An Iranian Christian who had his leg broken by anti-regime thugs during a hellish five years in prison has called on world leaders not to leave protesters ‘rotting in jail’.
For 361 days, Farshid Fahti was held in solitary confinement in a two-metre cell, part of a five-year stretch where his leg was broken in one of many beatings.
The 46-year-old pastor had been arrested, detained, and abused simply for practicing Christianity and was regularly threatened with execution.
Across Iran, he tells how other pastors have been stabbed to death, with one dismembered and their remains placed in a freezer in their own home.
Inside prison, many of Mr Fahti’s fellow inmates were hanged, and while he was finally released in 2015, some remain there today.
Now those notorious jails swell with thousands more detained for joining anti-regime protests last December and January.
Though they started organically and grew in response to calls by exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, they were also encouraged in part by Donald Trump, who promised to help them.
With US and Iranian peace talks in Pakistan on a knife-edge after Vice President JD Vance dramatically walked out on Saturday, Mr Fahti asks for diplomats to put the plight of prisoners at the centre of negotiations.
‘I have seen the worst things – I was tortured, and my friends were executed,’ the father-of-two tells us from an undisclosed location outside of Iran. ‘Now I fear for the ones I left behind.’
Mr Fahti’s intervention comes at a critical juncture as the regime, emboldened after blistering US-Israeli strikes failed to immediately destroy the theocracy, has ramped up executions.
Over 150 political prisoners, mainly young men and teenagers, who were arrested in the protests, have been hanged since capital punishment resumed on March 18.
They include 18-year-old musician Amirhossein Hatami, as well as Mohammad Amin Biglari, 19, and Iranian wrestler Saleh Mohammadi, also 19.
Mr Trump pledged that ‘help is on its way’ after Tehran slaughtered over 30,000 protesters in January by some counts, but their plight is not mentioned in any of the peace proposals.
‘Iranians feel abandoned after the ceasefire,’ Mr Fahti said. ‘We worry the world will move on and leave them to die.’
Mr Fahti was arrested at his mother-in-law’s home in December 2010 and thrown in the feared Evin Prison, where he was held in solitary confinement for 361 days.
‘They constantly threatened to execute me,’ he said. ‘I even wrote my last words.’
They would torment him by saying he was about to be released, before dragging him back inside.
After this, he was moved to a ward packed with political prisoners where guards would violently raid their cells for phones and notes.
‘My leg was broken,’ he said of one particularly violent raid. ‘Another prisoner’s skull was fractured. One of the men was executed days later.’
As they watched a state TV broadcast of the incident, claiming no one had been hurt, he said: ‘We were sitting there with broken bones, shocked at how openly they lied.’
At another point, he was thrown in a cell with an Al-Qaeda terrorist for two weeks, who could have killed him at any moment due to his religion.
Later, Mr Fahti was secretly transferred to Rajai Shahr Prison, described as one of Iran’s harshest jails.
‘For a year I was held with dangerous criminals,’ he said. ‘Many prisoners around me were executed. One day we were playing chess together — the next day he was gone.’
Many inmates were simply waiting for death. ‘The uncertainty is unbearable,’ he said. ‘Some beg for execution just to end the waiting.
‘When prisoners know they are awaiting execution, their reactions differ. Some become exhausted from waiting and wish it would happen quickly.
‘Others desperately search for connections or legal help to stop it.’
Even when Mr Fahti was released, his life was destroyed after his wife and their son and daughter were forced to flee the country, and she later divorced him.
His son was just a toddler when he left, while his daughter was seven. He did not see them for 10 years.
Despite living abroad, he still fears the regime could reach him. Mr Fahti said: ‘I am careful, but we won’t let fear beat us.’
He has hope after the January uprising and the military campaign that assassinated Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and liquidated so much of the regime leadership.
But he echoes the call of Pahlavi, seen as the unofficial leader of the opposition, who last week said world powers must ‘finish the job’.
His message to leaders is simple: don’t forget the prisoners. ‘At any moment, something tragic can happen,’ he said. ‘That’s why so many people are ready to die for freedom.’
Ultimately, though, he believes it is down to the people to overthrow the regime.
‘I truly believe the prison doors will open soon,’ he said. ‘The question is who will open them.
‘If the Iranian people open them, it will lead to freedom. If the regime opens them, it will lead to more executions.’
