unilad homepage
unilad homepage
  • News
    • UK News
    • US News
    • World News
    • Crime
    • Health
    • Money
    • Sport
    • Travel
  • Music
  • Technology
  • Film and TV
    • News
    • DC Comics
    • Disney
    • Marvel
    • Netflix
  • Celebrity
  • Politics
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • LADbible
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Archive
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
TikTok
YouTube
Submit Your Content
Man who was tortured with silence for 8 months says he’s not a normal person after his release
Home>News
Published 18:11 3 Jan 2023 GMT

Man who was tortured with silence for 8 months says he’s not a normal person after his release

An Iranian man has spoken about the damaging impact being tortured with silence had on him as a 17-year-old

Callum Jones

Callum Jones

google discoverFollow us on Google Discover
Featured Image Credit: CNN

Topics: Crime, World News, Iran

Callum Jones
Callum Jones

Advert

Advert

Advert

An Iranian man who was tortured with silence for eight months said in an interview that he was not a normal person after release.

Amir Fakhravar, the white room prisoner, was tortured back in 2004, which left him with terrifying horrors.

The white torture, which is often referred to as the white room torture, is a type of psychological torture technique that was aimed at making a person feel isolated from everyone.

A prisoner is held in a cell surrounded by white walls, completely muted, leaving them deprived of all their senses.

Advert

Amir Fakhravar was left in the white torture for eight months in 2004.
CNN

Not only is the room all white, but the food that is served to the prisoners is also the same colour.

In more modern times, the white room torture was used in Iran by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard in a covert detention center.

The prisoners that were kept in this center were traditionally journalists who questioned the Iranian regime through either speeches or writing.

Back in 2008, Fakhravar spoke to CNN about his time in the torture room, saying that the beatings and the broken bones he had previously suffered was 'nothing' compared to the white room torture - which certainly puts it into perspective.

Fakhravar said: "We didn't see any color, all of the cell was white, the floor was white, our clothes were white and also the light, 24 hours, was white. Our food, also, was white rice.

"We couldn't see any color and we couldn't hear any voices."

The Iranian Revolutionary Guard made the then medical student slip a white piece of paper under the door if he needed to go to the toilet.

Fakhravar was even fed white food in the torture room.
Independent / Alamy Stock Photo

Steps were taken to minimise sounds all the time, with the guards having to wear padded shoes to muffle any sound.

Fakhravar added: "I was there for eight months and after those months I couldn't remember my father and my mother's face.

"When they released me from that prison I was not a normal person."

He told CNN that he was arrested when he was just 17 after being critical of the Iranian regime through both speeches and writing.

Fakhravar claimed he spent five years moving between Iranian prisons where he was tortured, with the white torture beginning in January 2004 and ending in August that year.

He eventually managed to escape the torture, and fled to the US for a new life - but he told CNN he would not rest until he saw the regime change in Iran.

Choose your content:

7 hours ago
8 hours ago
9 hours ago
  • Getty Stock Photo
    7 hours ago

    'Hidden gem’ with emerald lakes perfect for wild swimming has become number 1 country for tourists

    Searches for visiting country increased by 5,800 percent in July 2026 compared to July last year

    News
  • Getty Stock Image
    8 hours ago

    New safety warning issued for GLP-1 drugs over rare eye disorder

    36 cases have been reported in Australia among those taking GLP-1 medications

    News
  • PA Real Life
    9 hours ago

    Woman who dropped 7 dress sizes in just 8 months says doctors dismissed her cancer as anaemia

    65-year-old Yinka Sowemimo-Coker first started feeling unwell in April 2018

    News
  • Nikolas Kokovlis/NurPhoto via Getty Images
    9 hours ago

    New LinkedIn CEO shares 4 simple habits to boost career - including ditching phones

    Prepare to rethink how you're using LinkedIn

    News
  • College student killed by ex-boyfriend who was stalking her for months in murder-suicide
  • Prime suspect in Madeleine McCann case released and the person responsible claims it was done in error
  • Bondi Beach hero Ahmed al-Ahmed who tackled gunman breaks silence from hospital bed with emotional message
  • Woman, 26, who spent five months in Japanese prison after trying to order ketamine explains what it was like