City of Lies: Love, Sex, Death and the Search for Truth in Tehran

by Ramita Navai

  I was asked to teach English in a school in the back alleys of Nasser Khosrow Street in the heart of downtown Tehran. The pupils here were paperless Afghans, gypsies and the illegitimate children of prostitutes; none of them had the right to an education. I loved my group of Afghan children, the most hard-working kids I have ever met. They fitted school and homework around paid work, toiling on building sites, in factories and shops. One of their favourite sessions was when I took my friend Angus to school; I had asked them to prepare a list of questions to ask the Ingilisi. Predictably, they were all about his romantic life. Angus happily answered. He was a hit.

  Around the same time, I met a prostitute at a methadone clinic off Shoosh Street. Her once beautiful face had been pockmarked and clawed at by drugs and disease, but her intense green eyes still served to pull in the punters. We started meeting once a week for a tea. As I was an outsider yet still a Tehrani she could talk freely to me without feeling judged; our conversations were never guarded or censored. She took me around her stomping ground, among the pimps and the dealers, the madams and the working girls, through the crumbling alleys and needle-strewn parks where she hung out. Sometimes she would be too high to speak much; she had a serious heroin addiction and had just found out she was HIV-positive.

  I was inhabiting two very different worlds. I would return home to north Tehran, telling my friends – born and bred Tehranis – of life in the south of the city, only a few miles away. They listened in wonder, as though I was talking about a different country. And yet we were all connected by one single long road – Vali Asr.

  The more time I spent with people like the characters in these pages, the more I realized we were connected by so much more than that one street. We faced the same frustrations and limitations of life in the Islamic Republic: irrespective of class, wealth or profession, we were all required to hide aspects of our true selves.

  When Ahmadinejad was elected in 2005, he appointed a new minister to Ershad. His name was Mohammad-Hossein Saffar Harandi – his uncle was one of the boys who had killed my grandfather’s cousin, Hassan Ali Mansour.

  I never stopped going to south Tehran, even when my press card was reinstated. Over the years, more people shared their secrets with me and I discovered more dark corners of Tehran. The stories I heard painted a very different picture from the one I saw reflected in the news, with all its twisted political intrigues. I hope they make for a more honest, intimate and true portrait of the city that I love. This city of lies.

  KEY DATES IN IRAN’S RECENT HISTORY

  1921 The building of Vali Asr begins

  Reza Pahlavi leads a military coup

  Ahmad Shah, the last Qajar monarch, flees the country

  1925 Reza Pahlavi crowns himself Reza Shah, replacing the Qajar dynasty with the Pahlavis

  1935 Persia is renamed Iran

  1941 Anglo-Soviet invasion forces Reza Shah to abdicate. This is after he refuses to get rid of his German advisers even though he has proclaimed Iran’s neutrality during the Second World War

  Reza Shah’s son, Mohammad Reza Shah, takes over

  1946 British and US troops are withdrawn from Iran. The United States assists Mohammad Reza Shah in removing Soviet troops

  1951 Mohammad Mossadegh elected Prime Minister

  Parliament votes to nationalize the oil industry, which was largely controlled by the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company

  Britain bans Iranian oil in a bid to hurt the economy

  1953 Mohammad Reza Shah flees

  A coup orchestrated by the CIA and British intelligence ousts Mossadegh

  Mohammad Reza Shah returns

  1963 The Shah launches the White Revolution, a campaign to modernize the country, which includes land reform

  1964 Khomeini sent into exile after speaking out against the Shah and the United States when the ‘capitulation’ law is passed by the Prime Minister, Hassan Ali Mansour

  1965 Prime Minister Hassan Ali Mansour is assassinated

  1978 Anti-Shah protests lead to martial law

  Dozens of protesters are killed and injured when troops open fire on a demonstration in Jaleh Square; the day comes to be known as Black Friday

  1979 JAN Islamic Revolution

  Shah and his family forced into exile

  FEB Khomeini returns to Iran after fourteen years in exile Hundreds of supporters of the Shah are executed

  NOV Islamic militants take fifty-two Americans hostage in the US embassy in Tehran, demanding the Shah is returned to Iran to face trial

  1980 War with Iraq begins when Iraq invades Iran

  Shah dies of cancer in exile in Egypt

  1981 Mojahedin uprising

  American hostages are released after being held for 444 days

  Ali Khamenei elected President

  1988 End of Iran–Iraq war

  Mass executions of political prisoners

  1989 Ayatollah Khomeini dies

  Former President Ali Khamenei appointed Supreme Leader

  Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani elected President

  1997 Mohammad Khatami elected President

  2001 Mohammad Khatami re-elected President

  2005 Mahmoud Ahmadinejad elected President

  2009 Mahmoud Ahmadinejad re-elected president

  Mass protests contesting election results

  2013 Hassan Rouhani elected President

  GLOSSARY

  aragh sagee Home-brewed vodka, usually made of raisins. The name is a pun – aragh means vodka as well as sweat, sag is dog, so it is ‘dog’s sweat vodka’

  Ashura Anniversary of the martyrdom of Imam Hossein

  ayatollah Means ‘the sign of god’ and is the highest rank given to Shia clerics. To become an ayatollah, a cleric usually has to have gained a following and be considered an expert in religious, ethical, philosophical and legal matters by his peers. Ayatollahs do not exist in Sunni Islam. The next rank down is ‘hojjatoleslam’

  azan Call to prayer

  bah-bah Yum-yum

  Basij Paramilitary volunteer group

  basiji A member of the Basij

  chador Literally means ‘tent’. An open black cloak that covers the head and the entire body. Historians believe the chador was introduced not long before the eighteenth century. Reza Shah Pahlavi banned the chador and all hejab in 1936, in an effort to modernize Iran. The police would forcibly remove veils worn in the streets. This policy outraged clerics and many ordinary Iranians who felt that being in public without the chador or hejab was tantamount to being naked. The ban lasted for four years until Reza Shah’s son, Mohammad Reza Shah, came to power and women were once again allowed to cover up. Shortly after the revolution in 1979, the hejab was made compulsory

  chadori A woman who wears a chador. Also used as a value judgement, to suggest someone religious and/or working-class

  chaharshanbeh souri A fire festival celebrated on the last Tuesday night of the year; the name translates as the eve of red Wednesday. Bonfires are lit in the hope that fire and light will bring health and happiness

  chapi Leftist

  dampaee Slippers, which are usually plastic ‘slides’

  erfan classes Mysticism classes

  esfand Seeds of a weed that are burned to ward off the evil eye

  estekhareh Islamic divination

  ettela’at Intelligence, refers to the feared Ministry of Intelligence

  fatwa A religious edict issued by clerics

  Haji The name given to someone who has completed the Haj.Can also be used as a term of respect

  hejab A headscarf, or any garment used to cover the head and body in order to preserve modesty

  Hezbollah Party of God, a movement that was formed during the revolution to help Khomeini and his forces. The term Hezbollahi refers to those seen as zealous or fundamentalist; a Hezbollahi is an ardent defender of the regime and can be willing to resort to violence to defend the Islamic state

  hosseinieh A congregation hall used for gatherings and religious cerem
onies

  IRIB Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting

  javanmardi A code of conduct that has chivalry, magnanimity and altruism at its core

  jendeh Whore

  joon/jan Dear, also used as a polite formality at the end of a person’s first name

  manteau An overcoat that must be worn over clothes to hide the curves and shape of a woman’s body

  MEK Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (some other aliases: the MKO and the People’s Mojahedin of Iran). The largest Iranian opposition group, committed to overthrowing the Islamic Republic. It was formed in 1963 by leftist students and has Marxist/Islamist roots. The MEK played an integral role in the Islamic Revolution, but was brutally repressed by Ayatollah Khomeini. Its headquarters are in Paris, under the banner of the National Council of Resistance in Iran

  Muharram Month of mourning for Imam Hossein and the first month of the Islamic calendar

  nazr A Shia tradition, a nazr prayer is a wish to God in return for helping the poor and needy. Prayers are usually made to God through one of the imams

  Qajar The ruling dynasty of Iran from 1796 to 1925

  regimey A supporter or member of the Islamic regime

  roo-farshee Translates as ‘on the carpet’, meaning house shoes

  sazman Organization. Also refers to the MEK

  SOURCES

  Whenever possible, I have used the characters’ own words and language; many conversations and episodes that have been recounted to me have been written verbatim. Where inner thoughts have been conveyed, these have been written as they were explained to me by the interviewees. Descriptions of characters are, obviously, my own viewpoint.

  All quotations from the Koran are taken from The Holy Qur-an, English translation of the meanings and commentary (King Fahd Holy Qur-an Printing Complex).

  Preface

  Tehran’s population is from the University of Tehran website: www.ut.ac.ir/en/contents/About-tehran/About.Tehran.html

  Prologue

  The history of Vali Asr: Dariush Shabaazi, Bargh-hayee az Tareekh-e Tehran (Notes on the History of Tehran) (Saless, 2011), pp. 353–4. The destruction of trees on Vali Asr: World Cultural Heritage Voices, ‘Suspicious Removal of Trees on a Major Road of Tehran’, 24 July 2013.

  Chapter One: Dariush

  Dariush’s story is mostly based on my interviews with an ex-MEK member, who has spoken publicly of his MEK mission to Tehran to kill a former Tehran police chief. I have also used details provided by two other former MEK members living in Tehran and merged them with this man’s story. Interviews with these former members also provided the details of the arrival in the country, family background, the MEK handler and the gun-runner. I have changed a few details of Dariush’s assassination attempt. Descriptions of MEK meetings in the US are from current MEK supporters based outside Iran.

  Current MEK members and some activists accuse the man on whose story this is based of being a regime spy, even though he left Iran after the protests of 2009 and has been granted asylum in another country.

  Members of the MEK claim that since 2001 the group no longer sends its members for missions to Iran; instead they are chosen from an existing network already in the country. Between 2008 and 2013, five Iranians, said to be nuclear scientists, were executed on the streets of Tehran by assassins on motorbikes. The Iranian government says it is the work of the MEK with support from Israel.

  Camp Ashraf was stormed by Iraqi troops in 2011, killing at least thirty-six people. It has since been closed down and about 3,000 MEK members were relocated to Camp Liberty in north-eastern Baghdad. They have come under rocket attack several times; a leader of the Shia militia Mukhtar Army has admitted responsibility.

  The MEK was on the US list of terrorist organizations until September 2012, when it was delisted. There is talk within the MEK of re-establishing its military wing with a powerful army, recruiting from around the world.

  For the MEK see Ervand Abrahamian, The Iranian Mojahedin (Yale University Press, 1989), p. 1; on MEK weddings at Camp Ashraf, Masoud Banisadr, Masoud: Memoirs of an Iranian Rebel (Saqi, 2004), p. 311. The MEK bomb in Haft-e Tir is from Moojan Momen, An Introduction to Shi‘i Islam: The History and Doctrines of Twelver Shi‘ism (Yale University Press, 1987), p. 295.

  Chapter Two: Somayeh

  Somayeh’s story is based on that of a woman who wishes to remain anonymous; her relationship, from marriage to divorce, is as she explained it to me, including descriptions of her physical appearance and her dress. Conversations between Somayeh and her friends are conversations heard between girls of the same age group and from the same conservative families as Somayeh, or they are conversations recounted by Somayeh. Political conversations between the men were conversations I listened to in her area as well as conversations in a mahzar notary office shortly after Rouhani’s election victory. I also interviewed several women in their fifties from conservative families for a full picture of Somayeh’s mother, Fatemeh, and Fatemeh’s friends.

  Somayeh is currently living with her parents and her daughter. She told me she does feel lust from time to time, but she fights it hard, the only way she knows how, with fasting and prayers. Suitors come for her, but her neighbours and family were all right about one thing: none of them have been prepared to accept Somayeh with her little girl. Somayeh has said another nazr prayer, asking for a good husband who will love her daughter. She believes God and Imam Zaman will come good, as they have always done. She believes she is in store for another miracle.

  Number of satellite television receivers in Iran: Asr Iran news website, quoting Javad Arianmanesh, 24 November 2008. Mullah condemns 3G mobile Internet service: ISNA (Iranian Students’ News Agency), 10 February 2013. For social history after the revolution, see Ervand Abrahamian, A History of Modern Iran (Cambridge University Press, 2012), p. 180. The cleric discussing virgins in paradise on television was quoted on the IRIB (Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting) 3, Samteh Khodah (Towards God) programme. The Supreme Leader’s response to the question about masturbation is from his website, question number 786: farsi.khamenei.ir/. Dubbing actors arrested: ISNA, 18 December 2012. Number of marriages ending in divorce: Etemaad newspaper, 29 April 2013, p. 13.

  Chapter Three: Amir

  Amir’s story is based on that of a man who wishes to remain anonymous. The real Amir is not a blogger; I changed his profession at his request. I interviewed bloggers and student activists for all the details in this chapter. For information on the judge in Amir’s story, I interviewed a former judge who was a judge in the Revolutionary Courts at the same time as the judge who approached Amir. All information on bribes, corruption and the incident of the stoning in Evin prison is as he described.

  For details of Amir’s parents’ lives as dissidents, I interviewed several people of his parents’ generation who were active at that same time. All details of parties and dissident meetings come from them, or from Amir’s memory of his parents’ gatherings. The account of the man on military service crying as he witnessed executions is from a man who had witnessed them in Evin prison following the 2009 protests; he told me that all the guards watching had cried.

  The judge’s son has also contacted Amir, asking him to forgive the old judge. The judge’s son told Amir that his father has tracked down nearly all the children of those he condemned to execution, begging for forgiveness. Amir is the only one not to have forgiven him, and is the only one who has never accepted his gifts and his money. Amir is also the only child both of whose parents were executed.

  When in prison, the blogger Sattar Beheshti publicly complained of being tortured and details of his treatment were published on the opposition website kaleme.com. An article in the New York Times, ‘Jailed Blogger Not Tortured Before Death, Iran Says’ by Thomas Erdbrink, 12 November 2012, quotes ‘influential Iranian lawmaker’ Alaeddin Borujerdi denying that Beheshti was tortured to death.

  For the imprisonment and execution of political opponents after the revolution see Ervand Abrahamian
, A History of Modern Iran (Cambridge University Press, 2012), p. 181; estimates of numbers eliminated by the Shah between 1971 and 1977, see Ervand Abrahamian, Iran Between Two Revolutions (Princeton University Press, 1982), p. 480; Khomeini’s slogans, Abrahamian, A History of Modern Iran, p. 148.

  Ayatollah Hakim’s fatwa against joining the Communist Party, Baqer Moin, Khomeini, Life of the Ayatollah (IB Tauris, 1999), p. 144; the Ayatollah’s younger son releasing a pop video, Bahar News, 13 January 2013.

  On the exclusion of Baha’is see ISNA, quoting politician Javad Larijani, 14 May 2011 and Human Rights Watch, ‘Barring the Bahais’ by Faraz Sanei, 11 May 2010.

  The number of executions ordered by revolutionary courts between the revolution and June 1981 is from Abrahamian, History of Modern Iran, p. 181 (the exact number given of those executed is 497).

  Khomeini’s secret order to execute all prisoners who remained opposed to the Islamic regime: Kaveh Shahrooz, ‘The Iran Tribunal’ www.irantribunal.com/index.php/news/articles/30-twenty-years-of-silence-the-1988-massacre-and-quest-for-accountability. The account of the court proceedings: see Muhammad Sahimi, ‘The Bloody Red Summer of 1988’, 25 August 2009, PBS Frontline/Tehran Bureau www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/ tehranbureau/2009/08/the-bloody-red-summer-of-1988.html.

  Chapter Four: Bijan

  Bijan’s character and details of his family life are based on one man. Details of crimes and criminal operations are based on the testimonies of several men introduced to me by Bijan. For obvious reasons, all locations have been changed. Nearly all conversations in this chapter are as I heard them spoken between Bijan and his group of friends and local gangsters, apart from conversations with the police chief – to be clear, the police chief was never present. The figure of one million US dollars’ ransom money is from a friend of a friend who was kidnapped – this amount was paid by his family for his release.

  On Iranians in Japan see Roger Goodman, Ceri Peach, Ayumi Takenaka, Paul White, Global Japan: The Experience of Japan’s New Immigrant and Overseas Communities (Routledge, 2009), pp. 12, 161.