Family of detained activist: We are afraid they will butcher our loved ones

“On November 26, 2019, plainclothes agents raided their house and took their son away with them. They have no news of him, and no one has responded to their pursuits. The disturbing accounts about the conditions of the detention centres and prisons are causing his family grief and agony, and has left them with no other option but to spread this story.”

This statement came from a credible source who informed IranWire about the arrest of an Iranian citizen, Muhammad Farmanian, after recent fuel price protests.

Muhammad Farmanian was born in 1988 in Tehran; he has a Master's degree in Industrial Engineering. He was arrested once before, during the 2009 protests that were sparked by the disputed presidential election. His friend Morteza Mahmoudi was also recently arrested.

A credible source told IranWire that “neither Muhammad nor his family has seen an arrest warrant. Most likely, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had ordered his incarceration. When they were arresting him, they accused him and his friend as being among the ringleaders and instigators of the recent protests."

When the Revolutionary Guards searched the Farmanian home, they confiscated every family members’ cellphone, laptop, and computer. "They checked every cellphone before returning it; but they kept Muhammad's computer, laptop, tablet, and cellphone without showing any official warrants. This is why the family is very worried. His mother and his brother are searching the prisons but they cannot find him. They can’t get any information from any government office, which increases their anguish."

A separate source speaking to IranWire, and referring to a series of recent televized addresses given by religious experts, said: “We have no information about the well-being of the detainees. Are they in good condition? Are they being tortured? And then we hear this rhetoric on TV and we fear that behind the walls of the prisons, it is possible that [the authorities] are practicing what they preach.”

The source was referring to speeches given by Abolfazl Bahrampour, an expert on religious studies, who said on a state broadcaster that the protestors who “are now in our prisons" must "be butchered." He had also suggested other forms of punishments such as “hanging,” “cutting off their right hand and left leg into pieces so that the dismembered fingers of their right hand and the toes of their left leg can be sent to the public in pieces."

IranWire understands from an informed source that Farmanian’s arrest is due to his previous detention after the 2009 uprising.

“When Muhammad was detained in 2009,” the source said, "he was held at the Aryanshahr’s police station for a day and then was interrogated in the Shahpour detention centre for two and a half days. During those three days, they didn’t even give the detainees any food. After that, he and 200 other detainees were taken to Evin Prison, where they were interrogated by the intelligence branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. During this time, he was kept in a cell with three others.”

Farmanian was released on bail after a short detention. But he never stopped protesting against the status quo.

“In 2009, Farmanian believed in reform,” a source tells IranWire. “He would participate in silent protests, with clear intentions and objectives. He was against injustice and discrimination, and sought equality for all. Whenever there was a peaceful protest against oppression, Muhammad would participate; because of this reason, now they call him a ringleader and an instigator of these [latest] protests.”

The source also knows Farmanian’s friend, Morteza Mahmoudi.

"Morteza Mahmoudi lives in Shahrak Motahari,” the source told IranWire. “He is the sole breadwinner for his family and has a pastry shop near his house. He is also a concerned citizen. His family has no one but him to support them, and since he has been arrested, no one has heard from him.”

Since their arrest, the families of these two men have not even received a phone call from them. A close confidante of the family, who is following the situation, told the families that the men’s arrest by plainclothes agents and the lack of any news suggests that they have been detained by one of the security agencies. And recent news about the general situations in Iran’s prisons have left the families anxious about the fate of these two men.

Earlier, an informed source inside Iran’s Greater Tehran Prison had informed IranWire that nearly 1,000 detainees had been transferred to Fashafoyeh Prison (in Greater Tehran) since the recent arrests.

A few days ago, the head of the Ray City Council, Hassan Khalilabadi, warned about the increase in the number of detainees at Fashafoyeh Prison, saying: “Following the protests last week, the number of detainees in Fashafoyeh Prison has increased, but the facilities cannot properly accommodate this sudden increase in the prison population.”

A source told IranWire that Mohammad Farmanian’s family had always supported him and his activism, saying: “Mohammad always wanted to live in a society where people have equal rights. His family have no news of him, they’re devastated, but at the same time, they support him and his aspirations and activism."

The process of identifying and arresting protesters is continuing. On November 28, Iranian law enforcement and security officials announced the arrest of at least 50 protesters in several cities including Tehran, Shiraz and Isfahan.