He seems like a fictional character who has been asleep for centuries, if not longer. “I have not even seen a mobile phone and whatever I know about the internet I have heard from others...I first heard the word ‘internet’ from an engineer inside the prison.”
Mohammad Nazari is a political prisoner in cell block 14 of the Rajaie Prison in Karaj, near Tehran. He has spent the last 20 years in jail.
As a young man, he confesses, he joined the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI), an illegal organization formed in 1945 under the Soviet occupation of Iranian Kurdistan following the Second World War. The party declared the formation of a Kurdish Republic, which did not last long after the Soviet troops withdrew. PDKI members have been considered terrorists and outlaws by successive Iranian governments, whether under the monarchy or since the creation of the Islamic Republic.
Nazari, however, denies involvement in any terrorist activity. Over the past 20 years, he has written numerous letters to the heads of the Iranian judiciary and has requested that his case be reopened. He has not received any replies.
Masih Alinejad, an Iranian journalist based in London, spoke to Mohammad Nazari about life in prison, the charges against him and his hunger strike, including the time he sewed his lips together.
When were you arrested and who was head of the judiciary at the time?
When I was arrested Mr Mohammad Yazdi was the head of the judiciary. It was 30 May 1994. I had just turned 23. I am now 42 and come May, I will have spent 20 years in jail.
What were the charges? Do you remember where you were when they arrested you?
I was at my sister’s house in Bukan [a city in West Azerbaijan, in northwest Iran] and I was arrested for working with PDKI. The judge was Mr Jalili Zadeh, who put on a show trial and condemned me to death without even allowing an attorney to defend me.
Have your close relatives ever visited you?
My mother used to visit me, but she passed away in 2011. Regrettably, I learned about her death only a year later. The last time she visited me she complained of high blood pressure. Because of her age and physical condition I was very worried about her and eventually she died of complications. My sister and my brother used to visit me as well but a few months after I went on hunger strike, prison officials turned against them and no longer permitted them to visit me.
I heard that you went on hunger strike and sewed your lips together so that the officials would listen to you. Can you tell me why? What were your demands?
During my imprisonment, the only people who followed my case were my mother and my sister. Whenever they appealed to judicial authorities, they were told that they to would have to wait for my pardon. Last time, however, they told my family that they were going to execute me and they should not expect leniency or freedom. For a human being, hopelessness is the worst thing and by telling her this, the authorities took away any hope that my mother might have had. They caused her death. I’ll never forgive them.
The second reason for my actions was the death of two my cellmates after 20 and 22 years in jail respectively. It proved that the authorities have no intention of releasing me. So I started my hunger strike on 28 August 2012 and ended it on 16 October of the same year. I also went on hunger strike again, in support of prisoners condemned to death. Some of my cellmates joined me.
After I made a firm decision to protest in this way [by sewing his lips together], I took some pills to numb my lips so that I would not feel too much pain, as a friend of mine had suggested. Then I sewed my lips together. The threads, however, were made of strong nylon and did not break easily. As a result, sometimes when I sneezed or yawned, the corners of my lips would split open and I had to sew them back again.
How many days did your lips remained sewn up? How did the authorities react?
49 days. They kept giving me empty promises.
What were the reactions of your fellow prisoners? What did they say when they saw you?
Through the hunger strike and everything else, they supported me. I shall be in their debt forever. They gave me courage.
How have you spent your days in jail for the past 20 years?
Days are mostly the same; seldom are they different. In prison, we mostly read or watch TV.
Is there anything in prison that can make you happy?
For someone who has spent so many years of his life in prison, nothing is better than to see other prisoners go free. The release of my fellow prisoners makes me happy. Something that made me very happy was the news that my interrogator, Mohammad Minaie, had died.
What about your worst days in prison?
The worst days were when I heard that several of my cellmates had been executed. And the day I heard my mother had died. In my long years in prison, I have known perhaps more than 50 people who have been executed. Their memories will always remain with me.
How does a prisoner on death row feel?
To be executed is the biggest honor for a political prisoner but, at the same time, no man can claim that he is not afraid of death. For five years I was on death row and, up until 1997, each week I was a witness to the execution of my friends. Each week I thought it was my turn. It tortured me.
How do you feel about the public announcement system in the prison? Do you ever expect to hear your own name, and the announcement that you are free?
Considering that, throughout the years, I have heard so many lies from the authorities about my pardon and release, I might not believe it even if I heard the announcement through the loudspeaker. That is why, as prisoners say, I do not make myself a prisoner of the loudspeaker.
What or whom do you miss most outside prison?
When I was outside I had nothing to lose so now I have nothing to miss. My mother made happy in the past, but now that she has passed away, I miss nobody. My relatives have rejected me because of the charges.
How many springs have you spent in prison? What is the worst season in the prison?
The spring of 2014 will be the 20th spring. For a prisoner with a long sentence, however, no season is good. I have not been free during any spring season to see plants grow, leaves come out and flowers bloom. When I cannot see the beauty of nature, all seasons are bad seasons.
How do you keep up your hopes in the prison? Do you think people outside can do anything?
What overcomes my horror of terrible prison conditions and makes me hopeful for the future is my sense of hatred and loathing towards the heads of government. I never believed that I would be freed and I was sure that, with a life sentence, I would die behind bars. But even thinking about it hurts me. I have always been grateful for my mother’s kindness and will remain so. When she visited, she used to tell me that many of her neighbors wished me success and freedom, even though they had never seen me. I was very happy to hear those words.
What is your biggest wish?
I always wished to find a chance to serve people and this was my only reason for joining PDKI. Now, my only wish is to have a government in Iran that respects all people, whether Christian, Jewish, Zoroastrian or Baha’I – a government that would recognize their rights and would make Iran and Iranians proud.
Have you ever voted in prison?
I was born in a revolutionary family, a family of martyrs, so before prison I voted in every election as a religious duty. But after I became a prisoner I did not vote, even though they let you vote here.
What do you want to say to people who read your words on the internet or may hear your voice?
Unfortunately, with all the sites and the media across the world, some journalists and sites only promote one party or one group. I beg them to expand their view and hear the voice of somebody like me who has been in prison for 20 years – nobody has heard him.
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