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Iranian Torture: Not As Bad As Guantanamo

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By JOHN REINIERS

In My Own Words

Published: July 23, 2008

Ahmad Batebi, an Iranian student protester, appeared on the cover of The Economist in 1999 holding a bloody T-shirt of another student protester who was shot. He became a symbol of the Iranian freedom movement. This instant fame resulted in a warning from the Iranian government: "You have signed your own death warrant."
Batebi was arrested, blindfolded and beaten – including his testicles – with metal cables, had salt rubbed into his wounds, his teeth kicked in, and was hung from the ceiling with his arms tied behind him. He would pass out. They would hold him face down in raw sewage until he inhaled. He was tortured constantly. He was sentenced to death, and led to the gallows twice. One time a noose was left around his neck until he passed out. The second time, while he was waiting to be hung, a prisoner on either side of him was hanged. He was in solitary confinement for two years. He suffered a stroke and has had several seizures. His hearing and eyesight have been impaired.
The photo on the cover of The Economist that incensed the Iranian government probably saved his life, as advocates around the world, including Amnesty International, took up his cause. His sentence was commuted to 15 years. He managed to escape to Iraq with the help of Kurdish volunteers, and through the assistance of the United Nations was on his way to Sweden when granted a humanitarian parole and allowed to enter the United States.
Batebi's awareness of Iran's disrespect for human life became evident, when as a 4th grader, he witnessed a man accused of adultery, being buried in a hole up to his waist, hooded, and stoned to death on the orders of a mullah. As the hood turned blood red, he started shaking from the horror of it all, thinking,"This can't be Islam."
My question is: Where was the international outrage over the saga of Batebi's torture? Was this front page news in the U.S.? On the other hand you'll get 128,000 hits on Google for "Guantanamo Bay torture." The leading abuse listed in the United Nations report being "forced feeding" of prisoners on hunger strikes, followed by "prolonged" exposure to noise, light and extreme temperatures. Where was the UN when Batebi was actually being tortured?
I thought it would be interesting to visit The New York Times website to read the impressions of their liberal blogging "choir" when the Times ran the news item of Batebi's arrival in the U.S. (One quote they didn't report was Batebi's praise for the U.S. shortly after being here: In America "People have the opportunity to become who they want to be.")
Take a look at some of the blogger's posts from their faithful:
"On the interview I saw he seems to be in remarkably good health for having been tortured for nine years and having a stroke. I didn't see any evidence..." (Amnesty International followed his case for years.)
"The way I see it, more and more dictators took power with Bush in control, and Iran demonstrates this very well....its like they had to counter his insanity.." (Just who is insane? Ayatollah Khomeinei became dictator of Iran in 1979, two years after Bush married at age 33.)
"His lawyers rarely accused the Iranian government of torturing him while he was in jail.." (I wonder why? Think about it.) "As soon as he is out of Iran... and grants an immediate interview with US government financed...radio VOA, he talks how he was tortured."
"The fact that the Bush administration refuses to have diplomatic relations with Iran is ridiculous. We need to embrace our common ground...torture for example." (How sardonic. I'll coment later.)
"Batebi is lucky to be in the U.S.A., a country which uses democratic and humane torture techniques such as water boarding, extremes of temperature, extreme loud sounds etc."
Judging by these comments, it's no wonder why this country is so divided. Any attempt to arrive at a moral equivalence between the "torture techniques" of the Iranian rulers, other terrorists and the U.S. is seriously misguided – just based on the motivations alone of those defending civilization, and those seeking to destroy it. As to waterboarding, coincidentally, The Atlantic Monthly just published a Christopher Hitchen's piece about his experiences, as a volunteer, to being waterboarded. This 60 year old writer, and supporter of the Iraq war, actually was "dunked" twice, and he did say it was brutal. This controversial post 9/11 interrogation technique was used by the CIA on high value terrorist Abu Zubaydah and he broke in 35 seconds. (Abu can still see, hear, and has full use of his body parts, including his head.) It is one thing to torture someone for the sadistic pleasure of it as punishment; and another to try to get information to save lives.
To all those who think there is no difference, Author Phillip James Bailey said it best (paraphrasing), "Our similarities are quite different."
Coincidentally, I just read a BBC report today that 8 women and one man have been convicted of sex offenses in Iran and sentenced to death by stoning. Interestingly, many more women than men receive the sentence. Nothing much has changed since Batebi was a kid in Iran.
Which brings me back to these bloggers again, one of whom noted that Iran "is not as bad as you think. It is a vibrant country," or another, "I believe that Iran has a much more civilized society than we are lead to know... There is an element of tyranny in their government, but it compares little with the U.S. brand..."
Sure. This brings to mind an observation by Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., "Everything is twice as large measured on a three year old's three foot scale on a 30 year old's six foot scale."

John Reiniers, a regular columnist for Hernando Today, lives in Spring Hill.

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