Mohammad Nourizad –  imprisoned writer, filmmaker and blogger – in an open letter addressed to the head of the judiciary while explaining a small part of the brutal and inhuman treatments of the agents and interrogators of the Ministry of Intelligence of the Islamic Republic against the political prisoners urged him to come to his senses and make his conscious the judge and follow up on the complaints of the political prisoners instead of criticizing the western countries for the alleged human rights violations…

The full English translation of Mohammad Nourizad’s open letter to the head of the Judiciary is as follows:

To Ayatollah Sadeq Larijani,

The honourable head of Islamic Republic’s Judiciary

With greetings;

A while ago, during a speech, you indirectly criticized the British police’s harsh treatment of students protesting the increase in university tuition, that “in a country that claims to respect human rights, the legitimate request of a group of young students is treated harshly and their basic rights are violated.”

This remarks of yours, even though starts correctly but ends irrelevantly. The British government, if claims to respect human rights, has never claimed to be abiding by God, Quran, the prophet and holy Imams. In our Islamic country, some events happen that you don’t understand unless you are part of them. I wonder if anyone has ever dunked the head of your loved ones in a toilet bowl (a reference to one of the tortures in Iran’s prisons). If someone had; and you and your loved one had tasted the inevitable struggle to breathe and hence take in what is in the toilet bowl, you would have turned a little bit of your “Ayatollah-ness” toward this side of judiciary in your own country.

But why have they (the interrogators) dunked our head in the toilet bowl of solitary confinement cell? [They did so] to get forced confession [under torture] to cross out the just reason behind our protest and reinforce the shaky bases of the ruling power.

I suggest you that any time that in front of the mirror you comb your hair and put on cologne, think of the heads of your country’s political prisoners that have been dunked in the toilet bowls of their cells. I don’t know if anyone has ever repeatedly slapped you on the face? Or has hit you in your chest or back with shoe? Or has kicked you in your face with foot? Or has spitted between your eyebrows and your eyes?

I confidently say that if you had slightly believed the savagery of our [country’s] intelligence forces, you would set

aside objecting to British police. I don’t know if ever someone, in the middle of your being helpless and under rains of blows and kicks, has outrageously insulted your wife? Or has called your pure daughter a prostitute? Or has tainted your mother, sister or your other chaste family members with sexual comments? I don’t think so; but some of the personnel of the ministry of intelligence, who are wearing the mask of soldiers of Imam Mahdi (the last Imam of She’a), did this to us.

I suggest you, not the revealing letter of Hamzeh Karami and not the heartfelt letter of Abdollah Momeni (a couple of opens letters that political prisoners have written recently and revealed the horrible truth about the tortures in Iran’s prisons), but [at least] read the letter of Hojat-al-Islam Dr. Montazer Ghaem to the supreme leader to know that inside the hollow judiciary of yours and ours, with what means and words the personnel of the ministry of intelligence define the clothing of the prophet and pay due to Muslims and the families of martyrs, and understand the dignity of human.

I suggest that from now on, whenever you decide to talk about Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo prisons and the harsh treatment of British police, so that in the shadow of this mockery hide your recent crimes, have a look in the mirror and have a look at the faces of your wife, daughters, mother and sisters to know that throwing a weak remark to the other side of borders can never fix the shaky bases of our government.

I, Mohammad Nourizad your prisoner at Evin prison, hereby object not to the savage behavior of a group of ministry of intelligence personnel but to the stealing the name of soldiers of Imam Mahdi by them; and have complain. They have beaten me up. They have insulted my family. I have recorded all these in the context of my answers to the ridiculous questions of my interrogators. If you have the slightest fairness in your stature of Ayatollah, investigate my complaint and the complaints of the silent victims of the ministry of intelligence.

At the end, I remind you that the reason Imam Ali (the first Imam of She’a) became so upset over the theft of the jewelry of a Jewish lady (Imam Ali said it was justified if any Muslim had died over this news that the jewelry of a Jewish lady was stolen from her feet in the land of Muslims), was nothing other than he saw it as if that evil doers had stolen jewel from the feet of his own family. Whenever you believe the crimes that have been posed on these people, you will definitely react like Ali.

With respects,

Mohammad Nourizad