The harrowing case of Donya Rad of Iran |
In the torture prison because she ate breakfast without a headscarf
In most countries on earth it would be a perfectly normal scene. Two sisters named Donya and Dina sit next to each other in the cafe and have breakfast. In the Iranian dictatorship it is a crime. Because the women dare not to wear a headscarf.
Now one of the two, Donya, is in the notorious Evin prison on the northern outskirts of Tehran.
“Yesterday, after this photo was published, the security authorities contacted my sister and asked her to provide some explanations,” her sister Dina announced on Twitter. “Today, after she went there, she was arrested.” She was transferred to Ward 209 of Evin Prison, Dina said. “Our family is very concerned for her well-being.”
Like so many Iranian women, the sisters shared the photo of their breakfast together on their social media accounts to send a message and encourage others to engage in civil disobedience against the Islamist regime.
In Ward 209 of the Evin prison, which is run by the Iranian secret service, the individual cells are only 1×2 meters in size. Torture and sexual abuse to force prisoners to confess are reportedly common practice here.
An Iranian hacker group gained access to the prison’s surveillance cameras last year: The leaked video clips show appalling abuse of prisoners by the guards. Methods of torture documented in Iran include flogging, electric shocks, mock executions, sexual violence, hanging, forced administration of chemical substances and the deliberate withdrawal of medical care.
Numerous human rights activists draw attention to the case of Donya Rad.
Striking: Donya Rad’s last very high-reach Twitter account was blocked from the platform. The account of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (83), the political and religious leader of the dictatorship, has been active since 2009 and regularly spreads Islamist propaganda without Twitter intervening.