Snatched off a Tehran street, Matt Trevithick was arrested, blindfolded, and locked in a solitary cell in Iran’s most brutal prison.

DAYs

4132 BOSTONIA Summer 2016

26-54 Bostonia_SU16.indd 32 6/1/16 12:47 PM “You have this overpowering feeling that you’re stuck in a stupid system. Everybody is just doing their job.”

PHOTOGRAPH BY JANICE CHECCHIO

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As told to Caleb Daniloff

THE LAST TIME we met Matthew Trevithick, he was helping launch a successful national rowing program in war-ravaged Afghanistan in 2013. Since then, the former BU oarsman has ghostwritten a memoir for the fi rst post-Taliban minister of higher education in Afghanistan, reported from one of the deadliest patches of Taliban country for the Daily Beast, survived a terrorist attack on his hotel while traveling in Mali, settled in Turkey, and cofounded SREO, an independent humanitarian outfi t devoted to the Syrian refugee crisis. Trevithick’s US passport, a kaleidoscopic narrative of exotic stamps and visas, is so worn that the cover emblem has rubbed off . Still, it was a shock to friends and acquaintances when the media last January named him as one of fi ve American prisoners (including Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian) released from Iran’s Evin Prison, a notorious facility with a brutal reputation. Only a handful of people even knew Trevithick (CGS’06, CAS’08) had been detained. The 30-year-old Massachusetts native had been studying Farsi at Tehran University in fall 2015. After fi ve years of applying, he’d fi nally received a government invitation. “I was ecstatic,” Trevithick recalls. “I’d get to spend three months in this country that’s such a mystery and an anathema. I wasn’t supernervous about my safety. I pegged the chances of something happening, some kind of odd behavior from the authorities, at 10 percent.” As October slipped into November, the political atmosphere in Tehran prompted Trevithick to reevaluate his calculus. The United States and Iran had reached a landmark nuclear agreement a few months earlier, but as February elections loomed, hard-line Iranian politicians, including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, began airing their displeasure, denouncing America at increasingly hostile volumes. The surveillance of Westerners became more blatant. Trevithick had even been summoned for questioning. After consulting with his family back home, he decided it was time to pack things up. The next morning, he left his dorm to purchase an airline ticket.

Monday, December 7, 2015 the Iranians realize it’s not in their The ceiling is about 12 feet high. I’m Daneshjou Boulevard self-interest to start an international given a wool blanket, a towel, a tooth- Tehran, Iran incident. They can go through all my brush, and toothpaste. The interro- 9:01 a.m. things. I have nothing to hide. I was gations start right away. I’m led to a vetted a thousand times for my visa. room where I’m made to sit in a chair We drive through the gate of the pris- facing the wall. They don’t want me to DAY 1 on and into a metal hangar. One of the see their faces. I’m talking to the wall, men says, “Put your forehead against and they’re listening behind me. I hear It’s cloudy, but in a beautiful way. It’s the headrest.” Then they blindfold me prayer beads clicking in their hands and the fi rst snow of the year. I make a snow- with a big gray cloth. One guy, very ca- smell their cologne. The fi rst question ball and throw it into the road and head sually, asks in Farsi, “Are you scared?” is, “Do you know who Jason Rezaian is?” for the taxi stand. As I walk by a white I say, “Yeah, I’m little nervous. What’s I say, “Of course, the whole world knows Hyundai Sonata, three guys jump out going on?” He doesn’t say anything. that name.” “Well, he’s never getting and ask, “Are you Matthew?” When I Then they take me into a small, cold out of here and neither are you.” I’m ac- answer, I’m pushed into the backseat. room. They take away my clothes, ex- cused of personally trying to overthrow This religious music is playing in the cept my underwear and undershirt. the government. Of having access to car, a rhythmic chant: “Hussein! Hus- That’s when I realize this isn’t just a bank accounts with millions of dollars sein! Hussein! Hussein!” I’m trying to misunderstanding. I’m being processed and weapons caches. remain calm. We’re driving down this into prison. I sit down in a chair, sign There is no bed in my cell, just a thin snaking hill. I don’t know that we are my name, get fi ngerprinted and photo- fabric covering the cement fl oor. I use heading to Evin Prison. It just becomes graphed. I’m given light blue pants with my towel for a pillow. The door has a clear as the other possibilities dwindle. an elastic band, a long-sleeve button- rectangle opening with two bars, just I’m doing simple comparison checks down, and sandals. The sandals are big enough for someone’s face. You can’t from previous experiences: I’m alive, dirty, worn down. The blindfold goes see much through it, just cold fl uores- not being shot at, nobody’s cutting off back on. cent lights going down the hallway. my hands. I’m going to take each mo- From there, I’m steered upstairs to a Breakfast is a packet of honey, a frozen ment in very small doses. There’s clearly cell on the second fl oor. I’m in solitary. I pat of butter you have to crumble with been a mistake. You have to hope that can touch three walls at any given time. a spoon, or bread.

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26-54 Bostonia_SU16.indd 34 6/1/16 12:47 PM all kinds of questions about America. tel. They tell me to relax. I’m walked DAY 3 Being able to speak Farsi is huge. I can past at least a dozen European business- ask for an extra tea. Usually, we get men and -women in the lobby. I look in They take me to the open-air room at two or three pieces of bread and I ask their eyes. Please remember this face. the end of the cellblock. They force me for six, because I need more food. I’m We take the elevator to the 13th fl oor. I to call my mom and say I’m going to six-foot-four, not fi ve-foot-two like my ask permission to use the bathroom. It’s the mountains, that I’ll be out of cell interrogators. I lose 13 pounds while the fi rst time I see myself in the mirror. service. They don’t want this getting I’m in there. I don’t like what I see: unkempt, hair out. It’s cold, it’s nighttime. I can see the too long, beard too long. I look tired. sky through a plastic sheet. It’s the only When I get back, the guards are fl ip- place they can get reception. My mom DAY 8 ping through the TV channels and they and I had a system of texting every day, stop on Titanic, the scene where the just to say hi. It has been three days, so I spend the entire day watching the sun boat is going down. I’m watching Leo when I tell her I’m going on vacation, move across the wall of my cell. I count run through the ship trying to avoid she knows right away. out 10-minute blocks and make a notch water. It’s a total metaphor for my life in the wall where the sun has passed, at that moment. I feel like I’m sinking. so I can tell what time it is. It’s fun the Finally, this fat guy is introduced to DAY 4 fi rst time and then it gets really trying. me as a friend of the president and a minister. This could have easily been I’m allowed to go to the bathroom fi ve one of their buddies. The guards are times a day. I push a button. They come DAY 10 like, “Matt, he’s a very busy man, an open the door. The bathroom doesn’t important man. Just tell the truth and have a heating vent, so it’s cold. There’s They tell me somebody very important, we’ll let you go,” and I swear he’s off to an open grated window at the top, no a minister, is going to review my case. the side on his phone playing Candy seal on it. I go a couple of times just to At 2 or 3 o’clock, I’m taken from my cell Crush. It’s almost like I’m supposed breathe outside air, but it’s in this pu- and pushed across the street to get my to understand what’s happening and trid, stinking room. It’s not a Western regular clothes. Then I’m shoved into a roll with it. They have a video camera toilet. It’s a hole in the ground. But if I car, blindfold still on, as we drive out of on me the whole time. The objective is stand at a particular spot, I can catch a the prison. Two of the guys are the same always to get me on national television draft of clean, pure mountain air. The ones who arrested me. We leave the to admit I was there to overthrow the walls are degraded just enough that gates, and we’re stuck in traffi c imme- government. I keep calmly saying, “My you can make marks. Everyone has diately. It takes us 40 minutes to drive name is Matt Trevithick. I’m a student left notes to each other: You can get the half-mile. At one point, we’re next from America here at the invitation of through this. Don’t give up. I scratch to an Italian gelato truck, and they’re the Iranian government.” my name: Matt. all joking about whether it’s real just This lasts several hours. The so-called because it says 100-percent imported minister fi nally says, “We’ll determine gelato. Most “genuine” Western prod- your situation in a few days.” All these DAY 5 ucts in Iran are fakes imported from vague statements are killing me. The China. They ask my opinion. three guys drive me back. It’s late. The There’s a heating grate in my cell that We fi nally arrive at this fi ve-star ho- car is really cold. It’s back to the routine. becomes my salvation. It comes out from the wall just enough so I can get my big toes under and do sit-ups. I turn every day into a really long workout ses- Matt Trevithick in October sion. Two sets before breakfast, four 2015, at Naqsh-e Jahan, in sets before lunch, and eight sets after Isfahan, Iran. Parts of the historic square, a center of lunch to get me to dinner. By the end religious worship, political of my time in solitary, I’m doing over power, and commerce, 1,000 sit-ups and 400 push-ups a day. date to 1598. DAY 7

You have this overpowering feeling that you’re stuck in a stupid system. Everybody is just doing their job. I ask the food guy, “How long do people usu- ally stay here?” And he essentially says, “The system’s working, relax, sit tight. You’re going to be outta here. Just pro- cess through.” One of the guys asks me COURTESY OF MATT TREVITHICK MATT OF COURTESY

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26-54 Bostonia_SU16.indd 35 6/1/16 12:47 PM STATE SECURITY DAY 12 When Matt Trevithick was freed DAY 26 from an Iranian prison along The bad cop shows up. Any statements with four other Americans Somebody who says he’s a lawyer or a I wrote, he says, “Write it again.” He on January 16, 2016, pundits judge comes to my cell and asks if every- hands me sheets with names on it, ran- speculated that the release was thing is OK. It’s surreal. I actually laugh. dom people from my emails, and says, part of the landmark agreement I mean I’m sitting in a little six-by-seven “Write everything you know about this on Iran’s nuclear program, a room, where I’m entirely alone, sleep- person.” Nothing I write about anyone is straight-up prisoner swap (the ing on the fl oor. anything you can’t fi nd on Google. He is United States released seven really cold. “I don’t believe you. I don’t Iranians), or as suggested by have time for your lies. I need to know a New York Times editorial, a DAY 28 more. You haven’t been doing enough “conciliatory gesture” by Iranian to tell us the truth. You’re going to be president Hassan Rouhani, sig- They fi nally let me speak with my moth- here a while.” naling a new chapter in US- er again. I ask her to recite Psalm 23. Iranian relations. All three Even if you’re an atheist, there’s a lot of explanations are far more cred- poetry and beautiful imagery in terms DAY 16 ible than any justifi cation for of being calm and relaxed and that their arrest. Shirin Ebadi, an Ira- you’re not alone. Like all honest people, In the afternoon, I hear a guy try to kill nian human rights lawyer, writes I struggle with faith. I was raised where himself. Through the heating grate, in the Washington Post that the we went to church on Sundays. This is a I can hear somebody in pain. Loud, Iranian government routinely trying time and there are only so many pained breathing. Then all the guards arrests its own citizens for such sources I can draw strength from, and come running to his cell, screaming, alleged crimes as “propaganda religion is one of them. To have your “Oh my God, what are you doing? Is he against the state” or “endanger- mother do something like that for you OK? Get the doctor!” He tried to hang ing the security of the state,” but is incredibly soothing. If there’s a time himself with his shirt. in reality they are being held when I’m closest to tears, it’s then. I hope he’s all right and I think how for their political beliefs, their bad must it have been for him to go human rights work, or their jour- through that. But it makes sense to nalism. In Trevithick’s case, no DAY 29 me—that’s the weirdest part. I feel a formal charges were ever fi led. sense of solidarity. He’s taking con- In the evening, I’m moved out of soli- trol of his life. That is his decision. He tary and into a larger cell with two doesn’t want to die. I meet him later in a been 20 days already.” The bad cop says, roommates. I’m ecstatic. I always felt group cell. He has a kid and wife, but it’s “Twenty days is nothing, Matt. We’ve I could get through this if I had someone a logical act for someone in his situation been very good to you so far, very nice.” to share the experience with. Farhad who’s at the end of his rope, literally. If There’s always the threat of worse. The (not his real name) is a 40-year-old com- this is what’s necessary for him, I hope smashed tiles underneath my chair, puter hacker. He’s been in solitary for it happens as best as something like this the dried blood on the wall. You think 13 months. I can’t even imagine. He’s can happen, and if he decides to live, about all the people who have been ar- the one who tried to hang himself. Ali is that he gets through living. Whatever rested and interrogated here. You can’t this 75-year-old guy who is just so crusty he wants, I just want it for him. help but think about the fl ow of people and crunchy. Picture a really salty jour- through this facility. This whole place nalist. He wears glasses, but can’t see. is so worn. He always forgets where his blindfold DAY 20 is—usually in his pocket. I realize I’m in this prison with a lot of interesting They shave my head, which really mili- DAY 24 people. Intellectuals, political dissi- tarizes me. All right, that’s it. No more dents, artists, foreign businessmen, hope, no more nothing. I’m going to to- Time plus uncertainty is starting to take it seems anyone who’s doing anything tally attack this. It’s a very odd experi- its toll. Is this ever going to end? Am I compelling with their lives is in here. ence having your head shaved under ever going to get out of here? It hurts in duress in a foreign country. The barber this deep, agonizing way. I’m concerned is having a totally normal conversation about everything starting to blur—time, DAY 31 with me. “What do you do in Tehran?” the days, me. So I do a thought exercise. “I’m a student.” “Which university?” I decide to recall, as accurately as pos- For the fi rst time I meet the Swiss dip- “Tehran University.” “Oh wow, that’s sible, my entire life, starting with my lomats, which is fantastic. Since the our best university. What do you do very fi rst memory: what was it, describe United States doesn’t have diplomatic there?” “Study Farsi.” “Your Farsi is it, think about it, live in it. I work my relations, the Swiss act on our behalf. pretty good.” way through high school. I was in two They indicate to one of my interrogators Later, during my interrogation, I ask, rock bands. I go through our entire song that there are rules, that you can’t just “How long am I going to be here? It’s catalog. pick up someone for no reason, that

f RELATED STORY / ROWING TO KABUL: BU oarsmen bring their sport to war-torn Iraq and Afghanistan→ bu.edu/bostonia/summer13

26-54 Bostonia_SU16.indd 36 6/1/16 12:47 PM they’re in violation of international laws ceiling. They seem hurried, demanding their own theocracy has signed. The DAY 40 I tell the truth. They threaten me with meeting is over as soon as it begins. everything. I refuse to talk. I surprise On their way out, the Swiss give me a I go to the bathroom and through the even myself with my firmness. “I’ve Toblerone bar and oranges, which never window see the moon for the fi rst time. said everything I have to say.” I can hear make it to my cell. The guards eat them. Waxing gibbous. the doubt in me, but I push ahead, my Later, I’m convinced I hear another conviction building. If everything has American. The guards are pushing a guy been taken from you and you accept it, DAY 33 past my cell saying, “You go here.” The the resulting freedom is very powerful. only way they would use English is for I even give the camera the fi nger while I They want Farhad, Ali, and me to shave a foreigner. And the man says, “OK,” in can tell it is focusing on my face. our beards. We’re out in the open-air perfect American English. “You never apologized for what you room. There’s a little mirror that’s did to Iran.” I stare at the fl oor. Then I been hung and a chair in the corner. stand up, something I’ve never done, We’re taking a hard look at ourselves. DAY 41 and repeat, “I’ve said everything I We take off our shirts because we don’t have to say.” I turn my back to them. want to get hair everywhere. The guard I wake up just before the first call to They drag me outside and throw me up on duty is relaxed. And this 75-year-old prayer. The guards take me to a nearby against the wall, tell me I’m never going half-blind man is trying to touch up our building to see a man they say is a judge. to be released, that everything until haircuts and taking off way too much Like many Iranians I cross paths with now has been for children. I feel myself hair. It’s completely hilarious. This just in Evin, the so-called judge is barely move into the third person, watching makes my day. five feet tall. His fleshy chin wobbles from outside, almost curious to see what After, the guard lets the three of us as he points his fi nger up in the air and they’ll do. I go back and forth between walk around in the main open-air area. weaves a comically ill-informed tale of deep fear and existential nonchalance. That’s where Farhad recites a poem American involvement in the region, If nothing has any value, I don’t have to me in full by a poet named Parvin hitting all the usual stale points. much to worry about. E’tesami about how “the police came He writes on a blank piece of paper Then I’m taken to a doctor, who for me and then they took my friend,” for a long time and says, “Sign here,” checks my vitals and says, “Azadi, echoing that famous Jewish poem: pointing sternly with a chubby fi nger Inshallah.” I ask him to say it again, “They came for gypsies, but I wasn’t a adorned with the appropriate pieces not understanding. “Freedom, God gypsy, so I didn’t say anything...” Far- of stone indicating devoutness. I sign willing.” In my cell 20 minutes later, had, the computer hacker who tried it, having no choice. I ask what it is. I’m told, “Collect all your things.” I’m to hang himself a few weeks earlier, is After a long lecture about the evils of walked to the end of the hallway. If we now reciting poetry to me. It’s surreal. America and the horrible treatment of turn right, I’m going back into solitary. Iranian prisoners in America, he says in These are extremely stressful steps. English, “Bye-bye form.” I don’t know I’m very aware of my breathing. The DAY 34 what this means and am nervous things guy grabs me, then pulls me left. We go are about to get worse. downstairs, and he’s practically push- We lose Farhad. He is moved out. It hits Back to my cell. I’m alone. My room- ing me out the door. Ali and me really hard. I have no idea mate is out for questioning. I work to In a building across the street, I’m what happens to him. stay calm. I focus on what I can con- given my belongings and my passport. trol and work to ignore the rest of it, to I’m driven to the gate. When the blind- ignore the question: “What if they…” fold comes off , I see a man in a suit and DAY 37 Not a half hour passes before another pink tie. The Swiss diplomat. He mo- guard brings me back out to the hallway tions for me to get in the armored Land I lose Ali. Back alone. It’s really tough and seats me in a chair. Other prisoners Cruiser. We race to the airport. I call without them. Our conversations were are walking by. My first interrogator my mother. funny and sarcastic. shows up, saying the “minister” wants After missing my fi rst fl ight because That night, I hear a woman have a to meet again to review my story. I say offi cials take six hours to go through my total breakdown in Russian. nothing. He grabs me and pushes me paperwork, I’m told I’ve overstayed my down a few fl ights of stairs. There are visa and need to pay a fee. I hold up my two doors, soundproofed. right index fi nger, which still has an ink DAY 38 The room is pitch-black except for a stamp. “Evin,” I say. The offi cial smiles single light on a chair. There is a video and says, “You still have to pay.” I get a new roommate. An ultrareligious camera. The director wears a breathing After an overnight stop in Istanbul, I guy. He ignores me. He’s making deals mask for reasons I don’t understand. It land at Logan. I’m starving. My family with God, starts fasting even though it’s looks like they are set up to fi lm a mur- and I go straight to UBurger in Kenmore not Ramadan. He doesn’t know why he’s der. They sit me in a green chair with Square. I used to go there all the time as in there. They all just roll with it. The faux leather and turn on the camera. a student. As I’m ordering, the manager system’s working. Don’t get upset. Have My second interrogator stands behind says, “Hey, Matt. I haven’t seen you in faith. You’ll be out of here eventually. a white blanket that is hung from the a while. What have you been up to?”

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