[2008.07.12] 本报与伊朗:不再沉默

 Iran and The Economist
本报与伊朗

Silent no more
不再沉默

Jul 10th 2008
From The Economist print edition

An Iranian student protester, sentenced to death for appearing on our cover, has escaped to America
一位曾因在本报封面上露面而被判处死刑的伊朗学生已经逃到美国。

NINE years ago, Ahmad Batebi appeared on the cover of The Economist. He was a 21-year-old student, one of thousands who protested against Iran’s government that summer. He was photographed holding aloft a T-shirt bespattered with the blood of a fellow protester. Soon afterwards, he was arrested and shown our issue of July 17th 1999. “With this”, he was told, “you have signed your death warrant.”
9年前Ahmad Batebi出现在《经济学人》的封面上。他当时是个21岁的学生，是那个夏天成千上万抗议伊朗政府人群中的一员。他高举一件溅满同伴鲜血的T恤的形象被拍进照片，政府很快将他逮捕，并给他看了本报1999年7月17日版。”有了这个”有人告诉他，”你就等于签了死刑判决书了。”

During his interrogation he was blindfolded and beaten with cables until he passed out. His captors rubbed salt into his wounds to wake him up, so they could torture him more. They held his head in a drain full of sewage until he inhaled it. He recalls yearning for a swift death to end the pain. He was played recordings of what he was told was his mother being tortured. His captors wanted him to betray his fellow students, to implicate them in various crimes and to say on television that the blood on that T-shirt was only red paint. He says he refused.
在审讯阶段，他被蒙住眼睛用钢鞭打到昏死过去。逮捕他的人把盐水浇到伤口上把他弄醒，这样就能进行更多折磨。他们压着他的头，浸入充满污物的水沟中，直到他把粪水吞进去。他记得当时只想快点死去，结束痛苦。有人给他放录音，告诉他这是他母亲被折磨时的惨叫。逮捕他的人逼他背叛同伴，指正他们犯了一系列罪行，并要他在电视中声明T恤中的血迹只是红色颜料。他说他拒绝了。

He was sentenced to death for “creating street unrest”. But after a global outcry, the sentence was commuted to 15 years in jail. He speculates that his high profile made it hard to kill him without attracting negative publicity. For two years, he was kept in solitary confinement, in a cell that was little more than a toilet hole with a wooden board on top. He was tortured constantly. Only when he was allowed to mingle with other prisoners again did he begin to overcome his despair.
他以”在大街上引起混乱”的罪名判处死刑。但在全球的反对浪潮下，最后减为15年监禁。他猜测也许因为自己知名度太高，杀死他很难而不招致恶评。他被单独监禁整整两年，关在一间只有一个厕所蹲位那么大的房子里，上面盖着一块木板。对他的折磨从未停息，只有在被允许再次和其他犯人呆在一起的时候，他才开始克服绝望。

He suffered a partial stroke that left the right side of his body without feeling. He needed medical attention. The regime did not want to be blamed for him dying behind bars, he says, so he was allowed out for treatment. Three months ago, on the day of the Persian new year, he escaped into Iraq. On June 24th he arrived in America.
他饱受偏瘫的折磨，整个右边的身子完全丧失感觉，需要医疗。他说政府不想因为他死于监狱而招受非议，所以允许他保外就医。三个月前，就在波斯历新年那一天，他逃到了伊拉克，6月24日到达美国。

He spoke to The Economist on July 7th. Looking at the picture that sparked his ordeal, he says that another man in his place might be angry, but he is not. Mr Batebi is a photographer himself. He says he understands what journalism involves. Had we not published the picture, he says, another paper might have. Looking at the same picture, his lawyer, interpreter and friend Lily Mazahery says she is close to tears: in it, the young Mr Batebi’s pale arms are as yet unscarred by torture.
7月7日他接受了《经济学人》的采访。看着给自己招致无数苦难的照片，他说如果换成其他人经受如此磨难必会愤懑在心，可他不会。Batebi先生也是摄像师，他说自己知道解新闻行业的规则，如果我们不公开这张照片，其他报纸也会。看着同一张照片，他的律师，翻译和朋友Lily Mazahery忍不住热泪盈眶。照片中年轻的Batebi先生手臂苍白依旧，却没有如今因拷打留下的点点伤痕。

The protests Mr Batebi took part in nine years ago frightened Iran’s rulers. The students were angry about censorship, the persecution of intellectuals and the thugs who beat up any student overheard disparaging the regime. Mr Batebi thinks Iran could well turn solidly democratic some day. In neighbouring states, religious extremism is popular. In Iran, he says, the government is religiously extreme, but the people are not.
Batebi先生9年前参加的抗议活动曾让伊朗的统治者大为恐慌。学生们对严行审查制度，压迫知识分子的政府和捕风捉影，随意殴打任何对政府有异议学生的暴徒感到极度愤怒。Batebi先生认为伊朗某一天会实现真正的民主，他说在周邻国家宗教极端主义扎根与群众之中，而在伊朗只有政府才实行宗教极端政策，但老百姓并不支持。

He is cagey about how exactly he escaped. But he says he used a cellphone camera to record virtually every step of his journey, and will soon go public with the pictures and his commentary. Meanwhile, he seems to be enjoying America. He praises the way “people have the opportunity to become who they want to be”. Shortly after he arrived, he posted a picture of himself in front of the Capitol on his Farsi-language blog, with the caption: “Your hands will never touch me again.”
他十分小心避免透露逃脱的细节，但说用手机上的照相机记录下了全过程，将很快公开这些照片并加上自己的解说词。他似乎在美国过得不错。他赞美到那种”让人们有机会实现自我”的环境。来到美国不久，他在自己用波斯语撰写的博客上贴了一张照片。照片中的他站在国会大厦前，下面写到”你的手再碰不了我。”

译者：xcz2      http://www.ecocn.org/forum/viewthread.php?tid=12614&extra=page%3D1