The Iranian metal duo Confess, Nikan "Siyanor" Khosravi and Arash "Chemical" Ilkhani, were arrested in November of 2015 by the Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution and had some serious charges levied against them: blasphemy, advertising against the system, running an illegal and underground band and record label promoting music considered to be Satanic, writing anti-religious lyrics and granting interviews to forbidden foreign radio stations.
Confess made bail, paying $30,000 USD each, in early 2016 and have been under the radar since (except for talking to us last year). Now Khosravi has checked in with Decibel as he's currently hiding out in Istanbul, Turkey, from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. He says Ilkhani is still in Iran fighting in court, but Khosravi was "forced to leave my country after fighting for my freedom and a drop of justice for almost two years."
"I decided to leave the country, but because I was ‘banned from travel outside of Iran’ and my passport has been taken from me by the government, there was no other way to emigrate but illegally and actually cross the border to get out of there, get to Turkey and introduce myself to The UN Refugee Agency in Ankara to get out of the fucking hell which they have designed for me."
Khosravi adds that "if anyone can help with legal matters in emigration, please step in and let us know." In the meantime, he says Confess is working on new music and that he hopes to write a book about this whole ordeal.
"I have a highest level of determination. And to my fans, who I’m so lucky to have many of them, and my listeners who understand me and are getting many and many more… We can together help us to build something extremely massive and, let me tell you, you can be whatever you want and still grow from there in your own life. I am the living proof of going from tragedy to triumph. This is not a thing that one can walk away from, and I’m saying proudly that I gave blood for my music, and I will keep this train going, even with no passengers."
That would be one hell of a read if it were ever to surface. In the meantime, we wish both members of Confess all the best. Read the entire update over at Decibel
