Message to My Interrogator: Mehdi Khodaei

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Each of us have perhaps found ourselves in a situation where we have been bullied by somebody in a powerful position, and remained silent out of expediency or fear. He or she may have been a friend, the neighborhood bully, an interrogator, or even a murderer.

Now imagine that years after the distressing event you have the chance to talk to that person and tell him how you felt, what you think and whatever else is on your mind.

IranWire asked a number of political and civil activists and artists who have been the victims of interrogators, or have been forced to be separated from their families, to imagine they are in the interrogation room and are able to talk to their bully, send him a message, or speak to those responsible for victimizing their family members.

In this part of the series, Mahrokh Gholamhosseinpour asked Mehdi Khodaei to send a message to his interrogator.

Mehdi Khodaei is a member of Human Rights Activists in Iran (HRA) and was the secretary of the Islamic Society of Azad University in Rey near Tehran. In the aftermath of the disputed 2009 presidential election, he was tried by two separate courts on charges of “activities against national security” and “propaganda against the regime” and was sentenced to seven years in prison.

Khodaei was in prison from March 2, 2010 to August 5, 2015. He spent nine months in solitary confinement before he was transferred to Evin’s communal Ward 350. Even in prison he remained a human rights activist. He and his cellmate, the physicist Omid Kokabee, translated and published The Atlas of Human Rights.

“Greetings to my interrogators, from both 1999 and 2009,” he says to begin his message. “Greetings to those who tormented me physically and psychologically. It was a very trying time. But I learned a lot.”

“I always wanted to talk to you as an equal — without a blindfold or solitary confinement or physical and mental torture,” Khodaei says. “This way we can listen to each other without prejudice or bias. This way perhaps we can more easily arrive at the truth.”

Khodaei, like other activists and journalists who have faced humiliation while in detention, shows some sympathy with his tormenter. “Mr. Interrogator! You are not in good shape. A person who is mentally healthy cannot treat another human being the way you treated me and many of my friends. Your condition will become more critical and deplorable day by day.”

Khodaei reminds his interrogator about a conversation they had. “In 2009, in one of the last interrogation sessions I told you: ‘If one day you need help you can count on me. Your answered me with pride and arrogance: ’I will never need your help.’ I believe that all human beings might one day need each other’s help. I hold no grudge against you. You were not born an interrogator. You are a victim yourself. You are tormented every day and every day you need somebody to save you. I hope your conditions improve. I wish you success when you are in better health.”

IranWire has recorded a number of messages from victims. And perhaps you have had similar experiences as well. If you have, we ask you to participate in this project. For more information — technical or otherwise — email us at [email protected].