Iranian Regime Insider Tells His Story Of Police Brutality In Streets
A regime insider's account of police brutality as he experienced in the streets of Tehran, October 4, reached Supreme Leader’s office, and proved critics right.
A regime insider's account of police brutality as he experienced in the streets of Tehran, October 4, reached Supreme Leader’s office, and proved critics right.
Some also used his account to argue that the killings of young women like Mahsa Amini, who was fatally injured in “morality police” custody, and Nika Shakarami, a 16-year-old girl who was taken during the protests in Tehran and found dead ten days later with evidence of torture, are entirely possible at the hands of brutal security forces.
Javad Moguei, a hardliner filmmaker whose career could be summarized as trumpeting the Islamic Republic's ideology, wrote about what happened to him in a long Instagram post which has disappeared from his page, however, screenshots of his post, as well as a copy of it posted on Telegram on the account of the reformist Saham News, are still available on social media.
Moguei starts his story with his visit to the Enghelab (Revolution) Square where he went with his friends to buy some books. "At the Revolution Square the number of Basij militia, special riot troops, the police and the IRGC's plainclothes officers were several times more than the people who were walking on the sidewalks in the busy roundabout," Mogui remembered.
While shopping for books, his friend Ali told him how the Basij was beating and sexually insulting young girls in the streets during the past 10 days. His other friend Mehdi told him that this is the Basij's usual practice during every round of unrest.
"At the Quds intersection [about half a mile from the square] I head a girl screaming. A police officer threw him in an open gutter in the street and several Basij members started to beat the girl who weighed less than 60 Kilograms. I rushed to the scene and shouted at them: Don't beat her! She will die," Moguei remembered, adding, "They told me it was none of my business. And then they shot me in the hand and chest with shotgun [birdshots], and I fell on the ground."
Moguei added: "A motorcyclist offered to take me out of the scene and warned that the forces may take me away. I told a Basij militiaman once again not to beat the girl as she might die. Then several militia members attacked me calling me mother f**ker. I kicked him and then all of them attacked me. There were about 10 of them. Then they threw me into a minibus. Several other detainees were also on board. Then an older man came in and asked my name and I said my name."
The man must have known Moguei and his brother who is a top Basij commander in Karaj near Tehran. "He blindfolded me and told me that I should have not intervened. When they inspected my phone and saw the picture of a well-known IRGC martyr on my screen saver, they stopped what they were doing. They took me off the minibus and took me on board another van. After a while I realized that the van was circling around the area. I saw from beneath the blindfold that they were going through the same streets again and again. I had a headache as they had hit my head on the wall or kicked it," Mogui remembered.
"Then the van stopped at the Revolution Square and a man with a goatee came on board. He asked me about what had happened. I told him about the Basij who insulted my mother. He didn't quite believe me. I asked him whether he was from the IRGC or the Police? He did not answer." The man with the goatee probably recognized Moguei as a well-known hardliner who frequented Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's headquarters. "He offered me water and even dinner. I refused to accept. I sat there blindfolded for several minutes while he apologized and handed back my phone."
A close relative of Khamenei's Chief of Staff Mohammadi Golpayegani called. Moguei's friends must have contacted Khamenei's office to tell them about his arrest. "I told him that I was still dizzy. The paramedics had arrived and the man with the goatee loudly prayed that nothing more serious had happened to me. He came to me and said my mother was like his mother and suggested that I file a complaint against the Basij the next day. It was only after the examination by paramedics that I found out I was shot 12 times. What if they hit me in the eye?"
"My friends joined me now and I insisted to go back to where I was shot to see the Basij. We went there and there were only the police. The Basij had already left. But I will go there every day hoping that I will see the attackers once again."
Moguei was lucky not to be shot in the head or in the eye. He was also lucky because the Basij did not kidnap him and took him with them to drop him at a remote place like Nika. He was luckier as his friends were well connected and could call the only place with real influence on thugs. Mogui just tasted a few drops of his favorite regime's own syrup. The rest of the population are extremely unlucky, left in the hands of those who are not accountable for what they do.
