Hello, my friends, greetings with hope that all is well. Today is November 27, 2023.

This is the first video that is being broadcast after my release, the other videos being distributed before in social media belong to my previous arrest and release in 2021, when I was arrested for the song “Rat Hole”. Sorry that it took me a while to come to thank you, there was a little pressure up here (pointing to his head), psychological pressure, and I was in the process of dealing with it, to get to a normal state of being. It is easy to take a photo and pretend you are ok, it takes a second to compose yourself, but video is very specific and shows what your real condition is. And when I talk to you,I wanted to be in good health, which is okay now.

First and foremost, I want to thank you because of your spirit of being supportive, not just of me but of whomever needed support. You did not deny them in this process and showed your unity, solidarity, such that I had never experienced in the past, because you did not get tired, you did not forget us, you did not forget the Ekbatan folks [area in Tehran with constant demonstrations including the dance with the African song that went viral – ed.]. You did not forget those who are still in prison. Thanks to you all, right on.

This was an amazing experience, at least for me. Even when I was in captivity at the security section, where it is almost impossible to talk to your relatives, because visits are very short and the guards are right next to you, where you cannot talk about whatever you want to talk about, even there a little news of the support you are giving to me and others was very, very welcoming and heartening news, and was giving us a new energy. Otherwise, it would have been impossible to endure these psychological injuries like many others who could not tolerate it any longer, speaking on my own behalf and some other political prisoners who were there, who came and left. (Pause) Well, this is the first video presentation and is a little hard for me to talk about…

First, they are forcefully attacking me and going after me [to discredit me] now, because they could no longer keep me in prison, and it is only because of you that you rescued me from there. Oh, first you saved my life, and another time in the previous arrest you saved me, this is the third time that you rescued me. On social media they call me a hero, but the hero is all of you who saved me and us, I have never rescued anyone.

Now that they could not hold me in prison, as in previous times they try to destroy my reputation through some accusations…that I have confessed and betrayed others. First and foremost, what is there to confess, whatever I have done is in…broadcasting my songs and words, there has been nothing there to hide. I did not come out with a rap [song] to accommodate them; none of the people who have helped me with the production of my raps have been arrested or had to endure hardship, whether the producer, musicians distributors and promoters.

I have been tortured through my arrest, they broke my hands and leg. They were hitting my face and my head and in the process of protecting my head with my hands they broke my fingers. It is not an interesting thing to talk about, but this was going on for a long time, and some of the political prisoners told me what they injected to your neck was adrenaline to keep you conscious in order to feel the pain to its extreme, and even more, rather than becoming numb or losing consciousness, and not feeling the pain.

And about confession? I didn't even give them access to my post/page. My relatives were waiting for my release on Thursday. [Then] I was supposed to be released on Saturday [11/18]. This is based on the Islamic laws that you cannot keep someone in prison more than a year without substantiated charges — temporary incarceration. All the accusations are also against their own laws, and when we [he and his lawyers] were arguing about their own laws they would laugh. They did not know what we were talking about, and they were implying that they could do whatever they wanted to do, regardless.

And the last day, Saturday, they took me to Mr. Barati for 4 or 5 hours. Not sure what position he has but he was the one in charge and he was the one ordering to apply torture on me. He wanted me to give them my page [i.e., access to Toomaj’s social media platforms]. I told them I would rather stay in jail than give you control of my page.

I must say that my posts are still under the control of Negin, and she, like all of you, or maybe more than anyone else, same as my dad, has struggled for my release. When I was not out there, many have come up and told people that they are my relatives and I sent out a message that I do not have anyone besides my supporters and had chosen Negin before I get arrested as my representative. Before I got arrested, I had chosen Mr. Raeisian as my lawyer. And there is maybe there’s more to say. I do not want to make this longer than necessary.

Oh, yeah, there are some who are concerned or suspicious that I am healthy, but if I was released 4 or 5 months after my arrest by the security forces, they would not have said these things for sure.  They would have witnessed these broken bones of mine, more than a year old and naturally most of those bones have healed even though some are not healed properly. There is not much pain but after walking for a while it becomes painful, and my hands when I exercise are painful. I have done some MRI and radiology, and I am working on my dental work to take care of that. Hope what I am talking about would not bother you, it is just bones and it will heal soon, but in order to continue my sport, boxing, I need to do some surgery on my leg and my hands, this week or next week. And hopefully I will return soon to things that I really want to do. That’s it. Just wanted to thank you all one more time, for strengthening my heart, and hope for better days ahead of us. It may take more time but I believe that we will reach that goal, and I think we will be able to build a good and worthy Iran. I really like you, and forgive me if I caused any discomfort for you.

Oh yeah, before saying goodbye, I wanted to say something about a montage video of me that is being distributed and was [created] by security apparatus. It makes it appear that I am apologizing to the interrogators for the pain I caused them, but in the 9 hours that they were interviewing me [they splice it and] sounds like I had been said couple of things that I shouldn't have.  Something like a question was asked if it was someone's mother who you caused problems for their kids, or he is in prison because of you, what do you have to say?  Most likely I would have said I apologize for their pain that I caused, but they have pretended that and made it [appear] that I am apologizing for what I have done to them, the state.

I do not want to talk about the torture because it messes me up.  But I have filed a complaint about the tortures and one reason for my complaint is to prove my side of the story against their lies that there has been no torture, because if I have lied about their tortures they could accuse and take me to the court again, with the false charge of false accusation. I had other reasons too, and have complained about their media because of the lies that they have spread about me. That Toomaj was sentenced to death but because he has cooperated effectively, his execution has been reduced to 6 years. What have I done that warranted execution? All we have done in that time was standing up against those who were shooting at people with Winchesters, and torturing people in universities and other stuff. They shouldn't have arrested me, they had no right to arrest me, let alone to keep me in solidarity confinement and forcing White Torture on me for 8-9 months, and for 4 months before that, implementing physical torture on me.

About the intelligence agency, why should one institution be above the law? Only masses of people can be above the law, when they do not want this or that law and intend to change those laws, because the country belongs to them, and those laws must serve them and their prosperity. Besides them no other entity, institution should be above the law, but the institutional security forces are above the law in Iran. The intelligence forces torture people, I am talking about myself, they enter your house against the law, destroy your belonging, your house or anything else they wish to destroy, and there is no one to stop them.The security authority tells the inspector what charges they have to pile on you. An inspector that I do not want to name whispered to me: do not write this or that when you are not feeling right, those early days when I was hallucinating, I was unconscious for 2 days, after they took me to my cell. That prosecutor, not sure where his conscience is, but has no authority over his work and the intelligence personnel has to tell him what to do, why the inspector and the deputy prosecutor should be afraid of the intelligence forces, why the deputy prosecutor should be worried and asked me if they are torturing me here as well? Under the intelligence interrogations there were no physical tortures but plenty of psychological tortures which we do not want to dive into now…

Thanks again, I am indebted to you all, and when the time comes, I will be in control of my page, and be active. But for now, I want to build myself up [i.e., his strength], and think I need that, and I hope you give me that time, and space to do that.

Thanks again.