Another Iranian Poll Protester Sentenced to Death

Human Rights Activists in Iran

Hamed Rouhinejad is a young prisoner who suffers from Multiple Sclerosis (M.S). He was arrested on bogus charges before the presidential election. With the start of the post-election protests, he became part of a scenario written by the intelligence apparatus. He was intimidated and lured into playing the role of a rioter during the show trials. His acting resulted in his death sentence. In a letter written to HRA, Rouhinejad explained how he had been deceived and sacrificed in a pre-written scenario. The following is his letter in its entirety. I, Hamed Rouhinejad, son of Mohammad Reza, sentenced to death by District 28 of the Revolutionary court, would like to tell you about my life and my current situation. I spent my childhood in the winding alleys of southern Tehran. We survived on my father’s meager income. He worked from dawn until late at night. He always took the hardest jobs to put bread on the table. I still remember how hard it was for us to see his sad face. I can never forget growing up among kids who all lived in poverty, but my hardest memory is the memory of the cracked hands of my mother, who washed everything in cold water without ever complaining about it. All she cared about was making our lives easier. She tried to make up for our poverty and social injustice with her love. I remember the days I used to walk on the streets restlessly, looking for a gift to buy for my parents with the little money they had given me.

Anyhow, our poverty and the hardships we were facing as a working class family and the huge expenses of my treatment as an MS patient forced me to leave the country. I did not want to impose on my family more than what they were already facing. I left Iran in hopes of going to the U.S. or a European country, but I unfortunately ended up in Iraq. Human traffickers took all my money. I was detained in Arbil for 4 months. After my release I started working in a restaurant day and night to make some money, but my deteriorating MS and the loneliness of exile forced me to return to Iran. My return was completely legal and was in coordination with the Intelligence Ministry. Upon my return I went to the “Intelligence” officials and told them everything about my trip. After listening to me they said, “you have not committed any crime and can go back to university.” Unfortunately, 10 months later, on May 4th, 2009, I was arrested and detained until I could be used as a sacrifice in the election trials. During my 40 day detention in a small cell in Ward 209 of Evin, the only thing that stopped my MS from getting worse was reading the Quran and Nahjolbalagheh and praying to God. Despite all their prior promises, I was threatened everyday to be tortured and killed, as if leaving the country was a crime punishable by death. The pressure was so intense that I lost feeling in 80% of the right side of my body. I was paralyzed and had lost most of the sight in my right eye. With the help of God, I regained most the feeling in my body, but my eye is still blurry and stops me from clearly seeing my surroundings. During that time I begged them and wrote several letters to the warden and the prison doctor to help me.

Alas, not only did they not follow up on my repeated requests for medical attention, but they took me to the public trials, limping and in miserable condition. Despite my emotional and physical state, I was not allowed prison visits or phone calls. My detention and mistreatment in Iraqi prisons did not even come close to what I experienced in Evin. The most difficult time of my detention was when I was hearing the mothers who were crying for their children, or the sobbing of the fathers who could not hug their loved ones. I only found out about the election one day after it was over. I had no clue on what was going on outside prison. I knew nothing about the massive popular protests which had taken over the country. I was lured and taken to the trial of the people who had protested the election results, without ever having anything to do with it. I only went there because my interrogators had promised me to give back my life in return for my compliance. So I went to court and wrote on paper what they wanted me to and claimed their words as my own actions. Today, as a political prisoner, I declare that I have never belonged to any political party or group. I have never had anything to do with the elections. I deny having ever had any ties to the API (Anjoman Padeshi Iran). I deny all the charges that have been brought up against me.