Survivors of the bloody crackdown on the November 2019 protests in Iran identified a human rights abuser Massoud Safdari or ‘Sattar’ who committed serious crimes against detainees.

In November 2019, the Iranian regime committed unbelievable crimes to silence hundreds of thousands of people who had flooded onto the streets to protest gas price hikes. Following Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s order, the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) and State Security Forces (SSF) did whatever they could to crack down on nationwide protests.

They killed at least 1,500 demonstrators, including children and women, and arrested over 12,000 protesters and bystanders. In some cases, the authorities delivered the lifeless bodies to their family only after removing and selling the victims’ body organs.

Furthermore, there is no information about many detainees’ whereabouts and conditions. From mid-November for a period of two months, people were finding corpses beside the streets, in canals, and outlying areas with blunt signs of torture.

Summary of Repression and Human Rights Violations in Iran – November 2020

On September 2, Amnesty International provided damning details about gross violations of human rights in Iran’s prisons. “In the days following the mass protests, videos showing Iran’s security forces deliberately killing and injuring unarmed protesters and bystanders sent shockwaves around the world. Much less visible has been the catalogue of cruelty meted out to detainees and their families by Iranian officials away from the public eye,” said Diana Eltahawy, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa.

“Widespread torture including beatings, floggings, electric shocks, stress positions, mock executions, waterboarding, sexual violence, forced administration of chemical substances, and deprivation of medical care. Hundreds subjected to grossly unfair trials on baseless national security charges. Death sentences issued based on torture-tainted ‘confessions,’” Amnesty International explained.

Following the revelation of the regime’s human rights violations and their acknowledgment by international organizations, recently released detainees intend to expose the human rights violators in Iran. In a previous article, Irannewsupdate.com disclosed details about a torturer of the IRGC Intelligence Department, who introduced himself as ‘Raouf.’

In this article, thanks to details provided by released November 2019 arrestees, human rights defenders, and social media activists, we will reveal another human rights abuser Massoud Safdari, who introduces himself as ‘Sattar.’ Like Raouf, Safdari or Sattar is an interrogator of the IRGC Intelligence Department who committed horrible crimes against citizens. Released prisoners identified him in a photo of Khamenei’s meeting with managers of the Islamic Revolution Document Center in April 2011.

In addition to interrogating detainees, Sattar was personally involved in detaining the people during the gas protests in November 2019. On December 11, the human rights Hra-news.org news agency reported in the past days, we received calls on behalf of eyewitnesses whose information led to the identification of a security agent who, as an interrogator, was involved in the arrest of political protesters.

Detainees Testify That Massoud Safdari (Sattar) Interrogated Them

Several eyewitnesses, who were among the November 2019 arrestees, testified that they were transferred to places where this agent tortured and interrogated them. This torturer, whose partners called him Sattar, has also been seen in Yad-e Yaran Basij Paramilitary Forces base in Arzhantin [Argentina] street in Tehran, in addition to the IRGC Intelligence Department’s safe houses.

“Since the beginning of detention, [security forces] were beating us until they took us to a place for interrogation blindfolded. In the prosecution phase, I saw him. He was beating us while he was not concerned about his face to be seen. His partners called him Sattar. They might have named him this because of the fashion of his beard. But, in November 2019, he had a longer beard and shorter hair compared to his image in 2011,” a released detainee said.

Massoud Safdari (Sattar) Was in Charge of Extracting Forces Confessions

Another eyewitness narrated how agent Sattar arrested and beat him in the street. “In November 2019, while I was shutting down my shop in Enghelab [Revolution] Street to go home, plainclothes agents detained me. They instantly beat me. They had arrested two or three persons in addition to me,” the released detainee said.

“After transferring us to an unknown place, he put interrogating papers in front of us with threats and obscene language. He violently forced us to admit that we were rioters. Eventually, after two days of interrogations and beatings, they delivered seven other persons and me to the IRGC detention center in Evin prison,” the source added.

Another released prisoner confirmed these reports. “The forces who detained and interrogated us consisted of plainclothes agents, Basij, and IRGC forces. Sattar looked like a plain-cloth agent. But, given his papers, documents, interrogations, and eventually, when he delivered us to the IRGC detention center, it was revealed that he was affiliated to [the IRGC],” the eyewitness said.

“I did not [personally] see him in the IRGC Intelligence Department. However, the accusations that he filed against me and my cellmates shaped the path of our cases,” the released detainees explained.

Iran: Brutal Interrogator of the IRGC Intelligence Department Identified

Former detainees announced that the revelations about human rights violators, including interrogators, torturers, wardens, and other oppressors, is a national obligation. Regarding the international organizations’ recent motion, this is the time for exposing criminals and murderers, which would lead to show the real face of the religious dictatorship in Iran, they said.