A view of the Iranian Green Revolution protest movement, which followed…
Forced Confessions
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Forced Confessions pulls the mask off a regime that brutally extracts lies from its citizens. For the first time on film, six victims of Iran's torture chambers speak. These are not criminals, but writers, journalists, and scholars.
The film is narrated by Director Maziar Bahari, who himself was used as a 'poster boy for subversion' and forced to falsely admit to orchestrating street protests in 2009.
We meet Faraj Sarkoohi, the editor of the most popular literary magazine in Iran during the 1980s and 90s. Put through a mock execution, Faraj had a remarkable experience that shows the power of the human spirit over terror and even death.
Ali Afshari and Omid Memarian are activists and bloggers who had to flee Iran after their arrest and torture, and now work on behalf of human rights and freedom of expression.
Ramin Rahanbegloo is a philosopher and follower of Gandhi and the Dalai Lama, whose belief in non-violence led the Islamic regime to accuse him of plotting a 'soft overthrow.'
In a tribute the life and death of journalist Siamak Pourzand, his wife Mehrangiz Kar and daughter Leily Pourzand speak about his passion for cinema and his decision to commit suicide after years of physical and mental abuse: a final act of defiance against the Islamic state.
This is the story of the Iranian regime's attempt to legitimize its rule through force, and how the Iranian people continue to speak truth to power - whatever the cost.
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Citation
Main credits
Bahari, Maziar (film producer)
Bahari, Maziar (screenwriter)
Bahari, Maziar (film director)
Bahari, Maziar (narrator)
Other credits
Camera, John Templeton; editors, James Mullett, Gordon Watt; music Nainita Desai, Malcolm Laws.
Distributor subjects
Human Rights; Iran; Law; Middle East; Politics; PsychologyKeywords
Human Rights; Law; Middle East; Politics; Iran; regime; political prisoner; torture; terror; "Forced Confessions"; Icarus Films
WEBVTT
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(lively music)
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(typewriter clacking)
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(typewriter clacking)
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(somber music)
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of my life.
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It was the day I was forced to make a public confession.
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Millions of people watched as I repeated the lies
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that were fed to me and apologized
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to Iran\'s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei,
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the man my torturer called his master.
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(lively music)
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In this film, I\'m going to different countries
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to meet other Iranians
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who have gone through the same experience.
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We all recanted our confessions and left our country
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as soon as we had the chance.
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The history of the Islamic Republic of Iran
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is a history of forced confessions.
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No other government in modern history
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has forced its citizens to testify against themselves
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with such ferocity and consistency.
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Our false confessions,
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and the way those confessions were extracted,
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reveal more about our captors and torturers
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than their victims.
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(tense music)
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toppled the Shah\'s dictatorship and brought
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Ayatollah Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini to power.
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Ayatollah Khomeini understood the power of media.
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He led the Revolution from exile
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by using audio cassettes of his messages.
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And when he became Iran\'s Supreme Leader,
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he effectively used television to disseminate
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his interpretation of Islam and crush the opposition.
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(horns honking)
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(speaking a foreign language)
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For many of my generation,
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the 1980s, when the regime was consolidating its power,
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were the worst years of our lives.
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In those years, arrests, torture, and execution
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were a part of daily life in Iran.
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Soon after coming to power, the Islamic regime
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realized that televised confessions
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were an effective way to coerce its enemies.
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To the supporters of the regime, those who believed
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in the divine rule of Ayatollah Khomeini,
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public confessions proved the criminal nature
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of the opposition.
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And by televising the confessions,
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the regime also successfully instilled fear
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in those who didn\'t support it.
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I clearly remember the haunting images
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of defeated men and women shown daily on television
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in the 1980s.
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I always wondered if the organizers
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of these mass witch hunts were making a political point
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or whether they simply enjoyed this spectacle.
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In this footage,
(singing a foreign language)
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former female members of a gorilla group
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opposed to Ayatollah Khomeini
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sing an anthem in praise of his virtues
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while men are forced
(shouting a foreign language)
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to chant death to Iran\'s foreign and domestic enemies.
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The regime has always denied using torture in its prisons.
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It has claimed that it has managed to reform prisoners
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through the kindness shown to them by prison authorities.
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No Iranian official replied to my requests
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to explain this phenomenon.
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The prisoners knew what awaited them
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if they failed to show remorse.
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Defiant prisoners were often hanged publicly
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in front of their friends and comrades.
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(somber music)
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Many of the men and women in the show trials
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in the 1980s had taken arms against the government.
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They could have been tried and punished accordingly,
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but by displaying its captives before killing them,
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the regime was telling my generation
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to support it or face its vengeance.
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Like thousands of young Iranians,
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I chose a third way.
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I left my country migrating to Canada in 1986.
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In the early years of the Revolution,
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it was mostly political prisoners
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who were forced to confess,
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but since the 1990s, the regime has turned its attention
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to writers, intellectuals, and journalists.
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Iran\'s current Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
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regards Western secular culture
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as the main threat to the Islamic Republic.
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He allegedly believes that Iranian intellectuals
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are weak and corrupt people who will confess
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to anything under pressure.
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Ali Khamenei replaced Ruhollah Khomeini
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after his death in 1989.
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In the early years of Khamenei\'s reign,
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a number of writers and intellectuals
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were arrested and intimidated
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by Iran\'s Ministry of Intelligence.
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(somber music)
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and 20 other Iranian authors.
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Their plan failed but they kidnapped Faraj a year later.
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Faraj didn\'t know what his captors wanted
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and where he was being held.
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He was told that he was going to die
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and was subjected to a bizarre form
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of psychological torture.
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(somber music)
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(people shouting)
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Iranian government denied any knowledge of his whereabouts.
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President Akbar Rafsanjani chastised the West
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for interfering in Iran\'s internal affairs
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by inquiring about Faraj.
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He called the disappearance a lie
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and a conspiracy devised by the West
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to tarnish the image of the Islamic government.
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Under torture, Faraj confessed to spying for the West
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and apologized for having left the country illegally.
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He called westernization the \"root of evil\"
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and said that the West was planning
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a cultural invasion of Iran.
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His confession was later published in an article entitled,
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\"We Helped the West Turn Iran into an Un-Islamic Society\".
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Despite his confessions, Faraj\'s torturers
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continued their sadistic treatment of him.
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(gentle music)
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before thinking he was going to die and fainting,
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a musical miracle happened.
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He found himself alone in a concert hall
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while Beethoven conducted his \"Ninth Symphony\"
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for him alone.
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told him that no one cared about him.
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But the truth was far from it.
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Faraj\'s family and thousands of people around the world
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had been campaigning for him since the day of his arrest.
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Their efforts forced the regime to release Faraj
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after 48 days in prison.
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Yet his release didn\'t bring freedom.
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In a staged press conference in Tehran Airport,
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Faraj was forced to deny his kidnapping
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and say that he had gone to Germany to see his family.
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He was also under constant pressure to betray
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his friends and colleagues.
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When Faraj refused to cooperate, the Intelligence official
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threatened to arrest or kill him.
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Faraj sent a letter to his wife Farideh in Germany
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detailing all aspects of his ordeal.
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He asked her to publish the letter
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only if he was detained again or killed
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in a staged accident.
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Faraj was arrested less than two months later.
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His letter appeared in newspapers around the world
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the next day.
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such humiliation and degradation
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repeating whatever they asked me?
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I don\'t want to exonerate myself,
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but the constant physical and psychological pressure
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had ruined me.
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I just wanted the pressure to end so I could die.
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I\'m hopeful that someone will read this
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after my arrest or death.
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It must be published so that there will be a document,
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a testament to the pain and the suffering
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that I have experienced.
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and around the world.
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By the time it was published, many Iranians
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who had previously believed in forced confessions
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had started to doubt the regime.
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But Faraj\'s letter for the first time
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clearly explained the methods used
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by Iran\'s Intelligence organizations
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to extract confessions.
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The letter was an unprecedented international disgrace
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for the regime and an unpleasant surprise
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for Faraj\'s torturers.
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(lively music)
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In 1997, the Iranian government
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was trying to reach a rapprochement with the West.
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The country was becoming more isolated
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and the price of oil was decreasing daily.
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Killing Faraj would only result
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in more international condemnation and pressure.
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Faraj\'s captors dropped
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most of the charges
(gentle music)
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and he was sentenced to a one-year imprisonment.
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After finishing his term, Faraj joined his family
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in Germany where he still lives and works as a writer.
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(tense music)
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Faraj\'s kidnap and torture gave three stark choices
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to Iranian writers and intellectuals.
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Stay in Iran under constant harassment,
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migrate to another country, or stop writing altogether.
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Journalist Siamak Pourzand chose to stay in Iran.
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(somber music)
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Siamak had been a reporter since the early 1950s.
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His main passion was cinema.
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He wrote about films and interviewed
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a number of filmmakers and actors.
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He also organized cine clubs
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in which he showed foreign films.
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Siamak was married to Mehrangiz Kar,
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a prominent women\'s rights lawyer.
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Even though Siamak supported the Shah,
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he was not a political activist.
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The 1979 Revolution transformed Siamak\'s life
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for the worse.
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(people shouting)
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He lost his job, he was blacklisted,
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and was imprisoned several times
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for his past activities.
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Mehrangiz was also persecuted for her work as a lawyer
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and was constantly harassed by some members
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of Iran\'s court system.
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This constant pressure made life all but impossible
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for their daughter Leily.
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(tense music)
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(tense rhythmic music)
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Leily decided to leave her country.
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She moved to Canada after graduating
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from university in 1999.
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I met Siamak when I went back to Iran
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for the first time after 11 years in October \'97.
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Siamak was charming and always ready to help.
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He loved his country but was frustrated
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by the utter ignorance of many government officials.
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\"They think most actresses are prostitutes
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\"and cinema is a brothel,\" Siamak used to complain.
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During a trial, Siamak\'s wife Mehrangiz
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heard a prosecutor\'s twisted interpretation
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of Siamak\'s cinematic background.
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(tense music)
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about the future of Iran.
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(crowd cheering)
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A few months before I met him,
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pro-reform Mohammad Khatami was elected president
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in May \'97.
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Siamak and many other Iranian writers
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thought their lives would change.
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After Khatami\'s election, dozens of newspapers
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began to publish and writers such as Siamak
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were allowed to work again.
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Siamak was excited
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about the reforms
(people shouting)
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and the rejuvenated Iranian youth.
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He thought that this new energy would force
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Ayatollah Khamenei and the Conservatives
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to surrender to the people\'s will.
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But this optimistic view was not shared
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by many Iranians who saw the brutal way
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the regime crushed this student movement.
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(somber music)
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(tense music)
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within the regime.
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Iranians had elected a reformist president,
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but the control of the courts and the army
267
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remained in the hands of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei.
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Khamenei was unhappy with the direction of reforms.
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In a speech in May 2000, he called the reformist press
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\"the bastion of enemies in the service of Israel
271
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\"and the United States.\"
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Following this speech, the regime shut down
273
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a number of newspapers and dozens of journalists
274
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were arrested and imprisoned.
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Siamak became one of the first targets.
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(tense music)
277
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278
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Siamak was arrested at his sister\'s house
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by a group of armed men
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who did not identify themselves.
281
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(somber music)
282
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Siamak\'s arrest followed the publication
283
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of a series of articles in \"Kayhan\" newspaper
284
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which is under the supervision of Ayatollah Khamenei.
285
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In the articles, Siamak was portrayed
286
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as an unimaginative, corrupt, and ignorant journalist
287
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who only succeeded because he acted as a pimp
288
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for newspaper publishers before the Revolution.
289
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\"Kayhan\" called Siamak \"a media mastermind
290
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\"who served the Shah and the Americans.\"
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(somber music)
292
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293
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Hossein Shariatmadari.
294
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Shariatmadari was a political prisoner
295
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and had been severely tortured under the Shah.
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Shariatmadari was assigned by Ayatollah Khamenei
297
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to be the editor of \"Kayhan\" in 1993.
298
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\"Kayhan\" has an ominous influence
299
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on Iranian media and politics.
300
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(bell chiming)
301
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It plants accusations against critics of the regime
302
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by fabricating facts and manipulating information.
303
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The Intelligence authorities then use \"Kayhan\" stories
304
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to arrest and imprison regime critics.
305
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Siamak\'s family didn\'t know where he was,
306
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but a former prison mate gave Leily a few details
307
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of her father\'s condition in jail.
308
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(somber music)
309
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310
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Siamak was paraded before the public
311
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in a staged press conference.
312
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\"Kayhan\" newspaper covered the event.
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As usual, \"Kayhan\" used its unique brand of hyperbole
314
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to describe Siamak.
315
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The headline ran,
316
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\"Behind the Scenes of Reforms and Overthrow\".
317
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Siamak confessed to all the charges that were thrown at him.
318
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He accepted that he was morally corrupt,
319
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a promoter of Western culture,
320
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an anti-revolutionary activist,
321
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and a reformist sympathizer.
322
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He apologized for everything he had done
323
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since the late 1940s and thanked his interrogators
324
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for the kindness they showed towards him.
325
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It was the first time
326
00:28:16.220 --> 00:28:18.860
that Mehrangiz and Leily had seen Siamak
327
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since his arrest.
328
00:28:20.740 --> 00:28:23.093
They, of course, dismissed his confessions.
329
00:28:25.190 --> 00:28:28.330
But what surprised them most were not his words.
330
00:28:28.330 --> 00:28:32.487
It was his photograph showing a ghost of the man they knew.
331
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(somber music)
332
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333
00:29:49.310 --> 00:29:52.700
warned his family not to speak about his case.
334
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But Leily and Mehrangiz knew that no prisoner
335
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had ever been released due to silence.
336
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Leily decided to tell the world media
337
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the news of her father\'s horrifying condition.
338
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(somber music)
339
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340
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under house arrest.
341
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He spent the rest of his life under constant supervision
342
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by Intelligence agents or in the hospital.
343
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In telephone conversations which Leily recorded,
344
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Siamak struggled to describe the tortures he had suffered.
345
00:31:32.437 --> 00:31:35.560
(somber music)
346
00:31:35.560 --> 00:31:37.240
347
00:31:37.240 --> 00:31:39.300
even after his release.
348
00:31:39.300 --> 00:31:41.830
Mehrangiz once talked to them when they were
349
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in Siamak\'s house trying to extort money from him.
350
00:32:30.898 --> 00:32:32.590
(gentle music)
351
00:32:32.590 --> 00:32:34.710
352
00:32:34.710 --> 00:32:37.110
and harassment, Siamak decided
353
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to take his own life in 2011.
354
00:32:42.010 --> 00:32:45.090
In a public display of anger at the regime,
355
00:32:45.090 --> 00:32:48.553
he jumped from the balcony of his fifth floor apartment.
356
00:33:16.660 --> 00:33:19.243 line:15%
(somber music)
357
00:34:00.322 --> 00:34:01.263
(people shouting)
(tense rhythmic music)
358
00:34:01.263 --> 00:34:05.120
359
00:34:05.120 --> 00:34:08.260
against the closure of a reformist newspaper.
360
00:34:08.260 --> 00:34:10.770
It was the first demonstration of its kind
361
00:34:10.770 --> 00:34:13.970
since the 1980s and the first time
362
00:34:13.970 --> 00:34:16.863
that Ayatollah Khamenei\'s leadership was challenged.
363
00:34:17.700 --> 00:34:20.500
The protests were swiftly and violently crushed
364
00:34:20.500 --> 00:34:23.310
by the police and the paramilitary Basij
365
00:34:23.310 --> 00:34:26.690
which is part of the Revolutionary Guard\'s Corps.
366
00:34:26.690 --> 00:34:28.870
They arrested hundreds of students
367
00:34:28.870 --> 00:34:31.030
and forced them to implicate the reformists
368
00:34:31.030 --> 00:34:33.593
in a foreign plot against the regime.
369
00:34:34.590 --> 00:34:39.200
Student Ali Afshari realized the power of \"Kayhan\" newspaper
370
00:34:39.200 --> 00:34:40.333
in the torture room.
371
00:35:24.286 --> 00:35:27.135
(tense music)
372
00:35:27.135 --> 00:35:29.070
373
00:35:29.070 --> 00:35:31.150
of his interrogator.
374
00:35:31.150 --> 00:35:33.160
His name is Reza Seraj,
375
00:35:33.160 --> 00:35:36.283
a member of the Revolutionary Guard\'s Intelligence unit.
376
00:35:38.700 --> 00:35:40.843
Seraj was not interested in facts.
377
00:35:41.840 --> 00:35:44.270
Ali was forced to confess to conspiring
378
00:35:44.270 --> 00:35:46.840
against the Islamic regime in the guise
379
00:35:46.840 --> 00:35:48.433
of a student activist.
380
00:36:18.307 --> 00:36:19.510
(tense music)
381
00:36:19.510 --> 00:36:21.680
382
00:36:21.680 --> 00:36:23.770
with his interrogators.
383
00:36:23.770 --> 00:36:26.670
Finally they put him through a mock execution
384
00:36:26.670 --> 00:36:29.350
and told him that his mother was on the phone
385
00:36:29.350 --> 00:36:30.963
begging him to confess.
386
00:37:00.727 --> 00:37:02.378
(tense music)
387
00:37:02.378 --> 00:37:04.490
388
00:37:04.490 --> 00:37:07.463
and agreed to confess against himself on camera.
389
00:38:03.541 --> 00:38:04.716
(tense music)
390
00:38:04.716 --> 00:38:07.780
391
00:38:07.780 --> 00:38:09.793
for Ali\'s televised confession.
392
00:38:11.190 --> 00:38:13.100
An embellished version of the interview
393
00:38:13.100 --> 00:38:16.820
was published in \"Kayhan\" newspaper the next day.
394
00:38:16.820 --> 00:38:19.650
After apologizing to Ayatollah Khamenei,
395
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Ali admitted to the crimes of questioning his authority
396
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and trying to establish a secular government in Iran.
397
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But at the first opportunity, Ali smuggled the letter
398
00:38:36.810 --> 00:38:38.903
to the media from his prison cell.
399
00:38:39.890 --> 00:38:42.880
In the letter, he details his imprisonment,
400
00:38:42.880 --> 00:38:44.373
torture, and confession.
401
00:39:19.428 --> 00:39:21.580
(somber music)
402
00:39:21.580 --> 00:39:23.430
403
00:39:23.430 --> 00:39:25.460
before being released on bail.
404
00:39:25.460 --> 00:39:28.733
Of those years, six months were in solitary confinement.
405
00:39:29.880 --> 00:39:32.360
Ali migrated to the United States
406
00:39:32.360 --> 00:39:35.083
where he is continuing his political activities.
407
00:39:39.705 --> 00:39:43.705
(train rumbling and clattering)
408
00:39:53.713 --> 00:39:55.330
(somber music)
409
00:39:55.330 --> 00:39:57.960
Since Ali\'s release, Reza Seraj has become
410
00:39:57.960 --> 00:40:00.620
a public figure while keeping his day job
411
00:40:00.620 --> 00:40:02.170
as a torturer.
412
00:40:02.170 --> 00:40:04.920
On his website, Seraj calls himself
413
00:40:04.920 --> 00:40:07.420
a specialist of strategic studies
414
00:40:07.420 --> 00:40:11.440
and writes about cyber wars against the Islamic Republic.
415
00:40:11.440 --> 00:40:15.140
Most of Seraj\'s writings and PowerPoint presentations
416
00:40:15.140 --> 00:40:17.630
rehash \"Kayhan\" newspaper articles
417
00:40:17.630 --> 00:40:19.073
from the past 10 years.
418
00:40:21.530 --> 00:40:24.780
In September 2004, \"Kayhan\" newspaper
419
00:40:24.780 --> 00:40:27.010 line:15%
warned against the sabotage netork
420
00:40:27.010 --> 00:40:30.997 line:15%
of bloggers, journalists, and reformist officials.\"
421
00:40:31.947 --> 00:40:35.620 line:15%
\"Kayhan\" called the members of this imaginary network
422
00:40:35.620 --> 00:40:40.240
Fifth Column agents who serve America, Europe, and Israel
423
00:40:40.240 --> 00:40:43.803
while promoting moral corruption and prostitution.
424
00:40:44.710 --> 00:40:47.780
The article led to the arrest of a number of journalists
425
00:40:47.780 --> 00:40:50.000
and bloggers a month later.
426
00:40:50.000 --> 00:40:53.420
Journalist Omid Memarian experienced torture
427
00:40:53.420 --> 00:40:55.273
and humiliation immediately.
428
00:42:19.537 --> 00:42:22.120
(somber music)
429
00:42:23.106 --> 00:42:26.240
430
00:42:26.240 --> 00:42:29.660
Tehran\'s chief prosecutor in 2004.
431
00:42:29.660 --> 00:42:32.660
Mortazavi had been a judge and in that capacity
432
00:42:32.660 --> 00:42:34.960
had shut down dozens of newspapers
433
00:42:34.960 --> 00:42:36.923
and sentenced many journalists.
434
00:42:39.920 --> 00:42:42.490
The interrogators working for Mortazavi
435
00:42:42.490 --> 00:42:45.240
were known for using sexual intimidation
436
00:42:45.240 --> 00:42:46.930
to break prisoners.
437
00:42:46.930 --> 00:42:49.300
Omid\'s interrogator once accused him
438
00:42:49.300 --> 00:42:51.830
of having illicit sexual affairs
439
00:42:51.830 --> 00:42:54.140
and then forced him to describe the details
440
00:42:54.140 --> 00:42:56.373
of those imaginary encounters.
441
00:44:50.974 --> 00:44:52.348
(tense music)
442
00:44:52.348 --> 00:44:55.150
443
00:44:55.150 --> 00:44:58.440
televised confessions in his own office.
444
00:44:58.440 --> 00:45:01.130
He had threatened them with imprisonment or death
445
00:45:01.130 --> 00:45:02.943
if they talked about their ordeal.
446
00:45:49.452 --> 00:45:51.230
(tense music)
447
00:45:51.230 --> 00:45:53.800
448
00:45:53.800 --> 00:45:57.110
privately met with Iranian judiciary officials
449
00:45:57.110 --> 00:46:01.490
and complained about Mortazavi\'s harassments and threats.
450
00:46:01.490 --> 00:46:03.860
The officials sympathized with Omid
451
00:46:03.860 --> 00:46:06.040
and did their best to help him.
452
00:46:06.040 --> 00:46:08.610
They also regarded Mortazavi as a disgrace
453
00:46:08.610 --> 00:46:11.000
to the Iranian justice system
454
00:46:11.000 --> 00:46:13.220
but admitted that they couldn\'t stop him
455
00:46:13.220 --> 00:46:14.500
because he was supported
456
00:46:14.500 --> 00:46:16.943
by the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei.
457
00:47:06.280 --> 00:47:07.238
(gentle music)
458
00:47:07.238 --> 00:47:10.263
459
00:47:12.260 --> 00:47:14.900
He graduated from Berkeley University
460
00:47:14.900 --> 00:47:18.290
and now works as a journalist and human rights activist
461
00:47:18.290 --> 00:47:19.123
in New York.
462
00:47:23.267 --> 00:47:25.767
(tense music)
463
00:47:40.301 --> 00:47:43.150
(people chattering)
(tense music)
464
00:47:43.150 --> 00:47:47.440
The election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as president in 2005
465
00:47:47.440 --> 00:47:49.593
meant the end of the reformist era.
466
00:47:51.140 --> 00:47:54.830
Ahmadinejad was Ayatollah Khamenei\'s chosen candidate.
467
00:47:54.830 --> 00:47:57.400
The election of a subservient president
468
00:47:57.400 --> 00:48:01.320
meant that the Supreme Leader had more power than ever.
469
00:48:01.320 --> 00:48:04.743
But increasing power meant increasing paranoia.
470
00:48:05.751 --> 00:48:07.090
(people shouting)
471
00:48:07.090 --> 00:48:10.570
Since the early 2000s, the regime\'s main fear
472
00:48:10.570 --> 00:48:12.920
has become a soft overthrow
473
00:48:12.920 --> 00:48:15.570
by which it means peaceful reforms
474
00:48:15.570 --> 00:48:17.750
similar to those that led to the fall
475
00:48:17.750 --> 00:48:20.713
of socialist dictatorships in Eastern Europe.
476
00:48:21.720 --> 00:48:26.210
In 2006, three Iranian scholars living in the West
477
00:48:26.210 --> 00:48:29.350
were arrested while visiting Iran.
478
00:48:29.350 --> 00:48:32.160
Ramin Jahanbegloo was one of them.
479
00:48:32.160 --> 00:48:34.370
His interrogator accused him of planning
480
00:48:34.370 --> 00:48:36.697
a soft overthrow of the regime.
481
00:49:36.932 --> 00:49:37.765
(gentle music)
482
00:49:37.765 --> 00:49:39.710
483
00:49:39.710 --> 00:49:42.938
whom the Iranian regime calls a CIA agent.
484
00:49:42.938 --> 00:49:43.771
485
00:49:43.771 --> 00:49:45.890
486
00:49:45.890 --> 00:49:48.840
the Dali Lama\'s informer in Iran.
487
00:49:48.840 --> 00:49:52.650
He charged Ramin with plotting non-violent regime change
488
00:49:52.650 --> 00:49:55.618
with the help of Western intelligence agencies.
489
00:49:55.618 --> 00:49:58.618 line:15%
490
00:50:26.423 --> 00:50:28.240
(tense music)
491
00:50:28.240 --> 00:50:31.280
492
00:50:31.280 --> 00:50:34.290
Ramin and others\' confessions were intercut
493
00:50:34.290 --> 00:50:36.400
with scenes of the peaceful overthrow
494
00:50:36.400 --> 00:50:38.290
of communist dictatorships
495
00:50:38.290 --> 00:50:42.100
in the former Soviet Republics of George and Ukraine.
496
00:50:42.100 --> 00:50:44.970
The irony of comparing the Islamic Republic
497
00:50:44.970 --> 00:50:47.930
to communist regimes, with their own history
498
00:50:47.930 --> 00:50:51.890
of show trials, escaped the producers of the film.
499
00:50:51.890 --> 00:50:54.490
Through dramatic narration, music,
500
00:50:54.490 --> 00:50:56.910
and a strange use of visual effects,
501
00:50:56.910 --> 00:51:00.400
the film presented a criminal image of the three scholars
502
00:51:00.400 --> 00:51:03.797 line:15%
who had done nothing but write articles and books.
503
00:51:23.415 --> 00:51:27.610
(gentle music)
(train rumbling)
504
00:51:27.610 --> 00:51:30.210
505
00:51:31.970 --> 00:51:34.410
He now lives and teaches in Canada,
506
00:51:34.410 --> 00:51:37.610
but he still travels the world to promote non-violence
507
00:51:37.610 --> 00:51:40.513
as the main solution to Iran\'s problems.
508
00:52:24.300 --> 00:52:27.350
509
00:52:27.350 --> 00:52:29.180
two months after millions of people
510
00:52:29.180 --> 00:52:30.880
took to the streets to protest
511
00:52:30.880 --> 00:52:34.425
against Mahmoud Ahmadinejad\'s reelection as president.
512
00:52:34.425 --> 00:52:35.670
(people chattering)
513
00:52:35.670 --> 00:52:39.470
This is my footage of those peaceful demonstrations.
514
00:52:39.470 --> 00:52:43.050
No insults were flung, no punches thrown.
515
00:52:43.050 --> 00:52:45.913
People just wanted their votes to be counted.
516
00:52:47.072 --> 00:52:47.905
(people shouting)
517
00:52:47.905 --> 00:52:51.300
The regime violently crushed the demonstrations.
518
00:52:51.300 --> 00:52:54.390
It had a ready-made script blaming the protests
519
00:52:54.390 --> 00:52:56.973
on foreign governments and their agents.
520
00:52:57.980 --> 00:53:01.093
All it needed were actors to play the parts.
521
00:53:03.130 --> 00:53:04.903
That was when they arrested me.
522
00:53:06.130 --> 00:53:09.450
At the time, I was a \"Newsweek\" magazine correspondent
523
00:53:09.450 --> 00:53:12.910
and made films for different Western broadcasters.
524
00:53:12.910 --> 00:53:15.500
I was an ideal candidate to be the face
525
00:53:15.500 --> 00:53:17.470
of the evil Western media,
526
00:53:17.470 --> 00:53:19.583
a poster boy for subversion.
527
00:53:23.010 --> 00:53:25.340
My confession was aired after a show trial
528
00:53:25.340 --> 00:53:27.950
in which the prosecutor blamed Western media
529
00:53:27.950 --> 00:53:29.850
for provoking the protests
530
00:53:29.850 --> 00:53:32.423
and used my forced confession as proof.
531
00:53:34.070 --> 00:53:36.860
By the time of the 2009 show trials,
532
00:53:36.860 --> 00:53:39.850
most Iranians, even the supporters of the regime
533
00:53:39.850 --> 00:53:43.290
had stopped believing in public confessions.
534
00:53:43.290 --> 00:53:45.860
But the regime insisted on using them
535
00:53:45.860 --> 00:53:47.452
to intimidate its critics.
536
00:53:47.452 --> 00:53:50.220
(speaking a foreign language)
537
00:53:50.220 --> 00:53:54.150
After the trial, Ayatollah Khamenei called our confessions
538
00:53:54.150 --> 00:53:57.473
legal testimony that is religiously justified.
539
00:54:00.148 --> 00:54:03.490
Since then, the regime has intensified its use
540
00:54:03.490 --> 00:54:05.290
of forced confessions.
541
00:54:05.290 --> 00:54:08.540
These days, not only political activists,
542
00:54:08.540 --> 00:54:12.220
journalists, and writers are forced to confess,
543
00:54:12.220 --> 00:54:15.440
the regime also parades ordinary citizens
544
00:54:15.440 --> 00:54:17.853
admitting to a variety of crimes.
545
00:54:21.370 --> 00:54:24.370
Televised confessions have become a public venue
546
00:54:24.370 --> 00:54:28.173
for the regime to show its power over its citizens.
547
00:54:34.230 --> 00:54:36.880
My torturer couldn\'t contain his pleasure
548
00:54:36.880 --> 00:54:38.763
when he forced me to confess.
549
00:54:39.830 --> 00:54:42.210
I don\'t have a picture of my interrogator,
550
00:54:42.210 --> 00:54:45.733
but this cartoon is an accurate depiction of him.
551
00:54:47.540 --> 00:54:50.740
From what I learned later, my interrogator,
552
00:54:50.740 --> 00:54:53.060
like many supporters of the regime,
553
00:54:53.060 --> 00:54:55.620
had been an idealistic young man
554
00:54:55.620 --> 00:54:58.880
who wanted to build an Islamic utopia.
555
00:54:58.880 --> 00:54:59.950
That\'s why he joined
556
00:54:59.950 --> 00:55:03.140
the Revolutionary Guard\'s Intelligence unit.
557
00:55:03.140 --> 00:55:07.473
But his idealism was soon replaced by a desire for power.
558
00:55:09.060 --> 00:55:12.730
When he was beating, kicking, and slapping me,
559
00:55:12.730 --> 00:55:15.360
I could see that he was not himself.
560
00:55:15.360 --> 00:55:18.220
He was obeying the orders of a government
561
00:55:18.220 --> 00:55:21.490
built on deceit, a regime that thinks
562
00:55:21.490 --> 00:55:23.223
only about its survival.
563
00:55:28.770 --> 00:55:31.940
When I came out of prison, I wondered what my friends
564
00:55:31.940 --> 00:55:34.850
and family thought about my confessions.
565
00:55:34.850 --> 00:55:37.000
I knew I had done nothing wrong,
566
00:55:37.000 --> 00:55:39.163
but I still felt ashamed of lying.
567
00:55:40.940 --> 00:55:45.220
To my surprise, no one criticized me for my confessions
568
00:55:45.220 --> 00:55:49.070
and most people dismissed the show trial as a joke,
569
00:55:49.070 --> 00:55:50.393
albeit a bad one.
570
00:55:51.839 --> 00:55:54.660
(lively music)
(people chattering)
571
00:55:54.660 --> 00:55:57.420
The regime might have been able to fool many people
572
00:55:57.420 --> 00:56:01.460
by forced confessions in the past but not anymore.
573
00:56:01.460 --> 00:56:04.670
I believe those four days of peaceful protest
574
00:56:04.670 --> 00:56:08.280
in June 2009, the Green Movement,
575
00:56:08.280 --> 00:56:11.663
were four days of soul searching by millions of Iranians.
576
00:56:14.530 --> 00:56:17.910
Our silence held up a mirror to the Islamic regime,
577
00:56:17.910 --> 00:56:20.243
its lies and its violent history.
578
00:56:21.290 --> 00:56:24.610
When we passed by Ayatollah Khamenei\'s murals,
579
00:56:24.610 --> 00:56:27.420
we hoped that some day he might realize
580
00:56:27.420 --> 00:56:30.310
that the soul of a nation cannot be broken
581
00:56:30.310 --> 00:56:31.943
by brutal intimidation.
582
00:56:33.120 --> 00:56:36.230
But perhaps this was a foolish hope.
583
00:56:36.230 --> 00:56:39.400
As history has proven time and again,
584
00:56:39.400 --> 00:56:42.660
the most dangerous moment for any regime
585
00:56:42.660 --> 00:56:47.096
is the moment it realizes that it has been lying to itself.
586
00:56:47.096 --> 00:56:49.929
(people shouting)
587
00:56:51.557 --> 00:56:54.224 line:15%
(upbeat music)
