One Hundred and forty Days after Arrest of Bahman Ahmadi Amouie!;Interview with Jila Baniyaghoub

Bahman Ahmadi Amouie graduate of Economics from Babolsar state university that used to work for different newspapers such as Jame’e , Tous , Sobh e Emrouz , Norouz , Shargh , Vaghaye Etefaghiyeh and Sarmayeh . He is also written two books “political economy of Islamic Republic” and ” how the statesmen of Islamic republic became technocrats”
Bahman Ahmadi Amouie was arrested illegally on June 20 just after the 10th Iran presidential election with her wife Jila Baniyaghoub and then they were both transferred to Evin prison ward no. 209 .Now after more than 140 days of his arrest according to his lawyer and his wife the official said his case is uncompleted and this is used as an unjustified excuse for his continues imprisonment.

We asked Jila Baniyaghoub ,Bahman Ahmadi Amouie’s wife ,who was imprisoned herself and then released last month about 110 days ‘without Bahman’

How were you and your husband Bahman Ahmadi Amouie arrested ?where were you transferred to ?how did they behaved you ?

Six men came to our home around midnight on June 20 to arrest my husband and I . Three of them stood in front of the house and three others came inside they didn’t show us their ID cards, instead they just showed us an arrest warrant signed by Judge Mortazavi, they didn’t let us read the arrest warrant carefully . two of them were very hostile and impolite. but the third one in comparison was polite and calm, they searched our home for two and a half hours and asked some questions about our activities and beliefs.I got angry and told them that I know they are executive officials and their maximum duty is to search the home and arrest us and not to interrogate us, even in our own home ! when I objected, they were rude and impolite.They confiscated many of our CDs , Books and our writings also our family photo albums ..
The amazing point was that one of them watched our photos carefully and I asked him with sarcasm: Does it make you happy look at the private photos of others ? and the other one said :’ we have permission “then they asked us to give them a big bag to carry things . I told them ‘ at least do not take your means of work from us ” then they led us to two different cars and we were transferred to Evin prison ward no 209.

Now more than 110 days of illegal arrest of your husband have passed , what’s the latest news about his case ?

Two weeks ago we were told that he didn’t have a case in revolutionary court and it was impossible to follow his situation by his lawyer, after that they told us his case was transferred to branch no.2 of security magistrate, when went there they said the case is not complete yet so we can’t do anything for him .

I objected :how his case is not completed while his interrogation was finished one and half month ago ? they just answered they didn’t have any idea .

some times some amazing things happen in our judicial system for instance my husband didn’t have any case in revolutionary court after being in prison for 3 months, his lawyer Mrs. Farideh Gheyrat said :it is strange . Now his case is not registered but we know this situation is not just for Bahman but some of the green’s movement imprisoned have this problem too .some lawyers believed that it is a new way to hurt political prisoner’s family and delaying their release .

Have you had any clear or specific response?

Our main problem is that the officials in the revolutionary court do not give us any clear response. Once even Mrs Gheyrat in interview stated to the court: specify quickly for instance say my client is accused and he will not be freed.

Of course Mrs. Geyrat and I, both know Bahman didn’t do anything wrong and he is innocent but we want them to make haste. Officials in revolutionary court have said to Bahman’s lawyer and family that Bahman’s case is not there and with this excuse, they didn’t elaborate and now they say his case is not complete and they can’t response either.
I have up to now, not be able to understand about either my case or my husband’s or for the rest of the election prisoners for that matter, as to why those responsible do not announce what is going on. I and some other families of the prisoners went to the judge but we were able to see his deputy Ms Asadi.Her approach was positive towards us and it seemed that she does want to help and get to the bottom of this issue. I did specify that no warrant was issued for his arrest, so this illegal and also he did sign, that he wants to be freed and agreed to the bail condition. Bahman’s family has the ability to make bail but until now all we have heard are excuses such as his file is not here or his files are incomplete.

Have they actually specified what he is accused of? If not how does your husband’s lawyer wants to defend him?

His lawyer has not seen his case file, after nearly four months of his arrest, she doesn’t really know what his charge is. As I know he was charged to acting against national security but I think, his only charge is being critical of Ahmadinejad’s government in his articles and nothing more. Bahman has written different articles about the economic performance of the government in the last four years. Maybe these articles are the main reason for his arrest.

Has Bahman called his family since then or met them?

Bahman was not allowed any visits or call regularly at the first two months of his arrest . but since then he can call home once a week and each time after coordinating with his interrogator, we can visit. Bahman’s mother is in his 80s and she is living in Chahar Mahal e Bakhtiyari province, she can’t come to Tehran because of her illness so she has not seen her son for four months. Bahman was allowed to call her just one time and his mother cries all the time.

How did you see his mental and physical health?

Bahman is strong willed and I am glad of that, he tolerates prison and he has said that his preparing himself for long term imprisonment. He always says that prison is teaching him many experiences, but perhaps one issue that is intolerable for Bahman and other prisoners is the lack of sanitation in the prison and I have heard that many prisoners suffer from ill health because of this. As far as I know the prisoners of the 209 ward are allowed 20 minutes break for fresh air three times a week.