Elham Modarresi Repeats the Slogan 'My Life for Iran': I Was Tortured for Forced Confession of 'Membership in Komala'

Elham Modarresi, a detained protester during the nationwide protests of 2022 who spent some time in Kachoui prison, has published a testimony about the torture she endured while in custody. Modarresi, who was living in Fardis in Alborz province at the time of her arrest and is now in Turkey, stated in a post on social media platform X that she had an 'active presence' in the 'Women, Life, Freedom' movement. Originally from Kurdistan province, she emphasized the slogans 'My life for Iran' and 'Long live Iran,' claiming she was tortured in detention to confess to 'membership in Komala' and that threats against her and her family continued after her release. Modarresi said, 'Ultimately, due to threats and security pressures on myself and my family, we were forced to leave the land for which we fought to the brink of death. Now I am in Turkey in absolute uncertainty.' She noted that she was arrested on November 1, 2022, and emphasized that 'twelve repressive agents stormed our home, violently pushed my mother, pointed a gun at my mother and brother's heads, blindfolded me, and took me away.' In her testimony published on November 2, she stated that she spent three months in prison, during which she was subjected to severe physical torture that ultimately led to internal bleeding. The intelligence agents also tore up her ultrasound report from the hospital. She revealed that interrogators 'falsely claimed that my brother was being tortured in the adjacent room or constantly threatened me with rape while trying to extract a forced confession that I had weapons and was a member of the Komala Party of Kurdistan, while I was only protesting the situation in Iran and against the oppression of the people.' Modarresi announced that during her detention, interrogators questioned her 'every day from 7 AM to 11 PM' for a total of '140 hours,' stating, 'The scenario they had planned for us was to confess under torture to membership in the Komala Party, which would ultimately lead to a death sentence for me.' She pointed out that the charge against her in the indictment was 'Moharebeh' (waging war against God) and stated that 'throughout my imprisonment, I had no access to my medications and medical care, and my general condition worsened day by day.' This former political prisoner stated that she developed 'liver cirrhosis' in prison, saying, 'In the prison infirmary, due to severe pain in my liver, I was injected with shots that made my condition worse, to the point that I could hardly breathe.' Modarresi also mentioned that after her release on bail of 'five billion' on January 22, she and her family were 'threatened with death by unknown numbers' and were 'constantly summoned and interrogated by the Ministry of Intelligence.' This former political prisoner, who is now in Turkey and in 'uncertainty,' said, 'Due to my poor health and the loss of a significant part of my liver, I am hospitalized two to three days a week' and 'I do not know how long I can survive without insurance and with high medical costs.' Despite her illness during detention, she went on a hunger strike with 14 other political prisoners in the women's ward of Kachoui prison in protest against the judicial process. She had previously described the 'dire' situation of protesters in prison in an interview with Voice of America after leaving Iran.