IT HAPPENS IN IRAN

Hasan is a guy who doesn't fit in in Iran. Not because he's Kurdish, but because he read almost everything western literature has to offer, although he definetly knows it's illegal. He wants to leave the country, of course, as all young Iranian people who also posess a piece of brain do. Hasan used to be a computer science teacher at the small university in his town and used to love working with students. He was so full of hope and energy when i met him. Used to work on a cowshed he and his family had started. He had just finished his Master's degree and he was so thrilled about the little calves he had to take care of. And he was as enthusiastic about the job at the university he was to start in the autumn. That was almost two years ago.

He recently resigned. Disappointement combined, he says, with the feeling of not belonging and the desire to stay in the house with all his books and study to get a PhD to a famous US University.(a US University that would not really find him eligible as a student becasue , obviously, he comes from Iran)

A few days ago he told me we were having our last chat on yahoo messenger and that he'd do something, but i won't hear about it. Of course I thought the worst. Did my best to convince him he had a lot to fight for. He really has. He's a brilliant guy. The kind of person that you know would really make a difference if he only had been given the opportunity. I have no idea if I did convince him or not. He hasn't been back online ever since. And he was really depressed. I'm afraid that he was serious and that I have no way of stopping him. I imagine how it might be to feel so lost. He can't stand talking to his own people. Most of them would betray him, of course. He almost got arrested once. I think I wrote about it before. A student asked him during a course about the Iranian president's studies. He rebelled and said Ahmadinejad's diploma's probably false. The next day the secret service people told him to keep his mouth shut or else.

One of his friends got arrested. The kid is 18 and he spoke on a few occasions in front of his fellow students about the Kurdish aspirations and the idea of a federal Iran. They took the kid to the Intelligence service office in Kermanshah and questioned him. The kid had been in Iraq recently. They already knew who he had met, of course. No PKK, nobody. But still they questioned him. They let him go only to arrest him again while he was on the bus going home. The kid was in jail for three months. This is what Hasan wrote to me a few weeks ago. Have to write this on my blog, cause which newspaper in Romania would publish this. So, they arrested the 18 year old kid.

„He was aware that they do any kind of torture just to find out what kind of relation he has with Pajak Group or PKK. And he new they would apply the most efficient of them: raping. A friend had told him about what the Revolutionary Guards used to do in 1980. The Shia believe that when a virgin dies, even unfaithful, the person goes directly to heaven. So, in order to prevent the teens they wanted to execute from going to heaven, the Guards raped them first. Stupid, but so cruel. Reminds you of the Middle Ages, doesn't it?

The first day of the arrest they tortured the poor kid. They undressed him completely and they blindfolded him. He spent 6 hours like thins on the first day. He went through the same torture the next two days, only they kept him like that longer. The kid had nothing to do with the PKK. He was just interested in Kurdish Culture and language and he went to the Iraqi Kurdistan region because he could find more there than in his own hometown.

They didn't rape him, he says. Some slams in the face and small injuries. That was all. They advised him not to ever try to contact other Kurds outside his city and try to concentrate on his study.”

And of course they used the family menace. The kid, whose name I'd rather not give, was a student. He got out of jail after his family paid some 50 000 dollars bail. A friend of his is still in jail.

„ Majid, a zealous student , a perfect atheist was the one who told him about a federal government instead of a decomposing Iran. Majid was originally from north of Iran a firm believer that Kurds are Achilles' Heel of Iran and in the case they want their independence, Iran will decompose to some small countries like Qatar or Kuwait. Majid was strongly motivated to Unite all the parties in Iran and convince them to prevent bloodshed, like it happened in Iraq. They had to recognize Kurds as a Nation not just a large tribe in order to do that. 16 Azar, December 6, is the anniversary of Student's day in Iran. An great opportunity for them to state their beliefs. They needes permission from "Daftar Tahkim" party, the opposition and the legacy of Khatami's era. They met some important figures there but they laughed at him, because every party in Iran tries to prevent the appearance of Kurds in the capital. He convinced one of them that he has 3000 Kurdish students supporting him and that they will attend the anniversary and if they don't let them organize the meeting.

The day before "16 azar " the plan was that he'd talk about the federal governing of Iran and 15 students would cover him when delivering the speech. But none of the 15 students shew up. He spoke anyway. Of course the Guards were among the public. The night after the speech some intelligence service agents and took them to "Evin", the high security jail in Iran.

It was clear that they wouldn't execute them because now everybody knew abut them from the weblogs and Websites. Some famous lawyers defended them. Majid is still in jail. He believes that in not a very distant future the regime in Tehran will be wiped out either by the people or the US.„

The Kurdish kid still has to appear in court. Nobody know when. He could be executed for trying to speak freely about his beliefs. The 18 year old had nightmares every night, Hasan says. He even has nightmares when daydreaming.