I Never Feared Death
The last glimmers of the setting sun
show me the path on which to write
The crackle of leaves under my feet
I whisper "let go
and rediscover the path to freedom"
I never feared death. Even now, as I feel her presence beside me, I want to savor it and rediscover it. The death, the oldest partner of this land. I will not, however, speak of death. I want to explain the reasons that lie behind. In the situation in which being punished is the only answer he receives those seeking freedom and justice, as they may fear their fate? Those of "us" who have been sentenced to death have no other fault than that of trying to build a better world.
I was born in Kermanshah, the city they call the "cradle of civilization." I grew up and became aware of the profound injustice and discrimination that prevailed. Injustices that touch me not only as an individual but as part of the human race. I have walked thousands of streets and took different directions in search for answers and discover the reasons for this injustice. I became a fighter Komeleh to find my identity stolen. Before that I had never separated from my first home, and once only for a few moments I came back. I wanted to find some 'of my past, my memories. During one of my occasional visits I have found. They arrested me, I was beaten in his cell. L 'reception that my "kidnappers" have given me from day one, has convinced me that I would die the same path of those who had preceded me. I expected the same fate as those who had been there before me: torture, fabricated charges, a show trial, a verdict unfair and politically manipulated, and eventually death.
After being arrested July 20, 2008 at Kamyaran, I was taken to 'local office of the Ministry of' Intelligence. A few hours later, while I was blindfolded and tied up - I could not see anything or make the slightest movement - someone who introduced himself as deputy prosecutor, began to interrogate me. Questions were irrelevant, true accusations already ready to use (I do remember that it is absolutely unlawful interrogations outside of judicial offices). It was just the first in a long series of interviews that I had to bear. That night I was taken to the provincial headquarters of the Ministry in Sanandaj, where the real surprise was waiting for me that I had reserved: a cell with a filthy bathroom disgusting and filthy. The blankets were not washed for years. This was the beginning of three months passed along a corridor from my cell to the interrogation room and vice versa, while being systematically beaten. The respectable interrogations were so eager to get promotions and earn more money that I was accused of the most bizarre and unthinkable. They used every means at their disposal to prove that I had taken part in armed operations. They could only prove that I was a member of Komeleh and had participated in anti-regime propaganda. The ruling, delivered in the first trial, which I condemned to 10 years in prison was sufficient evidence that I had been charged a single indictment. The first section of the Revolutionary Court di Sanandaj mi ha condannato a dieci anni di detenzione da scontare nella prigione di Ramhormoz fuori il Kurdistan. L’ establishment iraniano ha sempre favorito una politica di accentramento, ma nel mio caso, apparentemente, sembrava ci fosse stata un’ inversione di tendenza! Di recente ai tribunali le corti provinciali è stata conferita l’autorità giudiziaria in relazione ai casi dei prigionieri politici, anche in quelli con una sentenza di esecuzione capitale. Questi ultimi, in passato, erano di stretta competenza della Corte Suprema. Così, il pubblico ministero di Kamayaran ha contestato la sentenza iniziale, e, a sorpresa, contro la legge iraniana, la sezione numero 4 della Corte d'Appello del Kurdistan ha mutato la sentenza to 10 years in prison the death sentence. In fact, according to 'Article 258 of the Iranian criminal law, the appellate courts may only issue a sentence heavier than initially determined if this is below the minimum required by law. 'S accusation made by the prosecutor is to "Moharebeh" (enemy of God), for which there is a minimum penalty of one year imprisonment. This alone would be enough, to compare tens of detention inflittimi initially, with the minimum sentence required for a similar offense, to realize how utterly unjust and unlawful to be my death sentence.
Before the punishment was changed to death sentence sono stato portato dalla prigione di Sanandaj al centro di detenzione del Ministero dell’ Intelligence dove mi è stato chiesto di rilasciare una confessione, falsa, ripreso da una videocamera, nella quale avrei dovuto esprimere pentimento e rimorso per azioni mai commesse e rinnegare ciò in cui credevo. Non mi sono piegato alle loro richieste, non ho ceduto. Mi è stato detto perciò che la mia sentenza sarebbe mutata in una condanna capitale. Sono stati solerti a mantenere la parola data.
Tutti i giudici pronunciano un giuramento solenne: rimanere imparziali in ogni momento, sempre e in tutti i casi: prendere decisioni secondo la legge e null’altro al di fuori della legge. Di quanti giudici di questo paese si può dire che not violating that oath remains fair and impartial? Counted on the fingers of one hand. When an entire judicial system order arrests, trials, imprisonment and death sentences with the simple gesture of the hand of a questioner incompetent, corrupt, what can you expect children by the courts of a province that has always been discriminated against? They are the very foundations of the house to be crumbling. Ruined.
During my last meeting in prison with the public prosecutor who had issued the initial indictment, he admitted that the sentence was unlawful. Yet, for the second time, it was determined that it proceed with the death sentence. Needless to say, the insistence to support the implementation ad ogni costo è il risultato di pressioni esercitate da gruppi politici e di intelligence al di fuori della magistratura, per i quali la vita o la morte di un prigioniero è una partita giocata sul tavolo degli interessi politici ed economici. Null’ altro vedono se non i propri scopi, i propri illegittimi interessi, anche dinnanzi al diritto di vivere di ogni uomo, un diritto ineliminabile. Non è forse tragicamente inutile aspettarsi da loro il rispetto dei trattati internazionali, quando non rispettano nemmeno le proprie leggi?
Un’ultima parola: se questi uomini al potere, gli oppressori, credono di mettere a tacere con la mia morte la questione curda, si sbagliano. La mia morte e la morte di tanti altri come me non risanerà the wound, will not end the pain. It will only set fire to flames. There is no doubt that every death is the beginning of a new life.
Fattahian Ehsan,
Sanandaj Central Prison Source: Human Rights Activists in Iran
