What seems to have become the accepted translation of Hojjatoleslam Mehdi Karroubi’s letter to Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani can be traced to a translation published in khordaad88 and picked up (unsourced) in Enduring America. The sense of the original generally comes through, but it is often more in the nature of a paraphrase than a translation, and an entire paragraph is dropped without ellipses. Let the reader read and judge. Given the historical importance of this document, I am submitting my own translation. My source is Aq Bahman, a reputable website.
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Honorable Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani,
Respected Head of the Expediency Council,
with greetings and respect.
After the tenth presidential elections were held, bitter events arose the detailed description of which have been related both by you and by various individuals, groups, and media,
- of arbitrary arrests and beatings and woundings up to the martyrdom of this country’s children, of attacks on people’s homes through the bloody tragedy of Dormitory Alley and the violent and terrifying treatment meted out even to women in the middle of the city’s streets–which are unprecedented. These events are worth pondering and pursuing. The matter which is being raised now concerns some of the brutal behavior which, had I not heard it repeatedly from different people who have been recently freed, would be hard to believe, at least for you and me, who have seen so much of this world’s ups and downs this past half century.
- of brutal and relentless treatment, beating peoples heads with clubs so much so that after some forty days, their condition is not normal and the marks can still be seen on their bodies.
There has been verbal abuse and insults and obscene cursing of people and the sacrifice of the honor of the arrestees and those who came to the Friday prayers. This is behavior which has no place in the religious and Islamic culture of any group, and shows that people have been employed for this work who have no acquaintance with even the plainest principles of Islam. And of course, there are also rumors circulating with which I will not presently deal.
As you are probably aware, I sent a letter on this matter some time ago addressed to the honorable president of the Judiciary and I raised these same issues with the recently-dismissed Minister of Intelligence, as published in the press on Saturday. But I have heard matters which still make me shutter. Sleep fled from me for two days after I heard this news. Around two a.m., while I was preparing to go to sleep, I went to bed, but, as God is my witness, without a particle of exaggeration, I could not sleep until at dawn, at 4 a.m., and I rose and read some Koran and bathed so that the water soothed me somewhat. I even recited the morning prayers, but could not sleep until sunrise.
People in sensitive positions in this country, ranking military men, a number of whom had even fought in the Sacred Defense [the Iran-Iraq War] told me of these matters. These people declared that things occurred in the prisons which, if even a single one of them was true, would be a tragedy for the Islamic Republic, turning the radiant and white Shiite clergy into a black and shameful thing which would make many a dictatorial government, including that of the monarchist regime, seem white by comparison.
I do not believe that the prisoners of the fifteen years of struggle before the revolution, who ranged from the Tudeh Party to the eclectic armed militant groups to the members of the Freedom Movement and the Coalition and the Islamic Nations Party which lived side by side in prison have seen or heard such a thing.1
I write to you about these matters and urgently wish you would take action on this matter and kindly raise it with His Eminence Ayatollah Khamenei and let it be pursued in earnest so that it be clarified. If no such thing occurred, and God willing it didn’t and I consider it unlikely that it has, let it be so announced, for it is being discussed in the media and websites in our society today and by the very youth who were arrested, and it is not known how the people of the future will judge its being exaggerated. Indeed, the Islamic Republic and the poor clergy will also be held responsible for this. Even if, God forbid, they had occurred, let their agents be speedily confronted, whatever their post, and their names announced, so that in the current circumstances, when the market for rumors is hot, no opportunity might be given the opportunists. It is therefore necessary to follow the policy of having these measures implemented by a high-ranking body so that the individuals in questions have the courage to tell the truth, for I have heard that they have been threatened that if if they state anything in this matter, they will be liquidated.
Your Eminence Hashemi,
I am prepared for the sake of Islam and, above all, the late Imam and all the sacrifices and martyrdoms and with the aim of coming closer to God and in spite of the fact that it is not my position and in spite of all the fires and tribulations and in spite of the fact that I know that my prestige will be damaged, to take on the responsibility for investigating and reviewing in order to determine the truth and falsity of these events and reports received and fulfill my obligation under the sharia and prepare a report without fear or favor and behaving with complete fairness.
As for the subjects being raised, they are as follows:
A number of arrestees have indicated that some individuals have violently raped arrested girls, leading to lacerations and tearing in their reproductive organs. On the other hand, individuals have have so savagely raped young imprisoned boys that some of them have suffered depression and serious psychological and physical problems and have crawled into a corner of their homes.
Given the importance of the matter, it is expected that these matters will be reviewed by an impartial and transparent body appointed by the president of the Assembly of Experts for the Presidency until the facts of the matter are determined, so that it will be a lesson for the future generations and that an opportunity not be given to thugs and goons so that the honor of the system and the Imam and the Islamic Republic not be destroyed and the clergy’s thousand years of service not be ruined.
In closing, allow me to note that two copies have been made of this letter, one of them signed and sealed and sent to your and the other kept by Your Servant.
In hopes of success,
Mehdi Karroubi
7 Mordad 1388 [July 29, 2009]
Note:
1 The Coalition (known by its Persian name Motalafeh) survived into the revolution. They are now militant supporters of Ahmadinejan. On the other hand, the Islamic Nations Party, which was composed largely of college students inexperienced in political organizing and advocated a pan-Islamic policy and a strategy of armed struggle, was quickly pounced on by the Shah’s secret service and liquidated in 1962 before it could accomplish anything. Its leaders were spared the death penalty but were condemned to life in prison. One of its leaders, Abol-Qasem Sarhadizadeh, survived into the revolutionary era and ultimately found his way into Hojjatoleslam Sayyed Mohammad Khatami, becoming president of the National Library under his presidency.
