Reza Shahabi on Hunger Strike, His Life in Danger!

Take URGENT ACTION with Amnesty for Reza Shahabi!

Persian report by Rowzane.com
Translation by Laleh Gillani, Persian2English

The Islamic Republic of Iran routinely arrests Iranian workers and teachers for demanding better wages, job security and improved working conditions. Scores of Iranian workers and their leaders are currently in jail for going on strike, building a union or celebrating May Day. The Campaign to Free Jailed Workers in Iran has issued the following statement regarding Reza Shahabi, the jailed board member of Bus Workers’ Union in Tehran:

Announcement No. 63

In our Campaign’s Announcement No. 62, we reported that since December 4, 2010, Reza Shahabi, the board member of the Bus Workers’ Union in Tehran, has gone on hunger strike to protest against constant pressures and physical torture inflicted on him.

In an interview with Radio Farda, Hassan Shahabi, Reza Shahabi’s brother has confirmed the news of his brother’s dry hunger strike and poor physical condition. So far, Hassan Shahabi has inquired about the status of his brother’s case by referring to multiple revolutionary courts in Tehran. Meanwhile, the Revolutionary Court at Evin prison has sent Hassan Shahabi to another court whose officials have denied receiving the case file.

On December 8, 2010, Robabeh Rezaei, Reza Shahabi’s wife visited the Special Interrogation Security Office in Evin prison to file a complaint about her husband’s ongoing incarceration and uncertain situation. The judicial officials stationed in Evin prison have refused to meet with Robabeh Rezaei or accept her formal complaint thus far.

Consequently, Robabeh Rezaei was left with no other option than to refer to the Attorney General’s office in Tehran. It has been reported that an official by the name of Amjad who is in charge of branch 2 of the Attorney General’s Interrogation Office, has denied Rezaei’s entrance into the building and has refused to acknowledge the receipt of her husband’s case.

In her complaint, Rezaei states that if any harm comes to her husband, she holds Iran’s judicial system directly responsible. She has also demanded immediate release of her husband who is being held in ward 209 of Evin prison.

As we have previously reported, the second branch of the Islamic Republic’s Security Interrogation Unit in Evin prison issued a letter on October 11, 2010, setting the bail for Reza Shahabi’s release to 60 million toman (approximately $60 thousand USD). Although his family has posted the bail, after three days of uncertainty and frustration, they were informed that his release from prison has not been approved.

To date, Reza Shahabi has spent six months in prison, and two months has passed after his release order was issued. Despite all this, the judicial authorities refuse to comment on his status and have kept his family in the dark regarding the details surrounding his case.

Since Reza Shahabi is currently in dire physical condition and his life is also in danger, there is an immediate and urgent need to take any action to save him. We urge everyone to unite in order to protest Reza Shahabi’s imprisonment and to demand his immediate release. We call upon everyone to act now so that Reza Shahabi does not have to continue his hunger strike. By filing petitions, protesting against the imprisonment of all Iranian workers, and demanding their release from prison, we can ask Reza Shahabi to end his hunger strike to prevent further damage to his health.

The Campaign to Free Jailed Workers in Iran strives to be the voice of Reza Shahabi and all Iranian workers in captivity. We carry the voices of Iranian workers across the world. Please help this campaign in any shape or form possible and lend a helping hand to our cause.

We demand the immediate release of all members of the Bus Workers’ Union, Reza Shahabi, Mansour Ossanloo, Ebrahim Madadi, Gholamreza Gholam-Hosseini, and Morteza Kamsari. We also insist on freeing all political prisons including the labor activist and children’s rights advocate Behnam Ebrahimzadeh, without further delays or conditions.

The Campaign to Free Jailed Workers in Iran
Shahla Daneshfar
Bahram Soroush
17 Azar, 1389 (December 8, 2010)

Human Rights Attorney Nasrin Sotoudeh Back on Hunger Strike

Persian Report by Kaleme
Translation by Banooye Sabz | Edited by Persian2English

Monday, December 6, 2010 - According to reports by Kaleme, human rights attorney Nasrin Sotoudeh informed her family in a telephone conversation yesterday that she will once again begin a dry hunger strike (no food or water) starting today in protest against her continued detention and the unjust incarceration of other innocent prisoners.

According to her husband, Reza Khandan, Sotoudeh made the decision to go on a dry hunger strike for the following reasons:

- The continuation of her 95 day temporary detention with out bail despite the fact that her court hearing took place 9 days ago and she has two young children.

- False, unkept promises by judiciary and security officials to overturn her temporary detention.

- Biased positions and violations of the law by the presiding judge responsible for the court hearing in the presence of Sotoudeh’s lawyers and other members of the Central Bar Association of Iran. Lack of impartiality by the presiding judge in finding Sotoudeh guilty before the completion of her trial.

- Disappearance of 12 legal letters containing requests by Sotoudeh from her case file.

- Threats to her lawyers during the court hearings.

- Announcement by the court that Sotoudeh would be charged with heavier crimes for hiring lawyers that are not acceptable and trusted by the court.

- Incarceration of Sotoudeh in Evin’s ward 209 for a period of 95 days with the intent to increase pressure through exposure to unbearable conditions.

- Preventing Sotoudeh’s two young children who have no access to cabin visitations from visiting with their mother. One exception was made during these 95 days but was harmful to the children due to altercations by prison officials with family members.

- A variety of restrictions on Sotoudeh including refusal to provide her pen and paper.

- Lack of timely announcement of the passing of Sotoudeh’s father and refusal to allow her temporary leave from prison in order to attend her father’s funeral; a legal right of every prisoner under Islamic law.

Nasrin Sotoudeh is charged, amongst other things, with “acting against the national security of the country” and was arrested on December 6th, 2010 and has been on a hunger strike several times since her arrest protesting the manner in which her case file has been handled.

Human Rights Violations Report | Part 2: Week of November 29, 2010

Tehran University Student Mojtaba Hashemi Sentenced Lashes and Prison!

Tehran University student Mojtaba Hashemi has been sentenced to prison and 74 lashes for “acting against national security”, “disturbing the public order”, “insulting the Supreme Leader and the President”. As the Student Day is approaching and following the increasing pressure on the student activists, the court has issued a verdict for Mojtaba Hashemi, a member of the central branch of the Islamic Association of Tehran University School of Law, who was arrested on December 8, 2009 at the University after being beaten. According to JARAS, he has been sentenced to a total of 6 months in prison for “acting against national security”; 91 days for “insulting the Supreme Leader”, 91 days of imprisonment and 74 lashes for “disturbing the public order”, and a $100 fine for “insulting the President”. Currently, over 80 students and student activists are imprisoned.

صدور حکم حبس و شلاق برای مجتبی هاشمی، دانشجوی دانشگاه تهران

Kurdish Human Rights Activist in Critical Condition in Prison is Denied Treatment!

Jailed human rights activist Mohammad Sadegh Kaboudvand passed out for the second time in the past two months because of brain pressures and problems in his nervous system. He fainted at 3 am on Friday, November 19th, after he stopped breathing. After regaining his conscious, he had temporary blindness and a part of his brain stopped working. He was also suffering from severe pain, cold sweat, and numbness and paralysis in parts of his body. He regained subnormal conditions after 30 minutes. Prisoners in his cellblock informed the guards about his condition and that he might have suffered a brain stroke and he was transferred to the prison infirmary with an ambulance. But he did not receive the necessary treatment in the infirmary and was treated unsuitably and insulted by the guards and the non-medical staff of the infirmary. After he was checked in standing position, he was returned to his cell. Notably, people such as A.Q. have passed away in prison in the past under similar circumstances and lack of attention by the heads of the infirmary.

وضعیت وخیم جسمی محمدصدیق کبودوند

Political Prisoner Kept in Isolation for 8 Months in Solitary Cell and Under Torture

According to reports, political prisoner Reza Joshan has been confined to a solitary cell for 8 months in complete isolation and under medieval conditions. This 25 year old political prisoner was transferred to solitary cell by the orders of intelligence agency interrogators in mid April 2010 in the Sepah Cellblock in Gohardasht (Rajai Shahr) Prison. He was interrogated and physically and mentally tortured by a head interrogator identified as Mohebi for one month. Mohebi subsequently ordered that he be transferred to Section 17, Cellblock 6, in Gohardasht prison and he was kept in complete isolation in this cell until mid November.

زندانی سیاسی رضا جوشن 8 ماه در ایزوله کامل، سلول انفرادی و تحت شکنجه های قرون وسطایی

Student Activists Esmaeil Salmanpour and Farzad Eslami Detained

Ahead of Student Day in Iran, there have been reports that Esmaeil Salmanpour, former member of Amir Kabir Islamic Student Association, and Farzad Eslami, a law student at Azad University and the former secretary of the University’s Muslim Student Committee, have been arrested. According to Bamdad-Khabar, Esmaeil Salmanpour, a student activist at Amir Kabir University of Technology, had previously been arrested on February 6, 2008 at a 14^th anniversary memorial service for former Prime Minister Bazargan held in Hosseiniyeh Ershad. He had been suspended from the university for 3 semesters.

اسماعیل سلمان‌پور و فرزاد اسلامی بازداشت شدند

Death Row Political Detainee Habibollah Golparipour Transferred to Oroumiyeh Prison

Habibollah Golparipour, a Sanandaj resident and human rights activist who was confined in Mahabad Prison, has been transferred to Central Oroumiyeh Prison. According to the Mokrian News Agency, he had been held in Sanandaj and Mahabad detention centers for a long time. The Mahabad Revolutionary Court had sentenced him to death for ‘committing’ “Moharebeh” (waging war against God) by membership in anti-regime groups based on Article 186 and 190 of the Constitution. His sentence was recently upheld by the Supreme Court.

Sign Petition!
Join Facebook Page

انتقال حبیب‌الله گلپری‌پور، زندانی محکوم به اعدام به زندان ارومیه

Two Year Prison Sentence for Eye Witness Leila Tavassoli

Leila Tavassoli, an eye witness to last year’s Ashoura upheavals who testified in regards to the Security Forces running over people with their vehicles in Valiasr, was sentenced to two years in prison and has been transferred to Evin to begin her sentence today. According to Mizan News, Leila who is the daughter of Dr. Tavassoli a senior member of the Freedom Movement Party, was arrested last Ashoura and held in ward 209 of Evin prison for two months. She was sentenced to two years in prison by the Lower Court and the Appeals Court later upheld the sentence. She was summoned via a letter last week to begin serving her sentence. Leila Tavassoli who was married less than a month ago, reported to Evin accompanied by her husband as well as her attorney this afternoon and was transferred to a quarantine ward that has recently been transformed to a political prisoners women’s ward. At this time, her uncle Ebrahim Yazdi, Secretary General of the Freedom Movement Party who is the oldest political prisoner is being held in ward 209 of Evin prison. Her brother in law Farid Taheri is also currently incarcerated in ward 350 of Evin.

اجرای محکومیت دو سال زندان لیلا توسلی

Isa Saharkhiz Undergoes Surgery in Rajai Shahr Prison Clinic

Journalist Isa Saharkhiz was transferred to the prison clinic yesterday and since no leave permission was issued, a medical team was brought into the prison clinic to operate on him in the Rajai Shahr prison. According to JARAS, this imprisoned member of the Central Council of Defense of the Freedom of Press, who has been incarcerated for over a year in Evin and Gohardasht, is being kept under very harsh conditions, he has been in severe pain in the last few days and remains in Rajai Shahr prison without medical leave despite having had lost mobility of his right leg.

Sign Petition!

عمل جراحی عیسی سحرخیز در بهداری زندان رجایی‌شهر

Yet Another Hand Amputation Sentence in Kermanshah

The amputation sentence of an individual convicted of robbery was carried out in Kermanshah Central prison in full view of a group of prisoners referred to by the prosecutor as “Thugs and Riff Raffs with priors”. According to ISNA, the head of Kermanshah Branch 107 of the Criminal Court said: “An individual who had been convicted of robbery and sentenced to six years in prison had been on leave last Ramadan and had gone AWOL not returning to prison after his leave permit expired. This individual was arrested a year later committing another robbery and subsequently “confessed” to 57 charges of robbery.

اجرای حکم قطع دست یک نفر دیگر در کرمانشاه

Journalist and Human Rights Activist Emaddedin Baghi Returned to Prison

On Tuesday, December 2^nd, Baghi was told over the phone to return to prison on Saturday or Sunday to begin serving his sentence. According to RAHANA, Baghi who had to undergo an oral surgery on Saturday and told the official that he would return to prison on Sunday. As the anniversary of Ayatollah Montazeri’s death is approaching, Baghi had to return to prison on Sunday for the 4^th time.

Sign Petition!

عمادالدین باقی بار دیگر به زندان رفت

Human Rights Lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh’s Detention Extended

Reza Khandan, Nasrin Sotoudeh’s husband, said today that the judge presiding over her case has extended his wife’s detention. He added that no sentence has been disclosed to her lawyer as of yet. Reza Khandan told the Feminist School that during a visit on Thursday with his wife, she told him that despite the fact that days have passed since her last court hearing she is still being held in solitary confinement and has not been transferred to the general prison ward. Nasrin Sotoodeh, a lawyer and a women’s rights activist who was arrested on September 4th, has been incarcerated in solitary confinement ever since. During her detention she has repeatedly gone on hunger strikes in protest to the illegal manner of her arrest, interrogations and handling of her case, at one time was on hunger strike for nine days.

Sign Petition!
Join Facebook Page!

قرار بازداشت نسرین ستوده تمدید شد

Sunni Missionaries Sentenced to Over 40 Total Years in Prison

The 28^th branch of the Revolutionary Court has sentenced 7 Boukan residents who have been imprisoned in solitary confinement since June of 2009 and have been under intense pressure to make false confessions by the Intelligence and security forces in prison. According to Sunni News, Mamousta Mohammad Berati has received an 11 year prison term, and Hossein Heydari, Sobhan Ahmadzadeh and Abdollah Khosrozadeh have been sentenced to 6 years of imprisonment. Moreover, Himan Mahmoud Takhti and Hesam Mohammadi have been sentenced to 5 years in prison while Sadigh Ahmadi has received a 2 year prison sentence. They have been convicted of propaganda, organizing religious ceremonies and crossing the border. They have been transferred to Ward 350 of Evin Prison.

صدور بیش از چهل سال زندان برای مبلغان مذهبی سنی

Majid Dori Writes Statement from Prison for National Student Day in Iran

Majid Dori Writes Statement from Prison for National Student Day in Iran

Majid Dori

Majid Dori is a university student who has been denied education and expelled from Tehran’s Allameh Tabatabai University. He has been in prison since July 9, 2009 without a period of time off. On the occasion of Iran’s National Student Day (December 7th), Majid Dori has issued a statement from prison. Due to eye problems and limitations imposed on him every day, the statement was released late.

It is noteworthy that Majid Dori recently refused to be placed in shackles while visiting an eye doctor outside the prison. This refusal has cost him dearly since prison officials have placed new restrictions on him. The following is the full text of Majid Dori’s statement:

Men and women, ablaze
Their most painful song, still not sung.
Silence fills the air, the impatient silence
How it is bursting with anticipation
- – Ahmad Shamloo

How long do you intend to sacrifice Quran and flee from reality by oppressing others? How long do you intend in the name of law and religion to repress the dissidents and delay what is inevitable? Till when do you intend to ignore the Green movement, mar it by blood and entrap it in the darkness?

Once more, 16 of Azar (December 7) has arrived, the Student Day, the day belonging to our universities, the day spearheaded by scholars, the day that served your purpose well before but now places your security forces on alert. Your fear and anxiety is sufficient enough to prove that our universities are alive with Greens, not dead from darkness. Although our numbers may have decreased, our perseverance has increased. Iran’s universities are bidding their time to strike at your peaceful slumber.

What do you think our universities are? Do you think you’re the commanders and students your obedient soldiers? Wishful thinking! Iranian students don’t follow orders blindly and stand up to tyranny regardless of your military might. Our universities don’t bow to ignorant individuals disguised as statesmen who plot our destruction. We will make a stand boldly and take our chances in this battle.

Of course, we deserve a government whose path has been blocked by a man whose words are based on falsehoods, a man who doesn’t fear lying. Student activists welcome expulsion from school since becoming a star is still fashionable. Those in charge of our universities have no other thought but destruction and no other way but that of the iron fist.

My professor from the University of Allameh was in prison with me while a few feet from us, Mahdieh Golroo was in the women’s ward. Glowing with pride, they arrested all, students and professors, men and women. In other universities, they did no less. Countless students were arrested, and their accumulative prison sentences proved that our universities continue to stay by our people and don’t abandon the battlefield.

We were beaten, but our universities still endured; we were slaughtered, but our universities persevered. They attacked our dormitories, but we made a stand. We were killed but our universities continued the fight; we were imprisoned but our universities didn’t surrender. This is how Iran became a university and the entire population transformed into students fighting for freedom and democracy. University, hearts embraced thee; minds preoccupied with thee; lips shouted thy name.

So greetings to student activists, the heroes, the expelled. Greetings to all college students since being a student has become a crime. Greetings to all professors although… Greetings to the destitute who rejected oppression and shouted in the name of freedom. Greetings and salutations to a movement that was Green, is staying Green, and will remain Green.

Freedom is approaching from the bloody trail
Nonetheless imminent as I tremble
What is concealed in your hand?
What shackles your feet?
Freedom, do you come in chains?

Humbly,
Majid Dori
Behbahan Prison
Azar 1389 (December 2010)

Four men were hanged in Isfahan (central Iran)

Four men were hanged in Isfahan (central Iran) Today

Iran Human Rights, December 4: Four people were hanged in the prison of Isfahan, central Iran, early Saturday December 4.

According to the state run Iranian news agency ISNA, four men convicted of drug trafficking were hanged in the central prison of Isfahan today. The men were identified as: "Abdollah N." convicted of keeping and selling 495 grams of crack; "Zarif D." for keeping nine kilos and 450 grams of crack; "Masoud Gh." (born in 1972) for trafficking of 261 (grams?) of crack and finally "Bakhtiar S." (born in 1966) for keeping 74 kilos and 800 grams of crack and 603 grams of opium, 94 grams of another opium product and drug addiction. Besides death penalty "Bakhtiar S" was also sentenced to 2 years in prison, 70 lashes and a fine of 18200000 rials ( 1820 USD).

Iran Human Rights strongly condemns crackdown of the human rights lawyers by the Iranian authorities

Iran Human Rights strongly condemns crackdown of the human rights lawyers by the Iranian authorities

Iran Human Rights, November 17: Iranian state television has once again broadcast a purported statement by Sakineh Ashtiani, the Iranian woman sentenced to death by stoning for adultery in which she calls herself a "sinner."

The report also broadcast purported statements by two men whose faces were blurred that state TV identified as Ashtiani’s son, Sajjad Qaderzadeh, and her lawyer, Houtan Kian, both of whom were arrested last month. It also aired comments from two Germans who were detained allegedly while trying to interview Ashtiani’s family in October.

In the state TV report, Qaderzadeh retracted his previous allegations that his mother was tortured, and criticized Kian and Ashtiani’s previous lawyerMohammad Mostafaei for publicizing the case.

Ahtiani’s lawyer, Houtan Kian (picture) “confessed” that he advised Qaderzadeh to lie to Western journalists.

On the other hand, Tehran’s chief prosecuter, Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi confirmed yesterday in an interview with the state run Iranian news agency ISNA, the arrest of five lawyers during the past week.

According to various reports three female lawyers Sara Sabbaghian, Maryam Kian Arasi and Maryam Karbasi were arrested in Khomeini airport, on their arrival from Turkey earlier this week. All the three have been involved in human rights cases and defending their imprisoned colleagues, human rights activists, bloggers and women sentenced to death by stoning.

The two other lawyers who were arrested in Tehran last week are Roza Gharachorlou and Mohammad Hossein Nayeri, both involved in human rights cases.

Iranian authorities have previously arrested the human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh (picture), the defender of several minors on the death rowand Mohammad Oliaei-fard defender of several political prisoners. Both of them are being held in the notorious Evin prison.

Several other human rights lawyers such as Khalil Bahramian, Mohammad Ali Dadkhah and AbdolfattahSoltani (all defenders of several political prisoners) are waiting for their trials, while the human rights lawyer Mohammad Seifzadeh has been sentenced to 9 years in prison.

Iran Human Rights strongly condemns the televised "confessions" and arrest of the human rights lawyers by the Iranian authorities. Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, the spokesperson of Iran Human Rights, expressed his concern about the situation of the human rights in Iran and said: “This is continuation of the regime’s general crackdown of the Iranian civil society. In the past months we have been witnessing a broad campaign by the Iranian authorities against the human rights lawyers and the situation will probably get even worse”. He added “Iran is probably one of the few countries where defense lawyers are persecuted for doing their job”. “We ask the world community to play a more active role in defending the Iranian human rights lawyers and to ask for immediate release of all the detained lawyers and end persecuting them” he said.