Prison system in Persia in the nineteenth century – by Lord Curzon, a British statesman

“Concerning the Persian mode of imprisonment, the practice is as different from our own as in the case of penalties. There is no such thing as penal servitude for life, or even for a term of years; hard labour is unknown as a sentence; and confinement for any lengthy period is rare. There is usually a gaol-delivery at the beginning of the new year; and when a fresh governor is appointed, he not uncommonly empties the prison that may have been filled by his predecessor, one or two of the worst cases, perhaps, suffering the death penalty, in order to create a salutary impression of strength. There is no such thing as a female ward, women being detained, as also are male criminals of high rank, in the house of a priest. In Tihrán there are said to be three kinds of prison the subterranean cells beneath the Ark, where criminals guilty of conspiracy, or high treason are reported to have been confined; the town prison, where the vulgar criminals may be seen with iron collars round their neck, sometimes with their feet in stocks, and attached to each other by iron chains; and the private guard-house, that is frequently an appurtenance of the mansions of the great. It will be seen that the Persian theory of justice, as expressed both in judicial sentences, in the infliction of penalties, and in the prison code, is one of sharp and rapid procedure, whose object is the punishment (in a manner as roughly equivalent as possible to the original offence), but in no sense the reformation, of the culprit.” 

- Lord Curzon  (“Persia and the Persian Question,” vol. i, pp. 458–9.; Footnotes to chapter 26 provided by Shoghi Effendi)

“The chorus of…gladsome voices” by prisoners in the Siyáh-Chál

We were placed in two rows, each facing the other. We had taught them to repeat certain verses which, every night, they chanted with extreme fervour. ‘God is sufficient unto me; He verily is the All-sufficing!’ one row would intone, while the other would reply: ‘In Him let the trusting trust.’ The chorus of these gladsome voices would continue to peal out until the early hours of the morning. Their reverberation would fill the dungeon, and, piercing its massive walls, would reach the ears of Násiri’d-Dín Sháh, whose palace was not far distant from the place where we were imprisoned. ‘What means this sound?’ he was reported to have exclaimed. ‘It is the anthem the Bábís are intoning in their prison,’ they replied. The Sháh made no further remarks, nor did he attempt to restrain the enthusiasm his prisoners, despite the horrors of their confinement, continued to display. 

- Baha’u’llah  (Quoted by Nabil in ‘The Dawn-Breakers’, translated and edited by Shoghi Effendi)

Bahá’u’lláh describes His torments in the Síyáh-Chál to a clergy who had persecuted His followers

O Shaykh! …Shouldst thou at some time happen to visit the dungeon of His Majesty the Shah, ask the director and chief jailer to show thee those two chains, one of which is known as Qara-Guhar, and the other as Salasil. I swear by the Daystar of Justice that for four months this Wronged One was tormented and chained by one or the other of them. "My grief exceedeth all the woes to which Jacob gave vent, and all the afflictions of Job are but a part of My sorrows!" 

- Baha'u'llah  (‘Epistle to the Son of the Wolf’)

Bahiyyih Khanum (Bahá’u’lláh’s daughter) recalls the impact of Bahá’u’lláh’s arrest in Tehran on the family

From our doors nobody was ever turned away; the hospitable board was spread for all comers … 

Whilst the people called my Father 'The Father of the poor', they spoke of my mother as 'The Mother of Consolation', though, naturally, only the women and little children ever looked upon her face unveiled…

One day I remember very well, though I was only six years old at the time. It seemed that an attempt had been made on the life of the Shah by a half-crazy young Babi.

My Father was away at his country house in the viliage of Niyavaran, which was His property, the villagers of which were all and individually cared for by Him.

Suddenly and hurriedly a servant came rushing in great distress to my mother.

'The master, the master, He is arrested - I have seen Him! He has walked many miles! Oh, they have beaten Him. They say He has suffered the torture of the bastinado! His feet are bleeding! He has no shoes on! His turban has gone! His clothes are torn! There are chains upon His neck!’'

My poor mother’s face grew whiter and whiter.

We children were terribly frightened and could only weep bitterly.

Immediately everybody, all our relations, and friends, and servants fled from our house in terror, only one man servant, Isfandiyar, remained, and one woman. Our palace, and the smaller houses belonging to it were very soon stripped of everything; furniture, treasures all were stolen by the people.

Baha’u’llah’s brother, Mirza Musa., who remained faithful throughout his life, helped the distraught mother and her three children to escape and found them a small house near the prison where they could remain in hiding. Asiyih Khanum [Baha’u’llah’s wife] gathered what small treasures she could, such as the gold buttons on her wedding dress, and sold everything to provide money to pay the gaolers to take food to Baha’u’llah and to keep the family alive. 

- Bahiyyih Khanum  (Quoted by lady Blomfield in 'The Chosen Highway'; David Hofman, 'Baha’u’llah the Prince of Peace')