Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s Supreme Leader since 1989, was imprisoned and tortured in Tehran’s infamous Ebrat Prison during the 1960s and 1970s under the Shah’s regime. His revolutionary activities and multiple arrests by SAVAK, the Shah’s secret police, marked his early struggle. Now a powerful Middle Eastern figure, Khamenei’s harsh imprisonment and resistance are commemorated at the Ebrat Museum, which preserves the prison’s brutal history and the stories of many political and religious prisoners.