In the realm of Ahwazi prisons, Yousef Azizi Beni Torf faced nightmarish days. Confined within the suffocating walls of Tehran and Ahwaz, he endured unimaginable hardships that painted a haunting picture of his struggles. His gripping narrative unveils the brutal realities he faced within the cruel confines of Iranian jail cells under the current Iranian regime. This compelling tale falls within the realm of "prison literature," a genre that has garnered recognition and importance across the globe. Yet what sets Azizi's book apart is its unyielding focus on the Ahwazi prisons, revealing a stark contrast to the conditions prevailing elsewhere in Iran.
Yousef Azizi was no stranger to the dark underworld of imprisonment. During the Shah's reign, he faced constant apprehension and suffered through gruelling interrogations. His fervent articles in Iranian newspapers, passionately defending the Arab identity of the Ahwazis, earned him accusations and trouble. The Iranian regime's unease with the issue of Ahwazis' Arab heritage remained deeply ingrained. Undeterred, Azizi felt compelled to continue his battle and resistance under the Islamic Republic, a regime that deceitfully reneged on its promises to the Ahwazi people after consolidating its power through the Khomeini revolution. Yousef's only crime was defending the right to self-determination for the colonized Ahwazi population. He fearlessly exposed the decades-long ethnic oppression and Iranian state efforts to erase not only the identity of his people, but also their very existence through forced displacement and the establishment of exclusive settlements for Iranians, reshaping the demographics of Ahwaz and reducing the Ahwazi people in their own homeland to a minority. Azizi's candid writing and exposure of these racist policies were not tolerated, leading to his arrest and the unjust suffering he endured in prison. Yousef's story is not just his own, but represents the untold and unheard experiences of hundreds of Ahwazi political prisoners who faced similar fates, even execution.
The watchful eyes of the intelligence services never wavered from Azizi. His status as a writer and outspoken journalist, with strong connections to Arab and global media, made him a double threat. Most importantly, he was an Ahwazi Arab. A founding member of the Iranian Writers and Journalists Union and the first Arab elected to the Board of Directors of the Iranian Writers, Azizi began his career three decades ago, leaving behind an impactful body of work comprising twenty-five books and countless articles in Persian and Arabic.
The relentless torment and persecution he endured had plagued his life, orchestrating a symphony of suffering that reached its crescendo before the keys of freedom were played on June 28, 2005.
In the span between those days in prison, Azizi weathered psychological torment so excruciating that its scars bore a striking resemblance to physical pain. Yet his unwavering resilience and refusal to succumb to baseless accusations served as a lifeline, connecting him to the hope and light that lay beyond the suffocating veil of imprisonment. His journey was one defined by unspeakable horror and unyielding determination, sustained only by the unwavering support of Iranian and international humanitarian organizations that prevented him from sinking into the depths of despair.