Rasoul Bodaghi, the inspector of the teachers’ trade union center and member of the coordination council of the trade union organizations of educators, was arrested last spring in the Ministry of Information’s crackdown on trade union activists. Transferred to Ward 209 of Evin prison, he published a letter from inside the prison and explained what happened to him and what he saw.

Rasoul Bodaghi wrote in this letter that “for 120 days we did not know who was imprisoned in the cell next to us. Sometimes the pleading cries of an innocent man or teenager sprinkled salt on our wounded hearts. For 120 days, an atmosphere mixed with fear of humiliation and threats had filled our moments. The 24-hour presence of CCTV cameras, lighted lamps, monitoring our behavior and actions through the peephole of the steel door of the 5-meter cell, had turned existence into a coffin for us, which had taken away the place to move from us.”

In another part of this letter, he wrote that “the lies, deception, ambition, hypocrisy, deceit, and devilishness of the interrogators and some prison guards made a person bow down to the devil.” Sometimes the threat of death in solitary cells, silent and without companions, unfortunately buries the last testament for the family in our minds and soul.

The arrest of Rasoul Bodaghi and several teachers’ union activists on the 10th of May 1401 was carried out by the Ministry of Information on the eve of Teacher’s Week in Iran. Rasoul Bodaghi was in solitary confinement for more than a month and was transferred to the general ward of Evin prison on 12 Khordad and again on 24 Khordad to one of the solitary cells of Ward 240 of Evin prison.

According to the verdict issued by the Revolutionary Court, Rasul Bodaghi was sentenced to 4 years and 6 months in prison for the charge of assembly and collusion/ For the charge of propagandizing against the regime, he was sentenced to one year in prison.

This trade union activist had been arrested many times before, and now in a shocking letter from Evin prison, he mentioned some of the harassment he endured, the text of which you can read below:

A note from Evin – by Rasoul Bodaghi

We have a secret with you

Even if the people

become enemy

And we lose our head

We stay loyal

(Saddi)

ّFor decades tyranny and autocracy has been hiding itself under various names and destroying the most sacred possessions of the people, from the material and spiritual interests of an ancient nation to their lives, property, and reputation. Oil, water, gas, soil, forest and mines have destroyed the environment, trust, beliefs and even the honor and dignity of the people, and now they are openly in newspapers, media, conferences and in every possible way, the land and people of Iran. threatens to become a something like Syria and makes it clear to everyone that it is either us or no one.

Undoubtedly, the only thing that will stop the bloodthirsty dictators from once again making millions of people victims of lusts, illusions, and disturbed dreams is their incapacity.

Respected colleagues and compatriots: I and my colleagues spent 120 days in such a condition in wards 209 and 240 of Evin Prison, where we could hardly tell the difference between day and night. Asking a guard for the time was responded to by an insult. It was a dream for us to see a smile from a fellow human being, to hear the voice of a human, or even a bird.

For 120 days, we did not know who was imprisoned in the cell next to us. Sometimes the pleading cries of an innocent man or teenager sprinkled salt on our wounded hearts. For 120 days, an atmosphere mixed with fear of humiliation and threats had filled our moments. The 24-hour presence of CCTV cameras, lighted lamps, monitoring our behavior and actions through the peephole of the steel door of the 5-meter cell, had turned existence into a coffin for us, which had taken away the place to move from us. Our body was in a small cell and our souls were in a coffin, the captives of wild people. In this spiritual coffin, we could only move our lips. Sometimes we would pour our imaginations and illusions from our brain cells to our lips.

All our freedom consisted of in imaginings, illusions, fears and threats. The threats against colleagues, friends, wife, children and other relatives was a nightmare that stole sleep from our body and soul. Sometimes the voice of an assassin called an interrogator or a guard and a complex jailer, sometimes the soft but winning voice of an agent, together with the threat against a wife and child, made death appear more beautiful than the sweetest moments before our eyes. He considered life and humanity to be a nightmare. Lies, deceit, ambition, hypocrisy, deceit, and devilish qualities of interrogators and some prison guards made people bow down to Satan. Sometimes, like a helpless bird that sits on the shoulders of its hunter, we poured our human emotions and affections into the heart of the wolf-like and bloodthirsty agents. Yes, dear readers, what kind of pain should you complain about?

120 days under the bombardment of insults, humiliation, slander, lies, accusations and case-making, obscenity, intimidation and threats, loneliness and unawareness, had turned our soul and spirit into a garbage dump of the remnants of the minds of sick mercenaries. At the same time, what they said was nothing more than a joke or a threat for us to withdraw from the rightful demands of educators, society and students, unaware that in these 120 days, they did whatever they could to make a scenario and to create pessimism and division among us.

Various irrelevant images were interwoven. The accusations were full of lies, the accusers unaware of the fact that they have turned the gun of deceptive propaganda towards themselves because the minds of the people are saturated with these lies. In the meantime, the false accusation of taking money from foreigners to buy street protesters and to buy weapons of war was the most shameful insult that they used on the occupied radio and television against us, the teachers and the protesting people. In the end, I am always proud of the fact that we are Iranians, teachers, pure-hearted and clean-handed. Above all, I have compatriots, colleagues and companions who, with the light of the sun in their hearts, distinguish lies and deception from truth and righteousness.

Rasoul Bodaghi, December 2022, ward 4 of Evin prison