"Iran is the Middle East's biggest jailer of journalists."
2005 World Press Freedom Review
While Iran’s controversial nuclear energy program dominated world headlines around the globe this year, within the national press, familiar methods of intimidation and harassment were used to prevent journalists from scrutinizing public affairs. Suspension of newspapers, legal summonses, frequent arrests and prolonged prison sentences combined to send a clear message to journalists that criticism of the regime would not be tolerated.
June elections brought Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Tehran’s ultra-conservative mayor, to power as Iran’s new president. In step with his hard-line background, Ahmadinejad has taken a tough stand on a number of foreign policy and domestic issues. So far, in his presidency, he has not shown a willingness to ease the unrelenting campaign of press harassment.
Iran is the Middle East’s biggest jailer of journalists. Violations of Iran’s vaguely worded press law, which forbids publication of ideas contrary to Islamic principles or detrimental to public rights, are punishable by harsh prison terms, exorbitant fines, floggings, or bans on working as a journalist. The forward momentum of the independent press, which flourished when former President Mohammad Khatami took power in 1997, has slowed since the Conservatives regained control of parliament in 2004. Many private publications have been shut down but those that still exist continue efforts to report independently.
Authorities intensified their crackdown on the Internet this year in an attempt to silence the only remaining forum for public debate. An increasing number of cyber dissidents faced judicial harassment through summonses and arrests and several were sentenced to lengthy periods of imprisonment. The state also began to employ more sophisticated filtering systems to block access to online information.
On 14 January, American hosting provider The Planet terminated their contract with the Iranian Students’ News Agency (ISNA) and refused to host ISNA’s online publications. ISNA is one of the few Iranian news agencies that publicises information about the arrests of journalists and political dissidents and is an important source of information for foreign organisations and media outlets. The press freedom organization RSF reported that the action was quite likely politically motivated.
In addition, in January, Tehran Prosecutor Saeed Mortazavi ordered Internet service providers to block the main weblogs in the country, including Orkut, Nedstat, Blogspot, Persianblog and Blogrolling so that Iranian Internet users would be cut off from the blogsphere.
Blogging is an ever-growing phenomenon in Iran. Almost 50 per cent of Iranians are under 25 and the youthful population is turning to the Internet to spread opinions on a wide variety of issues and to voice concerns over politically sensitive topics. Blogs are used as a forum for free expression and tens of thousands of Iranians depend on this medium for communication. According to the London Times, Persian in now the fourth most widely used language on blogs, which are particularly useful in Iran because they are free and easy to use and anonymous.
Bloggers have become the latest target for authorities intent on stifling free expression. Nearly 20 bloggers were arrested between November 2004 and February 2005 including journalist Arash Sigarchi who was arrested on 17 January in the northern Iranian town of Rashat.
Sigarchi wrote a political and cultural blog, Panhjareh Eltehab, ("The Window of Anguish") and had criticized the regime and the arrest and treatment of Internet journalists. Although authorities had banned his blog, Sigarchi continued to update it regularly. He was also the editor-in-chief of the online news site Gylan Emrooz. Several days before his arrest he was interviewed by two foreign channels, the BBC World Service and the US-sponsored Radio Farda about the crackdown on the online press.
After his arrest, Sigarchi’s bail was set at approximately 17,400 euros, his trial later took place behind closed doors and in the absence of his lawyer. On 2 February, the Revolutionary Court in Gilan sentenced Sigarchi to 14 years in prison for expressing his opinions on the Internet and in the international press. The official charges brought against him included espionage, "aiding and abating hostile governments and opposition groups," endangering national security and insulting Iran’s leaders. International human rights groups decried the sentencing as outrageous, calling Sigarchi’s trial a sham used by authorities to send critics a warning to keep quiet.
In February, three more cyber dissidents were imprisoned in what was to become the Middle East’s biggest ever crackdown on online expression. On 5 February, an appeals court upheld the sentence of three years and 10 months given to Mojtaba Lofti for posting alleged "lies" on the Internet. The charges relate to an article he posted on his blog regarding "respect for human rights in cases involving the clergy." Lofti, a former journalist with the pro-reform daily Khordad, had been sentenced by a lower court on 14 August 2004 but was allowed to remain free until his appeal after posting bail money of around 55,000 euros.
Lofti’s health deteriorated while he was incarcerated as harsh prison conditions aggravated a lung ailment he has suffered from. He was released on 28 August after serving more than six months of his sentence.
Mojtaba Saminejad was first arrested in November 2004 for reporting on the arrests of fellow bloggers. He was released from detention at the end of January after paying bail money of approximately 43,000 euros. On 12 February, he was summoned back to the Tehran prosecutor’s office where he was notified that his bail fee had been doubled. Unable to pay the exorbitant amount, Saminejad was re-imprisoned.
On 23 February, Mohamad Reza Nasab Abdolahi was found guilty of insulting the country’s leaders and disseminating ant-government propaganda. He was sentenced to a six-month prison term and a fine of around 85 euros. Abdolahi, editor of the student newspaper Noghteh Sare Khat may have been arrested in connection with an open letter to Supreme Guide Ayatollah Ali Khamenei he posted on his weblog. He was also accused of reporting for foreign radio stations. Abdolahi and was released on 27 August after serving his full sentence.
Dozens of other journalists and cyber dissidents received summonses or harassment throughout the year as the central government implored local authorities to take a greater role in gagging bloggers. Writing about politics or social issues in Iran has become an act of bravery in the face of such repression. A human rights report adopted by the European Parliament in April condemned Iran’s "abject policies" towards journalists and cyber dissidents
Despite condemnations from the European Parliament and a host of other governments, authorities intensified their "woefully oppressive" model of Internet management in October when an Iranian company, Delta Global, was contracted to set up a new online censorship system. ISNA reported that the head of Delta Global, Rahim Moazemi, said he wanted to put an end to "anarchy of the Internet Service Providers (ISPs)" by centralising the filtering system. He also said his company’s technology was capable of blocking access to tools used to get around censoring systems. An RSF report stated, "These new measures point to an ideological hardening in the Iranian government and a desire by the new president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, to centralise authority."
The plight of journalist Akbar Ganji, who has been in prison since April 2000 received international attention this year as human rights organizations and leaders from throughout the European Union, the United States and the United Nations called for Ganji’s release.
Ganji, who wrote for the daily Sobh-e-Emrooz was convicted over articles he wrote revealing information that allegedly connected former President Hashemi Rafsanjani and former intelligence minister Ali Fallahian with the murder of opponents and intellectuals in 1998. He suffers from back problems and acute asthma, ailments that worsened significantly because of conditions inside Iran’s notorious Evin prison.
Ganji is serving one of the longest prison terms ever imposed on a journalist in Iran. He was forced to spend much of his six years in prison in solitary confinement. In May, he began a series of hunger strikes to protest his treatment.
On 7 June, a spokesman for the judiciary confirmed that Ganji was being granted extended leave from prison to receive specific treatment on the advice of a medical specialist, but Tehran’s chief prosecutor overturned this decision and ordered that he be re-arrested for violating the terms of his medical leave by speaking to the press. Ganji returned to prison on 11 June without having received the recommended treatment. He then began a hunger strike and by mid July had lost close to 50 pounds. On 17 July, he was transferred to Tehran’s Milad hospital.
Despite his deteriorating state of health, Ganji continued to post heavy criticism of the government on the Internet, activity that some observers believe might have ruined his chances of release. According to reports from Ganji’s wife, Massoumeh Shafiei, Iranian security officers visited Ganji in hospital in late August and asked him to apologize for his writings and to decline press interviews. If he agreed, they said he would be granted prison leave. She reported to the Emrooz news site that when Ganji refused these conditions the officers beat him. He was returned to Evin prison on 3 September.
A journalist who reported on Ganji’s plight was fiercely reprimanded on 25 July when he was arrested over articles published in the pro-reform newspapers Etemad, Toseeh and Joumhoryat about Ganji’s treatment. Massoud Bastani was held for two weeks in Evin prison and released on 6 August. One week later, he was taken to Arak prison in central Iran, which normally holds only non-political prisoners.
With over 10 journalists detained in Iranian prisons throughout 2005, concerns over their treatment while in detention were widespread. Almost all imprisoned journalists are kept in Evin prison, which has become notorious for its use of torture. In late 2004, a presidential commission was tasked with investigating mistreatment of detainees after nine journalists, all formerly held at Evin prison without official charge, came forward to describe the horrific conditions they suffered at the hands of secret security squads.
Each of the journalists testified before the public commission in late 2004. They described periods of lengthy solitary confinement and harsh psychological and physical torture. Following their appearances, Tehran’s chief prosecutor, Saeed Mortazavi, threatened the detainees with lengthy prison sentences and harm to their family members as punishment for their testimony. Mortazavi has spearheaded the judiciary’s attack on press freedom since the current crackdown began.
On 3 January, Mortazavi held a press conference denying any mistreatment and threatening to prosecute the former detainees for "allegations against security forces and prison officials that are politically motivated." The journalists’ testimonies exposed Mortazavi’s role in authorizing their torture to extract confessions and in compelling them to appear on television to deny their mistreatment.
While Iranian journalists continue to face unjust imprisonment in retaliation for reporting that displeases the state, they also face harassment by other means. Throughout 2005, dozens of journalists have been called for interrogation, barred from practicing their profession, faced exorbitant fines from the court, had passports confiscated or have lost their means of employment when newspapers were suspended or closed down.
Dozens of publications were suspended throughout the year, some being closed temporarily while others were ordered to close permanently.
On 27 January, the Ministry of Islamic Guidance ordered the indefinite suspension of the weekly Jaame. Editor-in-chief Hassan Zarezadeh Ardeshir was later sentenced to seven years in prison after the newspaper published information about human rights in Iran. In the months that followed, the pattern of arbitrary suspension of newspapers and magazines for publishing "offensive" information continued without interruption.
On 4 April, Massih Alinejad, a reporter with the pro-reform daily Hambasteghi, was banned from parliament and became the victim of a smear campaign after she wrote a controversial news article detailing parliamentarians’ salaries. Following the report, parliamentarians began to harass Alinejad by calling her rude and impolite and criticizing her clothing.
Ethnic clashes in mid-April in the southern region of Khuzistan prompted greater restrictions on the press in that area. The clashes between security forces and the majority Arab community was sparked by a letter, allegedly written by a presidential advisor, which referred to government plans to reduce the proportion of ethnic Arabs in Khuzistan’s population. The province is home to nearly two million Iranians of Arab descent. A HRW report stated that hundreds of people were arrested in the conflict and close to 50 people were killed.
Following coverage of the events, 14 journalists were summoned and accused of publishing false news and publicity against the regime. One journalist, Yosef Azizi Banitrouf was arrested after eight plainclothes agents raided his home on 25 April. Banitrouf is a leading Arab intellectual. He had defended the protestors during the conflict and condemned the violence used by security forces against them. He has written more than 20 books on ethnic minorities in Iran and had worked for the Persian-language daily Hamshari. Banitrouf was released on 28 June after paying more than 20,000 euros for bail.
On 18 April, authorities closed the Tehran bureau of Al Jazeera, the Qatarbased Arab television network, after its correspondent reported on the clashes in Khuzistan. The government later banned foreign and Iranian journalists from travelling to Khuzistan.
Further revelations concerning the death of Iranian-Canadian photojournalists Zahra Kazemi were made public this year. Kazemi was arrested on 23 June 2003 as she was photographing the relatives of detainees outside Evin prison. She died a week later, while still in custody, from injuries sustained when authorities beat her.
In late March, Shahram Azam, a former Iranian army doctor who had been granted asylum in Canada, confirmed that Kazemi had been tortured and raped. Azam was the first person to examine Kazemi in a Tehran hospital before her death. He said her body had a fractured skull, several smashed and broken bones, missing fingernails and evidence of a flogging. Following Azam’s report, PEN Canada and other international human rights groups appealed to Iranian authorities to officially acknowledge responsibility for Kazemi’s death and to identify and bring to justice those who tortured and murdered her.
In a 2004 trial, Reza Aghdam Ahmadi, an Iranian security agent who had been arrested in connection with Kazemi’s death, was absolved of all charges. The Iranian government later stated that her death was "an accident due to a fall in blood pressure resulting from [a] hunger strike and her fall [to] the ground while standing."
Throughout 2005, the Iranian judiciary continued to delay its investigations into the role of its agents in Kazemi’s death. On 16 May, following repeated requests from lawyers representing Kazemi’s family, an appeals court was convened but the presiding judge ended the hearing before any proceedings could take place.
On 16 November, the case was reopened when a Tehran appeals court upheld Ahmadi’s acquittal. The appeals court ordered the case to be sent back to the prosecutor’s office. Iranian authorities have thus far refused to adhere to requests from Kazemi’s family to have her body exhumed and sent back to them in Canada.
Over 40 Iranian journalists died on 6 December when a C-130 military plane crashed into a 10-story apartment building on the outskirts of Tehran. The aging plane had developed engine trouble soon after taking off and the pilots lost control while trying to attempt an emergency landing. All 94 passengers and crew onboard were killed. The journalists were travelling to the southern city of Bandar to cover military manoeuvres on the southern coast. Several journalists who arrived to cover the manoeuvres were beaten and had their tapes confiscated by security forces.
http://service.cms.apa.at/cms/ipi/freedom_detail-new.html?ctxid=CH0056&docid=CMS1143540717566
یکشنبه، شهریور ۲۰، ۱۳۸۴
سهشنبه، مرداد ۰۴، ۱۳۸۴
Iran: Government Report Acknowledges Torture In Prisons
http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2005/07/c9b62ee4-aae6-4172-83ae-4e847b175bf1.html
By Golnaz Esfandiari
Exiled Iranians in Germany demonstrating this month against execution and torture in Iran
(epa)
Iran's hard-line judiciary has acknowledged in an unprecedented report that human-rights abuses, including torture, have taken place in prisons. The report says prisoners were sometimes detained over a long period of time without trial. They were blindfolded, beaten, and held in solitary confinement. The head of Tehran's justice department, Hojatoleslam Abbasali Alizadeh, says steps have been taken and that "these failings have now disappeared."
Prague, 25 July 2005 (RFE/RL) -- This is the first time the Iranian establishment has officially admitted to widespread violations of prisoners' rights.
The report says a legal order banning torture had been ignored. It says arrests were made without sufficient evidence. In some cases suspects were held in undeclared detention centers.
It highlights the case of a 13-year-old boy who was held for a week in a detention center for stealing a hen. It also highlights the case of a 73-old-year woman who was held in prison for four months because she had no money. The report says the judiciary discovered a man who had been in prison more than 15 years without ever having a verdict issued against him.
But now judiciary officials say real reforms have been achieved and the problems have been removed. Hojatoleslam Abbasali Alizadeh says Iran's prisons are now among the best in the world.
Some observers remain skeptical.
Hassan Zarezadeh is in charge of the Student Committee In Defense Of Political Prisoners In Iran. He says the hard-line judiciary is trying to portray itself in a better light.
"[The report] shows that the regime wants to demonstrate that there have been real reforms in the judiciary and that they are committed to human rights," Zarezadeh told RFE/RL. "But their comments about torture being eradicated can be challenged because why are [prisoners] still being held in solitary confinement for long periods while facing complicated interrogations? Isn't it torture? Last week Behrouz Javid Tehrani, a member of the Democratic Party of Iran who has been held in solitary confinement for the last three months, managed to tell his relatives during a visit that he was severely beaten in prison."
Zarezadeh, who has been arrested several times in recent years, says he has witnessed the ill treatment of prisoners. "It includes long solitary confinements, hanging suspects [from the ceiling], handcuffing behind the back, beating, hitting the head of suspects to the wall and also psychological torture," he said.
Mohammad Ali Dadkhah is the spokesperson of the Center of Human Rights Defendants, founded by Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Shirin Ebadi. He says he too believes prisoners' rights are still being violated.
"The bitter reality is that these incidents have existed in our prisons. For example, when I was detained in Evin prison, I was once stripped naked in the snow," Dadkhah said. "I think illegal actions are still widespread in the prisons. As I speak to you, [jailed investigative journalist] Akbar Ganji has not the right to meet his lawyer."
Iranian authorities have in the past denied the mistreatment of prisoners and the use of torture. But human rights organizations have repeatedly said that torture is prevalent in prisons.
Several political prisoners including student activists and journalists have said that they were forced into false confessions under duress. Many have say they have been denied access to relatives and lawyers.
Last year the head of Iran's judiciary, Ayatollah Mahmud Hashemi-Shahrudi, ordered a ban on torture for obtaining confessions. The move was considered a tacit acknowledgement that torture was used in the Islamic Republic.
The Iranian government has welcomed the judiciary report.
But Zarezadeh expresses doubt the report will have real consequences.
"If the Islamic Republic has been forced into a retreat under protests from inside the country and international pressure, it does not mean that torture does not exist, that solitary confinement [will] be eradicated, that all the political prisoners [will] be freed and that other prisoners [will] be treated humanely," Zarezadeh said.
The use of torture in some of Iran's prisons was highlighted by the case of Zahra Kazemi, an Iranian-Canadian photojournalist who died in 2003 after being detained in front of Tehran's notorious Evin prison. According to a government investigation she was struck on the head during interrogations.
See also:
دوشنبه، بهمن ۱۹، ۱۳۸۳
Journalist freed two years early but nine others still in prison
Reporters Without Borders today welcomed the provisional release yesterday of Hassan Youssefi Echkevari of the monthly magazine Iran-e-Farda two years before completion of a seven-year prison term but pointed out that nine other journalists are still held in Tehran’s Evin prison in very harsh conditions.
"Iran’s journalists are still constantly the victims of arbitrary arrests," the press freedom organization said. "More than 10 newspapers were temporarily suspended or permanently closed in 2004 and at least 60 journalists were summoned for questioning by the authorities."
Reporters Without Borders also stressed that some of the journalists in Evin prison are not getting the medical treatment they needed.
Arrested on 5 August 2000, Echkevari was sentenced to seven years in prison in a secret trial before a special religious court in October 2000. He was accused of subversive activities against national security, defaming the authorities, attack the prestige of the clergy and of being a "mohareb," one who fights God.
As a prisoner, Echkevari was adopted by Macadam Tribu (Radio-Canada). Reporters Without Borders set up a system of "sponsorship" 15 years ago, calling on international news media to adopt and support imprisoned journalists. More than 200 news media around the world are supporting journalists by regularly contacting the relevant authorities to request their release and by publicising their cases so that they will not be forgotten.
Ministry suspends weekly
The Ministry of Islamic Guidance ordered the suspension of the weekly Jaame until further notice on 27 January, less than six months after it first came out. Editor Hassan Zarezadeh Ardeshir, who has been imprisoned several times since 1997, attributed the suspension to the fact that they carried information about human rights in Iran. A lower court in Tehran sentenced him on 1 February to another seven years in prison for his political and journalistic activities.
Appeal court upholds one-year prison sentence for leading pro-reform journalist
The one-year prison sentence imposed on pro-reform journalist Emadoldin Baghi by the 6th section of the Tehran revolutionary court on 4 December 2003 without any grounds being given has just been upheld by the 36th chamber of the Tehran appeal court, Baghi’s lawyer, Saleh Nikbakhat, said on 5 February. Baghi could be detained as soon as he is notified of the decision.
Baghi has often been summoned to appear before judicial officials since his release in February 2003 after spending three years in prison. And in order to silence him, Tehran state prosecutor Said Mortazavi suspended his daily newspaper Jomhouriat last July. Baghi is the founder of an organization that defends prisoners’ rights.
Imprisoned journalist seriously ill
Journalist Akbar Ganji, who has been in prison since 22 April 2000, is seriously ill and needs immediate hospitalization, but this is being blocked by the judicial authorities although doctors at Evin prison have been saying for three years that he needs hospital treatment. He has back problems and asthma which has been made worse by conditions inside the prison. His lawyer, 2003 Nobel laureate Shirin Edabi, said she was extremely worried about his state of health.
Ganji is not able to telephone his wife and is rarely allowed to leave the prison, although the law permits this. In the course of the four years he has spent in prison, he has been allowed only 40 day-passes, most of which he used for medical appointments.
Ganji was convicted because of his revelations about the murders of government opponents and intellectuals at the end of 1998 and because of his accusations against political leaders.
http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=12495
http://www.ifex.org/fr/content/view/full/64353
"Iran’s journalists are still constantly the victims of arbitrary arrests," the press freedom organization said. "More than 10 newspapers were temporarily suspended or permanently closed in 2004 and at least 60 journalists were summoned for questioning by the authorities."
Reporters Without Borders also stressed that some of the journalists in Evin prison are not getting the medical treatment they needed.
Arrested on 5 August 2000, Echkevari was sentenced to seven years in prison in a secret trial before a special religious court in October 2000. He was accused of subversive activities against national security, defaming the authorities, attack the prestige of the clergy and of being a "mohareb," one who fights God.
As a prisoner, Echkevari was adopted by Macadam Tribu (Radio-Canada). Reporters Without Borders set up a system of "sponsorship" 15 years ago, calling on international news media to adopt and support imprisoned journalists. More than 200 news media around the world are supporting journalists by regularly contacting the relevant authorities to request their release and by publicising their cases so that they will not be forgotten.
Ministry suspends weekly
The Ministry of Islamic Guidance ordered the suspension of the weekly Jaame until further notice on 27 January, less than six months after it first came out. Editor Hassan Zarezadeh Ardeshir, who has been imprisoned several times since 1997, attributed the suspension to the fact that they carried information about human rights in Iran. A lower court in Tehran sentenced him on 1 February to another seven years in prison for his political and journalistic activities.
Appeal court upholds one-year prison sentence for leading pro-reform journalist
The one-year prison sentence imposed on pro-reform journalist Emadoldin Baghi by the 6th section of the Tehran revolutionary court on 4 December 2003 without any grounds being given has just been upheld by the 36th chamber of the Tehran appeal court, Baghi’s lawyer, Saleh Nikbakhat, said on 5 February. Baghi could be detained as soon as he is notified of the decision.
Baghi has often been summoned to appear before judicial officials since his release in February 2003 after spending three years in prison. And in order to silence him, Tehran state prosecutor Said Mortazavi suspended his daily newspaper Jomhouriat last July. Baghi is the founder of an organization that defends prisoners’ rights.
Imprisoned journalist seriously ill
Journalist Akbar Ganji, who has been in prison since 22 April 2000, is seriously ill and needs immediate hospitalization, but this is being blocked by the judicial authorities although doctors at Evin prison have been saying for three years that he needs hospital treatment. He has back problems and asthma which has been made worse by conditions inside the prison. His lawyer, 2003 Nobel laureate Shirin Edabi, said she was extremely worried about his state of health.
Ganji is not able to telephone his wife and is rarely allowed to leave the prison, although the law permits this. In the course of the four years he has spent in prison, he has been allowed only 40 day-passes, most of which he used for medical appointments.
Ganji was convicted because of his revelations about the murders of government opponents and intellectuals at the end of 1998 and because of his accusations against political leaders.
http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=12495
http://www.ifex.org/fr/content/view/full/64353
دوشنبه، تیر ۲۹، ۱۳۸۳
STUDENTS STILL IN DETENTION.
http://www.rferl.org/reports/iran-report/2004/07/24-190704.asp
Iranian Democratic Front spokesman Hussein Zarezadeh told Radio Farda on 12 July that some of the students who were briefly detained on 18 Tir (8 July, the anniversary of student unrest in 1999) were later re-arrested (http://www.radiofarda.com/iran_article/2004/7/23c6bdb3-c799-42b6-9e5c-18776af471a0.html). Zarezadeh said Hussein Gheisari, Behnam Nasserani, Ali Rezai, and Javid Tehrani are among those still being held. Zarezadeh alleged that some of these individuals have been tortured, adding that all of them had been arrested before in connection with student politics. Shiva Nazari and Akram Eghbali are among the students who were arrested and released on 8 July.
Meanwhile, Ali Talai, an official from the Tehran Governorate-General's political-security affairs directorate, said the situation in Tehran was normal on 18 Tir (8 July), "Vaqa-yi Itifaqi-yi" reported on 10 July. Talai said that fewer than 10 people were arrested but that their releases would not be possible until their cases were examined on 10 July.
Said Razavi-Faqih, a leader in the Office for Strengthening Unity (OSU) student organization, told Radio Farda that the Interior Ministry and the university did not allow his organization to stage any events on 8 July. "Since we are committed to avoiding endangering the students by violent or unlawful actions, we could not hold any programs this year," he said. Hojatollah Sharifi, a former member of the OSU's central council, told Radio Farda: "The 9 July anniversary passes in silence and under repression because the ruling authority wants this day to be forgotten." He said that a few small events, such as a photo exhibit at Sharif University, took place and added, "The fact that perpetrators of the 8 July attack continue to hold high-level positions and have become candidates for the legislature has been a slap in the face of the students, who were thrown in jail instead of the perpetrators." (Bill Samii)
Iranian Democratic Front spokesman Hussein Zarezadeh told Radio Farda on 12 July that some of the students who were briefly detained on 18 Tir (8 July, the anniversary of student unrest in 1999) were later re-arrested (http://www.radiofarda.com/iran_article/2004/7/23c6bdb3-c799-42b6-9e5c-18776af471a0.html). Zarezadeh said Hussein Gheisari, Behnam Nasserani, Ali Rezai, and Javid Tehrani are among those still being held. Zarezadeh alleged that some of these individuals have been tortured, adding that all of them had been arrested before in connection with student politics. Shiva Nazari and Akram Eghbali are among the students who were arrested and released on 8 July.
Meanwhile, Ali Talai, an official from the Tehran Governorate-General's political-security affairs directorate, said the situation in Tehran was normal on 18 Tir (8 July), "Vaqa-yi Itifaqi-yi" reported on 10 July. Talai said that fewer than 10 people were arrested but that their releases would not be possible until their cases were examined on 10 July.
Said Razavi-Faqih, a leader in the Office for Strengthening Unity (OSU) student organization, told Radio Farda that the Interior Ministry and the university did not allow his organization to stage any events on 8 July. "Since we are committed to avoiding endangering the students by violent or unlawful actions, we could not hold any programs this year," he said. Hojatollah Sharifi, a former member of the OSU's central council, told Radio Farda: "The 9 July anniversary passes in silence and under repression because the ruling authority wants this day to be forgotten." He said that a few small events, such as a photo exhibit at Sharif University, took place and added, "The fact that perpetrators of the 8 July attack continue to hold high-level positions and have become candidates for the legislature has been a slap in the face of the students, who were thrown in jail instead of the perpetrators." (Bill Samii)
چهارشنبه، بهمن ۰۱، ۱۳۸۲
Iranian ministers resign as election crisis deepens
Wednesday, January 21, 2004 - Iran - Associated Press Writer (AP)
Row deepens Iran election crisis 6:23:30 PM Most of Iran’s Cabinet ministers and vice presidents have submitted their resignations, accusing hard-liners of trying to engineer a sympathetic parliament by disqualifying thousands of prospective election candidates.As Iran’s deepest political crisis in years expanded, Vice President Mohammad Ali Abtahi warned that unless the disqualifications are reversed, “the country will face many problems, both at home and abroad.”Government spokesman Abdollah Ramezanzadeh said letters of resignation from most of Iran’s six vice presidents and most of its 24 Cabinet ministers were handed to President Mohammad Khatami last week. He did not identify the resigning politicians.“Such disqualifications of prospective candidates is against democracy,” Abtahi said after a Cabinet meeting. ”The 1979 Islamic revolution was based on democracy, and such methods (by hard-liners) damage our Islamic democracy and turn elections into sham elections.”The disqualifications of more than a third of the 8,200 candidates next month’s parliamentary elections were made by Iran’s Guardian Council, an unelected body controlled by hard-liners.Those disqualified include 80 sitting reformist MPs, who have been holding sit-ins and dawn-to-dusk fasts to protest the decision. The council on Tuesday reinstated 200 of the disqualified candidates and said it would reconsider the rest.But reformists said the reinstatements were not enough. Interior Minister Abdolvahed Mousavi Lari presented a report during today’s Cabinet session saying the hard-liners want to secure at least 180 seats in the 290 seat parliament.The resignations announced deepened the crisis.“A number of Cabinet ministers and a number of vice presidents have resigned,” Abtahi said. “Naturally, they are waiting to see how things go. The Cabinet ministers are very serious in their resignation.”Khatami, a leading reformer, has to endorse the resignations for them to take effect.The president has threatened to resign himself if the disqualifications are not reversed. Today, however, he refused to take that step.“Because of my position, I have the responsibility to show that I serve the people,” he said in Switzerland, where he was attending the World Economic Forum. “I intend to continue in my job and to serve the people. I intend to fulfil my duty.”Abtahi said a presidential committee in recent days has ”exerted much effort to reverse the situation, but practically, there has been little progress.” When asked if he too had offered his resignation, Abtahi smiled but did not respond.In Germany, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan called for free elections.“We follow very closely the developments in Iran,” Annan said. “I hope they will be able to find a way to resolve their differences, so that one can have free and fair elections with participation of all the parties.”Political analyst Reza Mahmoudi said most Iranians don’t expect the politicians to follow through on their resignation threat.“The resignations are apparently intended to raise hopes and get a disappointed young nation back to the ballot boxes,” he said. “Although the fight is now very serious, people will realise this only if reformers boycott the polls altogether.”Political activist Hasan Zarezadeh said the tactics will have no effect on the hard-liners.“This is the final battle for survival,” he said. ”Hard-liners don’t want reformers in power and are determined to take control of parliament at any cost. Reformers need to boycott polls or stand up firmly if they want to have any future.”State media controlled by hard-liners say the disqualified candidates failed to meet legal criteria for candidacy, but reformists maintain the move was intended to skew the elections in favour of conservatives. Hard-liners already control key unelected bodies, including the judiciary and the powerful Guardian Council.
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/scfcn/CTVNews/20040121/iran_vote_040121/World/
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=385512&contrassID=1&subContrassID=8&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y
چهارشنبه، خرداد ۲۱، ۱۳۸۲
Hassan Zarezadeh was arrested
http://www.voanews.com/persian/archive/2003-06/a-2003-06-11-19-1.cfm
Hassan Zarezadeh a 25 year old, the leader of UNITED STUDENT FRONT and a member of Iran Democratic Front was arrested last night around 2 a.m. near Tehran University.
There were many so called (Plain Clothes) Islamic police forces in Tehran University last night because of students, demonstration.
It is not clear who arrested him yet.
Zarezadeh,s whereabouts is also unknown.
Zarezadeh is also active in Committee that defends and supports political prisoners and their families.
We condemn his arrest and demand his immediate release.
Iran Committee-Boston
Free all the political prisoners.
Hassan Zarezadeh a 25 year old, the leader of UNITED STUDENT FRONT and a member of Iran Democratic Front was arrested last night around 2 a.m. near Tehran University.
There were many so called (Plain Clothes) Islamic police forces in Tehran University last night because of students, demonstration.
It is not clear who arrested him yet.
Zarezadeh,s whereabouts is also unknown.
Zarezadeh is also active in Committee that defends and supports political prisoners and their families.
We condemn his arrest and demand his immediate release.
Iran Committee-Boston
Free all the political prisoners.
سهشنبه، آبان ۱۴، ۱۳۸۱
CENTRALIZATION OF PENAL SYSTEM TO RESOLVE SHORTCOMINGS
http://www.rferl.org/reports/iran-report/2002/11/40-041102.asp
CENTRALIZATION OF PENAL SYSTEM TO RESOLVE SHORTCOMINGS.
Iranian prisons are facing many problems, particularly overcrowding and an absence of centralization and accountability. The Iranian legislature is trying to resolve the problems plaguing the penal system, starting with Tehran.
On 29 October, a fire broke out during what authorities described as an escape attempt in Qasr Prison, killing one inmate and injuring four others. IRNA reported the next day that the cellblock housing convicted murderers where the fire occurred held 1,000 inmates. Tehran Province Justice Department chief Abbas Ali Alizadeh called for the construction of new prisons in Tehran because the current facilities cannot accommodate all the new prisoners, "Entekhab" reported on 17 September, although he did not identify the source of the new convicts. Furthermore, a police official announced earlier that some of the 150-200 petty drug dealers and users who are arrested in Tehran every day must be released because of the shortage of prison space, IRNA reported on 27 June.
Iranian parliamentarians touring Iranian prisons in autumn and winter 2000 learned that there are many detention facilities that are not under the purview of the Prisons, Security, and Correction Organization (see "RFE/RL Iran Report," 22 January 2001). Concerned about these unknown prisons, they began an investigation of this phenomenon and learned that the Law Enforcement Forces (LEF), LEF precincts, the Armed Forces Judicial Organization, the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), the judiciary, and the Revolutionary courts all run separate penal facilities. In the case of Evin Prison, a section was reserved exclusively for the use of the Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS).
Tehran parliamentarian Ali Akbar Musavi-Khoeniha described the discovery of these unknown prisons in October 2000, and in a 19 October 2002 interview with the Iranian Students News Agency, he described what has been done to deal with this crisis in the penal system. Musavi-Khoeniha said that Minister of Intelligence and Security Ali Yunesi had ordered the closure of the Towhid Detention Center, which will be turned into a museum. MOIS prisoners now are held at Evin Prison. The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps' "59 Eshratabad" Detention Center will be closed as soon as its new facility at Evin Prison is ready. The army's Heshmatieh Prison at the Qasr Crossroads has been turned over to the Prisons Organization. Musavi-Khoeniha also said that changes are under way at the Vozara judicial center, where people accused of drinking alcohol or attending parties are taken.
The detention center at Shahid Motahari Avenue remains a problem, Musavi-Khoeniha said. The facility is clearly unsuitable, but nothing has been done to improve conditions. Nor is it clear who is responsible for the facility. Musavi-Khoeniha said it appears to be an interrogation center for the judiciary's Security Department.
According to Musavi-Khoeniha, the Law Enforcement Forces run a facility north of Eshratabad Garrison for drug offenders. The women's quarters there are not suitable, and the LEF acknowledges a lack of resources to move them. There also have been complaints about the women's facility at Evin.
Musavi-Khoeniha said that legislators intend to visit detention centers at police stations and the Criminal Investigation Headquarters. He expressed the hope that in the future detention centers run by the security departments of the LEF, Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics, and the army would be transferred to Evin Prison. Qasr Prison is being moved to the outskirts of southern Tehran, but transferring prisons to the city's periphery is being held up by lack of funds.
Hassan Zarezadeh, director of Tehran's society to defend political prisoners, told RFE/RL's Persian Service on 21 October that Musavi-Khoeniha did not discuss the detention center on Seoul Street that is used by a Tehran police unit called the Public Establishments Office. This is the facility to which many writers, journalists, and artists have been summoned for questioning in the last year. (Bill Samii)
CENTRALIZATION OF PENAL SYSTEM TO RESOLVE SHORTCOMINGS.
Iranian prisons are facing many problems, particularly overcrowding and an absence of centralization and accountability. The Iranian legislature is trying to resolve the problems plaguing the penal system, starting with Tehran.
On 29 October, a fire broke out during what authorities described as an escape attempt in Qasr Prison, killing one inmate and injuring four others. IRNA reported the next day that the cellblock housing convicted murderers where the fire occurred held 1,000 inmates. Tehran Province Justice Department chief Abbas Ali Alizadeh called for the construction of new prisons in Tehran because the current facilities cannot accommodate all the new prisoners, "Entekhab" reported on 17 September, although he did not identify the source of the new convicts. Furthermore, a police official announced earlier that some of the 150-200 petty drug dealers and users who are arrested in Tehran every day must be released because of the shortage of prison space, IRNA reported on 27 June.
Iranian parliamentarians touring Iranian prisons in autumn and winter 2000 learned that there are many detention facilities that are not under the purview of the Prisons, Security, and Correction Organization (see "RFE/RL Iran Report," 22 January 2001). Concerned about these unknown prisons, they began an investigation of this phenomenon and learned that the Law Enforcement Forces (LEF), LEF precincts, the Armed Forces Judicial Organization, the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), the judiciary, and the Revolutionary courts all run separate penal facilities. In the case of Evin Prison, a section was reserved exclusively for the use of the Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS).
Tehran parliamentarian Ali Akbar Musavi-Khoeniha described the discovery of these unknown prisons in October 2000, and in a 19 October 2002 interview with the Iranian Students News Agency, he described what has been done to deal with this crisis in the penal system. Musavi-Khoeniha said that Minister of Intelligence and Security Ali Yunesi had ordered the closure of the Towhid Detention Center, which will be turned into a museum. MOIS prisoners now are held at Evin Prison. The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps' "59 Eshratabad" Detention Center will be closed as soon as its new facility at Evin Prison is ready. The army's Heshmatieh Prison at the Qasr Crossroads has been turned over to the Prisons Organization. Musavi-Khoeniha also said that changes are under way at the Vozara judicial center, where people accused of drinking alcohol or attending parties are taken.
The detention center at Shahid Motahari Avenue remains a problem, Musavi-Khoeniha said. The facility is clearly unsuitable, but nothing has been done to improve conditions. Nor is it clear who is responsible for the facility. Musavi-Khoeniha said it appears to be an interrogation center for the judiciary's Security Department.
According to Musavi-Khoeniha, the Law Enforcement Forces run a facility north of Eshratabad Garrison for drug offenders. The women's quarters there are not suitable, and the LEF acknowledges a lack of resources to move them. There also have been complaints about the women's facility at Evin.
Musavi-Khoeniha said that legislators intend to visit detention centers at police stations and the Criminal Investigation Headquarters. He expressed the hope that in the future detention centers run by the security departments of the LEF, Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics, and the army would be transferred to Evin Prison. Qasr Prison is being moved to the outskirts of southern Tehran, but transferring prisons to the city's periphery is being held up by lack of funds.
Hassan Zarezadeh, director of Tehran's society to defend political prisoners, told RFE/RL's Persian Service on 21 October that Musavi-Khoeniha did not discuss the detention center on Seoul Street that is used by a Tehran police unit called the Public Establishments Office. This is the facility to which many writers, journalists, and artists have been summoned for questioning in the last year. (Bill Samii)
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