Zahra, 17, recalls sitting handcuffed and blindfolded inside a cramped government office, waiting to be tortured for the ninth day in a row.
WARNING: This story includes details of imprisonment and torture that readers may find distressing.
She says she had been beaten with batons, whipped, tasered and mentally battered by Iranian officials trying to force a confession from her.
Her small body was already covered in bruises and welts, and her muscles tensed in anticipation of the next beating.
"They ask you questions and if you answer late or do not answer, they beat you. And they really beat you hard," she says.
"They do not joke about it. Age, body, gender are not important to them."
Zahra, a Kurdish Iranian whose name has been changed for her protection, was arrested by Iranian officials last year after participating in anti-government protests that have swept across the nation.
Today marks six months since Mahsa Amini's death in custody sparked a movement that has sought to overthrow Iran's ruling Islamic regime.
Violent and deadly clashes have continued almost daily as regime forces have pressed on with a bloody crackdown to crush dissent.
It's difficult to get exact figures, but human rights organisations estimate almost 20,000 Iranians have been detained during the protests.
Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei appeared to confirm this number in early February, announcing an amnesty or reduction in prison sentences for "tens of thousands" of protesters.
Iran Human Rights, a non-government monitoring group based in Norway, estimated in early March that at least 488 people had been killed in the protests, including 64 children, and four people had been executed.
Among those who have survived, many have experienced torture, assault, and extreme punishment for standing up to the regime.
Due to the ongoing threat to protesters, the ABC communicates with these Iranians through encrypted methods to protect their identity.
It is difficult to verify their claims without exposing their details and risking their safety, but multiple groups, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, have documented ongoing cases of serious abuse, rape, and extreme torture of protesters in detention.
Locked up with only 'the sound of torture'
On the day Zahra was arrested, she says six police cars full of armed officers arrived at her house.
They raided the home, arrested Zahra and took her back to Iran's Ministry of Intelligence, where the beatings began.
Each day, Zahra says she was transported between the prison and the ministry, where regime officials used chilling torture methods to obtain admissions of dissidence.
"The atmosphere of the Ministry of Intelligence was extremely tense," Zahra says.
"There was no other sound except the sound of torture.
"Everyone was blindfolded and handcuffed, and we were not allowed to take off the blindfolds during the interrogation.
"They put someone in a big plastic bag and closed it so that he experienced gradual death. They repeated this several times.
"They dragged him on hot asphalt. I heard the screams of boys being tortured."
After nine days of brutality, Zahra says she made a coerced confession.
Her confession appears to be just one in an alarming trend, with human rights groups warning late last year that forced confessions could be used as justification for sham trials.
Extreme deprivation, daily beatings
Another Kurdish Iranian, using the name Sayed, remembers walking down the street when he was bundled into a car, handcuffed and blindfolded by Iranian officials.
"While sitting in the car, they asked for my phone, and I was battered for not telling them where my phone was," he says.
"They put my head under the car seat and beat me severely.
"I suffered fractures in at least four parts of my head, and was injured in the neck, shoulder and back due to multiple kicks and punches."
Sayed was held in solitary confinement, where he says he couldn't tell whether it was day or night.
"I heard painful screams at night but I don't know if they were related to the torture of the detainees or fake sounds for our mental torture," he says.
The 41-year-old says the torturous daily routine left him mentally broken.
He says the interrogation would usually begin after breakfast. An officer would arrive at his cell, command him to face the wall and then blindfold him.
He recalls being dragged through the winding corridors leading to the interrogation room.
"My eyes would be closed until the interrogator's arrival," Sayed says.
Finally, upon an official order, Sayed would be allowed to remove the blindfold. He was surrounded by masked men waiting to interrogate him.
Sayed would face the wall, sitting on a chair at a small table covered in papers, as the men asked him questions from behind.
"Interrogation was sometimes three times a day and sometimes twice," he says.
"In the last week, it became more intense and lasted all day and night; mornings, noon, and nights until morning."
'I only hope Iran will be free'
Eventually, Sayed was released on bail.
He says he was coerced into making confessions under the threat of rape, and forced to sign documents he hadn't read.
"They constantly wanted us to accept the baseless accusations they made through various methods such as interrogation … physical and mental torture, including threats of sexual assault and threats to arrest my fiancee, sister, and brothers," he says.
"I was afraid of being raped, with which we were constantly threatened."
While the supreme leader has publicly announced an amnesty or reduced punishments for protesters, activists are sceptical.
They say they're yet to see any evidence of mass pardons and clemency.
For those like Zahra, now released on bail, the focus remains on justice and freedom for all Iranians.
"They did not only force me, they forced everyone to confess," she says.
"I do not like explaining these things to my family and friends.
"Now I only hope Iran will be free."
