Mazdak Daneshvar
Tortured Confessions and Three Decades of Political Ignominy
Moderator: Raha Sabet Sarvestany
Abstract
It has been over a century since the Iranian Constitutional Revolution, and less than 50 years since the 1979 Revolution. Despite the Constitutional Law’s prohibition of torture in both political regimes, torture has persisted within the Iranian judicial and security services.
One enduring phenomenon reflecting this is public recantation, traceable for almost 70 years since the 1953 coup d’état until the present day. Following the 1979 revolution, and particularly after June 1981, public recantation has become increasingly common and is now broadcast on national television programs.
Surveys conducted through interviews with torture survivors reveal that the content of these programs is often extracted through coercion, the use of physical or mental torture, inhumane treatment, or the manipulation of data pertaining to the subjects’ private lives.
In this presentation, my intention is to depict when public recantation first entered the political realm in modern Iran and to explore how security services have developed scenarios to demean and humiliate the subjects.
Furthermore, I endeavor to elucidate the utilization of these recantations by security services in the suppression of opposition political activities.
Lastly, I shall direct attention to the intellectual sphere, delving into their discerning reactions to these public recantations and the unequivocal condemnation they express towards the subjects of torture.
