Gay Iranian Protester Recounts “Scenes Of Humiliation” During Arrest

Iranwire – More than 18,000 Iranians have been detained in the brutal state crackdown on the ongoing wave of nationwide protests triggered by the September death of Mahsa Amini in the custody of morality police, according to human rights defenders.

Many of those released from custody have reported being humiliated and insulted during their interrogations. Some have been forced to sign papers and confess to crimes they didn’t commit.

Members of the LGBT+ community are at higher risk of experiencing ill-treatment while in detention, particularly transgender and homosexual women.

Maham is a homosexual who lives in the city of Qom, a bastion of Iranian Shi’ism. He tells IranWire about the abuses he and his friends have endured during their night in detention.

“It was several days after Mahsa’s death. We were angry and had to do something. I decided with two friends to write some graffiti.”

“We wrote Mahsa Amini’s name on the walls all over the city. Even on walls of mosques. One night, when we finished work and were going home, we were near our house when suddenly a white van stopped in front of us. About six or seven people got out of the vehicle and arrested us.”

“Scenes of humiliation and insults”

“I do not know which organization or group they were from. They were big and rough. We didn’t think they had come to arrest us. They attacked, handcuffed, blindfolded and put us in a car with stun gun shocks.”

The group was taken to several different places to be interrogated. Maham had to explain to at least 10 people what he had done and why he was writing graffiti on the wall.

“My appearance and the way I dress are not strange, [but] I could hear the officers saying to each other, ‘These are girls, why did you bring them here?’ They were talking about me and my other friend who is a girl. One of the officers came to me and asked if I was a girl or a boy.”

“I answered, ‘Isn’t it clear that I’m a boy?’ He insulted me after that. They insulted and cursed me. During scenes of humiliation and insults, they even told each other they would take off our trousers to see if we are girls or boys.”

“Their voices are always in my ears.”

“They looked into my phone. They used my photos to say that I have a mental and sexual illness or, as they said, I am a trans. But I’m not trans, with all due respect to my trans friends. But their sick minds see everything like this. It was like the main reason for our arrest was forgotten.”

“The questions were only about my sexual orientation, sex, appearance and behavior. They were trying to file a case against me. They kept asking whether I was a prostitute. And this story continued for hours.

“Finally, they left some papers in front of me and forced me to sign. It was written on the papers that I confirm I am a transgender person and have a mental and sexual illness.”

“They even said my family…sign the papers too. They kept us all night.”