The Mohammadis, Manouchehr and Akbar, are from a family that hails from the verdant province of Mazandaran in northern Iran. The names of all the members of this family are well-known amongst the Iranian people. Every member of this family, from the parents to the sisters and brothers, has either lost his or her employment, been arrested, suffered long-time imprisonment, been tortured or killed in the Islamic Republic of Iran. This family is renowned among the people for its dignity, integrity, and honesty. The family has not ceased its peaceful struggle for democracy in Iran for even one moment.After receiving his high school diploma, Manouchehr Mohammadi, who is this family’s second born child, first chose the teaching profession. He was dismissed from his teaching position due to his political activities. After taking the extremely vigorous general university entrance exam, he enrolled in both the Theoretical Economics Courses at Tehran State University (Daneshgah-e-Dowlati-ye Tehran), and the Law Program at the Central Payam-e Nour University (Daneshgah-e Payam-e Nour-e Markazi). At the beginning of 1994, he founded the first independent and secular intellectual students’ political organization in the Islamic Republic at Tehran University, and then gradually expanded this organization to operate at other Iranian universities as well.
Alongside these activities, he also founded a university student’s human rights organization called “University Students’ Committee for the Defense of Political Prisoners”. Time and again, he succeeded in organizing political and trade union gatherings and meetings for thousands of participants at universities and making substantive speeches. By doing so, he was able to transform the conditions at the country’s universities to a large degree, and expand and improve the independence of the university students’ movement, despite the horrific political conditions and suppression. Before his last arrest, from his hiding place inside Iran, he gave hundreds of interviews to foreign-based radio programs, which broadcast them for Iranians inside Iran. These interviews had a great effect on the people and university students inside the country.
In the course of his struggles as a university student, Manouchehr Mohammadi was forced to be on the run, and then he was arrested, and incarcerated many times. During the last phase of his incarceration, he was imprisoned for seven years and two months, the last 13 months of which were spent in solitary confinement.
His brother, Akbar Mohammadi, who was arrested at the same time but separately from him, spent 25 months of the seven years and two months of his imprisonment in solitary confinement.
In the course of their imprisonment, Manouchehr and his brother suffered the worst types of medieval torture. The physical tortures included; lashing of their bodies and feet with cables; suspension from the ceiling with their arms bound behind their backs by shackles or handcuffs (with the intention of having their eye-balls pop from their sockets); having cold water thrown at their naked bodies; having their heads dunked in toilet bowls; being exposed for hours every day to noises so deafening which ruptured their eardrums, while being incarcerated in small, closed-off rooms; and being deprived of sleep for periods of at least three 24-hour periods, etc. Their prison resorted to torturing them psychologically as well. Whenever the guards observed that these two brothers tolerated physical torture and did not break, the guards then tortured the brothers physically in front of each other in order to break their spirit. In an effort to stretch the psychological torture of the brothers, and in order to give the appearance of the brothers’ death sentences, many times the guards took them to fake places of execution and performed mock executions by death squad, but did not execute them and eventually returned them to prison.
When the Ministry of Information and Security saw that threats were of no avail for the two brothers, it resorted to other means. That is, the Ministry promised those brothers that if they would abandon political activities and remain silent, they would be immediately freed from prison and each would be paid a million dollars. Manouchehr Mohammadi was outraged at this offer and spat on it. This angered the agents of the Islamic Republic very much, and they reacted by hanging him from a cross in a solitary cell for 24 hours and beat him with an iron rod on the two sides of his body, causing him fractures in some of his vertebrae. He is still suffering from those fractures.
In 1998, by the invitation of political, cultural, and university organizations connected with the Iranians residing in the United States and Europe, Manouchehr Mohammadi traveled to the United States and Germany for several months. Among others, he met with the directors of the “Heinrich Boell Foundation” and with the leaders and representatives of the Green Party in the German Parliament. During this historic trip, he delivered dozens of substantive talks on the political history and student movement of Iran. These speeches attracted much coverage and attention in the media outside Iran.
Approximately nine months after his return to Iran, the well-known student uprising
Which culminated in the July 9, 1999 protests at the student dormitories of the University of Tehran took place. Following that event, Manouchehr Mohammadi and his brother Akbar Mohammadi – who gave his life fighting for democracy – were arrested. As the main leaders and top two suspects in this uprising, they were arrested, tried and convicted in the Islamic Republic courts. Initially, they were sentenced to death, however, their sentences were later commuted to 15-year imprisonment.
For weeks, in their news and analytical programs, all the television networks in the Islamic Republic introduced Manouchehr Mohammadi as an anti-revolutionary who, while traveling to the United States and European countries, received guidance from the governments of those countries, and returned to Iran, set in his decision to overthrow the Velayt-e Faqhih regime (or the regime known as the “Rule of the Jurisprudence”), and establish a Western-style democracy in its place.
After tolerating seven years and two months of imprisonment, finally, Akbar Mohammadi was murdered at “Evin Prison” by the suppressive military regime. Following his death, in order to escape the relentless pressure from the media, the press, political organizations, and human rights groups, the judicial authorities of the Revolutionary Court gave Manouchehr Mohammadi a 20-day leave from prison so that he could attend his brother’s funeral, on the condition that he would not give any interviews to the media and the press.
On the 18th day of his leave, he fled the country under the cover of night, and with the help of members of the Kurdish Democratic Party of Iran, he crossed the extremely difficult mountain terrain of Iran and entered Iraq. After passing through the mountainous areas of Iraq, he then entered Turkey. After receiving a visa and before boarding the plane to depart Istanbul Airport to the United States, he was arrested by the airport police and turned over to Turkish security forces. He spent 11 days in a Turkish security detention center.
According to the order of the Turkish Prosecutor, Manouchehr Mohammadi should have been extradited to Iran. However, on the basis of the agreement reached between the U.S. state department through its embassy in Turkey with the Turkish Foreign Ministry and Interior Ministry, instead of being extradited to Iran, Manouchehr Mohammadi was handed over to the U.S. military at the Sulaymaniyah Airport in Iraq. Afterwards, he was flown by a U.S. military plane to a U.S. air-base in Germany. From there, he was transferred again, this time to a military air-base in the United States.
Manouchehr Mohammadi says: “The Iranian people desire the support of the international community in their struggle for freedom. They especially seek the support of the United States, which can be their most important supporter in their quest for democracy. Iranian people wish for European countries to pay attention to their long-term interests in connection with the Iranians’ just demands, instead of focusing on their short-term economic interests. The people of Iran wish to be effective members of the international community and desire friendship with all countries of the world, including the United States and Israel.”
In the path of struggle for attaining democracy and freedom for the country and nation of Iran, Manouchehr Mohammadi extends his hand in cooperation with all Iranian political opposition groups – whether left, right, or middle, whether monarchist or republican. He asks them to temporarily set aside their partisan concerns and group politics and to consider the strategic interests of Iranian people. They must pay attention to the fact that, regardless of the form its government takes – be it a republic or constitutional monarchy, etc. – the future political regime governing Iran must posses and respect the three main principles of freedom, democracy, and justice. Iranian people are our biggest source of strength and are capable of reaching this goal. Proper care must be taken so that, along this path, they are supported completely. In his view, this support must be provided to an extensive front that encompasses all the various groups and independent personalities, so that they may witness the birth of an Iran that enjoys democracy and freedom, and thus, takes its rightful place in the international community.
For Manouchehr Mohammadi, democracy is the ultimate goal. As an Iranian, his plan is to make contact with political and cultural leaders and representatives of every hue, international organizations, as well as other Iranian political activists, so that he can find the way to accomplish this goal.
In the course of his four-month stay in the United States, Manouchehr Mohammadi has been honored in various ways by numerous organizations. Among these honors are:
1- A fellowship from the National Endowment for Democracy, one of the largest
and most reputable American organization. This fellowship will allow him to
continue his activities in seeking democracy for Iran and to pursue his efforts
in turning the Iranian people’s dreams in this regard into reality; and
2- The 2006 Academic Freedom Award from the Middle East Studies Association
(known as “MESA”), one of the world’s largest associations of scholars and
researchers dealing with the Middle East. Since 2001, MESA has presented
its Academic Freedom Award on appropriate occasions in recognition of
sustained contributions in support of academic freedom in the Middle East
and North Africa In 2006, this award was given jointly to Akbar (posthumously)
and Manouchehr Mohammadi of Iran; “Iranians who have sacrificed their
freedom and even their lives in the struggle to exercise basic freedoms such as
the freedom of expression and association”
(Source: www.mesa.Arizona.edu/excellence/academic.htm).
The Mohammadi brothers, Manouchehr and Akbar, have always believed in peaceful struggle for democracy. However, in the course of their incarceration by the Islamic Republic, while in solitary confinement, they underwent the worst type of physical and psychological tortures imaginable. While undergoing torture at that time, the late Akbar Mohammadi was the only one who did not stop – even for one minute – calling out the slogans “Long Live Freedom and Democracy”, and for this reason, he came to be known as a legendary figure within the national resistance movement of the university students for democracy. After seven years of imprisonment, in his honor, university students and student groups named the day of
Akbar’s death “National University Students’ Resistance Day for Democracy”. Before his martyrdom, university students and political prisoners had given him the title: “Messenger of Morality and Humanity”. During a leave for jail treatment, there were two attempts on the life of Akbar Mohammadi by agents of the Ministry of Information and Security. The first time was when he drove from Amol to the hospital in Babol to receive the results of his tests. On the way back, he was followed by two cars belonging to the government terrorist agents. After being chased for four minutes, the agents successfully drove Akbar’s car off the road. The agents wanted to convince the public that he died because of swerving off the road. Fortunately, while his car was totally demolished, he was taken to the hospital by farmers and was saved. The second time was when his family was gathered at his father’s house, when suddenly an object was through the window into the room, which was engulfed in an instant. The entire second floor and third of the first floor burned in the fire, but Akbar and the rest of the family survived.
During his seven years in prison, Akbar was subject to many medieval tortures. As a result, he suffered severe injuries and illnesses in his ears, back, and kidneys. Judiciary doctors asked that his treatment be continued abroad. They also announced that, because of his illnesses, he would no longer be physically capable of staying in prison.
But Akbar was granted only a short leave from prison in order to seek medical care. It was during this leave that he was able to write his political memories, entitled “Ideas and Lashes,” in Persian. These memories have been translated into English and will be on bookstands soon. Unfortunately, despite Akbar’s various illnesses, upon finding out about the publication of this book, the Velayat-e Faghih regime arrested him at his home and took him back to Evin prison. After his return to prison, the officials refused to allow him access to his medications, which he needed badly. To object to this matter, and to reveal and draw attention to the inhumane treatment at the hands of these officials, Akbar went on a hunger strike. After five days, he was transferred to the prison clinic where, at the order of the prison head, for three days his hands and feet were, again, forcefully chained to his bed. During each of these three days, while suffering from hunger, he was beaten severely for hours.
During these beatings, he was gagged with bandages and tape, so that his cries could not be heard by Iranian members of parliament who had come for a visit to inspect Evin prison. However, members of parliament, such as Mr. A’lami, who was aware of Akbar Mohammadi’s hunger strike, let the matter pass and did not follow it up in parliament.
In the course of his seven years and two months of imprisonment, Akbar Mohammadi went on hunger strike more than ten times. During the last hunger strike (the first one to occur during the presidency of Ahmadinejad), according to prison officials and Iranian Judiciary’s Spokesperson, he suffered a heart attack. Although, given his condition, he should have been taken to and kept in the intensive-care-unit; instead he was taken on a stretcher to a general prison ward, where he died within 20 minutes.
Now, the question on the minds of the Iranian people is whether Akbar Mohammadi died as a result of his ongoing hunger strike or whether he was yet another victim of the infamous serial murders. Perhaps they had even caused his death by administering certain drugs or chemicals to him – a practice that is among the most prevalent methods of the Ministry of Information and Security.
After Akbar was killed in prison, his mother and father requested from the Ministry of Intelligence and Security that Akbar be buried in Tehran or Amol, the family’s home- town. The government agreed to bury him in the Amol cemetery, and on the day of the burial, the Mohammadi’s and hundreds others gathered in the Amol cemetery for the funeral.
However, the Iranian government had no intentions of keeping their word. The regime had taken Akbar’s body to a remote village far away from Amol in the order to prevent Akbar’s funeral from becoming a vigil for students in Iran that are struggling for freedom. While Akbar’s parents were waiting at the site of the funeral for the body to arrive, the government called and said: “Your son’s body will not be buried in Amol. If you want to see him one last time, you must come to the village of Changemian right now”.
Akbar Mohammadi was one of the independent and secular leaders of the Iranian University Students Movement who wittingly and willingly gave his life for the cause of freedom, human dignity, and his country and people. Now, his message to the world to tell everyone about his struggle and death will not have been in vain.
Manouchehr has some evidence on the details of Akbar Mohmmadi’s death, as well as on Akbar and his own tortures, which he will present when he follows this matter up in the international courts. Manouchehr believes that, in this way, arresting the Islamic Republics political, military, and security leaders, who are covered with the blood of the Iranian people up to the crowns of their head, will be made somewhat less difficult. This will embolden the people and seekers of democracy who demand fundamental changes in the structure of power in Iran and believe that the Islamic Republic will never be capable of being reformed. These people believe that, in order to ensure its survival and stability, through playing political games, this regime buys time from the world and, at the same time, continues its criminal activities, such as murdering its own people and the people of the world.
Manouchehr considers all the political, military, and security authorities – such as the Supreme Leader himself, Mr. Khamenei, the President Ahmadinejad, the Minister of Information and Security, Mr. Mohseni Ejeyi – as well as the officials at the Evin prison, responsible for his brother’s death. Manouchehr Mohammadi asks all governmental and non-govermmental human rights organizations to assist this quest. He also invites well-known and expert Iranian and American attorneys - who, for reasons of conscience or humanitarian reasons, would be willing to represent him free of charge - to assist him.
Reza Mohammadi, the youngest brother of Manouchehr and Akbar Mohammadi was the official employee in the largest factory of heavy machinery tools in the province of Amol. He had won the first vote of the electoral candidacy of the factory for three consecutive years among hundreds of engineers and workers in the yearly elections. He had exerted the most effort in enacting the revival of the trampled wages for the engineers and the workers. He also worked to remind the board of the executives of their corruptions. His movement displeased the executives who were responsible for protecting and running the factory but were heavily involved in the current government. Hence, complaints against him started in the form of insinuation that his winning among the engineers and the workers was not because of his own popularity, but because of his brothers’- Akbar and Manouchehr- and their credits, which this on its own was a major threat and it is an indication of the factory’s gradual political tendencies. In fact, the factory’s duty is not of political matters, but to manufacture goods and bring in revenue.
Every year opponents were warning Reza to refrain from nomination otherwise he would be dismissed. But Reza Mohammadi did not retreat. For this reason, the government made a few attempts to kidnap him and secretly dispose of him, but they did not succeed. Although he was tolerated by the government for the past three rounds of the elections, by fourth nomination the government issued an order for him to be discharged from his job. In addition, the government issued another letter in this regard, stating that he is permanently forbidden to work elsewhere in Iran. Therefore, he had no alternative other than to escape from Iran and request political asylum from the United Nations. Now, along with his wife and nine year old son, they all live in Los Angeles in America as political asylum refugees.
The mother of the Mohammadi family is also very popular among Iranians both inside and outside of Iran. Each one of her Persian-language interviews on every television or radio program, whether inside Iran or abroad, brings tears to the eyes of millions of Iranians. Every Iranian who meets her is impressed by her dignity in the face of tremendous suffering and is uncontrollably reduced to tears. This woman, who is the mother of Mr. Manouchehr Mohammadi and Mr. Akbar Mohammadi, two of the most resilient fighters in the secular student movement for democracy, lives and speaks very plainly and wears simple national Iranian clothing. Similar to their mother, the Mohammadi’s father is also well loved among Iranians. The Mohammadi’s also have two younger daughters, who have graduated from Iranian universities. After being freed from jail, due to threats and the continuous danger they were exposed to, they had no choice but to leave their homeland and come to the United States. Living in Europe was also not possible for the Mohammadi family. Nasrin Mohammadi, lived in Germany for four years, and during that time there were several attempts on her life. Fortunately, she survived each time. After having learned English, the sisters are currently preparing themselves for graduate studies at UCLA.
