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Iranwire – A heated debate between former political prisoner Ahmad Zeidabadi and Mehdi Taeb, head of the IRGC’s Ammar base and brother of Hossein Taeb, the head of the IRGC Intelligence Organization, has ignited a social media discussions due to references to the torture of prisoners in 2009.
While past events have been viewed as attempts by the Islamic Republic to close the chapter on the 2009 events, 15 years later, those events are being brought back into the spotlight on various occasions.
During the debate, Zeidabadi recounted the brutal torture he and other prisoners, including former Vice President Mohammad Ali Abtahi, endured in 2009. While these allegations had surfaced in prisoners’ letters before, this marks the first time they have been openly discussed in a domestic media debate.
Despite this, the government has only acknowledged the torture that happened in the Kahrizak detention center, dismissing other reports of abuse from 2009.
During the debate, Mehdi Taeb claimed that while he is not a security officer, he was involved in the interrogation process, but he did not corroborate Zeidabadi’s account. The Harf-e-No Institute has hosted many debates, but this particular discussion has resonated most on social media.
Zeidabadi revealed that, despite believing street protests would not be effective, he was arrested just a day after the 2009 election. He described how authorities staged mock trials before public court sessions, where prisoners were rehearsed for forced confessions under the court president’s watchful eye.
According to Zeidabadi, the interrogators showed him a photo of this court, and he was horrified when he saw Abtahi’s image. He recounted how, during his hunger strike, he reached a state of emotional numbness and was then interrogated by a new team whose purpose was to break him.
The former political prisoner said the interrogators told him, “Either you confess and repent, or he [Ali Khamenei] has ordered your execution.”
Zeidabadi recounted being deprived of sleep for four days and nights, driving him to lose control of his nerves and sanity. In this broken state, he was handed over to torturers who subjected both physical and psychological torment on him.
Zeidabadi also mentioned that he reported these issues to Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi, who had recently been appointed Tehran’s prosecutor, in the presence of the interrogator. Despite Dolatabadi’s promises to address the situation, no action was taken.
Mehdi Taeb reiterated during the debate that while he was involved in the interrogation process, he did not confirm Zeidabadi’s account.
Zeidabadi revealed that some political prisoners in 2009, under intense pressure, initially agreed to discuss political issues in their confessions. However, interrogators demanded they also fabricate sexual allegations, which the prisoners refused to do.
Ahmad Zeidabadi’s torture during his 2009 imprisonment was first detailed by Mohsen Aminzadeh, former Deputy Foreign Minister under Mohammad Khatami. Aminzadeh recounted that Zeidabadi was not only beaten during interrogations but also whipped twice.
Aminzadeh wrote: “When I was seated in the designated place, Ahmad Zeidabadi was sitting in the front seat, and Esa Faridi was seated far to the right. Before an agent sat down next to us, we exchanged greetings. Zeidabadi asked if I had been beaten. I briefly described the beatings during my interrogation. He then said that in addition to those types of beatings, he was also whipped twice.”
In an interview on the program Kasht-e-Kham, Zeidabadi discussed the torture he endured, likely referring to his 2009 imprisonment. However, due to edited sections and abrupt transitions, the exact period of his imprisonment remains unclear. Zeidabadi stressed that while in solitary confinement, he considered the available means to commit suicide.
Beyond Zeidabadi, other prisoners from 2009, including Abdullah Momeni and Hamzeh Karami, provided more detailed accounts of their torture that year. Prisoners were tortured following their arrests during the 2009 protests against President Ahmadinejad’s re-election. The reformist opposition had accused Ahmadinejad’s victory of being rigged, sparking widespread demonstrations.
The topic of electoral fraud in the 2009 elections was touched upon in the debate between Zeidabadi and Taeb, with Zeidabadi focusing more on the government’s treatment of political activists and protesters.
The issue of election fraud has been a recurring topic in debates and speeches, with reformist figures like Mustafa Tajzadeh and Tehran mayor Alireza Zakani addressing it. Some reformists have expressed that there are limits to what they can say about this issue. For instance, Mohsen Hashemi, in a debate with parliament member Ali Khezrian, said, “We have limits on what we can say about 2009.”
Despite restrictions, some have boldly addressed election fraud. In 2017, during the Face to Face program, former reformist MP Mohammadreza Khatami shocked viewers by declaring there was “definitely fraud” in the 2009 election, not at the ballot boxes, but at the election headquarters, where eight million votes were added.
This interview led to legal action against Khatami, who subsequently published the text of his defense in court. In his defense, Khatami pointed out that the Ministry of Interior declared 134,626 unused ballots in the ballot boxes, while “the real number was 2,189,617.”
He emphasized, “The reality of the ballots is significantly different from the statistics presented by the Guardian Council, with at least 2,054,993 votes unaccounted for.”
Despite the Islamic Republic’s attempts to portray the 2009 protests as a closed chapter, they continue to revisit the issue at various times. During confidence votes for Hassan Rouhani’s ministers, the events of 2009 were a recurring topic.
Even in the vote for Mohammadreza Zafarqandi, Minister of Health under Masoud Pezeshkian, the subject of 2009 was raised, though less intensely. Ultimately, the representatives chose to look the other way, casting their votes in his favor.
