Sepideh Gholian Arrested Again Following Broadcast of TV Confessions

Following the re-arrest of Sepideh Gholian after the broadcast of the documentary 'Burnt Design' on Iranian television, a phone conversation file between her and an intelligence officer was released. The documentary 'Burnt Design' included interrogation documents of several detained protesters from the labor protests in Ahvaz and the 'confessions' of Sepideh Gholian and Esmail Bakhshi regarding the protests of the Haft Tappeh sugarcane workers, which was aired on the Islamic Republic's 20:30 program. Gholian, who was arrested along with Bakhshi during the ongoing strike of Haft Tappeh sugarcane workers, stated that she is willing to testify in court about the torture she and Bakhshi experienced during detention. She considered the broadcast of 'Burnt Design' as further evidence of her torture during detention and mentioned that she would pursue this matter more seriously than before. The Tasnim news agency described Gholian as 'one of the elements of the infiltration project in the labor community' and claimed that her brother was also arrested along with her due to 'the assault by female judicial agents.' This news agency, affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, also labeled Sepideh Gholian as an 'accomplice' of Esmail Bakhshi and wrote that the documentary aired against the two was 'documentation of their organizational and criminal actions to create protests and strikes among the labor community.' Meanwhile, the independent Haft Tappeh Telegram channel reported that security agents attempted to arrest Gholian on Thursday morning (December 30) without presenting a judicial order, facing resistance from her brother, and subsequently 'arrested her along with Gholian through violence and without a warrant and transferred them to an unknown location.' Iranian media also reported the suspension of the Press TV account by Twitter due to the broadcast of this documentary, with no further details released by Twitter or Press TV. Another report indicated that following the re-arrest of Sepideh Gholian, an audio file of her phone conversation with a man named 'Sadeghian,' an intelligence officer in Iran, was released. In this conversation, Gholian criticizes several accusations made against her in the documentary 'Burnt Design.' The intelligence officer tells her that 'she knows' how much they have 'been kind' to her and raises accusations regarding her relationship with Bakhshi. 'Sadeghian' warns Gholian to think of herself and not to create a 'puppet show.' Gholian denies all the accusations made by the security officer and warns him that if he attributes any false claims to her, 'he will kill himself and his blood will be on the Ministry of Intelligence.' While 'Sadeghian' makes sexual allegations against Gholian, both Gholian and Bakhshi had previously stated that during their detention, interrogators subjected them to vulgar and sexual insults. Esmail Bakhshi, who was imprisoned for 25 days in the Ahvaz Intelligence Department, reported on his Instagram shortly after his release that during his detention, he was beaten and 'tortured' to the extent that 'for 72 hours in my cell, I could not move, and I was beaten so much that even the pain of sleeping was unbearable for me.' His statements received widespread attention on social media, prompting reactions from the judiciary of the Islamic Republic, the government of Hassan Rouhani, and the parliament, which announced that committees would be formed to investigate these claims. However, all organizations and bodies that had announced they would investigate denied the issue of his torture. Meanwhile, Aslam Mohammadi, a student activist and member of the editorial board of the 'Gham' publication, who was arrested in connection with the Haft Tappeh workers' strike, stated that he is willing to testify about what he heard and saw regarding Esmail Bakhshi and Sepideh Gholian in the Ahvaz Intelligence Department detention center. The broadcast of 'confessions' of security and political detainees has a history in Iran, and several of them have reported being forced into 'coerced confessions' after their release.