however Marzi and Maryam had been saved within the horrible circumstances for 2 weeks as punishment for the “severity of their crimes”.
Whereas at Vozara, the guards would power the feminine inmates to strip bare and would conduct physique searches often, Marzi stated.
However the true torture started when she was transferred to the notorious Evin Jail.
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Marzi recalled one occasion the place the prisoners had been determined to get assist.
She stated: “The UN despatched folks to analysis Iranian prisons. There was one good ward, with a couple of prisoners there. They informed us, ‘A gaggle of western individuals are coming for a survey’.
“They locked the doorways to the opposite wards with us inside. We shouted to make noise for the inspectors however no one heard our voices.”
Marzi was witness to torture, execution, rape, beatings, and numerous ladies’s rights violations performed by the male guards on the jail.
She and Maryam had been fortunate to keep away from rape and extreme beatings, as their authorized case had gained worldwide outrage.
She continued: “Someday, male guards got here to go looking ladies’s cells and commenced beating them.
“We may hear the prisoners begin to sob. They had been crushed so badly after we noticed them within the courtyard later.
“They used male guards to assault feminine prisoners, which is definitely in opposition to Sharia regulation. Everybody was so scared.
The subsequent evening we might hear the Adhan performed at midnight, and we knew they had been being executed.
Marziyeh Amirizadeh
The psychological torture was intense for Maryam and Marzi, with Marzi’s personal cellmate executed in entrance of her.
Like present prisoners in Iran, in 2009, inmates wouldn’t be informed after they had been being despatched to their deaths.
Marzi stated the prisoners could be taken into solitary confinement for a couple of days earlier than their executions.
She stated: “The subsequent evening we might hear the Adhan (Muslim name to prayer) performed at midnight, and we knew they had been being executed.”
Marzi was transferred to Ward 2 at one level in her incarceration, which is the place many of the murderers could be.
She grew near her cellmate whereas within the second ward – the ten days they spent collectively within the cramped cell allowed the 2 ladies to bond.
Marzi was audibly choked up throughout our interview: “She was despatched to execution after ten days. I really feel that was intentional.
“They let me construct a friendship together with her after which killed her.”
One other one in every of Marzi’s buddies in Evin was a Kurdish woman, like Mahsa Amini, who was crushed and whipped so badly that the flesh on her ft was flayed and peeling off on the underside.
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Part 209 of Evin Jail – the interrogation room – was hell on earth, and inmates could be blindfolded on a steel chair the place they had been tortured and raped for hours on finish, Marzi stated.
One other lady Marzi befriended was supplied a job at a “clinic” inside the jail, however would come again crying every night after spending lengthy hours working.
Marzi recounted: “We didn’t know why she was crying. We came upon the revolutionary guards and different excessive rating officers got here and used her as a intercourse slave.
“When she realised that is what the job was, she stated no, they usually threatened to kill her.”
She referred to as her time at Evin a interval of psychological torture: “On a regular basis we heard the opposite prisoners crying, shouting and begging. We heard these voices throughout us. It was laborious to maneuver.”
“One among my buddies was blindfolded and brought to a room below the part 209 interrogation room. She got here again and we may see the worry in her face. She was shaking.
“They requested her to stroll when she entered the room below part 209, and he or she was hitting one thing as she walked. She felt round and found they had been the our bodies of different lifeless prisoners hanging from the ceiling.”
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The present scenario in her native Iran has been a harsh reminder of what Marzi skilled after her 2009 arrest and interval spent in Evin.
Marzi believes the true variety of executions occuring in gentle of current protests is way increased than the regime has revealed.
“A few of these prisoners have no one, so it received’t be observed in the event that they disappear. They’re evil, utilizing probably the most deadly weapons they’ve in opposition to protestors.
“In some situations they might launch folks from jail who then die mysteriously after their launch.”
This revolution in Iran is totally different, Marzi stated, however like others previously, it began with ladies.
She stated: “For greater than 40 years we have now been preventing with issue. From childhood, we have now been preventing.
“Someday, Iranian ladies will overthrow this regime. Girls have suffered, and we are able to see this time ladies are preventing shoulder to shoulder with males.
“An awakening is occurring, they usually can’t deter folks. What’s taking place now could be the calm earlier than the storm. The folks will collapse this regime.”
Someday, Iranian ladies will overthrow this regime.
Marzi Amirizadeh
Individuals want to grasp what’s taking place in these prisons and to those harmless detained protestors, Marzi implores.
516 protestors have been killed for the reason that motion started in September of this yr, in accordance with analysis from the UK Parliament.
The variety of these arrested has virtually surpassed 20,000, and is predicted to maintain climbing because the momentum of protests throughout the nation continues to develop in dimension and energy.
Marzi completed our interview with a easy assertion for western governments: “We’ve sacrificed lots. Don’t betray us this time.”
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