An Iranian refugee Siavash stands on a terrace during an interview in Kayseri, on May 4. Tortured in jails and threatened with death, Siyavash, like hundreds of dissident Iranians, found refuge in Turkey, but peace of mind is still eluding him as fear of Tehran’s agents remains a daily torment.
(AFP/File/Bulent Kilic)
An Iranian refugee Siavash stands on a terrace during an interview in Kayseri, on May 4. Tortured in jails and threatened with death, Siyavash, like hundreds of dissident Iranians, found refuge in Turkey, but peace of mind is still eluding him as fear of Tehran’s agents remains a daily torment.
(AFP/File/Bulent Kilic)
NEVSEHIR, Turkey (AFP) – Tortured in jails and threatened with death, Behzad, Siyavash and Ali have, like hundreds of dissident Iranians, found refuge in Turkey, but peace of mind is still eluding them as fear of Tehran’s agents remains a daily torment.
While fellow opposition activists are preparing to hold protests in Iran at the anniversary of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s disputed re-election on June 12, 2009, Behzad (not his real name) leads a secluded life in a shabby flat in Nevsehir, central Turkey.
“The tortures that I went through and those that I witnessed — an animal would not do that to another animal,” said the young man. His only fault, he said, was to have participated in a student protest challenging the election results last year.
Showing pictures of his back scarred by bruises after a four-month stint in prison, Behzad lists the horrors to which he was subjected: beating, sexual abuse, forced insomnia, cold water dousing and the terror of standing blindfolded in what turned out to be a mock execution.
“After a while, I would have confessed anything, I could not stand it anymore,” he said. “They wanted confessions about my father, that he had ties with America and Israel … And they forced me to say so.”
The confessions secured his freedom. Several weeks later, Behzad sneaked into neighbouring Turkey, crossing the mountainous border on horseback, in the company of smugglers, like many Iranian exiles.
According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), some 4,000 Iranian asylum seekers and refugees — political dissidents but also converts to Christianity, homosexuals and followers of the minority Bahai faith — are registered in Turkey, their main exit route.
The applicants’ numbers since last year’s presidential polls — standing at 1,828 between July and March — does not represent a significant increase. But their profile has changed, according to the UNHCR.
“Many of the newcomers are journalists, academics and/or perceived by the regime to be supporting the opposition,” said Metin Corabatir, the organisation’s spokesman in Turkey.
Stuck in Nevsehir, one of the 32 Turkish cities accommodating asylum seekers, Behzad is waiting for the UN to decide his fate and arrange a Western country to accept him.
Handicapped with a stiff leg — the result of a blow from a police truncheon during a demonstration — and suffering psychological problems, he lives in poverty.
But his main problem is the fear.
“Here, I am afraid of everything: the police, Iranian agents and all Iranians here — I fear they will make reports on me. Sometimes I am even scared to go out,” he said.
For him, the presence of Iranian agents pursuing dissidents is beyond doubt: in late November, he recounted, an Iranian refugee arrived in Nevsehir and disappeared the following day, leaving behind only unpacked suitcases.
Behzad’s friend, Siyavash, also speaks of a strong sense of insecurity as he shows burns from electric shock on his thighs after several months in an Iranian jail.
“One night, about midnight, three drunk men tried to break the door of my building, shouting. Fortunately, my Turkish neighbours downstairs intervened,” he said.
Facing the death sentence for alleged blasphemy, Ali managed to flee to Turkey in September, before he was convicted. Eager to speak out on what he was forced to keep silent in Iran, the young dissident says he has already been threatened.
Following a meeting with a journalist, “I was stopped by three Iranians on a deserted street at midnight. They held a knife to my throat and told me it was my last interview,” he recounted.
Questioned by AFP, local police said they advised Iranian refugees against speaking to the media to avoid the risk of reprisals.
Source: AFP
ترس از تهران شبحی بر زندگی پناهندگان ترکیه
بهزاد، سیاوش و علی که به مانند صدها ایرانی شکنجه،زندانی و تهدید به مرگ شده اند توانسته اند در ترکیه تقاضای پناهندگی کنند اما گوشه ای از ذهن آنها همچنان درگیر ترس از نیروهای امنیتی و عذابهای روزانه است
در روزهائی که همگان خود را برای برپائی سالگرد اعتراضات پس از انتخابات در ایران آماده میکنند؛بهزاد(نام مستعار) زندگی سختی را در “نوشهیر” در مرکز ترکیه میگذراند.این مرد جوان گفت:شکنجه هائی که علیه من یا افرادی که من شاهد بودم توسط حیوان بر حیوان دیگر هم اعمال نمیشود.بهزاد گفت که وی در عاتراضی دانشجوئی در اعتراض به نتاج انتخابات در سال گذشته حضور داشته است.عکسهائی از پشت بهزاد آثار کبودی و جراحات در زندان را نشان میداد. بهزاد لیستی از اعمال وحشتناک دوران بازداشت را نام برد: کتک کاری،تجاوز جنسی،بی خوابی دادن ، آب ریختن و سرما دادن به زندانیان و همچنین اعدامهای ساختگی و قتل های نمایشی در مقابل زندانیان
وی گفت: پس از این من باید اعتراف میکردم،دیگر نمیتوانستم روی پاهایم بایستم.آنها میخواستند که من در مورد پدرم و ارتباطش با اسرائیل و آمریکا اعتراف کنم.این اعترافها بهزاد را آزاد میکند تا فرصت یابد توسط قاچاقچیان از راه کوه و با اسب سواری وپیاده روی از مرز ایران عبور کند و به مانند همه ایرانیان تبعیدی و فراری وارد کشور همسایه یعنی ترکیه شود.
بر اساس گزارش کمیساریای عالی پناهندگان سازمان مللبیش از چهار هزار نفر با دلایل سیاسی از این دفتر تقاضای پناهندگی کرده اند. همچنین مسیحیان،همجنسگرایان و پیروان بهائیت از اصلی ترین گروه هائی هستند که تقاضای پناهندگی کرده اند.بر اساس آمارهای سازمان ملل تعداد متقاضیان پناهندگی بین تابستان و زمستان به بیش از 1828 نفر رسیده است که آمار قابل توجهی نیست اما وضعیت بسیاری از آنها تغییر کرده است.متین جوراباتیر سخنگوی کمیساریای عالی پناهندگان در ترکیه میگوید: بیشتر متقاضیان پناهدگی روزنامه نگار،محقق،یا کسانی هستند که به دلیل حمایت از مخالفان دولت تحت تعقیب یا بازجوئی هستند
بهزاد در نوشهیر یکی از 32 شهر پناهجوپذیر ترکیه همچنان منتظر روند بررسی پرونده اش برای پذیرفته شدن در یکی از کشورهای غربی است.او میگوید: ضعف و مشکلات فیزیکی ناشی از ضربات پلیس در یک تظاهرات خیابانی بهزاد را رنج میدهد اما همچنان مشکل اصلی ترس است.اینجا من از همه چی میترسم: پلیس،نیروهای امنیتی ایران و همه ایرانیان اینجا…من فکر میکنم همه آنها وضعیت من را گزارش میکنند.بعضی وقتها میترسم از خانه بیرون بروم.از نظر وی نیروهای امنیتی بیشتر از تت نظر داشتن مخالین عمل میکنند: در اواخر ماه نوامبر وی پناهنده ایرانی را مشاهده کرده است که بدون هیچ حمایتی به “نوشهیر” رسیده ودر همان روز ناپدید شده است،در مقابل چمدان باز وی یافت شده است .
همچنین سیاوش دوست بهزاد از احساس شدید نا امنی گفت و آثار سوختگی ناشی از شوک الکتریکی بر روی پاهای خود را نشان داد که ناشی از ماهها در بند بودن است. وی گفت: در یک نیمه شب سه نفر مست به شدت در خانه را میکوبیدند و تلاش داشتند درب خانه را بشکنند که خوشبختانه با دخالت همسایه ترک در طبقه پائین محل را ترک کردند.علی از متهمانیست که به دلیل توهین به مقدسات محکوم به مرگ شده است. وی در ماه سپتامبر و قبل از محاکمه از ایران به ترکیه فرار کرد.متهم جوان گفت که علیرغم اشتیاق به گفتن مسائلی که در ایران رخ داده ، اما مورد تهدید و آزار بوده است.پس از ملاقات با یکی از روزنامه نگاران یک شب توسط سه نفر از ایرانیان در خیابان متوقف شدم …اونها چاقو را زیر گلوی من گذاشتند و گفتند که این آخرین مصاحبه تو خواهد بود
سوالات توسط خبرگذاری (ای،اف،پی)…پلیس منطقه ای در مورد مصاحبه با رسانه ها به پناهندگان ایرانی هشدار داده است که این مصاحبه ها میتواند طبعات جبران ناپذیری به دنبال داشته باشد
ترجمه فارسی از وبسایت روزنامه نگار خیابانی
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