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Monthly Report: May 2007

A Summary of Developments Concerning Democracy and Human Rights in Iran

27 May 2007 Gozaar

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Haleh Esfandiari, director of the Washington-based Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars’ Middle East program, was arrested on May 8 for alleged crimes against national security and was taken to Evin Prison. In December, Esfandiari, who holds American and Iranian citizenship, traveled to Tehran to visit her 93 year-old mother. En route to the airport for her return journey to the United States on December 30, all her belongings were stolen, including her passports. In order to replace her stolen documents, Esfandiari was interviewed extensively by the Intelligence Ministry, who interrogated her at length about her work. The conservative newspaper Keyhan has since claimed that Esfandiari is a spy for the US and Israel and is working to spark revolution in Iran, which she has vehemently denied. Human Rights Watch “strongly condemned” Esfandiari’s detention and imprisonment on May 9. On the same day, the U. S. Department of State spoke out against her treatment, and noted that such behavior on Iran’s part is creating problems for many individuals with dual-citizenship. United States presidential candidates Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton called for Esfandiari’s release on May 11, joined by Maryland senators Barbara Mikulski and Benjamin Cardin.

Former FBI Agent Robert Levinson was released from Iran on May 7. He was last seen in a Kish Island resort on March 11. On April 17, Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi said that Iran should return reporter Parnaz Azima’s passport to her. Azima, a broadcaster for Radio Farda, came to Iran in January to visit a relative, and upon entry her passport was confiscated. Radio Farda affiliate Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty has since asked for her passport to be returned, but, so far, the Iranian authorities have not cooperated.

Women’s Rights

On April 18, the Islamic Revolutionary Court placed new charges on student women’s rights activist Azadeh Forghani, who was already serving a two-year probationary sentence handed to her by the same court earlier in April. Forghani, who is a member of the One Million Signatures Campaign, stated that she was summoned by telephone and that no written verdict was delivered.

Tehran’s Revolutionary Court sentenced two activists, Fariba Davoodi Mohajer and Sousan Tahmasebi, to respective four and two-year prison sentences for attending a peaceful gathering. Two additional activists, Noushin Ahmadi Khorasani and Parvin Ardalan, were sentenced to three years in prison in late April, on charges of compromising national security. On April 30, the One Million Signatures Campaign’s website was blocked inside Iran for the fifth time in less than eight months.

Dress Code Crackdown

Since the end of April, police in Iran have issued warnings to over 16,000 women and hundreds of men regarding breaches of the dress code. Shops have received warnings not to sell un-Islamic clothing, and barbers have been ordered not to give Western-style haircuts to men. The new crackdown has received the support of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, as well as Tehran prayer leader Ahmad Khatami and Shiraz prayer leader Alam al-Hodaa. On April 22, over 2,000 young men at Shiraz University protested against the new dress code: male students were banned from wearing sleeveless shirts and shorts inside their dorms. Ayatollah Shahroudi, the head of the judiciary, has stated that the crackdown may have an effect opposite to that desired, as seen from the outrage generated since the start of the harsher restrictions.

Executions

Fifteen men were hanged in Mashhad on May 14 for charges of drug trafficking. In Zahedan, a man was hanged on April 22 for illegal drug possession. Five men were publicly hanged on drug trafficking charges in Ravar in Kerman Province on May 10.

On April 14, the Iranian Supreme Court ruled that the murder of people deemed immoral is not illegal. Six men were acquitted that day of killings in Kerman in 2002 and 2003. The accused defended themselves by claiming that their victims were “morally corrupt,” according to RFE/RL.

Freedom of the Press

On May 14, the prominent moderate newspaper Sharq returned to the presses after being banned for nine months; Hammeeham also re-opened one day earlier. The former editor of Sharq, Mohammad Ghochani is now the editor of Hammeehan.

A cartoon of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei that was featured in several newspapers of the Amirkabir University in Tehran on May 1 has sent at least seven student editors to prison. Those arrested stated that the fake cartoons were a means to bring about a crackdown. As a result, all student publications have been banned at the university.

In the first week of May, the Iranian Parliament banned all reporters from the Al-Jazeera television network from entering the premises. Speaker Gholam-Ali Haddad Adel stated that the ban was instituted because of a perceived insult to Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the supreme Shi’a cleric in Iraq, that Al-Jazeera broadcast. Haddad Adel stated that the network will be banned until it apologizes for its broadcast.

Censorship

The Iranian State Council has banned the website Baztab for the second time in three months, after being reopened in March. The State Council reviewed the website after it received several complaints of its criticism of President Ahmadinejad’s policies. In late April, the Iranian Telecommunications Ministry stated it would begin filtering “immoral” video and voice messages on mobile phones. On April 19, at least six underground musicians were detained. Some were freed on bail on the condition that they would not propagate illegal, Western-style music.

Teachers

Many schools in Iran closed on April 16 due to a teachers’ strike protesting the arrest of several colleagues in the preceding days. In the Kurdish regions, almost all schools were closed. On the same day, the leader of Iran’s Teachers Union, Ali Akbar Baghani, was arrested. On May 2, Alireza Hashemi, the Secretary General of the Iran Teachers’ Association was given a three-month ban from teaching by the Ministry of Education. Hashemi had been imprisoned earlier in the year for his participation in protests against the Ministry.

Students

A student editor at Amirkabir University was detained in early May, following clashes between reformist students and conservative students over several publications allegedly insulting Islam. Protests broke out there on May 6, with students speaking out against the jailing of their peers and the government-sponsored militias that operate at the school. On April 25, the spokesman of the Muslim Students Association at Amirkabir University was arrested for interviews he gave to broadcasters outside Iran.