Human Rights Violations Monthly Report: May-June 2010

One year after the stolen election of June 2009, iran continues to be a leading human rights violator. The abuses of human rights in Iran are widespread. These violations relate to more than just political unrest and the elections. Rather they stem also from Iran’s unfair and non-transparent justice system. An example of this problem is the high level of executions in Iran—per capita the highest in the world and in absolute numbers second only to China. In June 2010, some 40 Iranian citizens were executed by hanging. Many of the identities of the victims are unknown. They were accused of various crimes included kidnapping, harassment, transportation of drugs, smuggling, murder, rape, and terrorist activities. While human rights activists have long protested against the unjust application of the death penalty in Iran, the political stratum has been less engaged in this issue. However, in his most recent statement, Mirhossein Musavi criticized the fact that Iran executed so many people. In parallel to these structural human rights failings is the ongoing repression of political dissent, repression that increased dramatically after June 2009. Political prisoners in Iran are held indire conditions and their future is uncertain. Prisoners are often accused of extremely serious crimes, often capital offences, but have little ability to defend themselves against the charges. The failings of the criminal justice system are carried over into the way in which Iran tries political cases, and then the failings are compounded. Prisoners convicted of non-capital offences can end up being executed, while prisoners found guilty of supposedly serious crimes can find themselves taken off death row and given very mild sentences. The system of justice in Iran is nothing if not capricious.

In parallel to these structural human rights failings is the ongoing repression of political dissent, repression that increased dramatically after June 2009. Political prisoners in Iran are held indire conditions and their future is uncertain. Prisoners are often accused of extremely serious crimes, often capital offences, but have little ability to defend themselves against the charges. The failings of the criminal justice system are carried over into the way in which Iran tries political cases, and then the failings are compounded. Prisoners convicted of non-capital offences can end up being executed, while prisoners found guilty of supposedly serious crimes can find themselves taken off death row and given very mild sentences. The system of justice in Iran is nothing if not capricious.

The following report reviews cases of human rights violations that have occurred in June 2010, including groups such as students, labor and women’s rights activists, homosexuals, political prisoners, as well as abuses that have occurred in Iran’s prisons.


Students

Arrests

May 29, 2010

-    Javad Alikhani, a student activist and senior in veterinary medicine at Chamran University in Ahvaz was arrested in fall 2007 and released on bail after being detained for eleven months. In fall 2008, he was sentenced to a five-year suspended jail term. An appeals court reduced his sentence to a three-year mandatory prison term. Alikhani was transferred to Ahvaz prison in June 2010 to serve his sentence. 

June 10, 2010

-    Eight students in the city of Shiraz were arrested on charges of “propaganda against the prophet [Mohammad].” Farshid Rezazadeh, managing editor of the student-run publication National Development, Hamideh Moradi, chief editor of the same publication, Mehrdad Razmjouee, Atena Alavi, Najmeh Sotudeh, Peyman Hajizadeh and Masoud Shams, were arrested by security agents in the course of organizing a seminar [at their university].

June 12, 2010

-    Kourosh Jannati, a literature major at [Tehran’s] Allameh Tabatabaei University, was arrested after being summoned to the university’s security center. After Jannati’s arrest, security agents searched his parental home and confiscated his personal belongings. Earlier, Kourosh Jannati had been barred from academic study for three semesters [i.e., for student activism].  

-    Sadjad Benam, a computer science major at Shiraz University, had previously been briefly detained on Nov. 4, 2009 [a day of anti-government rallies]. He and another student activist, Hamzeh Benam, were arrested by the university’s security center and handed over to Shiraz’s Intelligence bureau.

-    Majid Salman-Sima, a student activist at Azad University, was arrested by plainclothes agents on Enqelab Avenue in Tehran during protests marking the one-year anniversary of the June 12, 2009 elections. He was taken to an undisclosed location. Earlier, this student activist had been sentenced to a six-year suspended prison term by Revolutionary Court no. 15.

Court Sentences

May 29, 2010

-    Zia Nabavi, a student activist and spokesman for the Council for Defense of the Right to Education, was sentenced by Appeals Court no. 54 to a 10-year jail term. The charges against him included: “assembly and conspiracy for disrupting national security,” “propaganda against the regime,” “disrupting public order,” “provoking public opinion” and “cooperation with monafeqin [literally, ‘hypocrites,’ i.e., the enemy”]. Zia Nabavi was arrested at the home of his friend on the evening of June 15, 2009. His attorney says the main reason for this student activist’s arrest was his attendance at the [anti-government] march on this date.

June 3, 2010

-    Shabnam Madadzadeh, vice-chairman of the Office to Consolidate Unity [student union]’s Tehran council, was sentenced to a five-year suspended prison term to be served in exile in Rajai Shahr prison. Madadzadeh, a member of the Islamic Association student council at Tarbiat Moalem University in Tehran, was arrested on charges of “acts against national security” on February 19, 2009 and stood trial on January 26, 2010 on charges of moharebeh, or war against god, and cooperation with monafeqin [‘enemies’].  

-    Farzad Madadzadeh was also sentenced to five years in prison in exile in Rajai Shahr prison.

June 5, 2010

-    Alborz Zahedi, a student activist and member of the [student group] Liberal Students and Alumni of Iranian Universities, was sentenced to a one-year suspended jail term on charges of “propaganda against the regime.” His sentence has been suspended for a period of three years. Zahedi was arrested along with six other members of his group on November 19, 2009 during a study group session. He was detained for one month in solitary confinement in Ward 240 at Evin prison. 

June 6, 2010

-    Hajar Kabiri is a Tabriz University graduate of social research, student activist, member of the One Million Signatures campaign in Azerbaijan [province], and chief editor of the publication Talangar. Kabiri’s academic records have been withheld and he has been barred from giving the entrance exam for graduate school.

June 15, 2010

-    Sara Khatami, a sociology graduate student at Mazandaran University, was summoned by a telephone call to the Intelligence department at the Higher Education Admissions Testing Organization during the deadline period for registration. After a lengthy interrogation, she was barred from registering to choose an academic major. Sara Khatami was detained along with other student activists in November 2007 and summoned to the Revolutionary Court twice following her arrest.

-    Suspension of “badly veiled” female students at Alameh Tabatabaei University in Tehran: an official at this university announced that several students would be suspended for one to two academic semesters for “failure to heed warnings” for proper observance of the hejab, or Islamic dress code.

June 19, 2010

-    Suspension of 15 students at Shahid Beheshti University by the university’s disciplinary committee, after students protested [Iranian president] Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s visit to the Shahid Beheshti campus.

-    Rajab-Ali Dashab and Ali Arshadi, two detained students, were sentenced to a total of six years in prison. Dashab, a Shahid Beheshti student was sentenced to five years in jail by the appeals court at Revolutionary Court no. 54 under Judge Movahed. He had received a philosophy degree from Tabriz University and was a graduate student at Shahid Beheshti. Ali Arshadi, a PhD student in electronics, was sentenced to a two-year jail term on charges of propaganda against the regime, assembly and conspiracy for acts against national security. His sentence was reduced to a one-year term by an appeals court. 


Women

June 1, 2010

-    Sara Tavasoli was sentenced to six years in prison and a penalty of 74 whiplashes. Her sentence was issued by Revolutionary Court no. 26 headed by Judge Abbas Pirabbassi. Tavasoli was convicted for attending the Ashura [Dec. 27, 2009] protests and sending condolences to the family of [opposition leader] Mir Hossein Mousavi.

June 5, 2010

-    [Security] agents attempted to arrest Saba Vasefi, a human rights and women’s movement activist. Vasefi’s home was searched by agents.   
June 11, 2010

-    Narges Mohammadi, a journalist and human rights activist, was arrested on the night of Thursday, June 10, 2009, in front of her young children. Mohammadi is the deputy director and spokeswoman for the Center for the Defense of Human Rights, and chairman of the Iran Peace Council, and had been summoned to the Revolutionary Court for interrogation several times before her recent arrest.


Ethnic and religious minorities

May 25, 2010

-    Hamideh Farajzadeh, a women’s rights activist in Azerbaijan, was arrested at her home in [the city of] Urumieyeh. Farajzadeh, a graduate of Tehran University Medical School, worked at Urumiyeh’s Motaharri Hospital. Security agents searched her parents’ home and confiscated her personal belongings. During her days as a university student, Farajzadeh had worked for students’ rights and current is a women’s and minority rights activist.

May 26, 2010

-    Pejman Roshankouhi, a citizen of the Baha’I faith, was arrested in a raid on his home in [the province of] Mazandaran.

May 29, 2010

-    Six dervishes from Gonabad were sentenced to prison. Based on the ruling issued by the Criminal Court no. 101 in the town of Gonabad, Ali Afkar, Abbas Ali Afkar, Masoumeh Salari, Reza Shoghi and Hassan Kazemi, dervishes residing in Bidokht, Gonabad received a suspended four-month prison sentence on charges of endangering public health by burying their dead at Mazar Soltani [temple]. The same court also sentenced Abbas Zareh-Haghighi, the dervish leader at Mazar Soltani, to four months in jail. Haghighi had previously been sentenced by Gonabad court on similar charges to a total of seven months in prison.

-    Farajollah Zendedelan, a retired teacher and union activist for teachers in Kurdistan, was arrested by police forces on May 13, 2010 in Sannadaj, in connection with a strike at the bazaar [in that city]. 

May 31, 2010

-    Kamran Asa, the brother of Kianoush Asa, was arrested in the middle of the night in Kermanshah. He was released on bail after two weeks’ detainment.

-    Fakhreddin Samimi, a Baha’i resident of Qaemshahr, was arrested while his home was searched and his books, CDs and computer were confiscated.

June 6, 2010

-    The death sentences of two political activists were confirmed by the Iranian Supreme Court. Mohammad-Amin Agoushi, a retired teacher, was arrested in 2007 and spent 20 months in Urumiyeh prison. A martial court sentenced Agoushi to execution by firing squad. Urumiyeh’s martial court meted out the same sentence to Ahmad Pouladkhani, a resident of Piranshahr, who was arrested in 2007 on charges of espionage and cooperation with the Free Life Party of Kurdistan (PJAK).  

June 8, 2010

-    Mahmoud Fazli, a founding member of the Azerbaijan Academics Society, and Heydar Karimi, a member of the editorial board at Sina Hamedan weekly, were arrested. 

June 9, 2010

-    Abbas Zareh Haghighi, a prominent dervish from the Nematollahi tribe of Gonabad and spiritual leader at Mazar Soltan temple, was arrested by security and police forces in [the town of] Bidokht and was sent to prison to serve a seven-month jail term. This dervish was imprisoned on the order of the Gonabad Municipal Council, on allegations of security concerns. He was sent to Vakil-Abad prison in Mashhad to serve his term. 

June 13, 2010

-    The home of Qavam-al-Din Sabet, a Baha’i resident of the town of Sari, was searched by security agents who introduced themselves as “tax inspectors.” The agents confiscated Sabet’s personal belongings, including more than 150 books as well as his notebooks, CDs, computer and satellite receiver. They also broke his satellite dish and tore his religious portraits of Baha’i figures.    

June 16, 2010

-    Pastor Behrouz Sadegh Khanjani, the supervisor of the Church of Iran, was summoned by Intelligence agents to the Intelligence bureau in Shiraz, where he had traveled to present his latest defense. After an intense interrogation, Father Khanjani was transferred to the Intelligence Ministry’s detention center.  

June 20, 2010

-    Nasser Moayeri, a Kurdish political prisoner from the town of Baneh, was sentenced to eighteen months in jail. He had been arrested in November 2006 and tried by the Revolutionary Court in Saghez, Kurdistan on charges of cooperation with Kurdish opposition parties. Kurdistan’s Appeals Court confirmed Moayeri’s sentence, and he was transferred to Baneh prison to serve his 18-month jail term.


Intellectual and cultural figures

Court sentences

June 9, 2010

-    Journalist Jila Bani-Yaghoub was given a 30-year writing ban. Judge Pirabbasi presided over her case at the Islamic Revolutionary Court, and sentenced Bani-Yaghoub to a year in prison as well as a 30-year ban on journalism activity. Bani-Yaghoub and her husband, Bahman Ahmadi-Amoui, were arrested on June 20, 2009 and detained for two months before being released on bail.

June 19, 2010

-    The UKbased website Kurdishperspective.com, affiliated with the Society of Kurds in Khorasan, was filtered.

June 21, 2010

-    Majid Saidi, a photojournalist, was sentenced to three years in jail. Saidi was convicted on charges of “propaganda against the regime” and “participation in illegal assemblies.” He was arrested by security agents at his home on July 1, 2009, and released on bail some time after. Agents had also confiscated Saidi’s personal belongings.

Arrests

June 1, 2010

-    Mahboubeh Khansari, a reporter for Miras news agency who also wrote for [pro-reform] newspapers such as Sharq [‘East’], Ham-Mihan [‘Compatriot’] and Kalame Sabz [‘Green Word’], was arrested at her home by Intelligence agents. 


Labor activists

May 31, 2010

-    Pejman Rahimi, a labor rights activist in Khuzestan and director of Sayeh Art and Culture Society in Ahvaz, was sentenced to a seven-year jail term and a penalty of 40 whiplashes, on charges of “disrupting order.” Previously, Rahimi had been sentenced to five years in jail on charges of “assembly and conspiracy against the Islamic Republic” and “provocation” of factory workers at Haft Tapeh [Sugar Cane Company] and Ahvaz Pipe Mills. Rahimi had also received another one-year prison sentence after giving a seminar at Ahvaz University.

June 3, 2010

-    Mansour Osanlou, the imprisoned union activist and president of the executive committee of the Syndicate of Workers of Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company [trade union], was interrogated at a solitary cell [in a ward run by] the Revolutionary Guards on a set of new charges including “connection with anti-regime groups.” Osanlou rejected the allegations as groundless, pointing out that he has been in prison for the past two years.  

June 4, 2010

-    Alireza Akhavan, a labor rights activist and member of the Defenders of Worker’s Rights Center, was arrested [at his home] at 4 am by security agents. Following his arrest, Intelligence agents confiscated Akhavan’s personal belongings, including his books and computer.

June 7, 2010

-    Mansour Osanlou, the imprisoned president of the executive committee of the Syndicate of Workers of Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company, was transferred to the general ward at Rajai Shahr prison in [the city of] Karaj. Following a complaint by an inmate convicted of murdering his brother, Osanlou was transferred to solitary confinement [in a ward run by] the Revolutionary Guards at Rajai Shahr prison. The general ward, or Ward No. 5, is known as “the disease ward” due to the presence of inmates with infectious diseases. 


Homosexuals

May 27, 2010

-    Security agents raided the home of [the homosexual couple] Reza and Alireza and confiscated their computers and personal documents.

June 5, 2010

-    Amir Hossein, a 23-year-old bisexual, was beaten to death by Basij forces.

Political, civil rights and human rights activists

Arrests

June 1, 2010

-    Mohsen Aminzadeh, a member of the Islamic Iran Participation Front, was sentenced to six years in prison. An appeals court reduced his sentence to a five-year term.  His charges include “assembly and conspiracy against the regime aimed at disrupting national security” and “propaganda against the regime via interviews with foreign news networks.”

-    Maryam Akbari-Monfared, a detainee of last year’s post-election protests, was sentenced by Revolutionary Court no. 15 to 15 years in jail at Rajai Shahr prison. Akbari-Monfared is a homemaker and has three young children. Security agents raided her home and arrested her on Dec. 31, 2009. This political prisoner was tried for moharebeh [war against god], an allegation she vehemently rejects.

June 8, 2010

-    Kouhyar Goudarzi, a member of the Committee of Human Rights Reporters, was sentenced to one year in jail. 

June 12, 2010

-    Some 400 Iranian men and women were arrested for attending events marking the one-year anniversary of the [2009] elections.

-    Ghodrat Mohammadi, former mayor of Ghasr Shirin and top City Council elected official, was arrested.

-    Kamran Asa, the brother of Kianoush Asa (a student who died in the June 15 protests last year), and civil rights activists Hamidreza and Ashkan Mosibian, were transferred to Kermanshah’s Diesel Abad prison. Intelligence agents arrested Kamran Asa on May 31, 2010 as he was leaving the house of the Mosibian brothers, who were also both detained the following day.

-    Attack by vigilante forces on the offices of Grand Ayatollahs Montazeri and Sanaei. 

June 20, 2010

-    The bail and charges against detained civil rights activist Navid Khanjani, a member of the Committee of Human Rights Reporters, were raised during an interrogation session. Khanjani’s charges were increased to include “acts against national security,” “propaganda against the regime,” “provoking public opinion,” “publication of lies,” “forming a committee for the right to education of Baha’is” and “membership in the Committee of Human Rights Reporters and human rights organizations.” His bail was doubled from roughly $50,000 to roughly $100,000.  

-    Shirin Firouzi, the wife of Dr. Akbar Karami, was arrested in the city of Qom. 

Prisons and prisoners

Arrests

May 23, 2010

-    Student leader Majid Tavakoli, who is being kept in solitary confinement, began a hunger strike in protest to his detainment.

May 27, 2010

-    Kouhyar Goudarzi and Hossein Ronaghi-Maleki began hunger strikes in protest to the undetermined status of their cases.

May 29, 2010

-    Rasoul Badaghi was severely beaten in Rajai Shahr prison. Two prison officials who go by the pseudonyms “Sheikh” and “Uncle Qasem,” took Badaghi to a secluded part of the prison, tied his hands behind his back, and beat him. The reason for this attack appeared to be Badaghi’s protest to the poor [sanitary] conditions of Rajai Shahr prison and his resulting [health] problems.  

-    Hengameh Shahidi, a journalist, human rights activist, and member of [opposition leader Mehdi Karroubi’s] National Trust party, is in dire physical conditions. 

May 30, 2010

-    Majid Dari, a student activist, was denied access to a physician and medicine to treat his migraine disease. His deteriorating physical condition has been reported as “alarming.” Dari was sentenced to 11 years in prison, a sentence that was reduced by an appeals court to a six-year term. Dari is a student at Allameh Tabatabaei university and a member of the Council for Defense of the Right to Education and the chairman of the Student Committee for Protecting Civil Rights.

-    Hengameh Shahidi was attacked in the woman’s ward.

June 4, 2010

-    Abolfazl Abedini, a human rights activist, was severely beaten by prison officials at Ahvaz prison. Abedini was pressured to make [false] confessions, but refused to do so

June 7, 2010

-    Zahra Jabbari, a political prisoner who in May 2010 was sentenced by Revolutionary Court no. 28 to four years in prison on charges of “acts against national security,” is in deteriorating health due to lack of medical attention for her rheumatism.

-    Sahba Rezvani, a Baha’i who has spent over a year in detainment without trial, was denied medical attention and medicine and treated disrespectfully by officials at the infirmary at Evin prison. Despite her deteriorating health, the Evin infirmary refused to treat Rezvani, citing a shortage of medicine. But on a subsequent visit to the infirmary, another physician confirmed that sufficient medicine is available.

June 18, 2010

-    Amir Khosrow Dalir-Sani, a national-religious activist and a council member of the Muslim Combatants Movement, is suffering from untreated bronchitis at Evin prison. Dalir-Sani was arrested on January 3, 2009. He was sentenced by Revolutionary Court no. 28 to four years in prison on charges of “assembly and conspiracy to undermine national security.” After a brief release on bail, Dalir-Sani returned to Evin in March 2010. His health is in danger as his bronchitis worsens. 
 
June 21, 2010

-    Hamzeh Karami, editor of the website Jomhouri and a senior administrator at Azad University, is in need of emergency care for heart disease, but officials have neglected his request for medical attention.   

-    Due to recent construction underway at Ward 350 of Evin prison, prisoners in this ward are unable to rest and sleep comfortably, and effectively spend their time outside in the yard of the ward. This condition has forced a number of prisoners to engage in manual labor to speed up the construction process.

-    Due to gas cuts at Ward 7 of Evin prison, prisoners are forced to shower with cold water. There have also been reports about the poor quality of food and lack of red and white meat. This ward is also reportedly so overcrowded, that some prisoners are forced to sleep in the hallways. 


Executions

Iran executed more than 40 individuals in May-June 2010.

-    May 24: Abdulhamid Rigi, a member of Jundullah, was executed at Zahedan prison.

-    June 7: Thirteen prisoners were executed at Ghazal Hesar prison.

-    June 20: Abdulmajid Rigi, known as “Abdul-Malek” was convicted on charges of moharebeh [‘war against god’], fesad-fel-arz [‘spread of corruption’] and 79 counts of criminal acts. By order of Judge Tohidi, on reference of Article 183 of the Islamic Penal Code, Rigi was sentenced to death by hanging.