Iran's Minister of Intelligence on Esmail Bakhtiari: 'It Was Not Torture, It Was a Confrontation'

The Iranian Ministry of Intelligence's claim that Esmail Bakhtiari, a representative of the workers of Haft Tappeh Sugarcane Company, was not tortured during his detention has sparked widespread reactions on Twitter. This claim comes as Farzaneh Zilabi, Mr. Bakhtiari's lawyer, stated that her client was in very poor physical and mental condition during a family visit on December 2, showing signs of beating (swelling and bruising) on his face. The Ministry of Intelligence also accused Esmail Bakhtiari of being affiliated with the Workers' Communist Party, a claim that the party has denied. Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh, head of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of the Parliament, announced that in a session on Tuesday, the Minister of Intelligence, his deputies, and the head of Khuzestan's intelligence department provided explanations and showed a video. According to Mr. Falahatpisheh, the Ministry of Intelligence officials stated that during the 'detention and transfer' of Esmail Bakhtiari to the detention center, there were 'some confrontations' between security forces and Mr. Bakhtiari, but he was 'not tortured' during detention. He also mentioned that a video of Mr. Bakhtiari's 'confessions' was shown, in which he 'confesses that he is affiliated with the Workers' Communist Party and that the party's policy is to expand protests.' Mr. Falahatpisheh added that the audio of the video was 'not completely clear.' These statements have led to reactions. Asghar Karimi, head of the executive committee of the Workers' Communist Party of Iran, explicitly denied the claim of Esmail Bakhtiari's affiliation with the party in an interview with Radio Farda. Mr. Karimi added, 'He has neither applied for membership in the Workers' Communist Party nor is he a member of our party.' Regarding the reference made by the head of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission to Mr. Bakhtiari's televised confession, he stated, 'Any confession obtained under torture from labor activists and political prisoners by the Islamic Republic is invalid.' Esmail Bakhtiari, representing the workers of Haft Tappeh Sugarcane Company, has detailed the tortures he endured during his detention and has called for a public accountability session with the Minister of Intelligence in a televised debate. Meanwhile, Farzaneh Zilabi, Esmail Bakhtiari's lawyer, in an interview with Etemad newspaper, referred to the family visit on December 2 during his detention, adding, 'According to their testimony, Esmail Bakhtiari was in very poor physical and mental condition, and signs of beating (swelling and bruising) were observed on his face.' She added, 'In addition to reflecting and clearly stating the observed condition by them to the prosecutor, a written testimony from my client's mother was attached to the case file in the first branch of the public and revolutionary prosecutor's office in Shush.' Ms. Zilabi also mentioned that her request for Mr. Bakhtiari's immediate transfer to forensic medicine was not fulfilled. She emphasized that her client's medications were not provided to him during detention. In the session of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of the Parliament, neither Esmail Bakhtiari nor his representative was present. Meanwhile, some Twitter users have protested the absence of Esmail Bakhtiari from this session. Among them, Amir Baqoubli wrote that the representatives of the Parliament 'expected him to be beaten in the confession video? They showed the video of his presence at the gathering as evidence? Evidence of what? Is beating during detention and transfer acceptable in the eyes of the parliament representative? Thank you for this investigation.' Some Twitter users have also criticized the Parliament's performance in this regard. Shirin Milani wrote: 'The ninth parliament, which was under the conservatives, at least provided a half-hearted report regarding the death of Sattar Beheshti. These useless ones have completely fallen asleep. Neither the death of Kavous Seyed Emami woke them up, nor the death of protesters in December, nor the torture of Esmail Bakhtiari.' Previously, the head of the Iranian judiciary had said regarding the torture of Esmail Bakhtiari that 'sometimes claims are made due to a lack of knowledge of legal rights, or a prisoner thinks the prison environment should be like a hotel for him.' Taghi Rahmani, who has been imprisoned for about 15 years under the Islamic Republic, wrote about these statements: 'The head of the judiciary answered Esmail Bakhtiari, clarifying the direction for investigation: the misconduct of an interrogator does not indicate the misconduct of the system, and the prison is not a hotel. Of course, this was also said and repeated by Lajevardi. This statement meant that in prison, a prisoner must endure additional hardships besides just enduring prison.' Some Twitter users also recalled the history of political prisoners dying due to torture during detention, including the deaths of Zahra Kazemi, a journalist, and Sattar Beheshti, a blogger, expressing their despair over the investigation into the torture of Esmail Bakhtiari. Mehdi Mahdavi Azad, a journalist, wrote: 'In 2004, the parliament appointed a committee to investigate the judiciary. According to Ishrat Shayeg, a representative from Tabriz, the judiciary arrested and tortured the members of this committee! We have also seen the investigation into the murders of Zahra Kazemi, Sattar Beheshti, and Kavous Seyed Emami under interrogation. Now they are supposed to investigate the torture of Esmail Bakhtiari.' After the publication of Esmail Bakhtiari's account of his torture, some former political prisoners have also shared their experiences of being tortured in prison. For instance, Majid Tokali wrote: the interrogator who was said to have been reprimanded after his first arrest, in his second detention, 'came back triumphantly and resumed his work, mocking the pursuit of the tortures.' Since the 1979 revolution, political activists have repeatedly reported organized and prolonged torture during their detention through letters, and some prisoners have died due to torture, with Sattar Beheshti being a recent example. The Kahrizak detention center is one of the examples mentioned in the Iranian Parliament's report regarding the torture of prisoners there. Despite all the information provided and the promises made by the officials of the Islamic Republic, this trend has not yet stopped. In this context, gatherings in support of workers at several universities, attacks by student Basij forces on Amir Kabir's gathering, the transfer of Ali Najati, a imprisoned board member of Haft Tappeh workers, to the hospital, the US State Department's support for the legitimate demands of workers in Iran, 'pressure' on Esmail Bakhtiari to deny his statements about torture, Rouhani's order to investigate 'claims of violence against' Bakhtiari; a judicial delegation's visit to Khuzestan, severe government repression, and the danger of 'underground' protests.