Behnam Mahjoubi, Siamak Moghimi Momeni. Both are imprisoned in the Islamic Republic prisons.

Behnam was arrested in 2017 during clashes on Pasdaran Street in Tehran between repressive forces and Gonabadi Derwishes.

In 2018, Branch 26 of the Revolutionary Court of Tehran sentenced him to two years in prison. Behnam was released in exchange for some money. Two years later, on June 16, 2020, he was summoned to serve his sentence. At that time, Behnam was being treated by a neurologist, and at the discretion of medical examiner office, he should not have been transferred to prison. However, he was summoned and had to go to the sentencing unit. He was transferred to Evin Prison on June 20. In Evin, he was placed with criminals and prisoners of public crimes. They tried to kill him many times, he was attacked many times. Prison officials did not deliver Behnam’s medications to him; Medicines provided by the family at personal expense and given to prison officials. Mahjoubi’s deprivation of the doctor’s prescription drugs by prison officials exacerbated his illness and caused complications such as seizures. In protest, Behnam went on a hunger strike, which he broke the next day with the promise of prison officials, an empty promise. The prison clinic gave him different medications than his doctor had prescribed. A month after taking the unknown clinic’s pills, made part of his body numb. Behnam was taken to Aminabad Psychiatric Hospital, where his physical and mental condition worsened. “I am convinced they are trying to kill me. So, I do not allow them to do that. I will go on a hunger strike myself to die,” Behnam said in an audio file he sent out of prison after returning from Aminabad. Now he was worse. His memory was damaged, he would talk about his non-existent borother in phone conversations, he lost his balance while walking, and once while returning from the bathroom, he fell so badly that his right leg became swollen and bruised. But again, they opposed his transfer to the hospital. The next day, prison officials told Behnam’s relatives and family that he had been taken to Taleghani Hospital for treatment. But this was also a lie. Behnam was taken back to Aminabad Psychiatric Hospital. There, he was pressured to end his hunger strike through torture and inhumane treatment. Behnam Mahjoubi was returned to Evin Prison a few days later, and he ended his hunger strike on November 3. Today, Behnam Mahjoubi’s general condition has become very bad and worrying; He has almost lost the power of speech. He can hardly pronounce the words. With the same broken words, Behnam tells us that his torturers have not yet succeeded in breaking his soul. That he is still alive and has no intention to give in.

Siamak Moghimi

“I do not know how much money they want. But it must be a lot. In any case, we do not have it.” Siamak’s mother says this about her son, who was arrested by Sarollah agents in Parand city in the same days of nationwide protests and bloody suppression of November uprising, and then transferred to the Sarollah’s detention center. He was kept there until the end of interrogation and torture and was finally transferred to the Greater Tehran Prison:

“Siamak was born in 1995 and has bipolar. His mood is constantly changing. He is not in a good mood. His place is not in prison. He has nervous breakdowns. He is now 25 years old. He was hospitalized in Aminabad for 1 month and in Roozbeh Hospital for 5 years; We had to hospitalize him every month. Siamak is under the supervision of Behzisti (State Welfare Organization of Iran). He also has a disability card. I presented all these documents to the court, they took a photo of the card, and even the prison social worker, Mr. Mohammadi, came to see our house once. And they saw what situation we live in. But they did nothing. Siamak cannot speak well and is in a completely different state. I do not know why the judge does not believe or accept his situation. If you call Roozbeh Hospital, they will explain it to you completely. Siamak’s father was shell-shocked (a veteran of the eight-year Iran-Iraq war) suffers from neurological disorders. I have to work and pay the rent. Even until two months ago, my ID card was in Roozbeh Hospital (as a promise to pay the debt), because we had hospitalized Siamak but I had no money to pay. But well, I went to work, paid off the debt, and got my ID back. Siamak’s case is in sentencing unit. When (mid-November) I went to the sentencing unit, the judge did not talk to me at all. He said go, we will tell him. Tell me everything I said, he said we will announce it to him. Then he said go and get a deed (for bail). I said, from where? I do not have a house. My son does not even have a bicycle to know what gasoline is and what is not.”

Siamak Moghimi has committed suicide several times in Greater Tehran Prison.

The first time, at noon on Saturday, January 25, 2020, after being informed of he’s been issued a 10-year prison sentence by the Revolutionary Court of Tehran, he cut his wrist. Following this suicide attempt, Siamak was taken to hospital. According to one of his former inmates, Siamak committed suicide several times in prison. The prison clinic only gives him sleeping pills and medications that do not improve his condition. All prison officials, the head of the Prisons Organization, the Judge in Execution of Sentences Unit and the supervisor of the prison and the assistant prosecutor, Mr. Amin Vaziri,…all of them are fully aware of Siamak Moghimi’s condition, who suffers from bipolar disorder and whose illness is documented as clearly as possible. However, Siamak is still in prison.

In his critique of Marquis de Sade, Hartmut Böhme describes his apparent system of worldview and his philosophical system as “inverted reason.” A system that contradicts the enlightenment reasoning, not in its structure, but in the order of its elements. The Islamic Republic is precisely the sadistic system in terms of this “reason inversion.” A system in which nothing is rational and comprehensible in itself: the religious preacher is the head of the cabinet. The Chief of Judiciary is a notorious murderer. The most powerful person in a democratic system is a person who is not elected by the people and holds his position for life. The regime’s institutions transmit the exact same inverted sadistic structure within themselves to the society.

Behnam Mahjoubi who should be treated by a neurologist, is sent to prison and from there to Aminabad Psychiatry Hospital; Behnam protests and goes on a hunger strike to the point of death. Siamak Moghimi who should be in Aminabad, is imprisoned; Siamak commits suicide, is sent to a clinic, and then sent back to prison, where he commits suicide and tries to end his life.

Translation of this article by Sahar.