By Sally Neighbour

Source:

April 8, 2010

IRANIAN students living in Australia have been detained, interrogated and threatened with severe punishment during visits to their homeland, because of their support for the Iranian pro-democracy movement in Australia.

In February an Iranian-born student who now has Australian citizenship was summoned for interrogation by the state security bureau in Tehran, after returning to Iran to visit her sick mother. “Fariba”, who asked that her real name not be used for fear of reprisals, was told by her Iranian interrogator that the Iranian government had photographs of her and colleagues taking part in pro-democracy protests in Brisbane.

“I was shocked,” Fariba said. “I was so frightened, I was speechless. I couldn’t sleep for 10 days afterwards, I just cried.”

In a second case last month, an Iranian-born man who lives in Queensland was detained at Tehran’s international airport after arriving from Brisbane, and interrogated about his political activities in Australia. He was shown photographs of himself at rallies in Brisbane and was given a list of names of Iranian pro-democracy activists in Queensland and asked to identify them.

Mehran Rafiei, convenor of the group Queensland Supporters of Democracy for Iran, says the man was told by his interrogator that his political activities in Australia warranted the death penalty. “They say (to him) `We are the government of God, we are the deputies of God. It is quite clear you are against God, so you should be executed’.”

These new claims follow allegations, published in The Australian on Monday, that the Iranian embassy in Canberra closely monitors the movements of Iranian students in Australia, collects intelligence on their activities, and reports back to Tehran.

The embassy has strongly rejected those accusations. In a letter to the editor of The Australian, the embassy press section states: `’This mission focuses all its attention on its duties and responsibilities based on Vienna Convention and abides by the laws, rules and regulations of the government of Australia. The embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Canberra categorically rejects all these allegations and considers it as politically motivated.”

The claims of embassy staff spying on, filming and photographing students who attended pro-democracy protests outside the mission in Canberra were made by Iranian activists in Melbourne and Canberra.

A spokesman for Iran Solidarity Melbourne, Afshin Nikouseresht, said pro-democracy campaigners have also been abused, harassed and threatened, but he has no evidence that the perpetrators are working for the Iranian government. “Someone may well be “pro” the Iranian regime, which these students may very well be, but that does not necessarily mean that those people are paid agents of the regime.”

A 24-year-old journalism student at Monash University, Asal, who is not a member of Iran Solidarity, said her parents in Tehran were recently told she would be barred from returning to the country because of her attendance at pro-democracy rallies in Australia and her writing of anti-regime articles. The embassy has also rejected this claim, saying “No one is pursued, prosecuted or barred from entering to his or her own country just for expressing ideas.”