Four Children From Nomadic Communities Severely Injured in a Landmine Accident

On January 6, four children in Mehran County, Ilam Province were severely injured due to a landmine explosion. Each year, explosive remnants of landmines from the Iraq-Iran War cause the death or injury of many people at border areas.

According to HRANA, the news agency of Human Rights Activists, quoting Mehr News Agency, four children from a nomadic community aged 13 to 14 years old were severely injured due to a landmine blast. They all were hospitalized in Mehran County.

There are about 42,000 square kilometers of war zones in Iran that have not been fully demined from the Iran-Iraq war.

In flagrant violation of international conventions, the regime is still using landmines to secure its borders.

Accordingly, there are still thousands of landmines planted in Iran in the border areas with Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq. The regime also planted many landmines in Kurdistan during the conflicts of the 1980s.

Ten Year Old Child Killed by Landmine Blast in Elam Province

In a border area near Dehloran County in Elam Province, a landmine blast killed a 10 year old child.

According to HRANA, the news agency of Human Rights Activists, quoting Mehr News Agency,

“A 10 year old child from nomadic people was grazing the cattle when one of the cattle stepped on a landmine and the child was hit in the chest by the shreds”, commented Dehloran police commander Colonel Manoochehr Makki.

“The wounded child was sent to a hospital but was lost due to severe injuries,” he added.

Every year, landmine explosions take several victims in  Iran’s border areas. There are about 42,000 square kilometres of war zones in Iran that have not yet been fully demined from the Iran-Iraq war.

In flagrant violation of international conventions, the regime is still using these landmines to secure its borders.

Accordingly, there are still thousands of landmines planted in Iran in the border areas with Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq. The regime also planted many landmines during the conflicts of the 1980s in Kurdistan.

Kolbar Injured from Landmine Explosion in Nowsud Border Area

On Thursday, May 6th, a kolbar was injured in the leg after a landmine left over from the Iran-Iraq war exploded in the border area of Nowsud.

According to HRANA, the news agency of Human Rights Activists, quoting Kurdpa, the citizen has been identified as Nader Saberi, son of Mr. Barakhas, from Tilkuh village in Kamyaran.

Every year, landmines cause the death and injury of several compatriots in border areas. About 42,000 square kilometers of land in Iran is contaminated with leftover landmines and unexploded ordnance from the Iran-Iraq war.

The Iranian regime continues to produce and plant anti-personnel mines, and, contrary to international conventions, the regime believes that using these mines is the only effective way to secure the country’s long borders.

Accordingly, they have planted mines on border areas with Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq. During the conflicts of the 1980s in Kurdistan, mines were planted in this region, as well.

A Daily Overview of Human Rights Violations in Iran for February 2, 2019

The following is an overview of human rights violations in Iran on February 2nd, 2019 based on the information compiled and verified by Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA).

(1) Karim Mohebbi was executed in the central prison of Tabriz on the charge of murder and another prisoner was sentenced to public hanging in Gilan.

(2) More than four protests were organized across the country. Educators in the cities of Karun and Bavi, the customers of two Iranian automakers, Iran Khodro (IKCO) and Kerman Motor, the students of Islamic Azad University, Science and Research Branch in Tehran, and the investors of the project of Shahid Keshvari in Isfahan have held separate protests to request their demands.

(3) A landmine explosion severely injured a citizen in the city of Dehloran. More than 42 thousand square kilometers of the lands in the Iran‘s western provinces contain landmines left from the Iran-Iraq war. Dehloran is in the Ilam province.

(4) Five Baha’i residents of Shiraz have been sentenced to six months imprisonment, each, on the charge of “propaganda against the state”. They were identified as the following: Farhad Sarafraz, Shahram Mansour, Vahid Dana, Saeed Abedi, and Adib Haqpajouh.

(5) An Azerbaijani Turkic minority rights activist, Hakimeh Ahmadi, is in prison since October 18, 2018. According to Hrana, she underwent hospital treatment for rib cage and finger injuries which have been occurred in the Intelligence detention in Marand County. Security forces entered Ahmadi’s home on October 18th, threatening both her and her spouse with a weapon. She was arrested and transferred without explanation to an undisclosed location. In a video which was published on October 30th, Ahmadi’s husband, Gholamreza Ghorbani, related news of her hospital transfer, explaining that authorities had refused to disclose where she had been admitted, forbade him from visiting, and advised him that pending treatments would be at his and Ahmadi’s expense.

(6) Expulsion of Sepehr Shahidi Ghamsari, a Baha’i civil engineering student from Sina Higher Education Institute in Kashan due to his faith. Baha’i students in Iran routinely experience either denial of entrance to university or removal from student lists during their studies. Numerous reports are published annually regarding the barring of Baha’i citizens from education.

(7) Reza Khandan and Farhad Meysami filed an appeal against their conviction. They have been sentenced to six years in prison each, and were banned for two years form traveling, membership in any social or political group, and internet activism.

(8) The second court session of eight environmentalists on the espionage-related charges was in session in Tehran. Moreover, five of the detained environmental activists were charged with “corruption on earth”.

(9) A detained Baha’i citizen, Maryam Ghafarmanesh , was arrested on September 16th, 2019. Her family did not receive any answer to why, and for how long, she will be held in prison. She was one of the eight Baha’i citizen who were arrested and transferred to Evin prison between September 16th and October 17th. They were identified as Parvan Manavi, Elham Salmanzadeh, Hooman Khoshnam, Payam Shabani, Peyman Manavi, Maryam Ghaffarmanesh, Jamileh Pakrou (Mohammad Hossein) and Kianoush Salmanzadeh.

(10) Jafar Azimzadeh, the leading member of the Free Union of Workers in Iran, was transferred to Evin prison to serve his six-year prison term. Moreover, Azimzadeh and Shapour Ehsanirad have been acquitted of charges of “acting against national security” in June 2018. In 2016 he was sentenced to 17 years in prison over charges of “propaganda against the state” and “assembly and collusion against national security through organizing an illegal group’.

(11) Hossein Rezaei, a teacher and the secretary of the teachers’ union in Bushehr, who was arrested on January 26, was released on bail. He had been summoned twice to the intelligence office and was interrogated in January.

(12) The workers of Saman Tile Manufacturing Company in Borujerd, have more than four years of unpaid wages. The workers of IranPetroTech have also unpaid wages and 12 workers of this company have been laid off last month.

(13) A labor activist, Behnam Ebrahimzadeh, has been detained for one month and a half, although his family provided his bail bond which has been set for 200 million Toman [approximately 20 thousand USD]. He had been released from prison last year after finishing his seven years sentence.

(14) The special needs students’ transportation vehicle crashed, leaving eight injured in Sharafkhaneh in Shabestar County in the East Azerbaijan Province.

(15) Iran has six thousand disabled veteran women of Iran-Iraq War and more than six thousand women had been killed in this war. These women and their families have been treated unequally by the government and the society in comparison with men veterans.

(16) Saeed Malekpour’s mother wrote an open letter to Tehran’s Prosecutor General to request her son’s release after serving ten years in prison. A Canadian resident and alumna of Sharif University was arrested in 2008, during a trip to Iran on blasphemy-related charges. According to Hrana, the Cyber Unit of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), accusing Malekpour of managing Persian-language pornographic websites, arrested him during a trip to Iran to visit his family and sentenced him to death plus seven and a half years in prison, on counts of “propaganda against the regime,” “blasphemy,” “insulting the Supreme Leader,” “insulting the president,” “contacting opposition groups” and “corruption on earth.” Malekpour’s death penalty sentence was eventually reduced to a life sentence. Throughout his legal proceedings, Malekpour has insisted that case analysis by a computer and internet expert would absolve him of the charges.

(17) Hamid Askari, a singer, was banned from working and the rest of his concerts have been canceled because of featuring a female vocalist and guitar player, Negin Parsa, in his concert. Women are prohibited from singing or playing musical instruments solo in Iran.

A Daily Overview of Human Rights Violations in Iran for January 19, 2019

The following is an overview of human rights violations in Iran on January 19th, 2019 based on the information compiled and verified by Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA).

(1) Two Baha’i citizens, Kimia Mostafavi and Kiana Rezvani, have been arrested in Kerman. Their whereabouts are still unknown.

(2) A landmine explosion injured Hadid Babajani, a 19-year-old Kulbar (Kurdish back carrier), in Ravansar city in the Kermanshah province.

(3) Two workers of Iran National Steel Industrial Group (NSIG) in Ahvaz, Karim Sayahi and Tarogh Khalafi, were released after two months. More than 43 workers of NSIG have been arrested on December 16, 2018.

(4) A student transporting vehicle crashed leaving four students injured in Tehran. Similar incidents had happened in Qaleh Ganj and Ekhtiarabad in Kerman province on January 15 and 16.

(5) A Baha’i owned-business in Birjand was reopened. Farshid Deymi’s store was sealed off by judicial authorities order last year. Apparently, the Baha’i owned-businesses were shut down because they were closed for Bahai religious holidays.

(6) Two detained labor activists, Behnam Ebrahimzadeh and Arsham Rezaei have their bonds set at 200 million Toman [approximately 20 thousand USD] each. Ebrahimzadeh was arrested last month and he had been released from prison last year after finishing his seven years sentence.

(7) Masoud Shamsnejad, a lawyer and professor, was arrested and transferred to Urmia prison while the security guards raided his home and confiscated his belongings. He was accused of “propaganda against the state” due to being a lawyer of his clients.

(8) A worker died of electrocution in Tehran and another worker fatally fell in Zahedan, because of negligence in the oversight of safety conditions.

(9) Four employees of a news website, Sunni News, were summoned to the Revolutionary Court in Zahedan. Sunni News discusses the Sunni Islam beliefs and rituals with respect to the other religions.

(10) The workers of Khuzestan Pipe Industrial Company have more than 15 months unpaid wages and 11 months unpaid insurance fee owed by the employer.

(11) Two environmentalists have been arrested in Sanandaj city in Kurdistan province. Edris Mohammadi and Avat Karami were arrested for an unknown reason and their whereabouts are still unknown.

(12) More than three protests were organized in Iran on January 19, 2019. Municipality workers in Borujerd, several people in Sistan and Baluchestan, and the workers of Ahvaz inter-city rail, have held separate protests to demand their requests.

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A Daily Overview of Human Rights Violations in Iran for January 15, 2019

The following is an overview of human rights violations in Iran on January 15th, 2019 based on the information compiled and verified by Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA).

(1) Abbas Lesani, Azerbaijani Turkic minority rights activist, was arrested after his court session. He was tried in absentia and sentenced to 10 months imprisonment on the charge of ‘propaganda against the state’.

(2) A car transporting student crashed leaving four students injured in Qaleh Ganj in the Kerman province.

(3) A report of mistreatment in Zahedan prison: Zobeir Hout, a prisoner with severe skin disease, was denied medical care. Alireza Bampouri, Zabihollah Rigi, and Rashid Ahourani have been beaten and transferred to quarantine, punitively.

(4) Mohammad Najafi court was in session today. He is a lawyer and human rights activist who is serving his three years sentence in prison and faced 74 lashes and 14 more years imprisonment for his new charges of ‘spreading lies and disturbing public opinion’.

(5) The attorney for the plaintiffs in the Social Security Organization case, Mostafa Turk Hamedani, was sentenced to 40 lashes and 6-months imprisonment for the complaint filed by Saeed Mortazavi, the former general prosecutor of Tehran.

(6) Two workers died and eight have been injured in their workplaces in the cities of Karchan and Yazd, because of negligence in the oversight of safety conditions.

(7) An accused individual in the city of Salmas received an alternative sentencing to prepare banner and brochures about ‘crime prevention’. Otherwise, he would be sentenced to support two recovering addicts and meet their basic needs.

(8) Saba Kord-Afshar, Yasaman Aryani, and Azar Heydari wrote an open letter from Evin prison about people’s financial and political situation. They were arrested in August 2018 while taking part in a public protest in Tehran.

(9) Amir Hossein Mohammadifar and Sanaz Allahyari who were arrested by the security forces on January 9, have been transferred to Evin Prison, section 209. They were working as editors of “Gam” journal.

(10) More than five protests were organized all over the country: several teachers in Yazd, firefighters in Abadan, workers of inter-city rail in Ahvaz, Nishabur municipality workers, and the shareholders of financial institution of Caspian.

(11) Habib Ahmadi, a labor activist, was released on bail after 40 days detention. He was charged with ‘cooperation with a Kurdish opposition group’.

(12) A prisoner was publicly executed in Falavarjan county in Isfahan province. He was accused of murdering a 5-year old girl, Melika. In 2018, at least 236 people have been executed and 195 people have been sentenced to death in Iran.

(13) A landmine explosion injured two army soldiers in Qasr-e Shirin city in the Kermanshah province. More than 42 thousand square kilometers of the lands in the Iran ‘s western provinces contain landmines left from the Iran-Iraq war.