Category: News

Open Letter: the Lesson of Imprisoned Teachers

Posted on by admin-hr
Prisoners
imprisoned teachers, imprisoned union activist, Majid Asadi, open letter, school kids

Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) – The September 23rd kickoff to this new Iranian school year underlines the absence of a number of Iranian teachers from the classroom, who instead of welcoming a new cohort of students are waiting for their judicial reckoning in prison.

Teachers across the country are serving long sentences or getting lashings for their political and union activism, case developments of which were previously reported by HRANA.

In an open letter titled “The Sound of Freedom,” political prisoner Majid Asadi of Ward 10 in Rajai Shahr Prison, located in Karaj, a northwest suburb of Tehran, pays tribute to these educators, taking from their plight a lesson for the country at large.

The full text of Asadi’s letter is below, translated into English by HRANA:

The Sound of Freedom

The bell rings on September 23rd, announcing the first day of classes. It resonates over empty classroom benches. Sara and Fatemeh are selling flowers at the crossroads. A week ago, they saw Ali and Kamran selling fortunes at the park. The class is quiet. No word from the teacher. The teacher is absent.

“Where is Narges?” somebody asks.

“Her father is in prison, so she won’t come to school this year,” a friend responds.

What proper class can go on without its teacher and students?

“Kids belong in the classroom; nothing should stop them from attending school,” the teacher used to say. When those kids couldn’t afford books and supplies: “They didn’t decide to stop coming one day. No, they didn’t choose poverty and misfortune.” That’s what the teachers would say, back then.

The bell rings on September 24th, the second day of classes. The bell summons kids to a class with no teacher. He has not yet returned. He never will. He won’t be teaching a single class period, because this year, the school bell rings in prison. The teacher transforms his cell into a classroom. He did not want the classroom benches to be empty. He will despair when he learns that Narges, Sara, and Fatemeh aren’t coming to school this year. He will be tormented when he understands that Ali and Kamran can no longer attend.

He will be upset to hear that his colleague nods off in his classes each day, because he stays up late working as the night janitor. Talk of his imprisoned fellow teachers upsets him even further.

“With the teacher in prison and the students wandering the streets, what of learning, of lessons, of school?”

The teachers and students ask these questions of each other.

A third bell rings. The sound of freedom: its reverberations bring the classroom to a frenzy.

Why is the teacher in prison? Why aren’t the students at school? Who put the teacher in jail? Could it be that they imprisoned the teacher so that the students wouldn’t come to school?

If that’s the case, maybe they should imprison the students too; or convert the school into a prison so that the students are not left without a teacher, and so they won’t have to fret over the cost of school supplies.

Neither the teacher nor the student chose poverty; neither the teacher nor the student chose prison.

The hand that wants to erect a prison in the place of a school — the one ready to exchange education and happiness for poverty — must be cut. And the teacher who set out to do so never returned. In that moment, he gave us a lesson.

The teacher told the students, “We shouldn’t have to live in fear all the time. Once we set about our mission, our fear will leave us.”

And so the teacher set about his mission — so that his fear would leave him, he left to put an end to poverty and prison, to set the school free. The homework for all classes this year is freedom.

This is the lesson the teacher has taught.

Majid Asadi
Gohardasht [Rajai Shahr] Prison
Wednesday, September 26, 2018

At Least 30 Iranian Truckers Arrested as of Sixth Day of Renewed Strikes

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Labor and Guilds
iran protests, truck driver strikes

Human Rights Activist News Agency (HRANA)- As the most recent round of truckers’ strikes entered its 6th day on September 27th, dozens of truckers had been arrested by security forces.

Stalling commercial transport across several Iranian cities–including Shahr-e Kord, Ardabil, Nain, Karaj, Isfahan, Arak, Nishapur, Zarrin Shahr, Urmia, Sabzevar, Rafsanjan, Qazvin, Dezful–striking drivers heeded the call of the national truck-driver’s trade union to cease their operations until authorities addressed their demands, including an increase in pensions, subsidized pricing for parts, 70+% hikes in fares, payment of drivers’ insurance premiums, the removal of brokers from terminals, and increased supervision of officers and agents, positions that have proven susceptible to bribes in the past.

In wake of the industry unrest, local prosecutors have confirmed the arrests of multiple truck drivers; as of the date of this report, Qazvin Prosecutor Esmail Sadegh Niaraki, the Karaj Prosecutor, and the Ardebil Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor Naser Atabati announced the arrest of 15, 7, and 8 truckers in their respective jurisdictions, claiming that the detained drivers had disrupted public order by blocking the roads. Reports indicate at least 30 strikers in various cities have been arrested since the strikes first began on Saturday, September 22nd.

On Thursday, truck drivers received text notifications of fuel allotments for drivers who didn’t participate in the strike and who can provide a bill of lading. These messages are reportedly an attempt by authorities to deter the ongoing protests.

Head of Tehran Poultry Farm Union Mohammad Yousef opined that the shortage and rising prices of poultry (currently $1USD (100 thousand IRR) per kilogram) could be resolved if the striking truckers were to resume their usual routes.

Roads and Urban Development Ministry Deputy Abdol-Hashem Hassan Nia claimed that road freight transportation is ongoing, and promised a more consistent supply of domestic tires for truckers. He indicated that leveraging more of the country’s tire supply from a government supply organ known as the Organization for Collection and Sale of State-owned Properties of Iran (OCSSPI) would be the next step in the resolution process.

“Also, on orders from the vice president, the import tariff on tires will be reduced to 5%, which should accelerate the importation,” Nia said, estimating the resultant supply increase could resolve the road fleet’s tire complaints within a month.

HRANA previously reported on the fifth day of the nationwide truck driver strikes and the reactions they drew from authorities.

Journalist Ejlal Ghavami Sentenced to Prison Time in Absentia

Posted on by Sara
Freedom of Expression
Ahmad Khaliqi, ejlal ghavami, Hiva Rahimi

Human Rights Activist News Agency (HRANA) – In a note on September 26th, human rights activist and journalist Ejlal Ghavami announced the news of his most recent legal tensions with Iranian authorities: four days earlier, he had been sentenced in absentia to eight months in prison for “spreading lies with intent to cause confusion among the masses,” pursuant to the findings of Branch 2 of Investigations Court, located in the Beheshti Judicial Complex of Sanandaj.

Ghavami was read these charges on August 20th of this year by Branch 109 of Sanandaj Criminal Court No. 2, in western Iran, which cited Ghavami’s writings as evidence for the conviction. Shortly thereafter, he was released on bail.

Authorities were already pursuing Ghavami for his media activities on March 25th of this year, when the Sanandaj cyber police– in response to complaints about him from the Basij– interrogated him about anti-governmental Telegram channels and the widespread protests that overtook Iran in January. Pursuant to these investigations, Branch One of Kurdistan Investigations Court charged him with “communication and collaboration with anti-regime channels” and “spreading lies and illegal materials.”

Though Ghavami was previously tried and acquitted in a preliminary court of “propaganda against the regime,” “speaking to anti-regime media,” “spreading lies,” and “insulting the IRGC,” the prosecutor objected to his initial acquittal, and he has been summoned to face the same charges again, on November 18th in Branch Four of Kurdistan Province Appeals Court.

On June 9th, along with civil activists of Kurdistan province Hiva Rahimi and Ahmad Khaliqi, Ghavami was summoned to the intelligence office of the IRGC for unknown reasons.

In a statement issued on August 31st, Amnesty International condemned the draconian sentencing of Iranian journalists by authorities.

Azerbaijani Activist Sentenced to 1 Year in Prison for Cultural Rally

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Cultural, Ethnic Minorities, Freedom of Expression
Abbas Lasani, azerbaijani activist, azerbaijani activist in Iran, azerbaijani prioners, kiumars eslami

Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) – Kiumars Eslami, an Azerbaijani activist arrested during the July 4th Azerbaijani rallies at Babak Fort, has been sentenced to one year in prison by Judge Firooz Farahani Mazrae Jahan, on the charge of “propaganda against the regime.”

Babak Fort is a site in northwestern Iran, home to the country’s Azerbaijani minority group, that has gained popularity in recent years as an annual cultural rallying spot for Azerbaijani activists during the first week of July.

In justifying his verdict, the judge cited Eslami’s cultural and ‘separatist’ activities: “The defendant is one of the ethnic, separatist, and Pan-Turkic activists in Parsabad,” Jahan wrote. “In order to carry out this separatist activity, he prepares reports, translates Persian books into Turkish [In Persian, the Azerbaijani language is often referred to as Turkish], distorts them in cyberspace, and disseminates them to foreign networks associated with the opposition. He is a leader and a member of the sub-branches of the Pan-Turkic movement in Parsabad county.”

Another reason cited for Eslami’s conviction was his reference to Iran’s Azerbaijani provinces as “South Azerbaijan” in social media posts.

According to an informed source, the head of Parsabad’s intelligence office, known only as Hazrati, previously told Eslami that his case file would be closed if he announced on the news that he would cease his Azerbaijani-related activism and cut off contact with fellow activist Abbas Lasani, who was recently convicted of similar charges.

A native of Parsabad-e Moghan, also located in northwestern Iran, Eslami was previously held in Moghan Prison, where he reportedly sustained head wounds and bleeding during violent interrogations by Iranian authorities. He went on a nine-day hunger strike beginning July 28th to protest the prison conditions and his oppression in the judicial system. He was released on approximately $650 USD (120 million IRR) bail on August 9th.

Political Prisoner Kourosh Porsetareh Released after Completing Prison Sentence

Posted on by Sara
Prisoners
Bushehr prison, iran political prisoners, Kourosh Porsetareh

Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) – Kourosh Porsetareh, a political prisoner held in Bushehr on Iran’s Persian Gulf coast, was released after completing his prison sentence on Wednesday, September 26, 2018.

Porsetareh spent three months in prison on a charge of “membership in groups aimed at disrupting national security.” He began his sentence in Bushehr Prison on August 4, 2018.

Despite the principle of separating prisoners based on the nature of their crimes, Porsetareh was held in Ward 3, typically reserved for those convicted of financial crimes. Bushehr Prison does not have a designated ward for political prisoners.

An informed source previously told HRANA that “prison authorities ignored his pleas and the urging of his family to transfer him to another ward.”

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Political Prisoner Enters 18th Year of Imprisonment on Obsolete Sentencing Law

Posted on by Sara
Prisoners
iran human rights, Mahshahr, moharebeh, Saeed Shah Ghaleh

Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) – Political prisoner Saeed Shah Ghaleh, who was convicted of Moharebeh (enmity against God) through cooperation with the People’s Mujahedin of Iran (MEK), enters his 18th year of incarceration in Mahshahr prison, located on the border of the southwestern province of Khuzestan.

After Shah Ghaleh’s arrest in 2000, he was initially tried, convicted, and sentenced to death in a criminal court. The death sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment. On April 17, 2015, he was among the group of prisoners assaulted by prison guards in Section 350 of Tehran’s Evin Prison in an attack that came to be known as “Black Thursday.” Following the Black Thursday raid, he was transferred to a solitary confinement cell in Section 240.

After spending some time in solitary confinement, he was exiled to Mahshahr Prison (Khuzestan province). Having never been released on furlough, he has remained there to this day.

Iran’s Islamic Penal Code was amended in 2013. [According to section 10, subsection B of the new law], those convicted of crimes for which the sentences have been reduced in the new law are eligible to apply to have their sentences reduced. Ghaleh is on a list of 26 prisoners —published by HRANA in 2016 — who are currently serving life sentences for Moharebeh and are now eligible to act on this amendment.

Life imprisonment, like the death penalty, is used commonly by Iranian court to punish defendants accused of political or security-related offences. The conditions of prisoners serving life imprisonment are reportedly very poor, and their rights, such as access to medical care, are rarely observed.

Harassed by Authorities, Christian Former Prisoner Stages Sit-in Across From Evin

Posted on by Sara
Prisoners, Religious Minorities
christians in iran, Fatemeh Mohammadi, iran human rights, Majid Reza Suzanchi Kashani, religious minorities in iran

Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) – Fatemeh Mohammadi, a Christian convert who was released from Evin Prison earlier this year, has staged a sit-in across from her former prison to protest what she referred to as the prison authorities’ “campaign of verbal harassment” against her.

Mohammadi was initially detained last November, and sentenced to six months in prison by Branch 26 of the Revolutionary Court of Tehran. She was released from Evin Prison’s women’s ward after completing her sentence. Now, she claims authorities are contacting her family to insult and harass them.

“After I was released from Evin Prison, I was contacted by the prison’s interrogation team,” Mohammadi told HRANA. “They called me all sorts of vulgar words. Last night, September 26th, 2018, Evin Prison again called my home. The person on the phone said [unpleasant] things to my family and told them, ‘It is best that you stop your daughter from her activities as the path she is on leads to corruption.’”

She said she was prompted to begin her protest when her home was contacted once again on Thursday, September 27th, 2018.

“They repeated their words,” Mohammadi said. “Afterwards, I went to Evin to find out what was wrong, but no one offered an explanation. For this reason, I am protesting and staging a sit-in across from Evin Prison, and will continue to do so until they process my complaint.”

Mohammadi previously published a letter in which she spoke of the anguish she endured during her interrogation.

Last November, Mohammadi was detained in Tehran and transferred to Evin prison along with Majid Reza Suzanchi Kashani, another recent Christian convert. On April 7th, 2018, Mohammadi, who was 19 years old at the time, was sentenced by Branch 26 of the Revolutionary Court of Tehran, presided by Judge Ahmadzadeh, to six months’ imprisonment on charges of “membership in proselytizing groups,” “christian activity,” and “acting against national security through propaganda against the regime.”

Per Iranian law, Mohammadi’s sentence should have been reduced by a quarter when she consented to the verdict; however, she served a month and a half longer than anticipated per the law. She was released May 14th, 2018.

Civil Rights Activist Mehrnaz Haghighi Heads to Judiciary to Begin Prison Sentence

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Prisoners, Women
Bandar Abbas prison, civil rights activists in iran, iran human rights, Mehrnaz Haghighi

Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) – Mehrnaz Haghighi, a civil rights activist and doctor from Bandar Abbas on the Persian Gulf coast, presented herself to the enforcement department of the Hormozgan Judiciary on Saturday, September 22nd, in order to serve her sentence. She was transferred to Bandar Abbas Prison later that day.

Haghighi was previously sentenced to six months in prison on a charge of “propaganda against the regime.” She was first arrested by intelligence agents in her home on February 19, 2017.

After being held in solitary confinement for a week, she was transferred to the women’s ward of Bandar Abbas Prison, located in the detention center of the city’s intelligence office. Haghighi was then transferred to Ward 209 of Evin Prison on April 12, 2017, before finally being released on bail from Evin on May 28th, 2017.

As of the date of this report, no further details were available on her case.

A Dismal Prison: a Brief Report on Conditions at Dezful

Posted on by Sara
Prisoners
Dezful prison, khuzestan iran, prisoner, Prisoner abuse, Prisoner beating

Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) – The gnawing pang of hunger, the festering of dirty sores, and the dread of what might happen if you look at the warden sideways. For the 1,300 people currently detained in Dezful Prison, these are private, everyday torments to which authorities there are less than sympathetic.

Indeed, one of Dezful’s most darkly effective forms of punishment, a former prison functionary told HRANA, is an administration seemingly devoid of humanity. “A while ago, Mr. Postchi, the general manager of the Khuzestan Province Prison system, came in for inspection,” the functionary said. His response to the complaints of malnourished prisoners about the deplorable sleeping conditions? “He told the prisoners, ‘You’re wearing out the beds with how much you eat and sleep.’”

The cruel irony of the system manager’s comments could not be lost on prisoners’ family members, who expressed distress at the nutritional deficits of the Dezful canteen. “For a period of one week, rice was omitted from their diet, and during that time they didn’t even have bread to eat,” one family member said. A former Dezful prisoner elaborated, “the prison food is very low-quality, and the prison store doesn’t even stock bread that the prisoners can buy themselves to stave off their hunger.”

Currently populated at a few hundred inmates above its maximum capacity, Dezful lacks more than adequate food stores. Without a medical professional on site, it packs the medical consultations of its 1300 prisoners into half-hour windows every two days in which medical professionals swing by the prison. Hygienically, conditions are ripe for disease: each ward houses 300 people for every five showers and six toilets, and when night falls ward floors are crowded with the sleeping bodies of those who weren’t lucky enough to get a bed.

According to eyewitness reports, one rare vestige of prisoner autonomy is their power to appease, as best they can, those who have authority to make their bad conditions worse. “No one dares complain in this prison,” the former Dezful prisoner related to HRANA, revealing that the sense of humanity in Ward 6 was particularly tenuous. “If a prisoner disagrees with Ward’s internal administrator [Mr. Daneshyar], he will be beaten by prisoners, who are goaded by the administrator […] then the prisoner will be moved, on Daneshyar’s orders, to another Ward.”

Still, prisoner’s control over their day-to-day fate is ultimately limited: beatings ordered on prisoners because of their legal charges, or even their general disposition, are reportedly routine.

These conditions have driven so many to self-harm that authorities have removed the bathroom mirrors, making shaving difficult, the former inmate said; one more mundane task of self-care that from within the walls of Dezful seems a faraway luxury.

Dezful Prison has nine wards. It is located in Khuzestan Province on the outskirts of Dezful. The current head of the prison is Mr. Azadeh, and his deputy is Mr. Noghrehchi.

Baha’i Arrests in Iran; 20 and Counting

Posted on by Sara
Religious Minorities
Afshin Bolbolan, Anush Rayneh, Baha'i, baha'i arrests iran, Bahareh Ghaderi, Bahareh Zeini (Sobhanian), Ehsan Mahbub-Rahvafa, Elaheh Samizadeh, Farhang Sahba, Fuzhan Rashidi, Hooman Khoshnam, Jamileh Pakrou, Kianoush Salmanzadeh., Maryam Ghaffaramanesh, Milad Davardan, Navid Bazmandegan, Noora Pourmoradian, Payam Shabani, Peyman Maanavi, Saham Armin, Sepideh Rouhani, Sudabeh Haghighat

UPDATE: Hooman Khoshnam was released from prison on bail on October 29, 2018.

Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) – Hooman Khoshnam, a Baha’i resident of Karaj, became the sixth Baha’i citizen to be arrested by Ministry of Intelligence security forces in the city on September 25th, 2018.

In addition to arresting him, security forces also sealed the door to Khoshnam’s workplace. Khoshnam’s arrest is the latest in a series intensified persecution of Baha’i citizens, thus far affecting 20 citizens in Karaj, Shiraz, and on the outskirts of Isfahan.

Before Khoshnam’s arrest, Payam Shabani, another Baha’i resident of Karaj, was arrested by security forces only one day earlier on September 24th. HRANA also reported on the arrest and transfer to Evin Prison of four other Baha’i Karaj residents on September 16th: Peyman Maanavi, Maryam Ghaffaramanesh, Jamileh Pakrou, and Kianoush Salmanzadeh.

A close source told HRANA that “Maryam Ghaffarmanesh, Jamileh Pakrou, and Kianoush Salmanzadeh – participants in an environmental education session led by Ghaffarmanesh and hosted in the private residence of Ramin Sedghi – were arrested when intelligence agents showed up demanding their cell phones and pressing them to fill out personal information forms.”

The source said that after the search of Sedghi’s personal property, including his hard drive, pamphlets, and religious materials, agents moved on to search Pakrou’s residence. Ghaffarmanesh, Pakrou, and Salmanzadeh were then transferred to Evin Prison. Ghaffarmanesh’s family learned of her bail some 20 hours later, on a call with her from ward 209 of the prison.

HRANA reported on the arrest of six Baha’i Shiraz residents on September 15th and 16th: Sudabeh Haghighat, Noora Pourmoradian, Elaheh Samizadeh, Ehsan Mahbub-Rahvafa, and married couple Navid Bazmandegan and Bahareh Ghaderi.

HRANA also covered the arrests of eight Baha’i residents of Baharestan, a newly-built city about 18 miles south of Isfahan, on September 23rd and 24th. The detainees were Saham Armin, Afshin Bolbolan, Anush Rayneh, Milad Davardan, Farhang Sahba, Bahareh Zeini (Sobhanian), Sepideh Rouhani and Fuzhan Rashidi.

Iranian Baha’i citizens are systematically deprived of religious freedoms, while according to Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, everyone is entitled to freedom of religion and belief, and the right to adopt and manifest the religion of their choice, be it individually, in groups, in public, or in private.

Based on unofficial sources, more than 300,000 Baha’is live in Iran. Iran’s Constitution, however, only recognizes Islam, Christianity, Judaism, and Zoroastrianism, and does not acknowledge the Baha’i faith as an official religion. Consequently, the rights of Baha’is are systematically violated in Iran.