Violation of Human Rights in Iran during a Week 10 February 2013

At a Glance

Violation of Human Rights in Iran during a Week

10 February 2013

Refugee’s Rights

 

Deadly attack on Iranian refugee camp near Baghdad

Latest update: 09/02/2013 

http://www.france24.com/en/20130209-attack-iraq-camp-iran-mek-mujahedeen

At least six people were killed and dozens were wounded at a camp that houses Iranian exiles opposed to the government in Tehran, but there were conflicting reports on the nature of the deadly assault.

Assailants fired rockets at a refugee camp for Iranian exiles outside Baghdad early Saturday, killing six people and wounding dozens, police and a spokesman for the camp said.

The camp, a former American military base known as Camp Liberty, houses members of the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, the militant wing of the Paris-based National Council of Resistance of Iran.
The camp is meant to be a temporary way station while the United Nations works to resettle the residents abroad. They are unlikely to return to Iran because of their opposition to the regime.
Shahin Gobadi, a spokesman for the NCRI, provided the names of the six killed and said more than 100 people were wounded, several of them seriously. He released photographs of five bloodied bodies swaddled in blankets, including one of a woman.
Two police officials confirmed the death toll and said more than 40 people were hurt in the attack. They said three policemen were among the wounded. They spoke anonymously because they were not authorized to share information with the media.
There were conflicting reports about what was fired at the camp. Iraqi police and Gobadi said assailants fired rockets, while U.N. officials said the camp was hit by mortar rounds.
Iraq’s government is eager to have the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, or MEK, out of the country. The group, which is also called the People’s Mujahedeen of Iran, opposes Iran’s clerical regime and carried out assassinations and bombings in Iran until renouncing violence in 2001.
It fought in the 1980s alongside Saddam Hussein’s forces in the Iran-Iraq war. Several thousand of its members were given sanctuary in Iraq by Saddam.
Iraq’s current Shiite-led government, which has close ties to Iran, considers the MEK a terrorist group and says its members are living in Iraq illegally.
The Obama administration took the MEK off the U.S. terrorism list in late September.

 

UN chief condemns attack on Iranian exile camp in Iraq

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=44105&Cr=Iraq&Cr1=#.URf58vI7vTo

9 February 2013 – Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today strongly condemned a mortar attack on an Iranian exile camp near Iraq's capital, Baghdad, which reportedly killed six people and injured several others.
According to media reports, the Hurriya camp, formerly known as Camp Liberty, was attacked this morning while most of the residents were sleeping. Iraqi police officers were among the wounded.
The camp serves as a transit facility for more than 3,000 exiles, most of them members of a group known as the People's Mojahedeen of Iran, where a process to determine their refugee status is being carried out by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Camp residents were previously situated at Camp Ashraf in eastern Iraq, but were relocated last year, in line with an agreement signed in December 2011 between the UN and the Iraqi Government.
“The Secretary-General calls on the Government of Iraq, which is responsible for the safety and security of residents of both Camp Liberty and Camp Ashraf, to promptly and fully investigate the incident and bring perpetrators to justice,” said Mr. Ban's spokesperson in a statement. “He has repeatedly stated that violence and provocation are unacceptable.”
Mr. Ban also reiterated the UN's strong commitment to continue its long-standing efforts to facilitate a peaceful and durable solution for residents of both camps.
The High Commissioner for Refugees, António Guterres, expressed his shock about the attack calling it “a despicable act of violence.”
“I call on the Iraqi Government to do everything it can to guarantee security to the residents,” he said. “The perpetrators must be found and brought to justice without delay.”
In a news release, the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) said it is closely liaising with the Government on the response to the incident, including medical assistance to the wounded.
Mr. Ban's Special Representative in the country, Martin Kobler, has also asked Iraqi authorities to promptly conduct an investigation into the mortar explosions.

 

UNHCR Chief Guterres strongly condemns deadly attack on Camp Liberty in Iraq

Press Releases, 9 February 2013

http://www.unhcr.org/511642289.html

UNHCR Chief Guterres strongly condemns deadly attack on Camp Liberty in Iraq
9 February 2013 – The High Commissioner for Refugees, António Guterres expresses his shock about this morning's mortar attack on Camp Liberty in Iraq that reportedly killed six and wounded dozens.
"I strongly condemn this attack," Mr. Guterres said, noting that the residents of Camp Liberty are asylum seekers undergoing the refugee status determination process and thus entitled to international protection. "This is a despicable act of violence."
"I call on the Iraqi Government to do everything it can to guarantee security to the residents," he said. "The perpetrators must be found and brought to justice without delay," he said.
The High Commissioner also calls on all countries to help find urgent solutions for the Camp Liberty residents.
Mr. Guterres expresses his deep condolences to the families of the victims.

 

Terrorist Attack on Camp Hurriya in Iraq

Press Statement

Victoria Nuland
Department Spokesperson, Office of the Spokesperson

Washington, DC

February 9, 2013

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2013/02/203973.htm

---

The United States condemns in the strongest terms the vicious and senseless terrorist attack that took place this morning at Camp Hurriya killing 6 people and injuring dozens more. We offer our condolences to the families of the victims and hope for the swift recovery of those who were injured.
We understand the Government of Iraq has undertaken to promptly investigate the attack. We call on it to earnestly and fully carry out that investigation and to take all appropriate measures to enhance the security of the camp consistent with its commitment and obligation to the safety and security of the camp's residents. The terrorists responsible for this attack must be brought to justice.
We are consulting with the Government of Iraq and the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) on the circumstances surrounding this tragedy, and we remain committed to assisting the Government of Iraq and UNAMI in their efforts to implement the December 25, 2011 agreement.

Belgian foreign affairs chief joins condemnation of Liberty attack

Sunday, 10 February 2013 20:15

http://www.ncr-iran.org/en/news/ashraf/12831-belgian-foreign-affairs-chief-joins-condemnation-of-liberty-attack

Karl Vanlouwe, Belgium Senate foreign affairs committee chairman

NCRI - Camp Liberty should be declared a refugee camp and the residents given full international protection after the mortar attack on Saturday left six people dead and at least 100 injured, a leading Belgian politician said today.

Belgium and the European Union must also unite to condemn the unprovoked violence and take urgent steps to ensure no more innocent lives are lost, Senate foreign affairs committee chairman Karl Vanlouwe insisted.

He said in a statement: "On Saturday morning at least 35 missiles were fired at camp liberty near Baghdad airport, where 3100 Iranian main opposition PMOI members are residing.

"The attack has left at least 6 residents dead so far and 100 wounded.

"This terrorist act must be condemned by Belgium and the EU and urgent steps should be taken to prevent more attacks and loss of innocent lives.

"These 3100 Iranian refugees were evicted by force by Iraq from their homes in camp Ashraf last year at the insistence of the UN Envoy in Iraq Martin Kobler and the US government.

"We call for the immediate transfer of these defenseless refugees to Ashraf to protect their lives from the further rocket attacks on Camp Liberty.

"Ashraf has buildings made from cement and contains protection shelters.

"We call on the UN High Commissioner for Refugees to immediately declare Camp Liberty a refugee camp and provide international protection for the residents in accordance to UNHCR mandate."

The attack has also been condemned by the the United Nations, the European Union, Amnesty International and the the UN's High Commission for Refugees.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon called on Iraq to carry out a full investigation to bring the killers to justice.

UNHCR chief Antonio Guterres called the attack a 'despicable act of violence' and said Liberty residents were asylum seekers undergoing the refugee status determination process and so entitled to international protection.

Human rights group Amnesty International demanded that Iraq urgently investigate the attack and look into the conduct of Iraqi security forces before and when it happened to determine if they could have prevented it.

And Struan Stevenson, president of the European Parliament's Delegation for Relations with Iraq added: "The US Government and the UN are directly responsible for the security and protection of these refugees and they have failed them miserably.

"I hold them fully accountable for this latest atrocity. The 3100 residents crammed into Camp Liberty are sitting ducks who can be murdered at will by Iraqis and their Iranian sponsors. We warned that this would happen and absolutely no notice was taken.

"I call on the newly appointed US Secretary of State John Kerry to take immediate action to get these people relocated to places of safety."

 

Norway FM Eide condemns attack on Camp Liberty in Iraq

Sunday, 10 February 2013 13:49

http://www.ncr-iran.org/en/news/ashraf/12830-norway-fm-eide-condemns-attack-on-camp-liberty-in-iraq

Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide

NCRI – Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide condemned the Saturday’s deadly attack on “Camp Liberty in Baghdad that killed several people and wounded a number of civilians.”

“It is important that the Iraqi government ensures the safety of the camp. The authorities must also investigate the attacks and bring those guilty to justice,” said Eide.
The statement by the Norwegian Foreign Ministry said that the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is working to clarify the residents' status with the aim of possible resettlement in third countries.  “Norway support this work, and has repeatedly stressed the Iraqi government responsible for the residents' safety and rights,” the statement added.

Thousands of Iranians living in Camp Liberty are belonged to the main Iranian opposition group, the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) who forcibly where evicted from their home in Camp Ashraf, Iraq on February 2012.

 

Press releases

Iraq must urgently investigate attack against Iranian exile camp

9 February 2013                                                        AI Index: PRE01/069/2013

http://www.amnesty.org/en/for-media/press-releases/iraq-must-urgently-investigate-attack-against-iranian-exile-camp-2013-02-09

Authorities in Iraq must urgently investigate the attack against a camp of Iranian exiles that left several people dead and injured and ensure all those wounded receive appropriate medical care, said Amnesty International today.
The investigation should also look into the conduct of Iraqi security forces in the lead up and during the attack and whether they have failed to prevent any such attack.
Several people reportedly died and have been injured as a result of the attack against Camp Liberty, home of some 3,000 Iranians in exile in Iraq, on 9 February.
“The attack against Camp Liberty is a despicable crime,” said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Amnesty International Middle East and North Africa Programme's Deputy Director. 
“Authorities in Iraq must ensure not only that those responsible for this attack are brought to justice but that those living in the camp are protected.”
The residents of Camp Liberty, members of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran which opposes the Iranian government, were recently relocated to a site in north-east Baghdad – after having been settled for 25 years in Camp Ashraf.
Residents claimed the Iraqi forces attacked some of them during the relocation process in 2012.
Today the UN High Commissioner for Refugees' Chief, Antonio Guterres, stressed that the residents of Camp Liberty are asylum seekers undergoing refugee status determination process and as such are entitled to international protection.
In April 2011, Iraqi troops stormed camp Ashraf using grossly excessive force, including live ammunition, against residents who tried to resist them. Some 36 people ­– 28 men and eight women – were killed and more than 300 wounded. Those injured were prevented from leaving the camp to obtain medical treatment.   

 

Calls for Iranian exiles to be moved to US after attack

February 9, 2013 19:30

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/afp/130209/calls-iranian-exiles-be-moved-us-after-attack
Top former American officials on Saturday condemned an attack on a camp of Iranian exiles in Iraq that left five dead, and urged Washington to allow the residents to take refuge in the United States.
The National Convention for a Democratic Iran, meeting in Washington, also accused the US administration of reneging on promises to protect members of the People's Muhajedeen of Iran, or Mujahedeen-e-Khalq (MEK) living in Camp Liberty.
The camp on the western outskirts of Baghdad came under mortar fire early Saturday. It has been home to some 3,000 MEK members since last year, after they moved on Iraq's insistence, from their historic site of the 1980s -- Camp Ashraf, near the Iranian border.
About 1,500 Iranian-Americans at the Washington convention, organized before Saturday's attack, denounced the attack and called for better protection for the residents who are in the process of being resettled in other countries under a UN-led program.
"These people can all be removed within hours," former New York mayor Rudolph Guiliani, who was a guest speaker, told the convention.
"Planes can be sent immediately. They can be here within a day. We have done far more difficult things than that. It's only about 3,000 people."
Another guest speaker, former national security advisor General James Jones, said: "Camp Liberty has a name that is not worthy of a prison, which it has become.
"It is the responsibility of all countries of goodwill to ensure that the victimization of the Ashraf refugees is not perpetrated and that this debacle comes to a swift and just conclusion."
It was not immediately clear who carried out the attack, the first since the residents moved, clearing the way for the US to remove the group from its list of organizations it deems to be terrorist.
Five members of the People's Mujahedeen were killed by the mortar rounds and rockets, according to two Iraqi security officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The MEK, whose leadership is based in Paris, said in a statement that six people were killed and more than 100 wounded.
Jones added America should "welcome a generous number of refugees and in so doing setting the example for the rest of the world."

 

 

International Condemnation of Violation of Human Rights in Iran

 

UN human rights experts urge Iran to release journalists and stop targeting media

5 February 2013

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=44070&Cr=&Cr1=

A group of United Nations independent experts have called on Iran to immediately release journalists detained in recent weeks, as well as to stop what it says is a broader campaign to crack down on media ahead of the June 2013 presidential elections.
“The recent wave of arrests of journalists solely for carrying out their professional activities is a flagrant violation of Iran’s obligations under international human rights law,” the experts said in a news release.
Security forces last week raided five newspaper offices and arrested at least 17 journalists, the majority of whom work for independent news outlets. Some of the journalists were accused of collaborating with ‘anti-revolutionary’ foreign media outlets and human rights organizations.
“The right to communicate with international organizations, including non-governmental ones, is a fundamental aspect of freedom of expression, and using such accusations to conduct mass arrests flies in the face of Iran’s international human rights obligations,” the experts said.
They added that journalists must be able to speak and write without fear of persecution, arrest and intimidation, and called “disturbing” the use of mass arrests and detentions as tools to retaliate against the freedom of speech.
Before the latest arrests, more than 40 other journalists were already imprisoned in Iran.
In addition, the experts last week urged the release of five activists belonging to the Ahwazi Arab minority, saying it was “absolutely unacceptable for individuals to be imprisoned and condemned to death for exercising their rights to freedom of peaceful assembly, association, opinion and expression.”
Iran is preparing for presidential elections scheduled in June. The group of experts warned that the recent arrests of journalists “may serve to reinforce self-censorship and severely constrict freedom of opinion and expression at a key moment in Iran’s political development.”
The group includes the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran, Ahmed Shaheed; the Special Rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression, Frank La Rue; the Chair-Rapporteur of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, Malick Sow; and the Special Rapporteur on human rights defenders, Margaret Sekaggya.
Independent experts, or special rapporteurs, are appointed by the UN Human Rights Council to examine and report back on a country situation or a specific human rights theme. The positions are honorary and the experts are not UN staff, nor are they paid for their work.

 

Executions in Iran (February 2, 2013)

http://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/en/country-files/iran-301/events-2790/article/executions-in-iran-02-02-13
France condemns the executions by hanging of 5 prisoners carried out in Iran on February 2. These executions contravene Iran’s international obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which it freely subscribed. According to the information available to us and in the absence of official statistics, at least 400 executions are known to have been carried out in 2012, making Iran a country with one of the highest death penalty rates.
France is campaigning for the universal abolition of the death penalty. It lends its support to the abolitionists in Iran and urges the Iranian authorities to immediately establish a moratorium on the death penalty with a view toward its abolition. As Laurent Fabius, Minister of Foreign Affairs, reaffirmed, France expresses its firm and constant opposition to the death penalty everywhere and under all circumstances.

 

IRAN: United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention orders immediate release of Abdolfattah Soltani!

http://www.fidh.org/IRAN-United-Nations-Working-Group-12849

Paris-Geneva, February 6, 2013. The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) has just concluded that the detention of lawyer and founding member of the Defenders of Human Rights Centre (DHRC) Abdolfattah Soltani is arbitrary, and requested the Iranian Government to release him immediately.

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), had referred the case of Mr. Abdolfattah Soltani to the WGAD in August 2012.

In its decision on this submission [1], the WGAD highlighted that “the source [the Observatory] has documented the extensive work that Mr. Soltani has undertaken as a human rights defender” and that “the Government [of Iran] has not contested the prima facie case which supports the conclusion that the detention of Mr. Soltani follows from the exercise of the rights and freedoms and of (…) his work as a human rights defender, and that there are no grounds to justify the restriction of those rights”.

“The decision of the WGAD is a landmark victory as it recognises that the detention of Abdolfattah Soltani is arbitrary under international law” FIDH President Souhayr Belhassen said today. “Abdolfattah Soltani must be released immediately, and the same holds true for the other DHRC founding members, who are also in jail” she added.

“This decision is all the more important that human rights defenders in Iran face a relentless policy of harassment, and we fear it will increase ahead of the June 2013 elections” , said OMCT Secretary General Gerald Staberock. “ It is of vital importance that the Iranian authorities face up to their international obligations and abide by the WGAD decision ”, he concluded.

In June 2012, Mr. Soltani was sentenced to 13 years in prison in “internal exile” in the remote city of Borazjan (southern Bushehr province). This imprisonment in exile is contrary to Iranian law, which provide either for “imprisonment” or for “exile” in another part of the country for the vague “offence” of moharebeh (fighting God).

Mr. Soltani has been subjected to judicial harassment for many years but the harassment increased following the contested June 2009 presidential election. Several other DHRC members have also faced harsh repression since the arbitrary closure of the DHRC in December 2008. Ms. Nasrin Soutoudeh, Mr. Mohammad Seifzadeh and Mr. Mohammad Ali Dadkhah are respectively serving prison terms of six, two and nine years.

Beside DHRC members, dozens of human rights defenders are jailed in Iran as a means to prevent their human rights activities. For more information on Iranian human rights defenders behind bars, see: http://www.fidh.org/Iran-List-of-hu... and the previous Urgent Interventions issued by the Observatory.

The decision of the WGAD, which is an international monitoring body composed of independent experts, is based on international law and was issued upon examining the case brought by the Observatory on behalf of Mr. Abdolfattah Soltani vs. the Islamic Republic of Iran.

For further information, please contact:
· FIDH: Arthur Manet / Audrey Couprie: + 33 1 43 55 25 18
· OMCT: Delphine Reculeau: + 41 22 809 49 39

[1] United Nations Document A/HRC/WGAD/2012/54, dated January 11, 2013.

Execution

 

An Afghan prisoner hanged in Iran

Tuesday, 05 February 2013

http://www.en-hrana.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=840:1&catid=15:execution&Itemid=10

HRANA News Agency – On Saturday, February 2nd of 2013 an Afghan man hanged in Khourin prison of Varamin.

According to the report of human rights activists and democracy in Iran website, Saturday, February 2nd of 2013 the prisoner Haj Mohammad Nourzehi who was 28 years old, hanged. He was been transferred to Khourin prison in Varamin from Ghezel Hesar prison after 7 years imprisonment and been in cell for four days before the execution.

On January 30th, the prison officials informed Haj Mohammad Nourzehi that his lawyer formed a complaint in court against him because he did not pay the lawyer and Haj Mohammad has to go with the prison officers to the court, but they transferred him to a cell in Khourin prison in Varamin.

Because of the protests in Afghanistan against the executions of Afghani people in Iran, now the Iranian official medias do not release the news of Afghani people executions and even the families of executed Afghanis are not allowed to take the cadavers back to Afghanistan legally and have to pay a lot to smuggle the cadavers of their family members who have been executed in Iran.

 

New Reports: Daily Secret Executions in Rajai Shahr Prison

http://iranhr.net/spip.php?article2709
Iran Human Rights, February 4, 2013: According to reports from reliable sources, Iranian authorities are executing in increasing numbers in Rajai Shahr Prison, west of Tehran.
According to sources, prisoners are being transferred out of their wards daily and the execution of several of them have been confirmed.
On January 27, two prisoners, Masoud Alimoradi and Mahmoud Nezami were hanged in Rajai Shahr Prison.
None of the executions have been announced by the Iranian authorities.
On February 3 one prisoner was transferred from ward 3 of Rajai Shahr Prison and on February 4 one prisoner identified as "Ali Mohammadzadeh" was transferred from ward 1 for execution.
Sources say that prisoners are normally transferred to Evin Prison for execution on Tuesdays, but for the past two months Iranian authorities have been executing prisoners in a hall newly built in Rajai Shahr Prison. Prisoners are removed from their ward for execution without prior notice. In some cases authorities allow visits to families the night before the execution. Executions can take place on any day of the week. Death row prisoners in Rajai Shahr Prison live each day in constant fear of execution.
Earlier today IHR published a report about weekly mass executions in Vakilabad Prison in Mashhad. Recent reports indicate that Iranian authorities have increased secret and unannounced executions. ….

 

Three Prisoners Were Hanged in Central Iran Today

http://iranhr.net/spip.php?article2711

Iran Human Rights, February 6, 2013: Three prisoners were hanged in the prison of Isfahan reported the Iranian state media today.
According to the website of the Iranian national broadcasting the three prisoners who were not identified by name were convicted of drug related charges.
Persian Source: http://www.dadesfahan.ir/Default.aspx?tabid=3343

 

Two Kurds from Salmas have been shot by police

Wednesday, 06 February 2013

http://www.en-hrana.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=841:1&catid=14:ethnic-minorities&Itemid=9

HRANA News Agency - The Iranian police shot two Kurds from Salmas and injured them.

According to a report by Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), On midnight of January 28th of 2013 a car of Kurish citizens in Zanjan-Tabriz highway has been shot by police directly and two of the passengers injured.

Due to the report, Kamran Abdouie and Senar Abdouie from Katban village belongs to Salmas have been injured strongly. Kamran has injured from leg and Senar from belly, also Senar's condition is critical.

The injured Kurds have been transferred to Tabriz hospital and they are under the security protection and their families are not allowed to visit them.

Senar and Kamran are accused to neglected stop warn of the polices.

Arbitrary Arrests

Yasan Mousavi arrested and transferred to prison

6 February 2013

http://www.chrr.biz/spip.php?article20157

Committee of Human Rights Reporters – On Sunday, February 3rd, agents from the Ministry of Intelligence detained Yasan Mousavi at his home in Tehran and transferred him to Evin prison.

Yasan Mousavi, born in 1984, was an activist at Mir Hossein Mousavi’s 2009 presidential campaign. His brother Hooman Mousavi was arrested during that time and since then, Yasan Mousavi has been summoned and interrogated many times.

According to news obtained by CHRR, Yasan Mousavi was arrested without notice on February 3rd, and two days later on February 5th, judiciary agents contacted his family and informed them that he will be kept in temporary detention for one month.

Yasan Mousavi was alone at his residence when he was detained. According to witnesses, Intelligence agents entered his home by breaking the locks, conducted a massive search of his home during the arrest and seized personal items such as his computer and satellite dish.

Yasan Mousavi’s brother Hooman Mousavi is a former political prisoner who was arrested during the time of unrest following the contested presidential election results of 2009, and spent 2 years behind bars in Evin prison. Their parents were also political prisoners and were executed by the Islamic Republic in the late 1980’s during the period of mass executions in Iran’s prisons.

 

Two Azerbayejani political activists arrested

Thursday, 07 February 2013

http://www.en-hrana.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=845:1&catid=14:ethnic-minorities&Itemid=9

HRANA News Agency – Latif Hassani and Shahram Radmehr, the Azerbayejani political activists have been arrested.

According to a report by Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), On February 6th of 2013 Shahram Radmehr the political activist and member of Ya'ni Gamouh central committee with Dr. Latif Hassani the political activist and general secretary of Ya'ni Gamouh have been arrested.

Dr. Latif Hassani on 12 O'clock of Wednesday at his home located in Karaj and Shahram Radmehr in Khiav -Meshkin Shahr- have been arrested by security forces.

Also before their detention two other members of Ya'ni Gamouh central committee, Mahmoud Fazli and Ayat Mehr Ali Bigdeli -Yourosh- were been arrested.

After a while Mahmoud Fazli was transferred from Tabriz Etela'at to Tabriz prison and again after a few days to Tabriz Etela'at office, but Etela'at agents still interrogating Ayat Mehr Ali Bigdeli.

Prisoners of Conscience

IRAN: Political prisoner Moezi denied family visit

Tuesday, 05 February 2013

NCRI – The authorities at Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison once again on Monday (February 5, 2013) deprived political prisoner Ali Moezi from visiting his family members who had been waiting to visit him.

The measure was ordered by “Judge Abolghasem Salavati” of Branch 15 of Tehran's “Revolution Court.”

Mr. Moezi is accused of ‘moharebe’ (enmity against God) and supporting the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK).

Mr. Moezi is refusing to attend court sessions presided by Abolghasem Salavati declaring his trial as illegitimate.

 

Iran: A report on barbaric treatment of prisoners

Friday, 08 February 2013

http://www.ncr-iran.org/en/news/human-rights/12806-iran-a-report-on-barbaric-treatment-of-prisoners

NCRI - Shocking new details have emerged of the barbaric treatment of prisoners across Iran, including forced confessions, denying prisoners urgent medical treatment and refusing phone calls and family visits.

Sources inside the regime have revealed dozens of examples of the abuse of the most basic human rights of inmates in six prisons in the country.

At Ward 360 of Tehran’s notorious Evin prison, the mullahs' henchmen summoned seven political prisoners in a bid to make them confess to their alleged crimes and beg for forgiveness - however the men refused the demand, it was reported.

At the same prison, Sadeq Honarvar Shojaie, a critic cleric, is said to be in a worsening physical condition after being moved out of the health clinic, despite suffering repeated recent heart problems and nervous attacks.  And due to the lack of doctor or receiving treatment by specialists he was treated only with a painkiller and injected with sleeping drug.
Also at Evin, prison officials continue to refuse medical treatment to political prisoner Mehdi Khodaie, who has been jailed since 2009 without a single day of medical leave.

In the main prison in south-eastern city of Zahedan, exiled political prisoner Iraj Mohammadi is now reported to be in critical physical condition after being tortured in a secret detention center in western Azerbaijan province by the IRGC’s Ramadan 81 intelligence interrogators. He is suffering from dizziness, and falls repeatedly due to numbness of left side of his body.

The head of Zaheden prison is said to have told Mr Mohammadi that he was being refused medical treatment on the orders of Orumieh city prosecutor Mohammad Norouzi.

At city prison in Ardebil (north western Iran), Balouch political prisoner Ali Pajgol, 21 - transferred there from Zahedan in September - is serving 16 years for 'acting against national security'.  In the three months since arriving at Ardebil, he has been refused all phone calls or visits from his family.

At Karoon prison in south-western city of Ahwaz, 15 prisoners who have been sentenced to death have arrived from Gohardsht prison, possibly for execution, sources said.

Prison guards at western city of Kermanshah's Dizel-Abad prison, which is within the city centre, are using prisoners to help build new prisons outside the town.

At Kermanshah Chesmeh-Sefid prison, Judge Nazeri has issued a directive stating that inmates jailed for less than ten years can no longer use the 'open vote' - a system by which a prisoners who have spent at least 3 years in prison gets three days leave.  Now only prisoners who have spent more than 10 years behind bars get three days leave - and then only after completing three months of forced labor inside the prison.

At the Adel-Abad prison in sothern city of Shiraz, hunger strikers Saleh Moradi and Kasra Nouri have been forced to sign letters saying they are in good health condition and don’t need medical attention, despite suffering from severe weight loss and dizziness.

And at Gohardasht prison in Karaj, prison guards refused permission to political prisoners Kamran Rahimian and Mohammad Banazadeh Amirkhizi to be transferred from Gohardasht to Evin prisons to visit their families because the men refused to wear prison uniforms, sources reported.

Freedom of Expression

URGENT ACTION

Behrouz Ghobadi released
Further information on UA: 339/12 Index: MDE 13/005/2013 Iran Date: 4 February 2013

http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/MDE13/005/2013/en/4add3081-fa53-4feb-b533-b63abf4b8646/mde130052013en.html

Behrouz Ghobadi, brother of internationally acclaimed Iranian filmmaker Bahman Ghobadi, has been released, after a campaign that engaged prominent Hollywood directors, actors and independent filmmakers.

Behrouz Ghobadi was released on 22 January, following the action of Amnesty International’s global membership and a campaign by Amnesty International USA that engaged a number of prominent Hollywood directors, actors, and filmmakers who took action by joining the campaign and signing petitions demanding his release.

Behrouz Ghobadi had been arrested in the early hours of 4 November 2012 by men believed to be from the Ministry of intelligence, and held incommunicado in an undisclosed location until his release. It appears that he was questioned regarding alleged activities against national security but his family have maintained his innocence as he is not affiliated with any political groups and has not been involved in any political activities.

Behrouz Ghobadi is the younger brother of Bahman Ghobadi, an outspoken internationally acclaimed filmmaker who is living in exile. Behrouz Ghobadi has directed three short films titled That Man, Hunt and Those Two People, and has worked as an executive producer and production manager for six of his brother’s films.

 

Supreme Leader and president order media persecutor’s release

Published on Wednesday 6 February 2013

http://en.rsf.org/iran-supreme-leader-and-president-order-06-02-2013,44035.html

After being arrested and held overnight in Tehran’s Evin prison, former Tehran prosecutor Saeed Mortazavi was released yesterday following a meeting between judiciary chief Sadegh Amoli Larijani and Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who clearly ordered his release.

Reporters Without Borders had repeatedly requested Mortazavi’s arrest for the crimes that he and people under his orders have committed against journalists in Iran, but that was not the reason for his arrest on 4 February.

He was not arrested for this role in Canadian-Iranian photographer Zahra Kazemi’s death in Evin prison in July 2003, for blogger Omidreza Mirsayafi’s death in suspicious circumstances in prison after being arrested on his orders, or for his role in the deaths of several protesters at the Kahrizak detention centre after the June 2009 elections.

Mortazavi’s arrest was just one of the side-effects of the all-out war being waged between Iran’s rival government factions.

An unprecedented argument took place in the Iranian parliament on 3 February between parliamentary speaker Ali Larijani and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who accused each other of corruption and immorality.

It came after Ahmadinejad showed parliamentarians a video in which Fazel Larijani, a brother of both the speaker and the judiciary chief, could be seen seeking a bribe from Mortazavi in return for his faction’s political support. It was secretly filmed by Mortazavi, currently an Ahmadinejad ally and head of a government social security agency.

Reporters Without Borders has for 11 years been accusing Mortazavi of carrying out crimes against news providers on the orders of Khamenei and Ahmadinejad, both predators of freedom of information.

He should be tried not only for his role in the deaths of Kazemi and Mirsayafi, but also for the closure of around 100 newspapers and for the arrests, mistreatment (including torture) and jailing of hundreds of journalists and netizens when he was state prosecutor.

Ironically, Mortazavi was held in Evin, the prison where around 30 journalists and netizens are currently detained.

Some of them, including Kivan Samimi Behbani, Ahmad Zeydabadi, Masoud Bastani, Issa Saharkhiz and Bahaman Ahamadi Amoee, have been held since the crackdown that followed Ahmadinejad’s disputed June 2009 reelection, when they were arrested on Mortazavi’s orders.

Read Thug who imposes the law in Tehran, a press release published by Reporters Without Borders on 1 July 2009.

Minorities’ Rights

 

Iran: Baha’i Couple Arrested in Urmia

Sunday, 10 February 2013

http://www.en-hrana.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=846:1&catid=13:religious-minorities&Itemid=13

HRANA News Agency– Security forces inspected living and working places of a Baha’i couple and arrested them.

According to a report by Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), Security forces first inspected the working place of “Fardin Aghsani” and arrested him on Wednesday, January 30, 2013.

At the same time, intelligence ministry officers went to his house and after searching his house, seized his personal things such as books and photos related to Baha’i faith. They arrested his wife, Farahnaz Moghadam, and transferred them to an unknown place.

The detainees had a phone call to their families and there is no more information about them.