Memoirs of Marzieh Hadidchi (Part 14)

2017-10-24

Memoirs of Marzieh Hadidchi (Dabbagh)

Edited by: Mohsen Kazemi

Tehran, Sooreh Mehr Publications Company

‎2002 (Persian Version)‎

Translated by: Zahra Hosseinian

Arrest and torture

In 1973; it was about two months after the breaking down of siege of our house, but I never lost the point of becoming known and being arrested.

During these periods, because of some business problems in bazaar, my husband, by recommendation of his friends, was busy working in national company of construction as an accountant. And most of the times he was away from home and spent in his time another city. One night, he had come back home after three months to visit the family, and I had just returned from Hamedan. I had gone to Hamedan a few days to look after the baby of one of our relatives who was in prison. The night when the family gathered together at home and we all busy telling our stories, the door was knocked. My older daughter went and opened the door. Shortly after she came back and said, "Mom! It’s Parvizkhan!"I found out that they have come to arrest me.

I sent my husband to the roof and said "They don’t do anything to you. They’ve come to arrest me." You should stay and look after our children! Parvizkhan and other officers asked me to accompany them without a fuss. "Where do you take our mom? Don’t take our mom!" My kids gathered around me and cried out. The SAVAK officers who tried to silence them by hook or by crook, said: "We have nothing to do with your mom. We take her to answer a few questions then let her go. She’ll return until you ate your dinner." As soon as leaving the house, I encountered the son of my older son-in-law’s relatives in the alley. I asked him to see an individual (who was one of contacts in the group) and let him know that I have been arrested, and they should watch out for our house. One of the officers noticed this brief dialogue. He stepped forward and blamed me why I had spoken with him. I replied that he said hello to me and I answered, I didn’t say anything. He pointed their car and said, "Don’t talk too much. Get in!" one of officers had gotten in sooner than me and sat down on the rare seat. I realized that if I sat in the rare seat, the other officers had to sit beside me and I was placed between them. "I won’t sit between two non-mahrams. I'll sit on the front seat and you three sit on the rare seats." I said. They threatened me with a gun: "Get! Don’t be fool... two non-mahrams!" I cried, "Kill me, but I won’t sit between two non-mahrams." The passing of time wasn’t in their advantage. Finally, I got what I wanted...

Approaching to Toopkhaneh square (now is Imam Khomeini square), they gave me a completely frosted sunglasses. "I don’t wear glasses" I said. They whispered, "What a mad is this...!" I wore the sunglasses and began to tell nonsenses to show myself unaware. "Ask me your questions sooner. I have to go back home very quickly, my kids have not been dined yet, I must go to wake them up early morning to go to school" I said.

We reached the joint committee[1]. In the committee, I found out that SAVAK has a lot of information about me. Having extensive communication and political activities despite of having a lot of children and many problems in life, and also being a woman, would increase their sensitivity.

Because I was in contact with the various groups of militant students and clerics at the same time, I did not exactly know that I have been arrested due to which one; so, I remained silent from the beginning until it was found out who or whom I have been arrested for. But I suppose it was because of university student group and my husband's nephews.

The adoption of such a way was not pleasant to the interrogators and officers, and led to their harsh and violent reaction. Avoiding and refusing to speak was led to more beating up. The tortures began with slap and insult, and little by little were unbearable by being whipped, beating up with baton and cursed. Several times my hands and feet were tied up to a chair, an iron or copper hat was laid on my head, and then they connected my body to the different voltages of electrical current, which caused tremble and strong shake. Whipping and beating up with baton were common, sometimes it was done in the normal and sometimes in the professional manner. In professional one, they whipped up the sole of my foot so much that I fainted. Then, they sprinkled water on my face to regain consciousness and forced me to walk, so my feet do not swell. It was very painful and overwhelming.

One time, when I fainted because of the pain of lashes and then opened my eyes again, I found myself in a room in which there was a table and a chair. My back gave me a severe pain and my wounds burned. In fear and panic, I leant to the wall, so that if they came back again to torture me, my back was protected against whipping. I could not open my eyes because of tiredness. I heard footsteps. I kept my eyes half open. I saw an officer entered - God punished him. I closed my eyes completely and trusted in God. He stood there a few minutes and then went. He returned soon with an electrical baton in his hand. He stepped forward and beat me up. He looked wild and unbalanced, and each question he asked, I replied that I’m not aware of it. The effect of electrical baton on sensitive parts of my body, the lips, the mouth, the ear, etc. was so painful that I became totally numb and breathless.

Once, they laid me on a table and tied my hands and feet to the both sides. When the torturer entered the room, was smoking a cigarette. He immediately turned it off on my hand and as I groaned and wailed he said with a mockery, "Oh! My cigarette’s turned off!" And again he lit another one. This time he turned it off on the sensitive parts of my body, which caused all my cells gave me an unbearable pain...

The worst and most difficult, in other words, the most brutal torture was when an agent or interrogator entered the room drunkenly, and began to harass and torture me which can be expressed. Sometimes they entered naked, stopped a little, laughed, and then went out. And I was spending very terrible moments with closed eyes and without any movement.

To be continued…