Monday, July 13, 2009

Khiaban No. 21: Death dawns on unofficial camps in Iran

Thanks to the sender of this translation of an article from issue number 21 of Khiaban newspaper, published in Iran. (To get electronic copies of the paper in Persian, write to: khyaboon@gmail.com)

For detailed reports of detained, murdered and disappeared, in English, go to Revolutionary Road ...

Clearing Out Evin: Death dawns on unofficial camps
Khiaban #21/Sunday, July 12, 2009

Worrying reports are being heard from the prisons. Yesterday, we reported on the murder of a detainee in Evin prison [in Tehran]. Sohrab A'arabi's murder is but a small indication of the calamity in the regime's death camps. In the wake of the Khamenei-Ahmadinejad coup, thousands have been detained and disappeared, and nothing is known about their fate. The Islamic regime, in early 1980s too set out on a mass killing spree in the prisons. Pictures painted by the recently released detainees are identical to those described in the prison diaries of the 1980s. Cells and the corridors overflowing with detainees, horrible tortures, devoured bodies, blood everywhere.

Prisons are crammed with the youth and the dissidents who would not surrender to a regime of fear and terror, and are singing mythic songs of resistance. May embraces of solidarity rain on those singing lips. Never before has the freedom of the individual been so tied to the freedom of all.

The latest news gathered by the Khiaban newspaper indicates that the Evin prison is undergoing a clearing out. Fearing the possibility of having to accept a delegation visiting the prison, and the exposure of the severity of the tortures and the ruthlessness of the regime, has caused them to transfer in a hurry those who have been subjected to horrid tortures, to secret and unofficial detention centers.

One of the most important of these death camps is Kahrizak camp, which is referred to as the 'slaughterhouse', and is one of the innovations of the ruling fascism, and which reminds one of a model of Nazi death camps. In this camp are kept numerous of the disappeared and the youth arrested in the street demonstrations; treated utterly inhumanly and tortured to the point of death.

Some families of the detained are trying to get their loved ones released from the claws of the fascists by writing letters to authorities scared into silence, by haggling over their release. But, it must be said that people have realized well in the last month that their most important power in confronting the regime is their solidarity and collective action. Whether they have family members in detention or not, people must initiate collective actions in order to gain the freedom of their loved ones. We must put an end to this naked violence and brutality. Mass and widespread rallies and demonstrations are the people's most important and effective tools in forcing the release of the recent detainees. It is possible that some of the famous detainees may have invisible support in the prisons of this murderous regime. But the ordinary people do not have any support other than their own arms joined together, their voices in harmony. Let us get prepared for a united effort for demolishing the torture and killings in the prisons.

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