October 5, 2010

Iran News Agency reports that on September 27, 2010, a group of ‘Mourning Mothers’ gathered in Laleh park to show their solidarity with Ahmad Karimi’s mother.

Ahmad Karimi was recently sent to exile in Gonbad-e Qabus prison and is reportedly in . In a recent , Ahmad Karimi’s mother has spoken out about the exile sentence and her son’s current state.

According to HRANA, in 2006, Ahmad Karimi along with , another young man currently imprisoned in exile, illegally entered Erbil, the Kurdish part of Iraq. They were under the impression that by making up a good story, they would easily become fugitives after only one week. The late Mohammad Reza Ali Zamani was also with them (Iranian regime authorities were able to execute Ali Zamani in summer 2009 after he provided them with a televised false confession).

The three Iranians were arrested by the Kurdish provincial security, accused of spying for Iran. They were held in Erbil prison for approximately three months. Their innocence was proven later and they sent a request to the United Nations office in Erbil requesting refugee status. Their request allowed them to temporary remain in Erbil.

Hamed Rouhinejad and Ahmad Karimi eventually lost hope, and in 2008, after a year and five months in Iraq, they returned to Iran and turned themselves in to government authorities. The late Mohammad Ali Zamani also returned to Iran two months later.

The two young men were interrogated by the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence for weeks and then they were released. Hamed Rouhinejad returned to his studies at Shahid Beheshti University and Ahmad Karimi resumed his work as a carpenter.

Between May 2 to 4 2009, 40 days before the tenth Iranian presidential election, nine people, including Hamed Rouhinejad, Ahmad Karimi and Mohammad Ali Zamani were arrested by Ministry of Intelligence agents. The reason for their arrests is unknown. They were sent to ward 209 of Evin prison. Their interrogation ended at the end of June 2009.

When the post-election protests began in June 2009, Iran’s security apparatuses attempted to link the uprising to foreign agents and armed groups against the system. Since the Iranian regime did not have enough evidence against prisoners, they were promised freedom if they agreed to take part in televised false confessions. Freedom was never granted to prisoners who took part in the false televised confessions and, instead, two of them, Mohammad Reza Ali Zamani and Arash Rahmanipour, were executed.

Hamed Rouhinejad and is in need of immediate medical attention outside the prison.