Prison Literature: Letters of a Journalist from Evin and Rajaei Shahr

Since the early years of 'Pahlavi I' and after the establishment of modern governance and bureaucracy, a group of political critics and opponents were imprisoned for their beliefs, leading to texts that later became known as prison literature. Interestingly, in recent years, especially after the revolution, despite many journalists, social and civil activists, students, and political party members facing long or short prison sentences, there have been fewer published works intended as books about their prison experiences relative to the number of people with such experiences. However, in recent weeks, a readable and well-crafted book by Bahman Ahmadi Amoui, a journalist who spent five years (2009-2013) in Evin and Rajaei Shahr prisons, has been published by Baran Publishing in Sweden. Bahman Ahmadi Amoui has collaborated with newspapers such as Jameh, Tose, Sobhe Emrooz, Noorooz, Shargh, Vaghaye Ettefaghieh, and Sarmayeh, and has previously published two books titled 'The Political Economy of the Islamic Republic' and 'How the Men of the Islamic Republic Became Technocrats?'. I invited Bahman Ahmadi Amoui from Tehran to be my guest on this week's book review program. Before the discussion, let’s listen to some lines from his book titled 'Life in Prison: Evin and Rajaei Shahr' in the author's voice. Ayoub Ebrahimzadeh, who if he had time to pass 12 more credits would have received an electrical engineering degree from Tabriz University, says he did not pay much attention to religious issues before university and even during the first two years. However, gradually he became acquainted with a couple of Kurdish student gatherings in Tabriz. In one of these meetings, he got close to individuals referred to as Al-Qaeda, although he himself did not mention the name. When I asked him why he got close to this group with such awareness, he replied that the behavior of the Iranian government and its perspective on Kurds greatly influenced his decision to join this group. He further explained that he now feels a meaning in his life that he did not have before. He had a good social life and was recognized in the group he was part of. However, his acquaintance with this specific group brought something into his life that he previously lacked. He is now religious and has memorized three parts of the Quran, stating that they seek to establish an Islamic government. I asked him how they plan to achieve that, and he replied through three means: propaganda, jihad, or both. Welcome to the program. Over the years, many civil activists, journalists, lawyers, and political figures have received prison sentences as political prisoners, especially the generation of journalists from the late 1990s onward, students, lawyers, women’s rights activists, and others. However, we have seen fewer instances where the events and details of these days have been documented and published as books. What reasoning led you to think it was necessary to write and publish your prison experiences as a book? Bahman Ahmadi Amoui: Thank you for inviting me to this program. The reality is that before I went to prison, one of my concerns, as well as that of many of my journalist colleagues, was to try to go to places that are usually inaccessible and report from there. One of these places was prison. When I became a prisoner myself, I realized that from a journalistic perspective, the conditions I sought were readily available without any effort or administrative process to prepare a report. I found myself living among them and had the opportunity to report on the lives of prisoners (both political and non-political, ideological prisoners, minorities, and various religious groups... all of them were there). A large number of prisoners were around me. In fact, from the very first day I went to prison, I intended to do this. The desire that my colleagues and I had pursued but could not access. When I became a prisoner, I saw that from a journalistic perspective, the conditions I sought were readily available. I was living among them and had the opportunity to report on the lives of prisoners. In other words, you were sentenced to prison but saw yourself not just as a 'prisoner' but as a 'journalist' who had the opportunity to prepare field reports from the unique situation you found yourself in? Exactly. If you notice, throughout the book, I have tried to dedicate the least amount of space to describing and expressing my own feelings and emotions. My aim was to provide a brief picture of the lives of various social, political, and religious groups in Iran who were gathered in a place called Ward 350 of Evin or Hall 12 of Rajaei Shahr. And of course, I tried not to delve too much into political positions. I aimed to have a more human perspective in documenting my narrative of prison and prisoners. That is, how do prisoners, as humans, live in that closed society? What is their perspective on their fellow inmates? How have they been when they were outside in society, and what narrative can I provide about their lives inside and outside prison? Yes! And incidentally, the point that stands out in your narrative of prison is this journalist-based perspective. A perspective that advises the journalist to stand in the middle and gray areas of the story and report the surrounding situation as it is, free from personal judgments and tastes. This is a characteristic that has been less observed or is completely absent in works published by prisoners—before and after the revolution—perhaps because many of those writers were merely party activists or affiliated with political groups. Yes, I really had a journalistic perspective on the whole issue from the day I went to prison. The accusations against me, for which I was imprisoned, were journalistic issues. In fact, I received my prison sentence because of my profession; as some friends say, prison was a continuation of my life outside. In other words, the life and job I had outside as a journalist continued. Therefore, I tried to keep my narrative as impartial as possible. Honestly, I do not know how successful I have been in this regard. Life in prison by Bahman Ahmadi Amoui. Aside from the 'perspective' of the book, I find the 'form' you chose to present the text interesting. The entire book is written as a collection of letters you send to your wife from prison! The reality is that the content of the first letter, titled 'Red Alert,' dated September 21, 2011, is a kind of memoir of mine from the start of the war, and that I am from Khuzestan and witnessed the beginning of the war... I wrote all of this as a long letter to my wife, Zhila Baniyaghoub. Later, through various processes—known to imprisoned friends about how to transfer them outside—I occasionally sent these out of prison. In fact, from the very first day, they were prepared in the form of letters. There have been numerous examples of prison memoirs from the past decades. From what Sadr al-Din Shirin wrote to Khalil Maleki, and much later Vida Hajabi, whose prison memoirs date back to the 1970s, or even what Parviz Osiya wrote about his imprisonment in Towhid prison. Or even the two books 'Guest of These Gentlemen' and 'Once Again and This Time...' left by Mahmoud Etmadzadeh (M.A. Bahar Azin), the former being his short-term prison memoirs in the 1970s and the latter being his long-term memoirs in the 1980s and the Islamic Republic. However, most of these works have been presented in the forms of memoirs, biographies, diaries, or stories. But your book is in the form of a collection of letters! Why? Look, in these letters, there is actually a kind of dialogue between me and my wife—Zhila Baniyaghoub—where I tried to write about our lifestyle in prison. What we think about these days; what bothers us; how we live; and how we sit around a table and eat together. Is there even such a thing in political prisons? Who are the people in Evin and Rajaei Shahr? What are their backgrounds? How did they end up there, and are they really political people or not? What brought them here, or was it the result of their actions? Therefore, I tried as much as I could to describe and report on each of those prisoners in the book, regardless of whether they are political and famous or non-political and ordinary people who were arrested from the streets, from street clashes, or simply for sending an SMS or writing a slogan. The result is that there is a dialogue here to describe what stages we are in and how we are living, what differences arise among us prisoners, or what grievances we may have against each other, or what things as humans anger us prisoners. Or what things behind these prison walls cause us prisoners to feel upset and miss our freedom? I have addressed all of these. And incidentally, these are things that I did not see much in the prison memoirs of others that you mentioned. Many of those writers and books have tried to address political issues and the political/social viewpoints they were affiliated with. But I really felt that the areas I mentioned had been underexplored and needed more attention than political opinions. In these letters, there is actually a kind of dialogue between me and my wife—Zhila Baniyaghoub—where I tried to write about our lifestyle in prison. What we think about these days; what bothers us; how we live; and how we sit around a table and eat together. Is there even such a thing in political prisons? You mentioned your wife Zhila; at one point in a piece titled Prisoner Number 14, you say: 'Zhila, you asked me to write down what I see and hear in prison for you. As you said, reports from prison...' Tell us how much influence Ms. Baniyaghoub had in encouraging you to write these 'reports/memoirs/letters'? As I have written in the introduction and some of the letters, the reality is that it was Zhila who reminded me to write in this form and style. I remember she brought me the memoirs of—if I’m not mistaken—Nazim Hikmet to his wife in prison and said: 'This is a good model for you to write in this style.' In fact, the idea of writing this book was entirely Zhila's. Yes, there is no doubt about that, and I must thank her for it. These 'reports/letters' are a selection of various situations. But I think many images and situations must have existed for you during your long five years of imprisonment in the prisons of 'Evin and Rajaei Shahr' that were not included in these reports. After all, we are talking about a long period of five years of imprisonment from 2009 to 2013. Are there any images or untold things that you preferred not to include in this book for some reasons or even, for example, to keep the book concise? Yes, there are many. For example, I briefly addressed my method of arrest and the periods I spent in solitary confinement in the book. I did not even address what discussions my interrogators raised there. Or I summarized the stories of Rajaei Shahr prison much more than those of Evin prison. Well, these are matters that could have been elaborated on much more. Therefore, I think there is still room for more work. For instance, there were individuals there that if you analyzed their personalities, you could reach a slice of the entirety of Iranian society. This is how I feel that this work has the potential to continue, and I am thinking about it. How difficult was it for you to write these while being a prisoner? How challenging was it to keep them in prison? Did these matters cause problems for you, or was it possible for you to write and send your letters easily or keep them with the intention of publishing later? For writing them, my fellow prisoners and I had enough pens and paper at our disposal, and everyone was writing things down according to their style and perspective. I, of course, memorized many things. When friends—cellmates—talked about events that occurred, I probably did not have a pen and paper at hand at that moment. But usually, every night or every few nights, I would try to review the issues in my mind and write down those events that I thought were important according to the style I had in mind for writing after reviewing them. Later, I would summarize them in the form of letters to Zhila. As I mentioned, we would transfer the letters out of prison through methods known to imprisoned friends during visiting days or non-visiting days. At one point in the book, you expressed a wish that Hassan Rouhani—the president—appoint a special representative to investigate the issue of prisoners.