Detained Filmmaker Found Evidence of Killings in Iran

By: Irwin Block

February 06, 2008 The Gazette

When filmmaker Mehrnoushe Solouki returned to her native Iran, she discovered in a Tehran suburb what she believes is disturbing evidence of multiple killings. There, in the Khavaran cemetery, she said she found signs that some of the 6,000 opponents of the Islamist regime who disappeared in 1988 might be buried in mass graves.

Solouki, who has French and Iranian citizenship, did not go into detail at a news conference yesterday at the Université du Québec à Montréal. But the UQÀM student stressed it was in the interest of exposing "errors of the past" that she flew to Iran in December 2006 to gather material for a film.

She also said she wanted to show that Iranians are "making their small revolutions at home with low-risk gestures."

Just returned to Montreal, the Canadian resident, 38, reflected on her 30 days in an Iranian jail and more than a year in which she was prevented from continuing her filming or leaving the country.

"I left behind me a year of trial and suffering, with all the bad and good that entails," the thin-looking Solouki said, sometimes haltingly.

She was aware of the risks before she left and thanked Reporters Without Borders for publicizing her plight, adding she felt French diplomats should have spoken out publicly to hasten her release from jail and the return of her passport.

Still, she made it clear she was not abused in prison and did not feel threatened, but neon lights were kept on 24 hours a day during her detention.

She was questioned repeatedly about suspicions her trip was financed by a human-rights organization or another group. It wasn't, she insisted.

Her jailers were suspicious of the fact she had press accreditation though she's a filmmaker on her third visit to Iran and not a journalist.

After her release from jail, she spent the rest of the year at her parents' Tehran home, where she suspects the phone was tapped and emails monitored.

The family posted a bond based on the value of the family home to obtain her release from prison.

Once free, Solouki launched her own campaign via emails, including messages to Reporters Without Borders, which publicized her plight.

Solouki told reporters she felt the Iranians were rather embarrassed by her situation and did not want to put her on trial.

"There was never any question of a trial. They wanted to close my file," she said.

When she finally appeared in court Jan. 13 for being a threat to national security, the only question she was asked was when she would leave the country.

The next day, her travel restrictions were lifted, the bond her parents posted was cancelled and she got her passport back. She flew to Paris Jan. 18.

Her raw video and hard drive have been returned to her parents, but it is not known whether the content is intact, she said.

Asked if she planned to return to Iran soon, Solouki replied, "We'll have to wait until (Iranian President Mahmoud) Ahmadinejad is gone."