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Opinions

Message to My interrogator: Hamid Reza Moradi Sarvestani

May 25, 2016
Message the Torturers and the Murderers
2 min read

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 Hamid Reza Moradi Sarvestani to send a message to his interrogator. Moradi is a Sufi of the Nematollahi Gonabadi order, a lawyer and a reporter for the Sufi site Majzooban Noor. He was arrested in September 2011 for reporting on Sufi rights and activities and charged with “acting against national security”, “disturbing public opinion”, “spreading lies”, and “propaganda against the regime.” A short time after his arrest, his physical health deteriorated rapidly. Despite the fact that the prison doctor informed officials in 2012 that Moradi was in danger of dying of arteriosclerosis and if he were not treated as soon as possible his legs would need to be amputated, he was denied medical care. Eventually, after serving four years in prison, Moradi was released in 2015.

“The world turns,” he tells his interrogators, speaking for himself and other imprisoned Sufis. “Today you are the interrogator. If tomorrow you have to defend your beliefs to your own interrogator, what do you expect of him? Wouldn’t you want your interrogator to respect the law? And even if the law is unjust, wouldn’t you want him, as a human being, to choose justice over the law?”

When talking to his interrogator, Moradi emphasises the tenets of Sufi belief: “Sufis, as followers of true Islam, and in step with the world community, are committed to human rights,humanity, honor and freedom. We do not defend these by playing political games, or through hatred or wars. We fight ignorance and divisions among people through self-awareness, knowledge and love, which have their roots in the divine nature of humanity.”

He ends his message to his interrogator with a poem of goodwill and forgiveness by the 14th-century Iranian Sufi Mir Seyed Ali Hamedani:

“A thorn of enmity he may throw in our path
but may all flowers in his garden be free of thorns.
No malice we feel, here or hereafter.
Grant him long serenity he who granted us pain.”

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].

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