At a
Glance
International
Condemnation of Violation of Human Rights in Iran
Iran
Sun, 06/30/2013
Iran’s Human Rights chief, Mohammad Javad Larijani has
stressed once more that Ahmad Shaheed, UN Rapporteur on Human Rights for Iran
will not be allowed enter Iran adding that Shaheed lacks credibility because
his only source of information is “anti-regime websites.”Larijani told Mehr News Agency: “Ahmad Shaheed in his reports refers to individuals that do not even exist and and he has no evidence of their existence.”
Shaheed has said that during his mission he has spoken to hundreds of Iranian activists who have been subjected to serious human rights violations.
Larijani insists that Shaheed has not established the authenticity of his sources.
Ahmad Shaheed has been UN Rapporteur for Human Rights in
Execution
Two Prisoners Were Hanged in Central
Iran
http://iranhr.net/spip.php?article2804
According to the Iranian state broadcasting, two prisoners were hanged in the central prison of
Five Prisoners Hanged in Iran-
One Hanged Publicly in Ahwaz
One of the prisoners was hanged publicly in "Salman Farsi" crossing of Ahwaz, reported the state run Iranian news agency
The other prisoner was a "young man" identified as "A.S." who was convicted of murdering another man identified as "Mohsen Hosseini-Nik" in 2006, reported
According to "Human rights and
democracy activists in Iran
Four Executions in Iran-
http://iranhr.net/spip.php?article2808
Two other prisoners were hanged in the prison of Khoramabad (
According to the official Iranian sources 13 people have been executed since the Iranian Presidential elections on June 14.
Persian
Source: 1- http://www.melateiran.com/fa/tiny/news-97526/?c56c24be=Z2hhdHJlaC5jb20%3D
Fourteen prisoners were hanged in Hormozgan last year
Friday 28 June 2013
HRANA News Agency – The Attorney General of Hormozgan
Province has announced that 14 individuals were hanged last year, but the news
of these executions were not released until now.According to a report by the Neda of Hormozgan News Agency, Ali Alia held a news conference and addressed questions during a one-week celebrations held to honor law enforcement officers in the province. “There were 297 inmates who received death sentences last year,” Alia said. “Fourteen of them were executed.”
“There are currently 200 prisoners waiting for their death penalties to be carried out,” he added.
Persian Source: http://www.ayahra.org/fa/%D8%A7%D8%AE%D8%A8%D8%A7%D8%B1/2397-%D8%AD%D9%82-%D8%B2%D9%86%D8%AF%DA%AF%DB%8C%D8%8C-%D8%A2%D8%B2%D8%A7%D8%AF%DB%8C-%D9%88-%D8%A7%D9%85%D9%86%DB%8C%D8%AA-%D8%B4%D8%AE%D8%B5%DB%8C-%D9%88%D9%85%D8%AC%D8%A7%D8%B2%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D9%85%D8%B1%DA%AF.html
Torture
Iraj Mohammadi is back from the solitary after 5 days
Posted on: 29th June, 2013
HRANA News Agency – Iraj Mohammadi, the political prisoner
of Zahedan central prison is back to the public ward after being in the
solitary and under torture for 5 days.According to a report by Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), Iraj Mohammadi who has served 5 years of his 10 years imprisonment sentence was moved to the solitary on June 22, 2013.
He has been moved back to the public ward after being under torture for 4 days in the solitary on June 26, 2013.
Iraj Mohammadi said to the reporter of HRANA: “I was examined by the doctor on February 5, 2013 and given an appointment by the specialist in 3 weeks then. When I reminded to the authorities about my appointment they put handcuffs and shackles on me and sent me to the solitary while beating me.”
“The guardians were putting handcuffs and shackles on me and making me stay in the jot sun of Zahedan while beating me with water pipes.” He said
He also stated: “When I was under arrest for 8 months in the detention center of Revolutionary Guard, I was beaten hardly in the head which has caused a clot in my head which is confirmed by the forensics. But the authorities are still preventing me from having any medical treatment.”
Arbitrary Arrests
Journalist Ahmad Asgari was arrested
Posted on: 24th June, 2013
Ahmad Asgari is an Iranian student
activist and journalist.
HRANA News Agency – Journalist and student activist Ahmad
Asgari has been arrested.According to a report by Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), Asgari is a student activist studying international relations at the
“They took him and his stuff to Evin Prison,” one of his family members said.
Asgari was a reporter at Karoon Daily Newspaper and Mardom Salari. He was previously arrested in 2009.
A political activist has been arrested in Shiraz
Posted on: 26th June, 2013
HRANA News Agency – Ali Nekooi, the political activist has been
arrested. There is also no news about the 3 students who were arrested in Shiraz
According to a report by the committee of human rights reporters,
Ali Nekooi, a supporter of Ayatollah Dastgeyb, the critic Mullah, has been
arrested by the intelligence agents and transferred to an unkown place when he
was leaving his work place on June 20, 2013.
According to this report, the agents have gone to his and his
brother’s houses and taken CDs, family photo albums, computers and some other
things with themselves.
There is also no news about the condition of Mohammad Reza Vahedi,
Azita Rasti Firouzzade and Mehdi Farmani, the three students who were arrested
on 11th of June.
Gita Rezaie was arrested in Kermanshah
airport
Posted on: 27th June, 2013
HRANA News Agency – On June 18, 2013 Gita Rezaie Zeinalani
was arrested by security agents in Ashrafi Esfahani Naghi Mahmoudi said to HRANA “The same night the agents inspected her house and confiscated her computer and her personal belongings.”
“Right after forming a complaint by Gita’s family in
Gita Rezaie Zeinalani is a software expert and was working in an immigration company.
Till now her family has no news of Gita’s health and mental condition, and she informed her family by a short call on Wednesday that she is OK.
36 activists were beaten and arrested in Oroumiyeh
Posted on: 28th June, 2013
HRANA News Agency – The 36 civilian activists 8 of whom
were women and were going to hold a ceremony on Sahand mountain slopes were
arrested and beaten while they were passing the main bridge on the Oroumiyeh
lake.According to a report by Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), the security forces have transferred the activists to Shahid Kalantari police station, while insulting and beating them. Some activists are injured and one woman is in an unfavorable condition.
The followings are the names of some of these 36 activists: Paria Khalilzadeh -player in national women soccer team, Sevda Khalilzadeh, Ma’soomeh Parivazh, Hossein Zad Ghasem, Zahra Zad Ghasem, Tohid Hassani, Saied Lotfi, Saied Abdi, Somayyeh Alidoost -professor in Oroumiyeh university-, Vahid Faezpour -Weblogger-, Meisam Azadi -Civilian activist-, Gholam Gholizadeh -Civilian activist-, Vahid Nasibi, Morteza Zarrin, Nima Hassani, Sina Hassani, Erfan …, Sima Sakeni and Milad -Saboutai- Koolani.
The security forces transferred a number of arrested activists to Oroumiyeh intelligence center and a number of them are still in Shahid Kalantari police station.
Prisoners of
Conscience
Jailed Dervish Lawyer, Mostafa Daneshjou's Life at Serious
Risk in Evin Prison/ Being Denied Medical Treatment by Judge Salavati
Tuesday, Jun 25 2013
Imprisoned Gonabadi Dervish lawyer, Mostafa Daneshjou was
taken to Evin prison infirmary Sunday night (Tir 2/ Jun 23) as a result of
acute exacerbation of his respiratory illness and asthma and was being under
medical care in the emergency room till midnight.Despite deteriorating of Mostafa Daneshjou's physical condition and the emphasis of prison doctors on the need for transfer him to hospitals outside of the prison they have to wait for a direct permission from Abolghassem Salavati, Presiding Judge of Branch 15 of Tehran Revolutionary Court. As an illegal action, judge Salavati has stated that, transfer of imprisoned Dervishes in Ward 350 of Evin prison to the treatment centers is only permitted provided that the permit is issued by the Ministry of Information. Therefore he has been banned from being sent to a hospital outside the prison which does not comply with the prison regulations.
Gonabadi Dervish lawyer, Mostafa Daneshjou is suffering from severe respiratory disease and asthma and according to the coroner's certificate he has lost a considerable (at about 40%) of his lung capacity and is strictly prohibited from being kept in a closed space with no air Conditioner. Also according to the physicians, due to severe asthma and cardiac arrhythmia, he should have access to specialized health care and needs to be checked monthly by a lung specialist doctor. So he should be immediately transferred to specialized treatment centers.
It is mentioned that, despite the doctor's orders for follow-up medical care of jailed Dervishes in specialized institutions under medical management outside prison, but judge Abolghasem Salavati, who is responsible for Gonabadi Dervishes's dossiers in Tehran's Revolutionary Court, in an unlawful interference proceeding, that is exactly out of his jurisdiction, through a written command for the deputy judiciary of prison Evin, has announced that sending Dervishes out side prison for treatment depends on recognition and coordinate with Intelligence Ministry and needs to obtain a permit from Intelligence Ministry too.
The last time was on 10th Dey 1391 ( Dec 30, 2012) when Gonabadi dervish's lawyer and prisoner of conscience, Mr. Mostafa Daneshjou was admitted for medical treatment at Tehran's Milad Hospital, but was suddenly discharged from the hospital and returned to Evin prison at night under order from Judge Salavati.
Arash Mohammadi in critical condition after ending hunger strike
Posted on: 28th June, 2013
HRANA News Agency – Student activist Arash Mohammadi has
ended his hunger strike but is in critical condition. He has been transferred
out of the Quarantine Ward and is now being held in the general population in
Tabriz Prison.According to a report by Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), Mohammadi’s attorney, Naghi Mahmodi, has announced that his client has ended his hunger strike. “Arash started his hunger strike on June 17 to protest against being assaulted and tortured while he was in custody,” Mahmodi said.
Mohammadi and a number of other residents of
“My client was tortured severely during interrogation,” Mahmodi added. “As a result, his physical health deteriorated fast. He is now in critical condition.”
Mohammadi has been in prison previously for political reasons. On Nov. 3, 2011, he was arrested with his brother and spent 66 days in custody. He was subsequently sentenced to a year in prison, but after spending four months behind bars, he was granted conditional release.
Mehdi Koukhian is in a critical health condition
Posted on: 28th June, 2013
HRANA News Agency – Mehdi Koukhian is in a critical health
condition and the authorities are denying transferring him to hospital.Naghi Mahmoudi the lawyer and human rights activist said to HRANA: “Mehdi Koukhian who was arrested on April 24, 2013 in Malekan and tortured by IRGC’s intelligence agents, is in critical health condition.”
“A few days ago Malekan prosecutor met Mehdi Koukhian in Maragheh prison and talk to him around his accusations. Mehdi has been informed about two accusations of Propaganda against Islamic Republic regime and membership in pan-Turk groups in his new dossier.” Mahmoudi continued.
“The second accusation to Mehdi Koukhian has no legal status because pan-Turkism could be considered as an ideology or believe but could not be considered as a group or political foundation. During the meeting Koukhian asked the prosecutor to transfer him to hospital for medical treatments for his kidney disease but his request was rejected by the prosecutor, while Koukhian’s kidney disease relapsed and his arm has broken that even with partial recovery still the bruise is so clear. Koukhian’s dossier will be sent from Malekan criminal and revolutionary court to Maragheh revolutionary court after issuing the indictment and in the next few days the trial session to investigate the accusations on this Azerbayejani activist will be held. Also Ja’far Afsharnia will be Koukhian’s lawyer.” Naghi Mahmoudi said.
Freedom of
Expression
Press freedom
violations recounted in real time (from 1st January 2013)
Published
on Thursday 27 June 2013
27.06.2013 - Blogging cleric released,
now faces internal exile
Reporters Without Borders has learned that Ahmad
Reza Ahmadpour, a theologian and editor of the “Silent Echo” website, was released on
22 June after serving almost two years of a three-year jail sentence.
Known as the “Blogging Mullah,” Ahmadpour will
now have to serve the second part of his sentence, which is ten years of banishment
from his home town, the religious city of Qom
Arrested on 18 July 2011, he was given the
two-part sentence – three years of jail followed by ten years of internal exile
– on 26 September 2011 on a charge of spreading false information about the government.
Ahmadpour was previously arrested in December
2009 and was given a one-year sentence on a similar charge. While held, he sent
an open letter to UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon to draw attention to his
arrest.
24.06.2013-One journalist released,
another sentenced to six years in prison
Reporters Without Borders is relieved to learn
of journalist Jila Bani Yaghoob’s announced release after the
authorities deemed that she had completed the one-year jail sentence she
received from a Tehran
Bani Yaghoob had been held since 2 September
2012, when she was summoned to Tehran
Bani Yaghoob and her husband, fellow journalist Bahaman
Ahamadi Amoee, were originally arrested together on 20 June 2009.
Yaghoob was released on bail on 24 August 2009 but her husband remained in
detention and was given a five-year jail sentence for articles critical of
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s administration.
Bani Yaghoob’s “We are journalists” blog
was awarded the “Reporters Without Borders Freedom of Expression” prize in 2010
in the BOBs (Best of Blogs) competition that German public broadcaster Deutsche
Welle organizes in Berlin
In 2009, she won the International
Women’s Media Foundation’s “Courage in Journalism Award” as well as the
International Press Freedom Award from “Canadian
Journalists for Freedom of Expression.”
Reporters Without Borders has meanwhile learned
that Foad Sadeghi, the editor of the Baztab Emrooz news
website, was released provisionally on 16 June, a month after his arrest on 18
May. Ali
Ghazali, the site’s publisher, who was arrested on 4 May, has also
been released.
Said Madani, a sociologist who had written dozens of articles for independent
media, was sentenced by a Tehran court on 18
June to six years in prison followed by 10 years of internal exile in the
southern city of Bandar Abass
Madani has been held since 7 January 2012, when
plainclothes men arrested him at his Tehran
22.05.2013-IRAN - Crackdown on news
Websites blocked, journalists and
netizens under pressure
Reporters Without Borders condemns a week-old
wave of censorship targeting Iranian and international websites in the run-up
to the 14 June presidential election. Websites that support various
presidential candidates and online services such as Google and Yahoo!
have been blocked.
The site blocking was indicative of the tension
among the various conservative factions prior to yesterday’s announcement by
the Guardian Council of the list of approved candidates. The
regime began reinforcing its system of Internet filtering on 4 May and network
cuts have been becoming more and more frequent since then.
Four websites that support outgoing President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s government and provide information about his top aide and
preferred candidate, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei – Meyarnews (http://meyarnews.com/), Roshanaee (http://roshanaee.ir/), Baharana (http://www.baharna.ir/) and Bahaaronline (http://www.bahaaronline.ir/) – were
closed on the orders of the Working Group for Determining Criminal Content.
The Working Group also ordered the closure of
two websites – Aftabnews (http://aftabnews.ir/)
and Ayandenews (http://www.ayandenews.com/)
– which support former reformist president and current Expediency Council
chairman Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, another would-be candidate. The daily
newspaper Bar’s website (http://www.baharnews.ir/)
has also been inaccessible since yesterday.
At the same time, many journalists based in both
Tehran
Journalists who support other independent
candidates or government opponents were also summoned and questioned for
several hours. During interrogation, they were asked to stop supporting
“candidates who do not follow Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s line.”
Other journalists – mostly former political
prisoners – were summoned by the intelligence ministry and told to “choose
between prison or taking a vacation until the elections are over.”
Foad Sadeghi, the editor of the news Baztab Emrooz, was arrested on 18
May after being summoned by the Tehran
Detainees who had been let out of prison on
various grounds have been told to report back to prison. They include the
following journalists and netizens: Bahaman Ahamadi Amoee, Masoud
Bastani, Shiva Nazar Ahari and Hossein Ronaghi Maleki. All of them
have been told to return to prison by today at the latest.
Most of these prisoners had been given medical
leave. Maleki, a human rights activist who was arrested on 13 December 2010 and
was given a 17-year jail sentence, has undergone several kidney operations and
is in extremely poor health. Nonetheless, he has been ordered to return to Tehran
A court in Tabriz ,
the capital of the northwestern province
of East Azerbaijan
On 11 August 2012, Maleki participated in an
initiative by civil society activists and Internet users aimed at helping the
victims of an earthquake in East Azerbaijan ,
after the authorities blocked the circulation of any information about the
disaster for several days. Ten of them were arrested a week later.
10.04.2013 – Two bloggers arrested
Reporters Without Borders has learned of the
arrests of two bloggers in the past two weeks.
Mojtaba Daneshtalab, a blogger Daneshtalab,
who supports President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, was arrested yesterday to begin
serving a six-month sentence on a charge of insulting regime officials and the
Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khameini.
Daneshtalab was originally summoned and tried by
a Tehran
He is one several pro-Ahmadinejad journalists
and bloggers who have been questioned or prosecuted at the behest of the Tehran
state prosecutor for criticizing Ayatollah Khamenei’s allies or taking
controversial positions as part of their support for the president. More and
more conservative news providers are falling victim to the rivalry between
Khamenei and Ahmadinejad factions.
Reza Akvanian, a blogger based in the southwestern city of Yasoj
It seems he has been mistreated since his arrest
with the aim of extracting a confession. He was previous arrested in February
2010 and was given a six-year sentence on a charge of insulting senior
government officials.
11.03.2013 - Paper closed, journalist
arrested, another freed on bail
Reporters Without Borders condemns the closure
of the daily Maghreb today, one day
after it published an open letter to the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei, protesting against “illegal and arbitrary newspaper censors.”
The closure was ordered by the Press
Authorization and Surveillance Commission, an offshoot of the Ministry of
Culture and Islamic Guidance.
It came five days after Maghreb managing editor,
Mohammad Mehdi Emami Naseri, and its political editor, Alireza
Aghairad, were arrested at the newspaper by officials from the Tehran
Reporters Without Borders has learned that Masoud
Kurdpour, a contributor to the Mokeryan news website, was
arrested on 8 March after being summoned for interrogation by the intelligence
ministry in the northwestern city of Mahabad
This was one day after his brother, Mokeryan
editor Khosro Kurdpour, was arrested at his home in Mahabad for still unknown
reasons and was taken to a still unknown place of detention.
Reporters Without Borders has also learned that Etemad
journalist Ehssan Mazandarani, who was arrested at his Tehran
08.03.2013 - Kurdish journalist
arrested, newspaper editor and netizen released
Reporters Without Borders condemns yesterday’s
arrest of Kurdish journalist Khosro Kurdpour, the editor of
the Mokeryan news website. His family said intelligence ministry
plainclothes men with a court warrant arrested him at his home in the
northwestern city of Mahabad
Kurdpour is accused of “publishing reports about
the situation of prisoners and human rights.”
Mohammad Mehdi Emami Naseri, the editor of the daily Maghreb, was meanwhile released on
bail yesterday in Tehran
Reporters Without Borders has also learned that Hanieh
Sate Farshi, a netizen detained since July 2010 and sentenced to seven
years in prison on 16 April 2011, was released on 24 February because she is
very ill.
28.02.2013- One journalist arrested, ten
“Black Sunday” detainees freed on bail
Reporters Without Borders has learned that Ehssan
Mazandarani, a journalist with the newspaper Etemad, was
arrested at his Tehran
At the same, Reporters Without Borders is
relieved that 10 of the “Black
Sunday” detainees have been released during the past 12 days pending trial.
They are:
- Fatemeh Sagharchi, a journalist with the Jamaran website, freed on 16 February
- Javad Daliri, the editor of Etemad, freed on 18 February
- Hossein Yaghchi, a journalist with the weekly Aseman, freed on 20 February
- Kivan Mehregan, a contributor to various reformist newspapers, freed on 23 February
- Emily Amrai and Nargus Jodaki of the newspaper Arman, freed on 25 February
- Akbar Montajabi of the weekly Aseman and Rihaneh Tabtabai of the newspaper Bahar, freed on 26 February
- Milad Fadai Asl of the news agency ILNA and Porya Alami of the daily Shargh, freed on 27 February.
There were released on bail, which in most cases
was set at 200 million toman (about 250,000 euros). Five other victims of the
latest wave of arrests are still held. They are Sasan Aghai, Nasrin Takhayori,
Saba Azarpik, Pejman Mousavi and Soliman Mohammadi.
Reporters Without Borders calls for the
immediate and unconditional release of all the journalists and netizens
detained in Iran
13.02.2013- Recently arrested journalist
freed on bail
Reporters Without Borders has learned that Ali
Dehghan, a journalist with the daily Bahar who was arrested at
his home on 30 January in a new crackdown on media personnel, was released on
bail on 6 February.
At least 17 journalists have been arrested since
26 January and warrants have been issued for the arrests of others. Only one
other is so far known to have been released. It is Motahareh Shafie
of the newspaper Arman, who was freed the day after his arrest on 27
January.
Reporters Without Borders is very concerned
about the conditions in which the 15
other journalists are being held in Evin prison’s Section 209, which is
controlled by the intelligence ministry. They are still in solitary confinement
and are being denied all their rights, including family visits and access to a
lawyer.
22.01.2013-Two journalists get
provisional release
Reporters Without Borders has learned that Rahim
Sarkar, the editor of the weekly Hadiss Ghazvin, was released
provisionally on 11 January pending trial after being held since 25 December.
And Mohammad Kimyai, one of the weekly’s reporters, was
released on bail of 100 million toman (100,000 euros) on 14 January after
being held for two weeks.
11.01.2013-Six-month jail sentence for
talking to foreign media
Reporters Without Borders has learned that, Hossein
Karoubi, executive director of the banned daily Etemad Meli and
son of its owner, Mehdi Karoubi, was sentenced to six months
in prison in July 2012 for talking to foreign media about the mistreatment of
prisoners in Kahrizak prison.
He was convicted on a charge of “disseminating
false information designed to upset public opinion.”
Normally reserved for non-political prisoners,
Kahrizak was used to hold government opponents after the disputed June 2009
presidential elections and several young detainees reportedly died of their
injuries after being mistreated.
Etemad Meli was
banned on 17 August 2009 for publishing articles about torture and rape in
Iranian prisons. Three weeks earlier, on 29 July 2009, Mehdi Karoubi had
released an open letter in which he said young detainees were being subjected
to grave forms of mistreatment including rape.
04.01.2013- Netizen begins serving
two-year jail term, journalist freed
Reporters Without Borders has learned that Sayeed
Haeri, a netizen and member of the Human Rights Reporters Committee,
was arrested on 12 December after responding to a summons to Tehran’s Evin
prison and has begun serving a two-year jail sentence on a charge of
anti-government propaganda.
Originally arrested on 20 December 2009, he was
released conditionally on 11 March 2010 on bail of 500 million toman (500,000
euros). In September 2010, a Tehran
Two other members of the Human Rights Reporters
Committee are already in prison. They are Shiva Nazar Ahari,
who was arrested on 8 September 2012, and Sayeed Jalali Far,
who was arrested on 30 July 2011. Ahari is serving a four-year sentence while
Far is serving a three-year sentence.
Reporters Without Borders has also learned that Reza
Ansari Rad, a journalist who worked for several reformist news
outlets, was released on 15 December after being deemed to have completed a
one-year sentence on a charge of anti-government propaganda.
Imposed in 2010, the sentence was upheld by a Tehran
Minorities’ Rights
Baha’i prisoner was transferred to Meshkin Shahr prison
Posted on: 27th June, 2013
HRANA News Agency – Ramin Idelkhani the Baha’i citizen from
Pars Abad in According to a report by Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), this Baha’i citizen who was spending his one year imprisonment in Pars Abad prison, 27 days ago was tranferred to Meshkin Shahr prison that is more than two hours and a half from his family whitout showing any warrant.
Ramin Idelkhani was sentenced to two years imprisonment and 5 years living in exile on charge of propaganda against regime and insulting on supreme leader by
Ramin Idelkhani is in Pars Abad prison since August 21, 2012.
Sunni Prisoners Pressured to Falsely Confess on TV
Friday 28 June 2013
On the morning of June 10, eight Sunni prisoners at Rajaee
Shahr Prison were asked to confess to certain actions for a documentary film, a
source familiar with conditions of religious minority prisoners at the prison
told the International Campaign for Human Rights in “Prison officials took out eight of the prisoners, who have different sentences, from the ward in the morning. When they returned to the ward 12 hours later, the mental conditions of none of them were good. The intelligence forces had told them that they had to make confessions for a documentary film, about things they hadn’t done. One of these prisoners has a master’s degree in law, and another has a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering, and they are both sentenced to several years in prison. Two of the other prisoners have execution sentences against them. It is not clear why these prisoners must give false confessions,” the source told the Campaign, adding that the Sunni prisoners were worried and concerned after what had happened.
The source, himself a Sunni activist, described the eight men’s descriptions of the threats they received. “They said, ‘Since we have not committed those things, we will not make false confessions either.’ But the intelligence agents told them, ‘If you do not confess, it will end up working against you.’ They said, ‘You won’t be given conditional parole, you won’t be granted prison furlough, and your visitations will be restricted.’ They even said, ‘This will be disadvantageous to your families.’”
The Campaign has received the names of those prisoners who have been put under pressure to give false confessions for the documentary film. They are Mohammad Baraei, sentenced to ten years in prison; Kaveh Vaisi, who has been in prison for four years without being issued a sentence; Namegh Deldel with a three-year prison sentence; Adel Gholami, a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering with a three-year prison sentence; Osman Radbai with a three-year prison sentence; Moaz Hakimi who holds a Master’s degree in law and has been sentenced to three years in prison; Jamal Soleimani, sentenced to 11 years in prison; and Pourya Mohammadi, sentenced to death.
“They were told that they must say in front of the camera that they intended to destroy and overthrow the regime, which of course is false. They did not have such a desire. The charges brought against them include ‘acting against national security,’ ‘efforts to topple the regime,’ and ‘promoting views of Sunni tradition,’ and also the charge of ‘moharebeh,’ enmity with God, for the two prisoners sentenced to death, but they have never taken any action to destroy the regime. They only wanted the rights and the dignity of Sunni people to be respected,” the source said about what the eight prisoners are expected to say in the documentary film.
According to sources who have spoken to the Campaign about Sunni prisoners at Rajaee Shahr Prison, at this time about 170 Sunni prisoners from various provinces with large Sunni populations, such as Kurdistan, Kermanshah, and
“Most of them accepted their charges under torture. When we are arrested, we are severely tortured. They even took some in front of the camera to, for example, say that they wanted to assassinate a state figure. These were mostly young men who had no experience and became victims of the regime’s policies, appearing on camera for fear of further torture. But these are policies of the Iranian regime, which wants to uproot Sunnis,” the source had told the Campaign in a previous interview about Sunni prisoners’ forced confessions at Rajaee Shahr Prison.
According to data collected by the Campaign, the arrest of minority Sunnis has intensified in
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