Members of Iran’s intelligence services have beaten up and temporarily detained a prominent journalist and film-maker critical of the authorities’ treatment of the opposition.
Mohammad Nurizad, 61, was protesting in front of the Iranian intelligence ministry in Tehran on Monday when a group of its agents attacked him, and took him to Evin prison without a valid warrant for his arrest. He was later released.
“They pushed me on the ground as they put their knees on my back, my head hit the asphalt and blood gushed out from my eyebrows,” he told the Guardian by phone from Tehran. “They didn’t have a valid arrest warrant so I refused to get in their car voluntarily. They handcuffed me and forced me into the vehicle.”
Every morning for the past 43 days, Nurizad has gone in front of the ministry’s building wearing a white shirt and carrying a white flag with his demands written on it. “The authorities have confiscated my personal computer and belongings and have so far refused to release them,” he said. “They have also imposed a travel ban on me and my family, barring us from leaving the country. I simply want these restrictions to be lifted.”
“I’m banned from working but nothing has been mentioned in my sentence. Some political prisoners in Iran are banned from working, but at least it’s mentioned in their sentence. But for me, nothing is mentioned. No one dares to publish my work.”
Despite this, Nurizad said he has nothing to regret. “I realised I couldn’t continue with that ignorance I had some years ago,” he said. “I couldn’t deceive myself anymore. I wanted to get rid of the mask I was wearing.”
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