Interrogation of Seyyed Moussavi

Interrogation of Mrs Emami

Interrogation of Morteza

Minute 3.00-4.00 The interrogator accuses the prisoner of moral corruption and he denies it.

The shots in minute 6.00 are sounds of beating and pleas for help. In the next round of interrogation the man named Morteza is beaten while his interrogators talk.

Minute 9.00-9.21 the prisoner appears to be beaten up.

2nd interrogation of Mrs Emami

The interrogators then tell the woman (assumed to be the wife of former Deputy Minister of Intelligence in Iran) that she has to explain her visits to Israel. At minute 11.33, she keeps saying she has never gone to Israel and repeats this a number of times. The interrogator tells her, what if we do something that forces you to admit that you have gone there, what will you say.

Minute 12.0 they insult her relationship with her husband.

They repeat their accusations that she had "illicit relations" with other men, including that she claimed to be pregnant from one of these ex-agents. The interrogators keep telling her that they will really hurt her where it matters. She keeps denying accusations that she connected agents to each other.

They also keep telling her that she was a nymphomaniac and call her a dirty whore.They also tell her to confess how her husband brought men home for her pleasure. An interrogator is named as Mr Ameli. She finally confesses to this series of accusations, including sex with other men. They then accuse her of lesbian relations. The interrogators then appear to talk to each other about giving her 70 [? sound of number not clear] lashes in order to get the "rest of the truth". She confesses that she was involved with Moussavi (a.k.a Mostafa Kazami) in putting a bomb in Tehran. The interrogators are not happy and take her (limping) to another session of beating, she keeps pleading that she will confess if they leave her alone.

The next scene shows her walking in pain. The film is then interrupted, and then another woman and man are interviewed briefly.

Another prisoner (unidentified, bearded) is told by the interrogators that he was asking to meet Ayatollah Khamneii's security chief. He claims he wanted to warn the security chief of the dangers of Friday prayers. The prisoner not only denies this but also says he is great admirer of the supreme leader. The interrogators then tell the prisoner he is definitely the man who killed "Sayyad". The interrogation continues after an interruption for lunch and the next scene shows the prisoner pleading his innocence and crying. He swears on religious imams that he is not guilty. He is thrown off his chair (minute 36.0).

The tape is interrupted. In the next section, Moussavi (a.k.a. Kazami) is being questioned. The interrogators tell Moussavi (a.k.a. Kazami) that he has now been in prison for a while. They tell him that he drank alcohol and that they have witnesses. Regarding a further accusation of fathering a child, the prisoner says that if they did a medical test they will find out he is not responsible.

The man is shaking (minutes 40.55 to 41.22) at the end the interrogator reminds him that he entered prison is Dec 1999. Later, as he leaves the room, the interrogator is heard saying: remember the number of this room, 402, we will hang you upside down here.

The next interview starts minute 41.45. The accused, also unidentified, is told that he was not a Muslim but a Bahaii, pretending to be a Muslim. He is told: this room is number 404, remember this number. In this room the last words will be said to you; when you leave this room you realise what will happen to you; there will be two barrels and a piece of wood and a noose to hang you; Your wife has confessed all. He pleads (minute 60.00) and he is told by the interrogator to shut up. The interrogator adds: in order to close this dossier and stop public attention [regarding the serial murders of writers and journalists] we are supposed to release a number of names, claiming them as culprits, and even announce that these people were already killed, tnat nothing is hidden from us. The unidentified prisoner writes a note at the end admitting that he received last warnings and he has nothing else to say.

CD 2

Interrogation of Mrs Emami - ca. 13m16s

Minute 21.17 The interrogator says: We are the judge the jury and the trial in this case.

Minute 38.31 The interrogator says: once we flog you the version of events you give will be exactly what we want, eactly what we got from Saeed Emamai. Here we beat you so much in this very room where everything happens, we will get all the confessions. There will be no trial, no newspaper report. (Minute 40.13) The interrogator says, you have shown you are of the same ilk as "shemr" (the devil, enemy of Shia Islam).

CD 3

Interrogation of Akbar - ca. 03m30s

Emami - hearing more screams 13m18s

(Minute 10.07) The sound of someone screaming from pain is heard. She is reminded by the interrogator that they can cause her a lot of pain, as she can hear from screams next door. On at least three occasions the interrogator tries to make her confess where her and her husband took the Koran, and how she showed disrespect to the Koran. She refuses to admit anything more. But finally, the interrogator step by step gets her to say that they tore papers from the Koran. She confesses, with a lot of help from the interrogator, that she and her husband touched each others' bodies with pages of the Koran during sexual intercourse.

At minute 13.18, a woman is heard screaming in the background. The interrogator asks the woman prisoner, will you confess to all? and ask for redemption? At minute 14.01 she is asked who she thinks Said (her husband, ex deputy minister of Intelligence) worked for. She replies: probably for CIA, the interrogator tells her to forget about "probabilities". The interrogator tells her that you even know who was his CIA "contact" was. She volunteers the name "Mojtaba Amiri". and she then tells the interrogator you knew him (Saiid Emami) better than me, you worked beside him. The interrogator says: OK, we know he came back to Iran in 1363 (1985 in the western calendar). She moves on her chair, obviously in pain, and says, probably he started working with the CIA when he was in the US.

Emami - "swear on your children's life" 15m15s

At Minute 16.59, she returns (wearing different clothes) and says her husband worked for the CIA while she worked for Israel. The interrogator asks her who, between Israel and the US, did Said favour. She replies, the US. They ask her, how about you. She first says I preferred the US but I worked with the CIA, and then corrects herself and says no I mean I preferred the US but I worked for Israel. "They are the same after all." The interrogators tell her not to confuse her answers. They ask her if the bombing of "behsht zahra" (i.e. cemetery near Tehran, it is unclear from the tape whether this is another reference to Khomeini's grave) was the work of US and why. She seems totally confused. The interrogators then tell that her husband [before his death, which was allegedly suicide] had told them about her weakness, that she is a nymphomaniac. They then tell her (minute 19.15) that she is making fun of them. She is given time to take her pill. The CD is blank until minute 19.55. The interrogators don't accept her answers and she changes her story, she says: we are a branch of Mossad in Iran.

There then follows detailed questioning regarding her sexual behaviour and relationships with various men. She keeps using words such as, "do I have to guess", "probably", etc. They tell her not to use this words. At minute 22.30 she is asked about her sexual relations with a young man named as Mehdi. She says she was training him as a security agent, and teaching him how to woo women as part of his job as an agent of the Ministry of Intelligence. They keep telling her she is not saying enough and as soon she says she doesn't know an answer they taunt her that she will be executed.

At Minute 26.12 a man is interrogated the interrogator calls him "Samimi", and says when are you going to give up this pretence.

The interrogator calls him dirt, pimp. With reference to his written the interrogators say that they are not complete. The interrogator then says, do you want me to write the confessions. He says I went to Niavaran, Hashem was there, this was part of the route. The prisoner then asks the interrogators to tell him what they should say. The interrogator tells him, "you eat shit, admit that". The interrogator keeps calling him a pimp, and tells him, we want to hurt you they will beat you up (minute 34.00). The prisoner describes how he was involved in a plot of the "special forces" but refuses to involve another man named Ghassem, despite repeated questioning by the interrogator about "Ghassem".

At Minute 40.25 the prisoner, called Said by the interrogator, is told to correct his story or else he will be beaten to death. They threaten to kill him and leave his body in a well. Minute 42.27 he say he doesn't know. He is beaten by his interrogator. The prisoner mentions a visit with Falahian, the Minister of Intelligence, but the interrogator is only interested to get the reply he wants. [This is an extraordinary admission, because the prisoner is suggesting he was taking ministerial orders, and no attention is paid to it by the interrogator.] Beatings and swearing follow. Minute 45.46, he is asked, why does he keeps changing his written confessions. The tape is interrupted.

Minute 49.33: Prisoner Moussavi ( Mostafa Kazemi) is asked about his alleged crimes. He says this was a duty given to me by others. The interrogator is not happy about this prisoner's story. [Note: After Kazemi was given four life sentences, the heaviest punishment imposed by the court, his lawyer stated that he had constantly maintained that he was following religious duties and orders from superiors.]

The prisoner continues: I left the house at 6am and got to the place at around 8.00. Minute 52: another prisoner is brought in (the one accused of being a Bahaii) and is told to write a request for a "paternity" test regarding an illegitimate child. However the prisoner is adamant he is not the father .

Then there is a last interview with Mrs Emami. Here she confesses to working for Israel and the US, and even to "cannibalism", which she says was part of Israel's plot. The interrogators are still not happy; she is seen crying and in a very disturbed state.

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