City of Lies: Love, Sex, Death and the Search for Truth in Tehran
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On drugs: the UNODC (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime) report, Transnational Organised Crime in East Asia and the Pacific, A Threat Assessment, April 2013, p. 68, states that in 2010 the Islamic Republic of Iran ranked fourth in the world for licit pseudoephedrine imports (www.unodc.org/documents/southeastasiaandpacific//Publications/2013/TOCTA_EAP_web.pdf ); Iran as fifth-highest consumer of crystal meth in the world, Tabnak news website, quoting Saeed Safaeeyan, 1 October 2013; champion wrestler tested positive for D-methamphetamine, Donya-e Eqtesad newspaper, article naming Alireza Gharibi, 23 June 2006. The figures for crystal meth labs in Tehran are from Hamshahri Online, quoting Morteza Tamadon, Tehran governor, 1 August 2013 (referring to 2012 and the first three months of 2013); popularity of sheesheh, Fars news agency, 5 March 2013 and Khabar Online, 5 February 2012; government claim to arrest thirty drug dealers and addicts every hour, Mehr news agency, 1 April 2013 and Bahar newspaper, 13 January 2013.
‘This is Tehran / A city that tempts you till it saps your soul / And makes you see you were always meant to be / Nothing more than dirt’, translated into English from ‘Ekhtelaf’ from the album ‘Jangale Asfalt’ (‘Asphalt Jungle’) by Iranian rapper Hichkas.
Special treatment for Basij students: Mehr news agency, 18 May 2010 and Hamshahri Online, 9 July 2008, article by Mina Shahni, quoting Reza Sahrai, Director of Higher Education, Martyrs’ Foundation.
Chapter Five: Leyla
Leyla’s character and details about her upbringing, family and work as a prostitute are based on one woman. Kayvan is a composite character based on several people.
The real Leyla is still, happily, alive. The story of Leyla’s death, however, is based on the real case of a woman who was executed for making a pornographic film. In 2001 a woman was stoned in Evin prison, charged with moral corruption. According to newspaper reports, the police had tracked her down using the serial number on her electricity meter, which was visible in the background of her porn film. The BBC quotes Entekhab newspaper on the woman stoned to death in Evin prison in 2001: news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/1343058.stm. I changed Leyla’s death to hanging as, officially, nobody has been stoned to death in Tehran since 2001: Tabnak news website, 12 November 2012.
The Iran Human Rights Documentation Center estimates there are currently around 200–300 women facing the death penalty in Iran. Lawyers working there say it is not known how many have been charged with crimes related to moral corruption.
On prostitution: average age, Shafaf news website, 23 December 2009, article by Leda Ayaaz; camps for ‘reformation’, Mehr news agency, 10 July 2012 quoting Morteza Tamadon, Governor-General of Tehran province; Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani’s sermon: Robert Tait, Guardian, 4 June 2007, www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/jun/04/iran.roberttait.
Information on the cyberpolice is quoted from the cyberpolice website, www.cyberpolice.ir; crackdown on the Internet and Facebook pages: ISNA, quoting Kamal Hadianfar, 3 October 2013.
Report on Tehran’s police chief being caught in a brothel is from BBC news website, ‘Iran anti-vice chief “in brothel”’, 16 April 2008, news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7350165.stm. Proposal for licensed brothels, Jim Muir, BBC, 28 July 2002, news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2156975.stm.
Immoral women blamed for deterioration of society, earthquakes and the state of the economy: ISNA, quoting Tehran’s Friday Prayers leader, 17 April 2010. Parliament bill on porn: Sepah News Service, 3 September 2013.
Chapter Six: Morteza
Morteza’s story, of a member of the Basij having a sex-change operation, is based on the story of a colleague of a friend. However, as she was too scared to give much detail of her life, I have drawn on the experiences of three former members of the Basij and two transgender male-to-female Tehranis from conservative basiji families, all of whom I interviewed.
As she was from a religious family, the catalyst that really encouraged Morteza to embrace her transsexuality and act upon it was a fatwa given by Ayatollah Khomeini himself, condoning sex changes. In 1984, a hermaphrodite called Fereydoon sought counsel from Khomeini, describing his mental and emotional state and explaining he was a woman trapped in a man’s body. Fereydoon asked Khomeini for permission to change his sexuality; Khomeini agreed. A number of mojtaheds, high-ranking clerics who are able to issue fatwas, also accepted transsexuality, including the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Since then, thousands of gender-reassignment surgeries have taken place in Iran, but there have been many reports of botched operations. Dozens of male-to-female transsexuals have filed complaints of being left unable to have sex after surgery, their sexual organs having been butchered or built the wrong size (www2.ohchr.org/English/bodies/cescr/docs/ngos/JointHeartlandAlliance_IRQO_IHRC_Iran_CESCR50.pdf). Even though the Iranian health service claims to have allocated a budget of 350,000,000 tomans for gender-reassignment surgery throughout the country (ISNA, 21 November 2012), operations are still expensive, costing at least 3,000 US dollars – nearly double someone like Morteza’s yearly family income. Several cases have been reported of gay men who have been forced into having sex-change operations by their families, as being transgender is more acceptable than being gay. Many people from the transgender community have spoken of daily abuse and persecution.
‘Shireen’ had her gender-reassignment surgery in Thailand. She is no longer in touch with her family as they have been unable to come to terms with who she is.
ISRAEL ANNOUNCES DATE IT WILL ATTACK IRAN: Khabar Eghtesadi newspaper, khabareghtesadi.com, 9 May 2012; Imam Jomeh, Jiroft, 24 July 2013; Supreme Leader’s response: IRIB 1, Supreme Leader’s speech in Mashhad, 21 March 2013.
The references to the Ayatollah’s lectures are drawn from Rasa news website, based on the words of Ayatollah Abdollah Javadi-Amoli, 26 May 2012.
Chapter Seven: Asghar
Asghar’s story is based on interviews with friends and family members of a couple of well-known jahels. All names of famous jahels are real, apart from Asghar’s, to protect the family’s identity. Pari’s story is based on the story of somebody I know, and on a showgirl married to a jahel.
Shapour the Bull-Slayer and Morteza Four Dicks caught with more than a kilo of heroin and opium: Tabnak news website, 27 July 2008. Number of drug addicts: Mehr news agency quoting Rasoul Khezri, a member of parliament’s health committee, 11 September 2013 and Fars news agency, quoting Mohammad Esmail Motlagh, Director-General of Health, Ministry of Health, 14 September 2013
Ayatollahs declared that betting on horses and shooting is not against Sharia law: Hamshari newspaper, 30 October 2012. Accounts of Zeynab the Blind and the African slaves working as spies and guards are from Jafar Shahri, Tehran-e Ghadeem (Old Tehran) (Moin, 2004), volume 1, pp. 28–9 and 97.
Chapter Eight: Farideh
Farideh is a composite character based on several women. Farideh’s son, Alidad, is also based on several people. Social events here are either as witnessed by myself, or as described to me. All other incidents, including the rape and suicide of Delara (not her real name) and the arrests of the artists and life models, are as told to me by witnesses or friends and acquaintances of those involved.
Details of General Rahimi’s execution are from Michael Axworthy, Revolutionary Iran, A History of the Islamic Republic (Allen Lane, 2013) p.14.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
To every Tehrani who shared their life story and secrets with me, I hope I have done you justice. It was a privilege to be allowed into your world. This book is as much yours as it is mine.
To everyone who helped me in Tehran: you went above and beyond to connect me to people and to show me all the hidden corners of our city. You are the brave ones, risking your freedom in pursuit of the truth in Tehran. In particular, Mr Smiley and Ms Kickass, it was an honour. A heartfelt thank you to Ali, Amir, Amirali, Arash, Arash, Asghar, B, Behnam, Hadi, Hiva, Majid, Minou, Mohammad, Mona, Mr G, Mr H, Mr M, Mr S, Mr T, Nahid, Saadi, Saeed, Saeed, Sara, Shadi, Sina, Sohayl, Vahid and Zahra.
To Monsieur K, thank you for your hel
p – even when you were ill and tired!
Outside Iran, thank you to all who gave their time, thoughts and information: Arash, Dr Ghassem Khatib-Chahidi, Jane Khatib-Chahidi, Gissou Nia and team from the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center, Farrokh Negahdar, Arsham Parsi from the Iranian Railroad for Queer Refugees and your contact N, Hossein Rassam, Maryam Sinaiee and Reza Zia-Ebrahimi. A huge thank you to Aliasghar Ramezanpoor for your invaluable help and input.
I had the very good fortune of having a few brilliant readers. Thank you Roxanna Shapour for your sharp eye, loyalty and endless help. Thank you to Negin Shiraghaei for your excellent suggestions. A special thank you to my soul brother, Amir Paivar, for always being there.
To my fantastic, fearless and dogged researcher, Nikoo: damet garm jeegar talaa.
To the Tehran crew, thank you for your support, stories and making me laugh. You are always magnificent: Amirali N, AmirM, Arash, Aresu, Behnam, Bobs, Dr M, Kaveh, Mana, N, Nassim, S, T.
To my wonderful friends and family for cheering me on from the sidelines, for listening to my stories and for your advice, thank you: Steve Allen, Babak, James Brabazon, Jamsheed, Kate Brooks, Elisabetta Cavanna, Aaron Chetwynd, Anna Chetwynd, Libby Dempster, Miranda Eeles, Zoe Eisenstein, Tom Griffiths, Michael Ireland, Kambiz Karimi, Peyvand Khorsandi, Kathi Kosmider, Hannah Lambert, Claire McFall, Angus McDowall, Deborah McTaggart, Ramin Navai, Rick O’Sullivan, Tom Parker, Sasha Pick, Graeme Robertson, Lavinia Range, Mehrdaad, Siobhan Sinnerton and Paola Victoria.
Thank you to my aunt Shahla Ireland and my uncles Hadi Samsami and Kazem Samsami for your memories and for recounting our family history.
Thank you to the brilliant illustrator who also happens to be my father-in-law, Robin Range, for the beautiful map of Tehran at the beginning of this book.
Thank you to those who I can no longer thank in person but who made my time in Iran that much easier: Richard Beeston, for being the most encouraging editor; Kasra Vafadari, for showing me so much.
Thank you to all at the Royal Society of Literature Jerwood Awards, in particular Paula Johnson. The award enabled me to do so much more than I ever envisioned.
An enormous thank you to my phenomenal editor, Bea Hemming – it has been an honour to work with you, as well as such a joy.
To the best agent an author could wish for, Sophie Lambert at Conville and Walsh. You could not have been more supportive, encouraging and generous with your time, advice and notes. Thank you so much.
To the kindest and most compassionate people I know, thank you to my mother Laya and my father Kourosh. My gorgeous mother, it is because of your sense of justice (and your sense of mischief) that I do what I do. To my father – the father of all fathers! – living in Tehran with you was one of the best times of my life.
Finally, to my man, Gabriel Range, whose suggestions and ideas helped shape this book. Being with you makes me feel like the luckiest woman around. No words are good enough, but, I love you.
Copyright
A Weidenfeld & Nicolson ebook
First published in Great Britain in 2014 by Weidenfeld & Nicolson
This ebook first published in 2014 by Weidenfeld & Nicolson
© Ramita Navai 2014
The right of Ramita Navai to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor to be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover than that in which it is published without a similar condition, including this condition, being imposed on the subsequent publisher.
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ISBN: 978 0 297 86950 4
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