“Personal Stories & Recollections of

The Problem Isn’t Your Hejab

As part of our special series, “Personal Stories & Recollections of Human Rights Violations in Iran,” Mahnaz recounts her story of arrest by plainclothes security officials.

Hi, my name is Mahnaz and I am a 24-year-old college student majoring in literature. Today I want to tell you my story.

I don’t like politics, don’t follow it regularly and basically don’t want to be involved with it.

On Thursday, January 15, I was supposed to meet my friend in Enghelab Avenue, so I went there. I was supposed to give back my friend a play I had borrowed from her. She was supposed to come with her mom.

I got there a bit early. What was different about this particular Thursday was the awful traffic jam and gridlock. Usually on Thursdays traffic is lighter, but on that day it was so bad I had to get out of the taxi in Ferdowsi Square and walk the rest of the way to Enghelab Avenue.

When I got closer to Tehran University, there were flocks of plainclothes security agents there. They were all over the place. There were moral police, regular police, intelligence agents and all kinds of other plainclothes security forces. For example, even the construction workers in the street were security agents because they were using the same type of walkie-talkies that the police had.

They were watching me and anyone else walking in that street very carefully.

I became extremely curious and wanted to know what was going on—who were they were? Why were they there? And so on.

Then I saw people saying to one another, almost in a code, “We are here.” A woman whispered in my ear, “We are here.” This raised my curiosity even further.

My friend finally arrived. I gave her the play, said goodbye to them and then crossed the street because honestly I was intimated by the inquisitive looks from the security agents.

I tried to get into a taxi, but four plainclothes security agents with walkie-talkies grabbed me and threw me into a police van. In the van, I saw my friend and her mom.

I was truly petrified. They were treating me was like a hardened criminal, a murderer. Their behavior was atrocious. They confiscated my mobile phone. I only managed to turn it off before they grabbed it.

Since the van belonged to the moral police, I told them there was nothing wrong with my hejab (Islamic dress), that I was properly covered. Their response was, “The problem isn’t your hejab, it's something else.”

They were quite unresponsive. All they would say was, “We have to take you in.” They snatched up a few other woman and dragged them into the van. They took us all to Vozara (moral police headquarters).

They kept us there for hours and didn’t even allow us to contact our families. They even took away our shoestrings, purses, belts and scarves. For several hours we weren’t even allowed to drink, eat or go to the toilet.

Finally, intelligence agents arrived and started to interrogate us one by one.

For example, they asked, “Do you have satellite TV at home?” I answered: “No.” “What about your friend, does she have it?” I answered, “How would I know? Go and ask her if she does or doesn’t.”

He started shouting and screaming at me, “Don’t get smart with me. Just answer 'Yes' or 'No.' Otherwise, I’ll send you to jail and throw away the key.”

Basically they started to threaten me. I believed their every threat since earlier I had seen what they did to a 70-year-old woman. She had started to argue with the agents about the reason for her detention and one of the agents had slapped her in the face so hard it left one side of her face and one of her eyes completely swollen.

I told myself, 'With these guys anything is possible. When they are capable of striking an old woman, what would they do to me?'

Anyway, they later asked, “Do you know Shirin Ebadi?” I answered, “I have never met her personally.”

They didn’t ask whether I had participated in the demonstrations or not. Instead they asked a series of completely leading questions: “Why did you take part in the protest and what slogans were you chanting? What was your motive? What political aims do you have?”

They put a piece of paper in front of me and told me to sign it. There was a reference to Article 129 of the Criminal Code. It stated that by signing the document I fully understand the meaning of Article 129.

When I said I wouldn’t sign until I knew what Article 129 was about, they threatened me again. They said, “First you have to sign, then we’ll tell you what Article 129 is.”

In any event, they kept me there until 3 in the morning. When they finally told me I was free to go, I asked whether I could call home and tell my family to come pick me up. They said no. They told me to call an agence (a cab agency).

Somehow or other I managed to contact home and they came to pick me up. When I got home my mom looked like a ghost. She has a history of heart problems and she almost had had a heart attack because I hadn’t come home and no one knew where to find me.

In any case, looking back, I was treated like I was a murderer. They photographed me like I was a criminal. They threatened me over and over again. They took away my national identification card and I still have not managed to get it back even though I have gone there numerous times.

The protest that day was about inflation and the “business mafia.” Even if I had gone there to take part in the demonstration, it was my right to do so as a citizen.

Even though I was not part of the protest, like most Iranians I have legitimate grievances about the exorbitant price of consumer goods, the business mafia and many other issues. I also have a legitimate complaint about how I was treated as a citizen.