How Ahmad Batebi Survived Torture In Iran

(CBS)  Much of the attention on Iran over the last few years has focused on its mysterious nuclear program. Another mystery that has received far less attention is torture in Iran's prisons.

It's a story the Iranian government doesn't want you to hear; a story a man risked his life to tell. His name is Ahmad Batebi, and quite by accident he became one of the most famous dissidents in Iran.

He says he endured years of torture in an Iranian prison, after his picture appeared on the cover of The Economist magazine. He escaped from Iran last year, and told CNN's Anderson Cooper how he did it.

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To escape from Iran, Batebi was smuggled by car, and then by donkey, through mountains and minefields. He documented the dangerous journey on his cell phone camera. The men who helped him were from an underground Kurdish group and they were taking him into Iraq.

Batebi never intended to be a famous dissident. He wanted to be a photo journalist, but it was a picture of him that changed his life and almost got him killed.

In July 1999, demonstrations rocked Tehran. Outraged by a government crackdown on dissent, students took to the streets. Batebi, a film major at Tehran University joined in. When police fired into the crowd, a student standing next to Batebi was hit.

"The bullet hit the wall and ricocheted back into my friend's shoulder. I heard the bullet go by my face," Batebi remembered. "It sounded like a bumblebee going by my ear."

Trying to help, Batebi took his friend's shirt off. "To put pressure on the wound. It was bleeding. And so I tried to use his shirt to keep the blood in. Then we took him to the medical facility," he recalled.

(CORBIS)

After helping his friend, Batebi returned to the protest, and waved the bloody shirt to show what police had done. That's when a photographer took a picture of Batebi that would appear on the cover of The Economist and was seen around the world. Just days after the picture appeared, the government arrested him.

"They took me to a special prison for intelligence. And I was in solitary confinement for several months. After seven or eight months we went to court, but they didn't tell me where we were going. I was blindfolded, and I thought this was just part of my questioning. They sat me in a room and opened my blindfold," Batebi told Cooper.

That's when a judge showed him The Economist. Batebi told Cooper it was the first time he had seen the magazine.

He says the judge told him, "With this picture, you have signed your own death sentence."

"He said, 'You have defaced the face of the Islamic Republic that is a representative of God on earth. You have defaced it around the world. And therefore you have to be sentenced to death.' It took less than three minutes," Batebi recalled.

He was held in the notorious Evin Prison, on the outskirts of Tehran, which 60 Minutes could only photograph secretly from our hotel window.

Batebi says he spent 17 months in solitary confinement, trapped in a tiny cell not much bigger than a bathtub. "They kept the light on 24 hours a day. You have no information about the outside. You have no contact with the outside, and after a while you become mentally disoriented. This kind of torture doesn't affect you physically, but it does affect you mentally and emotionally."

"It can drive you crazy," Cooper remarked.

"Yes," Batebi agreed.

Psychological torture is one thing, physical torture another. And Batebi says there was plenty of that too.

"They kicked me in the teeth and broke them. There was a toilet that was stopped up with feces. They put my head into the toilet," he said.

Batebi told Cooper the bottom of his feet and his back were beaten with a cable, and that his testicles were beaten as well.

Asked how long this went on for, Batebi said, "This happened the whole time I was in solitary confinement. It also happened at other times."

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[lorissong]

I was tortured and kept in a camp in Iran and need help proving this to people. I've written an award winning book called "Lori's Song" by Lori Foroozandeh, my husband was Mohammad Forouzandeh and doubled for the one who executed Iranian war vets for the govt. I met president Khatami, my website is www.loris-song.com if you can help me in giving credence to this story for news agencies I'd appreciate it. My email is [e-mail]

[Shirindokht]

Anderson, Thanks for your humanitarian work. Dorood bar shoma.
Please do more reports on Iran. There are no human rights in Iran under the Islamic regime. Women's right have been violated. There is no Democracy in Iran. Iran was the first country in the world with Human Rights of Cyrus the Great. We need to help Iranian people in Iran to become free again.

I always enjoy watching your reports. You are the best.

[TonyPic]

Anderson, Please note IRAN is not the Islamic Regime that high-jacked the country.

The country was high-jacked by outsiders in 1979.

Thanks for your reporting!

[rottengods]

Anderson Cooper asked: "What the purpose of torture in Iran is" let me explain on this issue a little here. The purpose of torturing detainees in Islamic Iran is to extract confessions, to make them recant their beliefs in televised announcement and associate activists (or dissidents or in fact anyone that regimes opposes to) in activities such as spying for foreign intelligence services, violating of national security laws, insulting sacred religious icons, spreading Satanists beliefs, propagation of apostasy and etc. It depends on the person?s activity in society, for instance in the case of Mr. Batebi, an student activists, of course a televised confession would help regime?s propaganda machine to fabricate stories about foreign threats and then suppress dissidents.

Please read more in my page: http://www.rottengods.com/2009/04/torture-islamic-iran-exists.html

Fariborz Shamshiri
www.rottengods.com

[achicago]

I watched this article on 60 Minutes on Sunday and wrote down a comment that evenng. For the heck of it, I checked this out to see if were any more and was amazed that there were a million more. Many had nothing to the about the article, yet some wanted an opportunity to your political opinion. Try to keep it in the article's ballpart. Thank you

[PaxPersica]

Loopy, the die-hard agent of the Islamic Repugnat, writes:

"Iran is the most EDUCATED, OPEN , MODERN, TECHNOLOGICALLY ADVANCED, MILITARILY POWERFUL, POLITICALLY CONNECTED TO THE MASSES IN THE REGION."

The operative word here is "region." In a region that includes Afghanistan and a war-torn Iraq, that doesn't real lymean a hell of beans! It's like saying the Los Angeles Clippers are so wonderful, they're just behind the Lakers as the 2nd best team in Los Angeles. Of course, Loopy won't get this analogy as he rides his little donkey in Qom.

And yeah, compared to the Saudis, Iran is open, but then again, women can't even drive a car in Saudi Arabia, so comparing Iran to the "region" is not saying much AT ALL!!!!

Iran is not Arab and Islam did not originate in Iran, so don't compare us to the Arabs. I'll give you a more powerful comparison. In 1977, UNDER THE SHAH, Iran had the same GDP as Spain. Today, Spain's GDP is a little over one trillion dollars. Iran's GDP is 150 Billion! And Spain HAS NO OIL!

SAD!!!

How's that fuzzy math for you, loopy???

[loobiapolo]

To our PAXI MAXI , who ran out of material( or correctly no-material) after two emotional posts.
You said :? Nobody will waste time reading long blocks of jibber-jabber, specially when it's all lies and half-truths.?
Nobody? Hmmmm you read them , at least two of my posts, so are you telling us you are nobody?
You said:? All I will say is, IF the Islamic Republic is such a fabulously educated place, why does EVERYBODY who lives in it WANT OUT?????????
Everybody wants out? Everybody? Hmm So if only just ONE person does not wish to leave Iran that will destroy your ?Everybody? claim. Is there anybody who really does not want to leave I.R.Iran? Well I know there are at leaset 25,000-35,000 Iranian Jews who have been approached by Israelis to leave Iran and so far they have rejected the idea, these are the same Iranian Jews who are allowed to travel to Israel , come and go but they choose to live in Iran.
So I think your ?Everybody? argument is gone with the wind.
By the way , do you like FUZZY math? How about FUZZY logic?
Hahahahhahahh
People like you and Mr.Batebi are simply not ready for prime time, I can see Batebi and you are making full efforts to drag I.R.Iran?s name in the mud, but it takes more than hyperbolic , emotional propaganda to do that if ever.
As I said, today?s I.R.Iran is the most EDUCATED, OPEN , MODERN, TECHNOLOGICALLY ADVANCED, MILITARILY POWERFUL, POLITICALLY CONNECTED TO THE MASSES IN THE REGION country in that part of the world which ironically has a lot in common with US in many issues that ranges from securing the future of world energy resources, countering Chinese and Russian influence, influence in Iraq, Afghanistan , resolution to the Palestinians-Israeli conflict , fighting drug cartels, and lot more including opening and expanding economic ties with US , it is lot more beneficial for both countires specially given the fact that Iran has created a rich human resources through three decades of dedication to educating their public all the way to higher levels of education.

[PaxPersica]

Loopyloobia --

Nobody will waste time reading long blocks of jibber-jabber, specially when it's all lies and half-truths. I certainly didn't read the 2nd block of jibberish. So nice job wasting your time, pal.

All I will say is, IF the Islamic Republic is such a fabulously educated place, why does EVERYBODY who lives in it WANT OUT????????

It's like Cuba, oh, they're so educated there too (engineers drive taxi cabs, just like in Iran), but the people risk their lives over shark-infested waters to get the hell out!!! But they have such good institutions of higher learning there, it's a such a shame (loopy, please try to note sarcasm here).

Please, let some unbiased person answer. You're way too influenced by your perverse masters in Tehran/Qom to qualify.

[loobiapolo]

Part Two:
To our PAXI MAXI:

Let me say it again LOUD and CLEAR:
-Iran under Shah and his father , the founder of Pahalvi tyranny which lasted more than half a century was 75% illiterate, being illiterate was not such a bad thing , it was almost like a virtue under Pahlavi tyranny since the founder of this tyranny, the father of the Shah who was called Reza Shah, himself was ?functionally illiterate?, he could not read not write his own name and he was the KING of the country!!!, maybe there was no Islamic Republic of Iran to educate him just like it has educated millions of Iranians ever since the declaration of ?Education Movement?. Hahhahahahahahhah
-Iran under Islamic Republic has more students attending colleges and universities than the entire population of some of its neighboring Persian Gulf countries and I am happy to say that 65% of all these college and university students are WOMEN, Out of my seven nieces guess how many have university education? You guessed it ?ALL SEVEN, and my family is just a lower middle class.
-Iran under Islamic Republic has implemented the most successful ?family ? planning program among the developing countries, this is not because of prostitution since that argument could not pass the fuzzy math test but because of the efforts of many Iranian intellectuals, educators, Ayatollahs, politicians, writers, activists and government officials,
My nieces either have none yet or one and at most two kids, not because they are busy selling their body but because they are educated women and educated people make better decisions,
Under Islamic Republic of Iran women have become socially politically very active and have become very educated, I.R.Iran is probably the only country in the world that has ?all women? SWAT team, ?all women? fire station? all women? Taxi companies (with more than 1000 taxis), Iran?s fastest race car driver is, you guessed it , a WOMAN a very educated woman, last I read about her she was finishing up her Doctorate studies, Iran?s head of aeronautics research which has produced Iranian made fighter and interceptor jets is , you guessed it , a WOMAN, This doe not mean Iranian women have no more fights to fight, it just shows how much they have advanced under Islamic Republic.
Shah, the Pahlavi tyrant who was put in power by a CIA engineered military coup de tat in an interview with Barbara Walter said this about women:? I will not choose my wife as my successor , because women are only good for ?play?? He went on to say that ?I don?t understand this thing about women?s liberation, women have not even produced one good cook in the history of mankind? His wife sat there next to him and took it all. I.RIran put an end to those days.

-You said Iran has a brain drain problem? Hmmmm..Iran under sand monkeys such as Shah and his thugs could not even manufacture ?barbed wires? not even a headlight for fighter jet, Iran under Islamic Republic manufactures its own fighter jets, choppers, tanks, missiles, and what have you , it has become a nuclear power and is one of the 8 or nine countries in the world that has the technology to put a satellite in orbit, not bad for a country that has ?brain drain? problem and has been under sanctions for almost 30 years. Do you like FUZZY logic? ?
-Islamic Republic of Iran is the most educated , most open and modern country in that part of the world, Islamic Republic of Iran is LIGHT years more open , educated and modern than it was under Shah, no body waits for three years to get a land line telephone any more ? Under Shah more than half of the country in the villages did not have running water no r electricity, those are old days and are gone with .
There are no open gays life style in IR.Iran but Iran has executed some pedophiles, in one case two young men in their early twenties were hung in public , they had kidnapped , sexually assaulted and murdered a two dozen young BOYS. No one should confuse pedophiles with gays,
I.R.Iran has the world?s most active sex change operation hospital, Maryam becomes Mohammad or vise versa with just four thousand dollars. ?
Almost 30 years ago Ronald Reagan said ?Islamic Republic of Iran is a political reality? He was wayyyyyyyyyyyy ahead of his time. Today Obama has come to that realization, if US wants to counter the influence of China and Russia, it has no choice but to hook up with the biggest dick in the region I.R.Iran. All other Persian Gulf countries from Emirates to what have you are nothing but a BIG SHOPPING MALL. I.R.Iran is the most educated, most OPEN, most modern , most technologically advanced country in that part of the world?..and so it goes?.

[loobiapolo]

Part One:
To our PAXI MAXI, ?freedom loving? turned into an emotional wreck
I will respond to you in two parts since it won?t allow me to post more than 5000 characters.
Right off the bat you called me a name :
? You're a CLASSIC Islamic Repuplic stooge and nothing more!?
Why would a character like you call himself/herself a ?freedom loving? one minute and as soon as challenged with his/her non facts and fictions, pops his/her top and starts calling people names?
You see, when you become emotional you act and talk stupid and now I am not even calling you a name but simply am talking matter of factly.
-Iran has a population of 70 million and a 7 million addicts would make one out of every ten people an addict if we believe your number, even in Afghanistan that is the epicenter and probably the number one opium producing country in the world, the number of addicts is not that high. Where did you get that 7 million? BTW, do you like FUZZY math? ?
-According to you 650, 000 prostitutes are only in Tehran, since Tehran?s population is about 7.5 million (not the greater Tehran) and if we assume that half of the population is ?female? and among these females none of them are old or older or infants or little kids and all of them are just adult females young and attractive somehow to become prostitutes, now according to your numbers, almost 2 out of every 10 of these women have to be a prostitute, hmmm
Even in Las Vegas that is not true . BTW, do you like ?FUZZY? math? Or did I ask that already.
Now I am not going to go through each one of your ?invented facts? and then ask you if you like fuzzy math.