An international documentary film exposes Iran's human rights abuses, including those inflicted on political activists imprisoned in the Islamic republic.
The details of solitary confinement in Iranian prisons were chronicled in Narges Mohammadi's book, "White Torture: Interviews with Iranian Women Prisoners" and made visual in the documentary, "White Torture."
The phrase "white torture" refers to the complete sensory deprivation and isolation that results from being put in an all-white room.
But Iran's prison experience is even more harrowing, "Iran's most frequently jailed journalist" Taghi Rahmani, Mohammadi's husband, told German broadcaster DW (Deutsche Welle).
"In Iran, a solitary cell is not like the isolation in Western prisons," Rahmani told DW at a recent screening of "White Torture."
"In a solitary cell in Iran, you are locked up and have no communication or facilities. Not a meeting, not a book, not an essay," he added, and "with a blindfold and you only hear sounds."
Mohammadi was first imprisoned for criticizing the Iranian government in 1998 and has spent the past 25 years in and out of prisons in the country for protesting her treatment, the government, and Iran's awful history of human right's abuses, according to DW.
Mohammadi was sentenced to 16 years in prison for being part of "a human rights movement that campaigns for the abolition of the death penalty," according to the report.
Over 25 years, she interviewed prisoners and used their stories about their treatment for her book.
"Solitary confinement is really a painful situation," documentary maker Gelareh Kakavand told DW. "Behind the scenes of this documentary, there were many emotions in the interviews that could not be recorded. I hope that the audience will get close to those feelings after watching this movie."
Mariam Claren, the daughter of Iranian political prisoner Nahid Taghavi, told DW the film was "very difficult to watch," because it revealed the "torture that can be seen" while also exposing "the torture that cannot be seen."
The film was worked on mainly when Mohammadi was out of prison, according to the report.
"The conditions of making the film were difficult," said filmmaker Vahid Zarezadeh, who has fled Iran to avoid political persecution and prosecution.
"In the first minutes of the film, the audience sees that one of the agents of the Ministry of Information called to Narges Mohammadi. We went unannounced to get some interviews. The whole group did not go to the filming location together. For example, Narges went separately, and we went separately. Even Narges used to ride a motorcycle so that the pursuers would lose her."
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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