Category: Freedom of Expression

Hanieh Farshi Sentenced to Seven Years in Prison

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Freedom of Expression
Hanieh Farshi

HRANA News Agency – After eleven months of temporary incarceration, Hanieh (Sharareh) Farshi, a citizen from Tabriz in East Azerbaijan Province, has been sentenced to seven years in prison.

According to a report by Bamdad Khabar news website, Judge Moghiseh presiding over the Revolutionary Court, Branch 28, sentenced Hanieh Farshi, 38, to a total of seven years in prison on charges of blasphemy and insulting the Supreme Leader of Iran.

On Wednesday, June 15, 2011, the court’s ruling was given to Hanieh Farshi.She was tried two months ago without the presence of an attorney.

According to this report, the heavy sentence was imposed because of Hanieh Farshi’s confession to sending several email messages and also various Internet activities.These confessions took place while Hanieh Farshi was locked up in solitary confinement and placed under physical and psychological torture by the interrogators.

Hanieh Farshi’s mother has said that prior to her arrest, her daughter had no history of previous political activity.

On July 18, 2010, security forces raided Hanieh Farshi’s house and arrested her.She was then transferred to Evin Prison where she spent the first two months of her incarceration in solitary confinement.In January 2011, Hanieh Farshi was transferred to a ward which previously housed Methadone drug addicts but female political prisoners were also kept there.After several protests against the poor living arrangements in this ward, Hanieh Farshi together with all other female political prisoner was transferred to another cell block where female political prisoners are kept.

Hanieh Farshi suffers from severe depression due to psychological pressures imposed on her.Additionally, since her father’s death in October 2010, her condition has worsened due to the fact that she was not allowed to attend his funeral.

 

Summoning of Tehran University Student Activist, Mahdi Tajik

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Freedom of Expression, Students
Mahdi Tajik

HRANA News Agency –Mahdi Tajik, a graduate student at University of Tehran, was summoned by Evin Court Enforcement Office in order to start his two-year prison term.

According to a report by Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), this journalist and student activist was arrested in his home following the mass protests on Ashura in 2009.Mahdi Tajik was convicted and sentenced by the lower court in 2010 to 27 months in prison and banned from political activity and journalism for 30 years.Last year, this ruling was changed and reduced by the Appeals Court to 24 months in prison and a 15 year ban from political activity and journalism.

As a result of the ruling by the Appeals Court, Mehdi Tajik will be denied work as a professional journalist and will not be able to conduct any speeches or interviews, write articles or become a member of any political groups and parties for a period of 15 years.

Mahdi Tajik is an expert nuclear physicist and a graduate student at Tehran University Law School.In 2006, he was also arrested and charged by the security forces for founding a student activist organization.Subsequently, Majdi Tajik was locked up for several months in the Revolutionary Guard Detention Center, Number 59. In the same year, the Revolutionary Court sentenced him to two and a half years in prison.

PEN International Demands Faranak Farid’s Release

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Freedom of Expression
Faranak Farid

The Writers in Prison Committee (WiPC) of PEN International is seriously concerned for the welfare of journalist, poet and activist Faranak Farid, who was arrested on 3 September 2011 in Tabriz, north-west Iran, apparently for her peaceful activism and writings on environmental issues and women’s rights. She was reportedly severely beaten during her arrest and also ill-treated during the lengthy interrogation sessions which followed at the Tabriz police detention centre in the initial days of her detention. Requests for medical treatment have been denied and concerns for her welfare are mounting. PEN International demands Faranak Farid’s immediate and unconditional release in accordance with Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Iran is a signatory. It also urges that she is given all necessary medical treatment as a matter of urgency.

According to PEN’s information, Faranak Farid, editor-in-chief of the banned monthly Dilmaj, poet and women’s rights activist, was arrested by plainclothes officers whilst out shopping in the city of Tabriz on 3 September 2011. Security forces later searched her house and seized her computer and personal documents. She was arrested following her participation in a peaceful protest against the environmental policies of the Iranian authorities affecting the Urmiah Lake in north-western Iran, and is also thought to be targeted for her writings and activism in defense of women’s rights. She is believed to be facing charges of ‘insulting the Supreme Leader’, ‘propaganda against the system’, and ‘acting against national security.’

Faranak Farid (pen-name Ipek), aged 50, is a leading writer, editor and women’s rights activist. Her publications include the poetry collection Yuxuda Ayilmaq, published in 2009, and Jiziq, currently under publication. She is a founding member of the One Million Signature Campaign (see below for details) and has participated in numerous conferences and seminars both inside and outside Iran.

She is now being held in the women’s section of Tabriz Central Prison, where she is feared to be at risk of ill-treatment. Her sister was allowed to visit her there for 45 minutes on 12 September 2011 but an independent lawyer appointed to represent her has not yet had access to her.

Amnesty International gives the following background information:

Faranak Farid is member of One Million Signatures Campaign, also known as the Campaign for Equality. She is also a member of the Azerbaijani minority in Iran, a poet, a translator and editor of the women’s section of the banned monthly Dilmaj. In 2008 she was summoned to the Ministry of Intelligence for questioning regarding a conference on women in Turkey she was due to attend…

The One Million Signatures Campaign, launched in 2006, is a grassroots initiative composed of a network of people committed to ending discrimination against women in Iranian law. The Campaign gives basic legal training to volunteers, who travel around the country promoting the Campaign. They talk with women in their homes, as well as in public places, telling them about their rights and the need for legal reform. The volunteers are also aiming to collect one million signatures of Iranian nationals for a petition demanding an end to legal discrimination against women in Iran. Dozens of the Campaign’s activists have been arrested or harassed for their activities for the Campaign, some while collecting signatures for the petition. Several are currently detained or serving prison terms for their activities on behalf of the Campaign.

Iranian Azerbaijanis speak a Turkic language and are mainly Shi’a Muslims. As the largest minority in Iran, they make up 25-30 per cent of the population; they live mainly in the north and north-west of the country and in Tehran. Although generally well integrated into Iranian society, in recent years they have increasingly called for greater cultural and linguistic rights, including the right to education in Azerbaijani Turkic.

Lake Oroumieh (also spelt Urmia, Urumieh, Oroumiye) is a salt lake in north-western Iran. The lake is situated between the Iranian provinces of East Azerbaijan and West Azerbaijan. It is the largest lake in the Middle East and the third largest salt water lake on Earth. More than 40 dams have been built over 13 rivers that feed the lake and the recent drought, which started in 1999, has significantly decreased the annual amount of water the lake receives. This in turn has increased the salinity of the water prompting fears of an ecological disaster in the region.

At the beginning of April 2011 demonstrations took place in Tabriz, Oroumieh and reportedly other cities where Iranian Azerbaijanis live, calling on the Iranian authorities to remove dams on rivers feeding Lake Oroumieh due to the risk that the lake could dry up. Similar to protests in previous years, the protesters brought glasses of water and poured them into the rivers feeding the lake or the lake itself (see also: Iran: Azerbaijanis arrested in lake protest, UA 102/11, http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/MDE13/038/2011/en). Other largely peaceful rallies took place between 22 August and 8 September 2011; in response, the authorities carried out scores of arrests and the security forces are alleged to have used excessive force against protesters; unconfirmed reports suggest that several demonstrators may have been killed.

 

Two Student Activists Arrested

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Freedom of Expression, Students
Khatereh Danesh Tavakol, Malina Bakhtiarnejad

HRANA News Agency – During last week, one student from Tehran University and another one from Azad University were arrested by Iranian security agents and taken to an unknown location.

According to a report by Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), on Thursday, August 11, 2011, following the receipt of a summon to the Intelligence Agency’s Investigation Unit, Khatereh Danesh Tavakol was arrested.On the same day, she contacted her family briefly and informed them that she was in temporary custody.Khatereh Danesh Tavakol is a student at Azad University.

On Saturday, August 13, 2011, security agents raided Malina Bakhtiarnejad’s family home and took her to an unknown location.During the raid, a computer, various documents, books, and personal belongings were seized. Malina Bakhtiarnejad is a student at Tehran University.

The reasons for both arrests as announced by security agents are publication and distribution of films and pamphlets covering Color Revolutions and non violent resistance and also connections with activists abroad.

 

Mostafa Akhavan Sentenced to One Year in Prison for Facebook Membership

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Freedom of Expression
Mostafa Akhavan

HRANA News Agency – Mostafa Akhavan, a student pilot at Tehran Aviation University and a member of the National Trust Party, was sentenced to a year in prison by the Revolutionary Court, Branch 15.

According to a report by Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), Judge Abolqasem Salvati presiding over the Revolutionary Court, Branch 15, has sentenced Mostafa Akhavan to one year in prison on charges of acting against national security, propaganda against the regime through activities in Facebook, publication of news related to the Green Movement, membership in Facebook, issuing calls for illegal gatherings, conducting interviews with overseas media and sending email messages and articles to websites and networks opposing the regime.

Mostafa Akhavan’s sentence issued on June 15, 2011 has been suspended for a period of five years since he has no prior convictions.

 

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Another Student Arrested in Tabriz

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Freedom of Expression, Students
Nimapur Yaqoob, Sassan Vahibivash

HRANA News Agency – Sassan Vahibivash, a student activist at Tabriz Azad University, was arrested on Friday, June 10, 2011.

According to a report by Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), Sassan Vahibivash has contacted his family by phone and confirmed his arrest.Sassan Vahibivash is a medical student at Tabriz Azad University and is currently locked up together with another student, Nimapur Yaqoob, at a detention center in Tabriz.

Nimapur Yaqoob was arrested by Iran’s intelligence agents on June 9, 2011.

 

Amordadgan Festival Raided; More Than 100 Arrested

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Freedom of Expression
Baharestan, Mashhad, Razavi Khorasan

HRANA News Agency – On Thursday, July 28, 2011, Iranian security forces raided a gathering sponsored by Baharestan Society in Mashhad, Razavi Khorasan Province, and arrested more than one hundred participants.Baharestan Society is a cultural group that had scheduled a gathering in observance of Amordadgan Festival, an ancient Persian celebration of life and immortality.

According to a report by Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), the majority of individuals detained have been released after the preliminary fingerprinting, interrogations and searches were conducted.However, six citizens still remain in custody, and their whereabouts and current condition are unknown.

Iranian intelligence agents have also searched the detainees’ homes and seized personal belongings.Despite repeated inquires and appeals, the families of detainees still don’t know where their loved ones are being kept.

Six individuals who are still in custody have been identified as Nataghinia (board secretary of Baharestan Society), Ashori (Tonbak player and organizer of music programs for the festival), Mohseni, Ramzani and his son, and Tavana.

 

A Gorgani Citizen Dies During Satellite Dish Confiscation Project

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Freedom of Expression
Ali Karimi

HRANA News Agency – When government agents were confiscating satellite dishes in the city of Gorgan in Golestan Province, a citizen fell from his roof and died.

According to a report by Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), Ali Karimi, 42, confronted the police officers who had gone to the roof of his apartment building to seize his satellite dish.During a verbal scuffle between him and the police, Ali Karimi lost his balance and fell from the fourth floor of the apartment building.

The medical report issued by Panj Azar Hosiptal indicates that before hitting the ground, Ali Karimi died of a heart attack triggered by fear.

 

Sakhi Rigi Sentenced to Twenty Years

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Freedom of Expression
Mir Hossein Mousavi, Sakhi Rigi

HRANA News Agency – Sakhi Rigi, a blogger and a member of Mir-Hossein Mousavi’s Campaign Staff, has been sentenced to twenty years in prison by the Revolutionary Court in Zahedan [Sistan and Baluchistan Province].

According to a report by Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), Sakhi Rigi has been exiled to the city of Ahvaz [in Khuzestan Province] to serve his sentence in Karon Prison.Sakhi Rigi is a civil rights activist who was arrested during presidential elections in 2009.On June 18, 2009, while he was driving his car, Sakhi Rigi was stopped on Zahedan University St. by the security forces and subsequently detained.

While he was in the custody of Iran’s Intelligence Agency in Zahedan, Sakhi Rigi endured seven months in solitary confinement and was charged with acting against national security and propaganda against the regime.Three months ago, Sakhi Rigi was transferred to Karon Prison to begin serving his twenty year term.

Sakhi Rigi is a 31 year old college student who was studying software development before being arrested and had only two terms left before graduating.It is not clear what other charges have been filed against him to justify issuing such a heavy sentence for this college student.However, it has been said that his blog postings were considered a crime and a threat to national security.

 

A Moving Letter from Dr. Maleki to UN Special Rapporteur

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Freedom of Expression
Ahmad Shaheed, Mohammad Maleki

HRANA News Agency – Dr. Mohammad Maleki, the first president of Tehran University after the revolution, has written an open letter to Dr. Ahmad Shaheed, the Special Rapporteur appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council.Pointing out the tragic plight of human rights in Iran, Dr. Maleki has underscored the crimes committed by totalitarian rulers and has announced that he is ready and available to testify about the torture and execution of prisoners in Iran.Dr. Maleki has also declared that he stands by his words and is prepared to face the consequences of his testimony.

Dr. Mohammad Maleki has spent a long time behind bars in various Iranian prisons and was once sentenced to death.During his last incarceration, Dr. Maleki spent 191 days locked up in prison while being harmed and harassed throughout that time until he was temporarily released from Evin Prison because of his deteriorating health.Although Dr. Maleki received a seven year suspended prison term in March 2000, he remains in a legal state of limbo thus far.

The content of Dr. Maleki’s letter in its entirety as released by Daneshjoo News is as follows:

In the Name of Justice
Your Excellency, Dr. Ahmad Shaheed

With warm greetings, I wish you success in the grand, humanitarian endeavor you have undertaken.

I am Dr. Mohammad Maleki, a retired professor and the first president of Tehran University appointed after the revolution.I am writing this letter in order to share with you a small portion of human rights violations in my country as witnessed by me.I provide this information to you with the hopes of taking a step towards rescuing my people from the tyranny, corruption and cruelty of the rules oppressing this nation.

My brother, Mr. Shaheed, I am one the tens of thousands of individuals whose human rights have been violated multiple times by authoritarian and oppressive rulers reigning the Islamic Republic of Iran for thirty two years.In Iran’s prisons, I have witnessed numerous crimes but can draw your attention to only a small number of them in this letter.

In 1979, after the revolution succeeded and following my appointment to the presidency of Tehran University, in order to achieve one of the revolutionary goals, I strived to establish a democratically elected council consisting of professors, students and employees who would run all university affairs.This undertaking wasn’t received favorably by a government monopolizing all aspects of life within the country.At last, a coup d’état dubbed as “the Cultural Revolution” was orchestrated to attack universities, kill a number of students, injure scores of them and finally arrest the rest.Then, universities were closed down, and student dissidents detained, tortured severely and eventually executed.

The Management Council of Tehran University and the High University Council responsible for the day to day operations of the university opposed “the Cultural Revolution” and raised their voices against it.Nonetheless, instead of addressing these concerns, the government detained a number of dissidents including me and under the pretence of opposing the Supreme Leader’s (Ayatollah Khomeini) decree, imprisoned us.

I was unlawfully tried in a court without legal representation and was sentenced to death at first.This verdict was then modified to ten years in prison.During this time, I have endured the most brutal treatments such as being beaten on the soles of my feet and elsewhere with an electric cable and being hung from the ceiling.My head was repeatedly banged against the wall, and I was punched, kicked and forced to tolerate a number of other forms of torture.As a result, I lost vision in my left eye and suffered from a broken bone in my right wrist.The markings of some of those tortures still remain, and my body bears the scars to this day.

After five years, I was supposedly released from prison, but for months, I had to report to the judiciary every few days to be interrogated and tormented in other forms.

Together with tens of other activists, I was arrested again in March 2000 under the pretext of plotting to overthrow the government and was locked up in an isolation cell measured 1×2 meters in one of the most gruesome and dreadful prisons (Eshratabad) operated by IRGC.Legal experts and psychiatrists refer to the incarceration of prisoners under extreme sensory deprivation and isolation as “white torture.”After tolerating approximately seven months of “white torture,” I was released in order to stand trial.Subsequently, I was illegally tried again behind closed doors and received seven years of suspended prison sentence.

On August 22, 2009, intelligence agents raided my house in the early hours of the day.After searching the premises and seizing many books, they took me out of my sickbed and directly transferred me to Evin Prison, Ward 209, where I spent three months in solitary confinement.At the time of my arrest, I suffered from prostate cancer, irregular heartbeats and abnormal blood pressure.I was also receiving chemotherapy and struggled with regular fainting spells and blackouts.

During interrogations, I was insulted and humiliated in so many different ways, and only because of my writings, I was charged with the crime of Moharebeh [Waging War Against God] and insulting the supreme leaders of Iran, Mr. Khomeini and Mr. Khamenei.Eventually, after 191 days of incarceration and due to rapidly deteriorating health, I was granted a sick leave from prison in order to continue my chemotherapy and undergo a surgery to implant a pacemaker in my heart.

Recently, I have been summoned to court to stand trial behind closed doors once more against the laws of the Islamic Republic of Iran.For now, I spend very difficult and agonizing days, waiting to find out the court’s ruling.Although I am a 78 year old, sick elderly man, I am ready to face any verdict issued against me because my goal has always been and will remain to be fighting against tyranny, oppression and injustice imposed by those holding power in Iran.

I lean on God and the masses and fear no punishment.I wish to meet with you in order to recount the reality of what has happened in Iran during the last three decades and what injustice has been inflicted upon this nation.

Your Excellency, Dr. Shaheed, I will testify that during 1980s, how young prisoners and students including men and women, after being brutally tortured, were taken in groups of tens or hundreds every night to face the gallows.And down that road they went to face their destiny while chanting songs. I am prepared to cite the facts as witnessed by me in the prisons of the Islamic regime and stand by my words to pay the price for such testimony.

At the end, as an Iranian, I wish you every success in all your undertakings.Rest assured that God is with you.With warmest regards and hoping to meet you,

Dr. Mohammad Maleki
Political Prisoner and Tehran University Retired Professor

September 2011

 

 

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