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Source: Persian2English

July 25, 2010

Translation of audio file by SIAVOSH JALILI

BBC Persian talks to Abdolreza Tajik’s sister on her recent visit with her brother in prison. According to Tajik, he was “violated in prison.” Tajik is currently detained in Evin prison.

Listen to the audio of interview in Persian

Abdolreza Tajik’s sister: After following up with the Prosecutor’s Office, I was able to get an appointment with [Tehran's] Attorney General. After talking to him, the Prosecutor gave me visitation time [with my brother Abdolreza Tajik].

Two days before the visit, Abdolreza called home. On Thursday I went to visit him in prison. Abdolreza stated in the visit that [the agents who arrested him] had no arrest warrant. He was very upset and angry and said, “When they brought me in, on the first night of detention, in the presence of the Lieutenant Attorney General and the magistrate of branch 1, I was violated (my self respect and dignity were violated).”

I asked him to explain what he meant. I really didn’t know what he meant [by violation]. He offered no explanation and just said, “Tell the Attorney General or Mr. Sharif (Mr. Tajik’s lawyer). They will know.”  He asked to immediately meet with the Prosecutor and his lawyer so he can inform them of the issue.

SIGN THE PETITION | FREE ABOLDREZA TAJIK!

BBC: After the visit, what actions did you take? Apparently, you wrote a letter to the Judiciary Chief?

Tajik’s sister: In the past ten days, I have written three letters to the Attorney General’s Office (AGO). You may not believe it, but I was at the AGO every other day asking for my questions [about Mr. Tajik's ordeal] to be answered. Even if they don’t want to explain to me, I ask that he [I.e. the Prosecutor] and Mr. Sharif go and visit Abolreza. I have not received any reply. They say that no order about acting on my letter was given. Then, I went to the Judiciary Office and wrote a letter to Mr. Larijani (Head of the Judiciary). I explained to him the issue in question. I wrote that since AGO is not responding to my requests, I am writing to the higher authority. There, they told me that Mr. Larijani does not respond to these letters and they returned my letter. It wasn’t just me, my brother was there too, and he had signed the letter too. I took back the letter that now bore a stamp and mailed it to the Office of the Judiciary. I had not choice but to write the letter.

I am very distressed now. I feel the Attorney General and the Head of the Judiciary did not address my concern. I raised my voice so that they hear the voice of my brother, the voice of his innocence.

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Source: Human Rights House of Iran (RAHANA)

July 29, 2010

Bahman Ahmadi-Amouei and Keyvan Samimi were the first prisoners transferred to solitary cells on Monday July 26 after their objection to the inappropriate behavior of ward 350 officials and its chief Mostafa Bozorgnia. Other political prisoners were transferred from their cells in ward 350 to solitary confinement in ward 240 at 3:00 am on Tuesday July 27.

On Monday July 26, during the weekly prison visits of ward 350 inmates, the political prisoners of this ward and their families were faced with the offensive behavior of officers and ward officials. Therefore, prisoners protested the incident on the same day and even chanted slogans inside Evin visiting hall, after which prison officials send more officers to control the situation and return prisoners to their cells.

According to Kaleme portal, in response to prisoners’ protests and instead of investigating their objections, the officials of ward 350 cut off all telephone lines of this ward and transferred a number of political prisoners including Abdollah Momeni, Bahman Ahmadi-Amouei and Ahmad Karimi to solitary cells.

The names of these prisoners transferred to solitary cells are:

Ali Malihi (student activist and member of Tahkim-e Vahdar student organization), Bahman Ahmadi-Amouei (journalist), Hossein Nouraninejad (journalist and member of Islamic Iran Participation Front), Abdollah Momeni (student activist and spokesman of Advare Tahkim, reformist Iran Alumni Organization), Ali Parviz (student activist), Hamid Reza Mohammadi (political activist), Jafar Eghdami (civil activist), Babak Bordbar (photojournalist), Zia (Zieddin) Nabavi (student activist deprived of continuing his studies), Ebrahim (Nader) Babaei (civil activist and an Iran-Iraq injured war veteran), Koohyar Goudarzi (human rights activist and blogger), Majid Dorri (student activist), Majid Tavakoli (student activist), Keyvan Samimi (journalist), Gholam-Hossein Arshi and Peyman Karimi-Azad (arrested during Ashura incidents on 27 December 2009).

Among these prisoners, Bahman Ahmadi-Amouei has been on hunger strike since Tuesday July 27, while Majid Tavakoli, Abdollah Momeni, Koohyar Goudarzi and two other prisoners started their hunger strike on Wednesday. Other prisoners went on hunger strike today (Thursday) to support their friends’ strike, and said they would not break it until they reach their goals. Prisoners demand that ward officers and officials apologize to prisoners for their inappropriate behavior and return these 16 individuals to the public ward.

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Source: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL)

July 29, 2010

Emadeddin Baghi (file photo)

Iranian journalist and human rights activist Emadeddin Baghi has been sentenced to one year in jail and banned from political activity for five years, RFE/RL’s Radio Farda reports.

The opposition website “Jaras” reports that Baghi was sentenced in Tehran on July 25.

The founder of the Tehran-based Society to Defend Prisoners’ Rights, Baghi had been charged with “acting against [Iran's] national security through the spreading of propaganda against the regime” and “disclosing classified documents about [Iran's] prisons.”

Other charges against him include “visiting political prisoners’ families and providing them with financial and legal help” as well as “having relations with human rights organizations abroad.”

Prosecutors had also accused Baghi of “publishing the names of prisoners,” who they refer to as “counterrevolutionaries and spies.”

Baghi was temporarily released after posting a heavy bail in June following six months in jail. He had spent five of those months in solitary confinement.

Baghi has spent 4 1/2 years in prison in recent years.

He was awarded the Geneva-based Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders in 2009.

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Source: Amnesty International

July 28, 2010

Mostafaei is defending Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, who was sentenced to stoning

Amnesty International has urged the Iranian authorities to stop harassing human rights lawyers amid continuing uncertainty over the whereabouts of the defence counsel in a recent controversial stoning case and the arrest of two of his relatives.

Mohammad Mostafaei’s whereabouts have been unknown since shortly after he was released from questioning by judicial officials last Saturday.

Late that evening, the Iranian authorities detained his wife and brother-in-law, prompting fears that they are being held to put pressure on Mohammed Mostafaei to turn himself in to the authorities, if he is not already being detained.

The acclaimed lawyer is defending Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, whose case became the subject of an international outcry when it was reported that she was soon to be executed by stoning.

He has also defended many juvenile offenders, political prisoners and others sentenced to stoning. Mostafaei has been a vocal critic of the administration of justice in Iran.

“Mohammad Mostafaei is a thorn in the side of the Iranian authorities and we fear that he is being persecuted in an attempt to stop him carrying out his professional activities as a defence lawyer and in support of human rights,” said Malcolm Smart, Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa director.

Mostafaei was summoned for questioning by judicial officials at Tehran’s Evin prison on Saturday but released after several hours. However he later received a telephone call summoning him back to the prison. It is not known whether he complied with this summons or not.

Mohammad Mostafaei’s wife, Fereshteh Halimi, and her brother, Farhad Halimi, were arrested on Saturday evening. They remain held and have been denied access to their lawyer.

Following his interrogation on Saturday, Mostafaei wrote on his blog that he was questioned mainly about his defence of juvenile offenders. He also wrote on his Facebook account: “It is possible they will arrest me”.

“The Iranian authorities appear intent on silencing anyone who speaks out against stoning or other issues where Iran’s international human rights obligations are clearly being violated,” said Malcolm Smart.

“Mohammad Mostafaei should be allowed to get on with his job as a lawyer rather than face arrest himself for trying to defend victims of human rights abuses.

“If Fereshteh and Farhad Halimi are held solely because they are related to Mohammad Mostafaei, or in order to place pressure on him, they are prisoners of conscience and must be immediately released.”

Fereshteh Halimi and Mohammad Mostafaei have a young daughter who is said to be in the care of her maternal grandmother.

There is a longstanding pattern of harassment and imprisonment of human rights lawyers in Iran. In 2002, Nasser Zarafshan was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment, partly on trumped-up charges of possessing a firearm and alcohol offences.

Abdolfattah Soltani was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment in 2005 for disclosing public documents and “propaganda against the system”. The sentence was overturned on appeal on 2007 but he was arrested again in 2009 and held for two months before being released on bail.

Other lawyers currently held for their human rights work include Mohammad Olyaeifard, who is serving a one-year prison sentence imposed for comments he made criticizing the judiciary after the execution of one of his clients, juvenile offender Behnoud Shojaee.

Other Iranian human rights lawyers such as Nobel Prize winner Shirin Ebadi and Shadi Sadr, recipient of various international human rights awards, now work outside of Iran, fearing to return.

Mohammad Mostafaei was briefly detained following the disputed 2009 presidential election before being released on bail.

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Source: Persian2English

July 27, 2010

Interview originally aired on Voice of America | July 25, 2010

Translation SIAVOSH JALILI

In a letter addressed to the internal director of Rajai Shahr prison and international organizations, political prisoner Reza Joushan announced a hunger strike in protest to the deprivation of his civil and human rights. According to Human Rights and Democracy Activists in Iran, Joushan fell into a coma on his sixth day of hunger strike and was transferred to the prison clinic in Rajai Shahr. Joushan’s sister spoke to VOA before he fell into a coma.

Reza Joushan began his hunger strike on July 21, 2010. Zahra Asadpour, Reza Joushan’s mother, is also imprisoned in the women’s ward of Rajai Shahr prison. Previously, Asadpour spent 16 months in jail along with her daughter Fatemeh Joushan for visiting her son in Camp Ashraf (PMOI camp located in Iraq). After her release, she was detained again six months after. Reza Joushan was arrested on November 30, 2009 and was sentenced to two years in prison on the charge of “acting against national security”, “propaganda against the regime”, and “cooperation with the PMOI”.

Reza Joushan’s sister Fatehmeh Joushan, who currently resides in Turkey, described her brother’s ordeal in prison to VOA correspondent Farideh Rahbar.

Fatemeh Joushan: Following the events of June 2009, my brother was twice arrested. The second time occured on November 30, 2009. He was detained because my brother and I had left Iran. My mother was arrested six days later. My brother was subject to interrogation for two months. We have no news on his physical condition since April 10, 2010 because he was transferred to an ancillary ward and his visitation rights were cancelled. My brother was sentenced to two years in prison, given a four-year suspended prison sentence, and five years of exile in the village of Gheylar in the province of Zanjan. He did not have a lawyer because he was not allowed to acquire one.

VOA: Do you know why he went on hunger strike?

FJ: My brother apparently stated that his hunger strike is to protest against the fact that he does not have the right to contact his mother in prison or family outside the prison and, also, officials refuse to transfer him to the general ward. My brother announced on July 11th that he would go on hunger strike. There was a visit by a judiciary official who promised my brother to transfer him to the general ward after July 9th (the anniversary of the 1999 Student uprising). On July 12th, there was a brief meeting between my mom and my brother in the Revolutionary Guard’s ward in the presence of *Mohebi.  They were permitted to speak to my father on the phone for one minute, just enough time for them to say they were doing well. I don’t know what happened during the conversation, but Mohebi grabbed the phone and threatened my father with arrest if he talks or gives any interviews.

VOA: How is your mother and why was she arrested?

FJ: My mother’s physical condition is not very good. After she went on hunger strike in May for ten days, her eyesight has diminished a lot. My mother and I spent one year and four months in jail. She was released for six months, but then was arrested again, and now she has received a one year jail sentence.

VOA: What is your request?

FJ: I ask international organizations to look into the case of my brother and my mother. My brother’s physical condition is not good. He suffers from cardiac and pulmonary diseases and my mother suffered from a heart attack in jail. For the past three months, we have had no news on them except for that short conversation they had with my father. I want their situation be resolved and for them to be released as soon as possible.

*Translator’s Note: Mohebi is a chief interrogator at ward 8 (the IRGC ward) of Gohardasht prison (I.e. Rajai Shahr prison). He leads the team that deals with political prisoners.

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Source: Radio Zamaneh

July 25, 2010

Hoda Saber

Iranian national-religious activist Hoda Saber has disappeared since yesterday and his wife has informed Zamaneh that he might have been kidnapped.

His wife, Saideh Jamshidi said that when Saber failed to show up at his appointment with her, she made every effort to ascertain his whereabouts but failed.

Jamshidi reported that three weeks ago, Hoda Saber was summoned to the Revolutionary court by phone but his lawyer insisted that the summons should be delivered in writing.

Reportedly Hoda Saber had indicated that he was being followed in the past weeks.

Iran’s national-religious political activists have been persecuted by the Islamic Republic in the past, a practice which seems to have been resumed in the recent months.

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Source: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL)
July 22, 2010

Said Torabian (file photo)

A spokesman for Tehran’s municipal bus-service union has been released from prison on bail, RFE/RL’s Radio Farda reports.

Said Torabian, who had been held at Rajaee Shahr prison in Karaj, west of Tehran, was released on July 20. He was detained by authorities on June 9.

His release comes days after the Tehran bus drivers’ union issued a statement calling for the immediate and unconditional release of Torabian and three other bus drivers’ union leaders: Reza Shahabi, Ebrahim Madadi, and Mansur Osanlu.

A statement issued by the Union of Workers of Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company on July 17 expressed particular concern about the health of Torabian. It said the union spokesman, who suffers from a heart condition, had not been able to contact his family since his arrest.

The statement states that labor activists have come under increasing pressure in recent months.

“Since the opening of the union five years ago, its members and their families have faced severe pressure, including arrests, threats, dismissal from work, and deprivation of their social and medical rights,” it reads.

Bus drivers’ union leader Mansur Osanlu is serving a five-year prison term after being arrested in July 2007.

According to the union, the Iranian government had pledged at a recent International Labor Organization conference to release Osanlu. But he is now being charged with more crimes.

On July 18, an Iranian revolutionary court in Karaj charged Osanlu with “spreading propaganda against the regime.” It is the same charge brought against him in 2007.

The statement said that the municipal bus drivers’ union will continue to fight for workers’ rights despite ongoing government pressure. The union appealed for further support from human rights groups and labor unions, especially the International Transport Workers’ Federation.

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Source: Human Rights House of Iran (RAHANA)

July 23, 2010

This article contains the names and sentences of 25 female political prisoners confined in Evin prison in Tehran. Out of the 25 female political prisoners detained in Evin prison, Mahboubeh Karami, Shiva Nazar Ahari, Kobra Zaghedoost, Farah Vazeham and Fatemeh Khorramjoo are in prison limbo, while the rest have received heavy sentences.

According to RAHANA’s reporter, there are also more female political detainees confined in harsh conditions inside solitary cells and other wards of Evin prison. Zahra Jabbari, an Iranian-Dutch citizen is one of those prisoners who has been detained in ward 209 of Evin prison since Ashura street protests of 27 December 2009.

The list of female political prisoners and their sentences is as follows.

Nazila Dashti, 3 years

Nazila Dashti was arrested in May 2007. She has been sentenced to 3 years imprisonment on charges of having ties with the MKO, and is currently confined in Evin prison.

Rashin (Ozra) Ghazi Mirsaeed, 2 years

Rashin (Ozra) Ghazi Mirsaeed is a citizen who was arrested on 20 June 2009 during street protests held against the disputed presidential election. She was sentenced to 3.5 years in prison by the lower court, but the court of appeals later reduced her sentence to 2 years in prison.

Mahboubeh Karami, Undecided

Mahboubeh Karami, a women’s rights activist and member of the One Million Signatures Campaign, has been detained since 3 March 2010. She suffers from various physical problems and depression which requires her to be transferred to medical centers and be hospitalized, but the judges and interrogators of her case abstain from setting bail for her release. Mahboubeh has spent most of her detention in solitary cells of ward 2-A in women’s section of Evin prison under intense mental pressures to give interviews and make televised confessions.

Bahareh Hedayat, 9.5 years

Prominent student activist Bahareh Hedayat was arrested on 1 January 2010. Branch 28 of the revolutionary court presided over by Judge Moghiseh has ruled out a total of 9.5-year sentence for her; 6 years in prison on charge of insulting the president, 2 years for insulting the Leader, and a total of 5 years for propaganda against the system, act against national security through collusion and conspiracy. Also, her previously suspended 2 years imprisonment on charge of acting against national security for holding the demonstration of 12 June 2006 (women’s demonstration) has been enforced and added to this sentence.

Motahhareh Bahrami Haghighi, 10 years

Motahhareh Bahrami Haghighi was arrested on 27 December 2009 during Ashura protests along with her husband and son Mohsen and Ahamd Daneshpour Moghaddam. The lower court had sentenced her to execution on charge of Moharebeh (enmity with God), but the court of appeals reduced her sentence to 10 years imprisonment plus exile to Rajaei Shahr prison near Karaj.

Reyhaneh Haj-Ebrahim Dabbagh, 15 Years

Reyhaneh Haj-Ebrahim Dabbagh was arrested on 27 December 2009 together with Motahhareh Bahrami, Mohsen Daneshour Moghaddam and Ahmad Daneshpour Moghaddam at their house. She was initially sentenced to execution, but her sentence was reduced by the court of appeals to 15 years imprisonment plus exile to Rajaei Shahr prison.

Maryam Akbari Monfared, 15 Years

Maryam Akbari Monfared, a housewife with 3 young children, was arrested at her house on 1 January 2010 after Ashura protests, and her trial was held on 6 May 2010. She has been confined on charge of Moharebeh (enmity with God) for having ties with a dissident organization, a charge that she has repeatedly rejected.

Fatemeh Ziaei Azad, 2 years

Fatemeh Ziaei Azad is a post-election detainee who has been sentenced to 2 years in prison. No more information is available on her status.

Hengameh Shahidi, 6 years

Hengameh Shahidi, a journalist, member and avisor to the Secretary General of Etemade-Melli Party (Mehdi Karroubi’s reformist party), was arrested on 25 February 2010 after being summoned to the follow-up office of Ministry of Intelligence to start serving her 6-year prison term. She had been previously released on 1 November 2009 on $90,000 bail after almost 4 months of detention in Evin prison. She is currently confined despite suffering from some physical distress.

Hengameh Shahidi was initially sentenced to 1 year in prison on charge of propaganda against the system, five years on charges of collusion and acting against national security, and 91 days on charge on insulting the president. But the court of appeals reduced this sentence to 6 years in prison.

Mahdieh Golrou, 3 years and 4 months

Mahdieh Golrou, student activist and member of the Advocacy Council for the Right to Education, was arrested on 3 November 2009. Her trial was held on Sunday 4 April 2010 at branch 26 of the revolutionary court presided by Judge Pir-Abbasi, and she was sentenced to 2 years and 4 months in prison. The judge had initially set a bail of $700,000 for her release, but her family were not able to submit that amount and she had to remain confined in Evin prison.  During this time, her previously suspended 1-year prison sentence has been also enforced, so she is currently serving a total of 3 year and 4 months in prison despite being severely ill.

Alieh Eghdamdoost, 3 years

Alieh Eghdamdoost, an elderly lady in her sixties, is women’s rights activist who was transferred to Evin on 30 January 2009 to start serving her 3-year prison sentence. Previously she had been arrested for attending the women’s demonstration on 12 June 2006, and is currently confined in Evin despite being over 60.

Kobra Zaghedoost, 1 year in prison limbo

Kobra Zaghedoost was arrested at Behesht-e Zahra cemetery in Tehran while attending the 40th day ceremony of post-election martyrs. She has been detained in prison limbo for almost one year and her file has not been investigated or heard at the court.

Zahra Jabbari, 4 years

Zahra Jabbari was arrested on 18 September 2009 during the Qods day protests. She was confined in prison limbo for almost 7 months and deprived of prison visit with her child despite being ill. Her trial was held on 6 May 2010 and branch 28 of the revolutionary court sentenced her to 4 years in prison. Prior to the trial, her lawyer had claimed there is nothing on her file that would make her be convicted.

Kefayat Malek Mohammadi, 5 years

Kefayat Malek Mohammadi was arrested with her husband during Ashura protests on 27 December 2009. She is currently detained in ward 350 of Evin prison and the lower court has sentenced her to 5 years imprisonment on charge of collaboration with the MKO.

Fatemeh Rahnama, 10 years

Fatemeh Rahnama was arrested on 29 July 2010. In a scenario made up by the pro-government media, Fatemeh Rahnama was named as the “mistress” of Shapour Kazemi (Mrs. Rahnavard’s brother) and a member of the MKO with a history of 8 years in prison. She has been sentenced to 10 years in prison despite having denied all these charges.

Fatemeh Rahnama, 48, suffers from severe depression and breast cancer, and her severe physical and mental condition has raised a lot of sorrow and sympathy from her inmates.

Farah Vazeham, Undecided

Farah Vazeham was arrested on 29 December 2009, two days after Ashura protests, and is being held in prison limbo after almost 7 months of detention.

Masoumeh Yavari, 7 years

Masoumeh Yavari was arrested on 18 September 2009 on her way from Golpayegan to Tehran to attend the Qods day demonstration. Masoumeh Yavari, a housewife with no history of political activity, has been accused of having ties with the MKO and the representative of Tehran’s prosecutor had requested the death penalty for her, but the court sentenced her to 7 years in prison.

Shabnam Madadzadeh, 5 years

Shabnam Madadzadeh, vice president of Tehran council in Tahkime-e Vahdat student organization and political secretary of Tarbiat Moalem University, was arrested on 21 February 2009. Her court hearing was delayed a number of times and finally, she was sentenced to 5 years imprisonment plus exile to Rajaei Shahr prison on charges of Moharebeh (enmity with God) and acting against national security.

Shiva Nazar Ahari, Undecided

Shiva Nazar Ahari, human rights and women’s rights activist, was arrested on 20 December 2009 for the second time during the past year and transferred to solitary confinement in Evin ward 209. Despite being detained for almost 8 months, her court hearing has not been held and she has been confined in prison limbo.

Fatemeh Khorramjoo, Undecided

Fatemeh Khorramjoo was arrested on 7 January 2010. She has been detained for 7 months in prison limbo and has been accused of collaboration with foreigners.

Parvin Javadzadeh, 8.5 years

Parvin Javadzadeh, 22, is one of the youngest female political prisoners in the women ward of Evin prison. She was arrested on 27 December 2009 (Ashura) by IRGC forces while crossing the street, and spent the first three months of her detention in complete solitary inside IRGC intelligence detention, thus suffering from severe mental and physical problems. Javadzadeh was a blogger who used to publish news related to the people protests and green movement to her personal weblog. She was initially charged with Moharebeh, but the court acquitted her of this charge and finally sentenced her to 8.5 years in prison.

Soosan Tabyanian, 1.5 years

Soosan Tabyanian is a Baha’i citizen who has been sentenced to 1.5 years in prison. She started serving her prison sentence on 7 June 2010.

Manijeh Nasrollahi, 3 years and 4 months

Manijeh Nasrollahi is a Baha’i citizen currently serving her 3 year and 4 months of imprisonment in the women’s ward of Evin. She was previously arrested on 17 June 2009 and released 2 weeks later, then arrested again on 27 February 2010 to start serving her prison term in Evin.

Sahba Rezvani, 3 years

Sahba Rezvani is a Baha’i citizen who was arrested on 16 December 2008 and sentenced to 3 years and 8 months imprisonment. She was initially detained in the prison of Sari, but later transferred to Evin prison in Tehran.

Atepheh Nabavi, 4 years

Atepheh Nabavi, a student deprived of continuing her education, was arrested on 15 June 2009 together with her cousin Ziaeddin Nabavi, a member of the Advocacy Council for the Right to Education, and transferred to Evin ward 209. She was confined in ward 209 for 3 months and later sentenced to 4 years in prison.

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Source: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL)
July 21, 2010

Demonstrators in Germany protest against torture and the execution of opposition protesters in Iran.

A spokesman for the Paris-based watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) says “political prisoners” in Iran have been routinely denied medical treatment, RFE/RL’s Radio Farda reports.

Reza Moeni, the head of RSF’s Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan desk, told Radio Farda on July 18 that “detention centers [in Iran] are not being supervised, hence neither local nor international norms are observed.”

RSF and Amnesty International issued a joint statement on July 16 expressing concern about the health of such prisoners in Iran. The organizations believe the aim of the denial of medical treatment is to “put pressure on [the prisoners] and their families.”

“We have demanded the immediate release of prisoners of conscience and immediate medical treatment for the sick ones,” Moeni said. He added that such a denial of medical treatment was tantamount to torture.

Moeni said there were no exact statistics for the number of “political prisoners” in Iran, but that the number ranged between 400 and 600.

Many of them were arrested during demonstrations following the disputed June 2009 presidential election.

“Unfortunately, neither Amnesty International nor Reporters Without Borders have been able to be present in Iran and carry out [the prisoners' advocacy] in that country,” Moeni said.

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Source: The Green Voice of Freedom (GVF)

July 20, 2010

Everyone has a date marked on their calendar, be it a birthday, wedding anniversary or even the beginning of the summer vacations. In Iran, there are about 170 people who cross out one day each night .The date they can not forget is their execution. However, this daily nightmare is even worse for the group of individuals who are waiting for the decision to see if their lives will end slowly with stones thrown to their heads. Despite the cruelty, ten people are waiting in ?ranian jails to be stoned.

“It is barbaric. Men are buried up to their waists and women up to the chest, their injuries and death are too cruel ” explains, Hadi Ghaemi executive director of the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran (ICHRI) to La Razon. “We have asked for this practice to disappear, and the Iranian parliament last year sponsored a law to abolish it and yet there are three men and seven women in danger of being stoned.”

Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, a 43 years old Iranian woman sentenced to death by stoning for an alleged adultery. Thanks to her children an of numerous human rights organizations, the case came to light and for now it seems that she will not die by stoning. “Families often feel ashamed for adultery sentences and do not defend their relatives,” says Alice Jay, executive director of the Iranian anti stoning campaign Avaaz.org.

370,000 signatures

After advocating the cause of Ashtiani, Avaaz have now decided to support the ten people who also are sentenced to death. “The global protest has caused Ashtiani not to die by stoning and we hope that many people will raise their voice against this shocking practice and make the Iranian regime and its judges stop sentencing people to this atrocity. At the time of going to press more than 370,000 people had signed the new petition.

In the same jail of Ashtiani in Tabriz there are two other women who could face execution. They are Azar Baghri and Maryam Ghobaranzadeh. According to sources from the blog “FromPersian2English” Azar was forced to marry at 14 years of age to a man much older than her. The following year she was accused of having an extramarital affair. Azar has lived the last four years in constant fear of being stoned.

In fact, she has already been subjected to two muck stoning. The prison authorities have buried her and threatened to take her life if she did not cooperate. Maryam is also afraid. She is 25 years old and pregnant. Her lawyers hope to change the sentence of stoning to death by hanging. Her dream? That it will be commuted to a 100 lashes.

“Adultery in Iran is sentenced with stoning,” confirms Ghaemi. However, in the last three years it has been done in secret. We have information that five people have died by stoning. It is the judges and the members of the Iranian government that throws stones until they die. ”

In the courtyard of the condemned.

- Azar Baghri, 19 years old. Imprisoned in Tabriz.

- Maryam Ghorbanzadeh 25 years old. Imprisoned in Tabriz as well.

- Sorimeh Ebadi, 31 years old. Serving a sentence in Uromieh.

- Iran Eskandari, 31 years old. Mother of a son,waiting to be executed in Ahvaz.

- Kheirieh Valania, 42 years old. Also in Ahvaz.

- Ashraf Kohori, 41 years old. Serving a sentence in Evin prison in Tehran.

- Kobra Babai, mother of a child. Serving a sentence in Tabriz.

- Sayed NaghiAhmadi. One of the three men sentenced in Tabriz.

- Buali Janfeshani, 22 years old. Serving a sentence in Uromieh.

- Ali Navid Khamami, imprisoned in Rasht.

International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran