When I entered prison, almost no one knew me. I was a cultural journalist and, well, to be honest, most politicians are not fond of reading. They had plenty of opportunities to read books there, but mostly political and historical ones, and occasionally philosophical ones. Some of them would also flip through poetry and fiction books to pass the time. But among them, I rarely saw anyone who truly loved art and literature. The young ones would also read magazines, but the elites were only interested in the political news section.

Finally, I saw a familiar face. My heart warmed a little, but to be honest, this was an exception. I knew him from Detention Center 209 – when we were both detained and uncertain – Now the fate of both of us was clear: we were going to court and we were going to prison. The only difference was that he was known among the political prisoners and had many acquaintances in prison, while I did not. He lived in the upper floor rooms and I was exiled to the lower floor of the prison community.

The decision of which floor and room the new prisoner will go to is made by the “representative lawyer”, who is the representative of the prisoners and is chosen through voting among them. The representative lawyer himself is always one of the residents of the “upper” section. This upper section apparently has no difference from the lower section. The map of the prison buildings is uniform and the upper floor has the same layout as the lower floor, with two corridors, six rooms, and one bathroom. The only difference is that at that time, one of the rooms was used as a storage room and a place for exercise, one was used for education, and the other one was used as a mosque or a Hussainiya.

In this way, the upper class population was significantly less than the lower class, and naturally more secluded, quiet. Some rooms also had special advantages… No, the correct phrase is: a special room! A room where famous politicians often stayed and I remember during busy times when each room had a population of 22 to 23 people and some were forced to sleep on the floor due to lack of beds, this room only had 16 occupants. Even one of the gentlemen had taken off his top bunk so that when he went back and forth, he wouldn’t hit his head; which, of course, became the subject of funny jokes due to his very short height.

Afterwards, protests were responded to and after many struggles, one of the lower rooms was moved to the upper floor and the empty space was allocated for a sports room. But where did this “classist” system – which still continues in Evin – begin? Apparently, the story goes back to a time when Section 350 was not only for political prisoners, but also for financial prisoners. The power and wealth of this group had caused a system like the one that exists now to be established. The political prisoners were on the lower level and, as they put it, the financial prisoners were “at the bottom of the food chain”. Even when restrictions were imposed on political prisoners, slogans like “Death to the Hypocrites” and “Death to the Politicians” filled the atmosphere of the ward.

After some time, with the separation of prisoners and the transfer of financial prisoners to another ward, the situation became similar to the story of “Animal Farm”: a group went up to the upper rooms and slowly gained power. They established good relationships with the guard officers, the store manager, and prisoners who were willing to do tasks such as cleaning rooms, general cleaning of the floor, washing dishes, etc. for a fee.

In my opinion, these may seem like small and insignificant issues, but you have to be confined in such a space to understand how damaging this behavior is by those who claim to be advocates of justice and human rights. To protect the dignity of political prisoners and not give ammunition to the “others,” we will not go into further details.

But the point that can never be ignored is the lack of respect for the dignity of political prisoners. By entering the prison, you will be evaluated by a group of superiors. If you are recognized and close to the ruling party in prison, you will definitely have a high position. But if you do not have a name or connections with those in power, you will be thrown to the lower class.

As soon as a new prisoner enters, a group of officials from the upper rooms gather to take him to their room. On one occasion, a sentence jumped out of the mouth of one of the officials and became the subject of mockery among the upper prisoners for a long time. He said, “It’s not worthy of Mr. Doctor to go down!”

Just this one sentence is enough to reveal the attitude of the ruling elite towards other prisoners (who are a small representation of society). In countless arguments and disputes between groups and individuals, the accusations made by the Ministry of Intelligence and the Judiciary have become a source of insult and superiority for the elites. Accusations such as being a spy (which was my own accusation as a journalist of the events of 1988), being a street thug (referring to the Green Movement youth who are not well-known), being a cyber criminal (referring to officials of pornographic websites), and…

I don’t know how much longer this issue can continue and how far we can go in opening up the details for readers, but to be honest, it’s a shame to not speak of the nobility and integrity of political prisoners. During my time in prison, I discovered that a group of the best people and most elite figures of my country – each for their own reasons – have been imprisoned in this cell. Even many of these great individuals were in the upper class of the cell, but they suffered from this class-based system. Many of the lower class children also showed respect and endured. They would say, “We have come here to endure imprisonment. This too shall pass…”