Painful Interview with Babak Javadifar

“I only attended a civil protest. I did not have a weapon. I did not shout derogatory slogans. I was only standing in silence. I have not done anything wrong. Why should I be scared? I will go and come back.”

P2E, These were the last words of Amir Javadifar [to his family], a victim of Kahrizak prison who ended up in a hospital on July 8, 2009 after being arrested and then beaten by Basij forces.

He was released on bail because the judge noticed the terrible physical condition he was in. But out of respect for the law he returned to the police station along with his family. They did not even let him say goodbye to his family before arresting him.

Before going to the police, Amir Javadifar’s brother had asked him whether he needed a wheelchair and Amir responded, “Lovers die standing up.” He went to the police station out of respect to the laws of the country. After days of [his family] searching for him, his brother and father were presented with Amir’s lifeless body.

The family has charged the judge in Tehran who sent Amir along with other arrested people to Kahrizak prison on July 8, 2009. According to Saleh Nikbakht, the lawyer for the Javadifar family, the sentences passed down to the perpetrators of Kahrizak are full of contradictions while higher ranking people have not been charged.
Amir went to the police out of respect for the law

Amir’s father, Ali Javadifar was contacted on July 8, 2010 by Rooz Online, at around the same time when he had turned Amir in to the police a year earlier. Mr. Javadifar was extremely upset and said, “You called at the exact time when out of respect for the law and with high hopes I turned my son in to the police. The events of that day are played out in my mind, and the face of Amir…I was certain that my son had done nothing wrong and that they would not arrest him [considering] the physical condition he was in. I went [to the police station] to clear things up. I took him to a place that was supposed to protect his and everyone’s security and I turned him in to respect justice and asked them to clear my son’s name. I never thought that such a thing would happen…”

Amir’s brother, Babak Javadifar said, “Considering Amir’s physical condition, neither he or his family ever imagined that he would be sent to prison. We never thought they would keep him. We thought that based on his physical condition he would not be sent to prison. Now the judge who ordered Amir to be sent to Kahrizak prison (and not even Evin prison) must be tried in court. He needs to answer who ordered Amir’s [transfer] to Kahrizak. He needs to answer how he was able to send Amir to Kahrizak when he was under such a terrible physical condition! We have also filed another complaint asking punishment for anyone involved in this situation to prevent other children from suffering the same fate. They need to inform the family the same day of the arrest of the whereabouts and condition of their loved one[s]. Families should not have to stand in front of Evin prison for days holding pictures of their loved ones and then be handed a dead body! Amir will never come back to us but we do not want to see other children suffer the same fate…”
What happened on July 8th?

Amir Javadifar had participated in a gathering along with his friend’s wife. He was beaten by the Basij forces and subsequently arrested. Babak Javadifar said, “In a dead end alley at the intersection of Daneshgah and Shohada Jandarmeri streets, eight to twelve plainclothes agents attacked Amir and severely beat him before taking him away. His friend’s wife grabbed onto him while screaming and pleading with the [plainclothes agents] to not take him away. The agents delivered a few blows to her and [continued] to take Amir away.

I asked Babak, who was close to the scene, about what Amir had done to incite them to attack. He replied: “He wasn’t doing anything out of the ordinary. He was silent and peaceful like the rest of the people. They took him away. I looked for [him] for a long time but did not find them. The wife of Amir’s friend then called her husband and informed him that they had arrested Amir. We all went to various police stations inquiring about him but [received no answers on his whereabouts]. At around 9:00pm, the agent accompanying Amir called us from Firoozgar hospital using his cell phone and asked us to go to the hospital. We went there and saw that he was in terrible shape…”

The first pictures published of Amir are the ones taken at the hospital where he is shown with a neck brace, a swollen face and injured body.

Babak Javadifar added, “Amir was lying on the floor. They had kicked many parts of his body. He had bruises all over his body. His jaw was dislocated and that is why he was wearing the neck brace. His nose was also injured. Since he had surgery done on his nose, our guess was that his nose was broken. We asked hospital officials to scan his entire body in addition to running a brain scan. They also checked his internal organs. They found no critical injuries, but [did affirm] that he had taken a lot of blows. [Regime agents] had ordered hospitals to not accept patients with [injuries inflicted by regime agents], so the hospital did not keep Amir. Private hospitals were also not permitted to accept him. I went to Police Station 148 at the corner of Vesal Street and asked them to transfer Amir to a private hospital. The officer on duty cooperated. We transferred Amir to Laleh hospital. We bathed him and then he was hospitalized. They took care of him. The internal medicine and brain specialist came to see him. Amir then told them that his vision is blurry in one eye. An eye specialist was brought in. He said that his cornea is scratched, prescribed an eye drop, and asked him to rest. They said that he would recover in three days. We asked them to keep him another day at the hospital. The police station agent said that he was not permitted to do that. So I went back to the police station and talked to the officer on duty again. He sent another agent who cooperated. But when I went to the hospital along with the agent, I noticed that the hospital was about to release Amir and my father.”
“Lovers die on their feet, standing up”

Babak Javadifar then describes the complaint filed by those who had beaten up Amir: “The people who had beaten up Amir and arrested him filed a complaint. My father and Amir thought that once we go there and they see Amir’s physical condition, he would be released on bail because he is innocent. We all talked about it and made a group decision to go there. Amir said, ‘I attended a civil protest. I was not carrying any weapons and I was not chanting derogatory slogans. I was just standing in silence. I did not do anything wrong. Why should I be scared? I will go there and I will return.’ I asked him if he needed a wheelchair. He said, ‘No, I can stand on my own feet. Lovers die standing up and…’ Regrettably, once Amir was released from the hospital, we all went to the police station. Amir went inside with an agent that was sent along with us. We waited. We were [finally] told to go to the Prevention Police on the south side of Enghelab Square. As soon as we arrived they took Amir away and we did not even have enough time to say goodbye. They pushed my father and I away and told us that we were not allowed to stand there. They pushed us away from the scene and did not let us say goodbye or share any last words with Amir.”

Amir’s brother returned to the Prevention Police a few hours later. He explained, “It was quiet. I asked around. An agent told me that three buses left the place, two headed toward Kahrizak prison and one toward Evin. It was July 9, 2009 at 8:00pm and we were unable to do anything. They told us to go to the Revolutionary Court in the morning, and we did. There was a note on the wall that read: Those who were arrested on July 8th should come back 10 days later, but we continued to go to the Revolutionary Court every day. We also went in front of Evin prison every day. There was a list on the wall with the names of those who had been transferred to Evin. Amir’s name was not on the list. We wondered if Amir had been transferred to Kahrizak. On July 13th they sent a bus from Kahrizak to Evin prison. I was standing in front of Evin. An agent read the names of about 130 people, but Amir’s name was not among them. We were convinced that Amir was at Evin and not at Kahrizak. We continued to hold up his picture outside Evin. We continued to show Amir’s picture to released prisoners but they did not recognize him.

On July 23, 2009, Amir Javadifar’s family found out that he died in prison. In fact, Amir had died on July 13th, and it is mentioned in a special report to the Parliament: “He was beaten during his arrest and was treated before being transferred to Kahrizak prison. Nevertheless, he was weakened and could not withstand the physical and psychological injuries delivered at Kahrizak prison. During his four day stay at Kahrizak he was once referred to the prison doctor but no special treatment was given to him. Upon boarding the bus he was in terrible condition, and as the bus drove off, his condition became critical and he died on the bus.”

Babak Javadifar added, “On Friday, July 21st, I travelled to north of Iran to visit my grandmother. One of our friends was standing in front of Evin prison showing Amir’s picture to released prisoners. One of the kids who had been transferred from Kahrizak to Evin recognized the picture and said, ‘This is Amir and he passed away.’ My friend visited a few places to inquire, and since it was Friday (a weekend in Iran), no [answers were given]. I returned the same day and my friends came to me early in the morning and told me that they have news about Amir and that we must go. It was 7:00am and we drove to Shahre-Rey (a suburb of Tehran). I asked them what had happened and where were they taking me. They responded that the list of lost people was given to them and that they were going to follow up on it. We arrived in front of the Kahrizak coroner’s office. I still did not know what was going on. The coroner’s office did not open until 8:30am. During this time my father called and told us that an agent arrived at our home and wanted us to go to the Shahre-Rey Intelligence unit. We were close to that place. We drove there. A colonel was there along with a plainclothes agent. I kept asking about the whereabouts of my brother but they would not respond. They said that my father had to show up first. My father arrived. They told us to go to the Kahrizak coroner’s office. We returned to the same place and I identified Amir’s body.”

They did not allow us to enter the coroner’s office. I only saw a few pictures [of Amir]. There were two pictures above the neck area and one picture above the waist. His body had been dissected from the back side, chest area, and another spot. It was all sewed back up. It was not the same Amir that we had delivered to them. He was a completely different person. During the body wash ritual I tried to enter the room to see but my friends quickly prevented me from entering the room and took me outside. I was in dire psychological shape.”

I asked Amir’s brother about the rumors regarding the pulling of his brother’s nails. He replied, “It was not like that. The kids were together in a quarantined place at Kahrizak. They had forced him to do so many squat jumps under the excruciating sun that his feet became severely injured and he had lost his vision. They had taken away his eye drops and because of the dirty atmosphere at the make-shift prison and the conditions under which he was held, his eyes got infected and he [began to] lose his eyesight. His other eye was also infected because of the blow to it, and according to the kids who were at Kahrizak, Amir had completely lost his vision during his last day. He kept shouting and asking his mother who had passed away a few years back to return his vision to him…”
“Amir left us fully aware”

Two days after the identification process, they returned Amir’s body to his family, and according to Babak, his burial took place in a tight security atmosphere. “We did not sign any promissory notes in exchange for Amir’s body. We only filled out a form. There was a question in the form asking us whether we had any complaints to file against anyone. We left it blank. They did not allow us to bury him at the spot where we were planning to bury him, but other than that there was no other problem. The traditional third day and seventh day (after death) rituals were held in the presence of security agents. The 40th day ceremony also took place in the parking level of our house. There were no special problems and I like to thank whoever was responsible for letting us have the proper burial.”

After the burial Amir’s family filed a complaint and asked for the trial of the murderer(s). I asked Amir’s brother whether Amir was a protester. Babak replied, “Amir was not a political person at all. He always recited this poem by Sohrab Sepehri: ‘I have witnessed a train carrying politics…and I have seen how empty it travelled…’ Amir was an artist. His view of the world was an artistic view. He recited poetry and watched movies. He watched a movie every night before going to sleep. He graduated as an actor from the Karnameh institution. He was an avid reader. He read novels and never entered the world of politics. But he had a social commitment. Any person who thinks straight has a social commitment.

Amir took to the streets knowing very well why he was doing it. He was peaceful at the gatherings and he believed. I remember when he returned from one of the large silent gatherings. He said, ‘I really enjoyed it and today was one of the best days of my life. We expressed ourselves in our silence.’ His view was completely peaceful and he did not believe in violence.”