Saeed Rezaei, 61, spent time with his family for the first time in a decade on being released from Iran’s Rajaei Shahr Prison after serving 10 years of a 20-year sentence.
He maintains that the charges against him—espionage, propaganda against the regime, founding an illegal organization—were pretexts to veil his true “crime”—being a member of the Baha’i faith.
Rezaei was one of seven Baha’i leaders arrested in 2008. Their 20-year sentences were reduced to 10 on appeal.
Prison interrogations were an ordeal. He was pressured to confess to being a spy and threatened that his wife and daughters would be arrested if he did not cooperate, but he persisted in his assertion he was not—his only “crime” was practicing his faith.
The support of his fellow inmates and their encouragement were the most comforting aspect of the experience.
“Now we have no doubt that if Iranian people were free and if their minds were not poisoned against each other, they could live together.”
“Both ordinary and political prisoners looked on us as their compatriots,” he told IranWire. “After spending time together, a peaceful co-existence among us emerged. Even if some were cold toward us for a few weeks, a friendship developed after we lived together. Their respect for us was very pleasant.
“In prison, we achieved coexistence with political prisoners who thought differently from us, and this was an extraordinary experience for both sides. Now we have no doubt that if Iranian people were free and if their minds were not poisoned against each other, they could live together. Our experience [in prison] can be realized across the whole of Iran.”
The past 10 years have seen no improvement in the government’s treatment of Baha’i, a worldwide religion that originated in Iran in the 1850s. Rezaei’s fellow worshippers continue to be banned from attending institutions of higher education. Their businesses are forcibly closed. Arrests based on fraudulent charges continue.
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