{"id":249448,"date":"2021-10-23T06:14:18","date_gmt":"2021-10-23T11:14:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/?p=249448"},"modified":"2023-02-01T04:40:25","modified_gmt":"2023-02-01T03:40:25","slug":"davoud-rahmani-a-thug-representing-irans-misogynist-regime","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/news\/women\/davoud-rahmani-a-thug-representing-irans-misogynist-regime\/","title":{"rendered":"Davoud Rahmani: A Thug Representing Iran\u2019s Misogynist Regime"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"haj-davoud-rahmani-torture-iran\"<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, Davoud Rahmani, also known as \u201cHaj Davoud<\/a>,\u201d the notorious former head of Iran\u2019s Ghezelhesar Prison, died. During his career as a prison guard, he tortured and killed thousands of Iranians, mainly women, in accordance with the misogynist ideology of Iran\u2019s criminal regime.<\/p>\n

Haj Davoud was a blacksmith in southern Tehran. He was known in his neighborhood as a misogynist thug who tortured his sister. Rahmani soon joined Ruhollah Khomeini\u2019s \u201cclub wielders,\u201d harassing Iranians on the street and stifling any voice of dissent.<\/p>\n

Thus, he rapidly rose through the regime\u2019s ranks and became the deputy of Assadollah Lajavardi<\/a>, Iran\u2019s most brutal prison official and torturer in Evin prison. When Ghezelhesar prison was constructed in the early 1980s, Rahmani became its chief warden.<\/p>\n

As the head of Ghezelhesar Prison, Rahmani used many forms of torture to break political prisoners, primarily female supporters of the People\u2019s Mojahedin<\/a> Organization of Iran (PMOI\/MEK<\/a>).\u202f Rahmani invented two inhumane torture methods known as the \u201cresidential units\u201d and \u201ccages\u201d to break women. Many survivors of these tortures have shared their horrific memories.<\/p>\n

Ms. Homa Jaberi<\/a> is one of these survivors. In her memoirs, she writes: \u201cThe head of Ghezelhesar prison was a big fat man called \u2018Haj Davoud.\u2019 He was uneducated and was a real thug. They said he was a blacksmith or traded iron. Haj had brought his wife and three children to the prison and spent all his time in the prison.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt seemed that Haj Davoud did not care about the prisoners\u2019 charges. He categorized them in his own way and tortured them accordingly. He was sensitive about those who had colored eyes or wore glasses,\u201d Ms. Jaberi adds.<\/p>\n

Ms. Jaberi is one of the survivors of the residential units<\/a>. During an international conference on July 19, 2019, she recounted some heart-wrenching memories.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey kept us standing face against the wall for three days without any rest. We became delirious, had lost our balance, and kept falling on the floor. On the third day, I went unconscious,\u201d she said, adding, \u201cThe situation in the Residential Unit<\/a> was that the torturers were always with us in the same room and all night long.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were blindfolded and facing the wall, all the time. I was there for 40 days, but some of my friends were kept there for six months, or even more than a year. There was absolute silence; no one was allowed to make any noise. We got severely tortured for coughing or sneezing. We were not even allowed to scream under torture. If anyone screamed or cried out, the torture would get worse,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

\"iran-prison-torture3\" \"iran-prison-torture3\" \"iran-prison-torture3\" \"iran-prison-torture3\"<\/p>\n

Ms. Jaberi also said that \u201cevery command was accompanied by beating and lashes. The torturer used a heavy thick cable to whip. If he hit once, it meant that we could sleep for an hour after a few days.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnother form of torture at the Residential Unit was psychological. For example, we had to curse ourselves in writing. We had to write insults against ourselves hundreds of times. Or we had to verbally insult ourselves,\u201d Ms. Jaberi said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaji told us you should hold on to the wall. He made us stand with open legs facing the walls. I saw him as he came back and kicked those facing the wall and hit their heads to the wall. He did so while laughing and saying didn\u2019t I tell you to hold on to the wall?\u201d Ms. Jaberi wrote.<\/p>\n

\"Martyrs-Museum-in-Ashraf-3\"
Martyrs\u2019 Museum in Ashraf 3<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Many inmates lost their sanity due to these tortures. According to Ms. Jaberi, \u201cFarangis Mohammad Rahimi, Shekar Mohammadzadeh, Ashraf Fadaii, and Tahmineh Sotoudeh were among those in the Residential Unit who lost their sanity and were executed in the 1988 massacre.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rahmani\u2019s other original torture, the \u201ccage,\u201d was built with two boards of approximately 160 x 60 cm and 70 cm in height.\u202f\u202fMs. Hengameh Hajhassan<\/a>, a MEK member who survived this inhumane torture, detailed in her memoirs, \u201cFace to Face with the Beast,\u201d how Haj Davoud tortured them in cages and \u201ccoffins.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Model-of-the-residential-unit-in-the-Martyrs-Museum-in-Ashraf-3\"
Model of the \u201ccage\u201d in the Martyrs\u2019 Museum in Ashraf 3<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Model-of-the-residential-unit-in-the-Martyrs-Museum-in-Ashraf-3-2\"
Model of the \u201ccage\u201d in the Martyrs\u2019 Museum in Ashraf 3<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The following are some excerpts of her book:<\/p>\n

After having been interrogated and tortured again in the disciplinary blocks at Evin, these prisoners were sent to the first unit of Ghezelhessar, nicknamed \u201cthe cages.\u201d\u202f\u202f Until then, everyone was ignorant of the existence of \u201cthe last judgment unit,\u201d \u201cthe cages,\u201d and the \u201cresidential units.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even in Ghezel, we didn\u2019t know they existed. We only knew that there were places for punishment in the first unit and that men had been taken there, without any more details.<\/p>\n

They took me to the right under the entrance door and left me in an empty room. I don\u2019t know how long afterward they came to fetch me, and we went towards the corridor and the sub-units. At the entrance to the corridor, I must have gone into a room where a woman took me in hand. She made me sit down in a space between two upright boards 50 cm apart. It was hot and heavy, and it smelt like a bathroom. I still had the bandage over my eyes.<\/p>\n

\u202fAll around the room, by putting boards at every 50 cm, they had made numerous cages, about 80 or 90, and in each one of them, someone was sitting facing the wall. I tried to recognize the bags so as to know who was there.<\/p>\n

Every day, they relayed to us the deafening singing of Ahangaran and other singers and sprayed us with war propaganda. The loudspeakers poured out news of the regime\u2019s total victory at the front, of \u201cgood over evil.\u201d As to the \u201ceducational program,\u201d we were fortunately forbidden to go to it, but it was retransmitted to us through loudspeakers so that \u201cwe shouldn\u2019t lose a crumb of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The worst was to suffer from insomnia. There had come a time when the flood of thoughts like \u201cthere\u2019s no hope that this will ever finish\u201d prevented me from sleeping in spite of my fatigue. Yet, I waited impatiently for the moment when I could lie down and sleep. Whichever way I turned, I still saw that dark, endless tunnel without an opening in front of me. And suddenly dawn came, and another day began. Heavens, how could I endure that day with all this fatigue?<\/p>\n

<\/div>
Iran\u2019s 1988 Massacre: Testimony by MEK witness Hengameh Haji Hassan, Ashraf 3, Albania, 15 July 2019<\/div><\/div>
<\/div>
<\/div>
<\/div><\/div><\/div>