Ahmad Batebi has safely arrived to the U.S.

Ahmad Batebi, the Iranian student who was sentenced to death by the occupational Islamic Republic for holding up the bloodied shirt of a fellow student during nation-wide anti-regime demonstrations in July 1999, but whose sentence was reduced to lifetime in prison, has escaped on a short leave from prison. He is now in Washington D.C. and had a tv appearance on VOA Persian a few days ago in which he spoke of the horrific torture he endured at the hands of his interrogators for 9 years!!! Batebi stated in his first appearance since fleeing occupied Iran that the Islamic Republic uses both physical and psychological means of breaking political prisoners. He spoke of physical torture such as having his head forced into a toilet full of feces, being beaten and of psychological torture such as being told his mother had died, solitary confinement, being deprived of any source of light, or holding mock executions. Batebi also paid homage to his friends and their undying bravery who had died under torture, in particular the savage killing of Iranian student activist Akbar Mohammadi.