Fresh surge in arrests of human rights activists in Iran, say advocates
At least 14 lawyers and other civil activists are said to have been arrested in recent weeks
September 9th, 2018
When Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotuoudeh was arrested at her home and hauled away to Evin prison in June, her husband, Reza Khandan, did what he’s always done when his outspoken wife gets into hot water: publicly agitate for her release.
Then on Tuesday, he was arrested, too.
“Someone called me on my mobile and said he’s from the intelligence ministry,” he wrote on his Facebook a day before his arrest. “He said I have to go there tomorrow. I reminded him that within the limits of the law nobody – no agency other than the judiciary – has the right to seek the arrest of individuals. In response to my objection, he said: ‘Then you will be arrested.’”
Iranian authorities are yet to comment on the arrest.
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September 9th, 2018
When Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotuoudeh was arrested at her home and hauled away to Evin prison in June, her husband, Reza Khandan, did what he’s always done when his outspoken wife gets into hot water: publicly agitate for her release.
Then on Tuesday, he was arrested, too.
“Someone called me on my mobile and said he’s from the intelligence ministry,” he wrote on his Facebook a day before his arrest. “He said I have to go there tomorrow. I reminded him that within the limits of the law nobody – no agency other than the judiciary – has the right to seek the arrest of individuals. In response to my objection, he said: ‘Then you will be arrested.’”
Iranian authorities are yet to comment on the arrest.
UN rights experts call on Iran to halt imminent executions of Iranian Kurds
گزارشگران ویژه حقوق بشر سازمان ملل: حکومت ایران اجرای حکم زندانیان سیاسی کرد را فوراً متوقف کند
September 8, 2018
Iran Human Rights (IHR); Sep 7, 2018: Javaid Rehman, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, and Agnes Callamard, Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, have appealed to Iran to halt the imminent executions of Iranian Kurd prisoners Zanyar Moradi, Loghman Moradi and Ramin Hossein Panahi.
Earlier today, IHR had called for immediate international reactions to stop the possible executions.
The full statement:
GENEVA (7 September 2018) – UN human rights experts have appealed to Iran to halt the imminent executions of Iranian Kurd prisoners Zanyar and Loghman Moradi, amid serious concerns that they did not receive a fair trial and were tortured during pre-trial detention. They also reiterated calls to halt the execution of Mr. Ramin Hossein Panahi.
“We urge the Government of Iran to immediately halt their executions and to annul the death sentences against them in compliance with its international obligations,” the experts said in a joint statement, following reports that they will be executed on 8 September.
Iranian Kurdish Political Prisoner, Ramin Hossein Panahi, Executedرامین حسینپناهی اعدام شد
September 8, 2018
Iran Human Rights (IHR); Sep 8, 2018: Iranian Kurdish political prisoner Ramin Hossein Panahi was executed this morning at Rajai Shahr prison in Karaj.
IHR had earlier warned against the imminent danger and called on international community to do their best to prevent his execution. On September 7, Javaid Rehman, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, and Agnes Callamard, Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, have appealed to Iran to halt the imminent executions of Ramin and two other Iranian Kurd political prisoners, Zanyar Moradi and Loghman Moradi.
IHR strongly condemns Ramin’s execution. Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, the spokesperson of IHR, had previously warned against their execution and said: "Zanyar Moradi, Loghman Moradi, and Ramin Hossein Panahi were all subjected to torture and sentenced to death following unfair trials. Their death sentences are illegal even according to the international and even the Iranian laws."
There is no credible information on whether the execution of Loghman and Zanyar were also carried out this morning. IHR will update the readers on this issue.
Three Iranian Kurdish Political Prisoner Executedسه زندانی سیاسی کرد در زندان رجایی شهر کرج اعدام شدند
September 8, 2018
Iran Human Rights (IHR); Sep 9, 2018: Three Iranian Kurdish political prisoner, Ramin Hossein Panahi, Loghman Moradi and Zanyar Moradi, were executed this morning at Rajai Shahr prison in Karaj.
IHR strongly condemns the execution. Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, the spokesperson for IHR, said: "Zanyar Moradi, Loghman Moradi, and Ramin Hossein Panahi were all subjected to torture and sentenced to death following unfair trials based on forced confessions. Their execution is a crime and the Iranian authorities, including the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, must be held accountable for this crime.”
IHR had earlier warned against the imminent danger and called on international community to do their best to prevent their executions. On September 8, Javaid Rehman, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, and Agnes Callamard, Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, have appealed to Iran to halt the imminent executions of Ramin and two other Iranian Kurd political prisoners, Zanyar Moradi and Loghman Moradi.
Loghman and Zanyar Moradi were sentenced to death on 22 December 2010 by branch 15 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court on charges of murdering the son of Marivan’s Friday prayer Imam. They had denied the charges and said that the initial confessions were extracted under torture.
According to a statement by Ahmad Shaheed, the previous UN Special Rapporteur for the human rights in Iran issued in March 2012, “Zanyar and Loghman Moradi were compelled to confess to allegations of murder after being severely beaten and threatened with rape.” The statement also said: "… no evidence or witnesses were brought against these men, and that they did not have reasonable access to their legal counsel.”
SUNDAY, 2 SEPTEMBER 2018
Human Rights Watch demands that Iran investigate killing of 30 protestorsسازمان دیده بان حقوق بشر از ایران می خواهد کشتن 30 معترض را بررسی کند
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| HRW said that since August, 2, 2018, authorities have detained more than 50 people during protests in Tehran. (Supplied) |
September 2, 2018
Human Rights Watch has called on Iran to open impartial investigations into the killing of 30 protesters since January.
The human rights organization said in a statement published on Saturday that the Iranian authorities did not show any sign of conducting impartial investigations, either into those deaths, or into law enforcement officials’ use of excessive force to repress protests.
It called the Iranian regime to drop all charges brought against protesters for peaceful assembly and release those detained on that basis.
Since August 2, 2018, authorities have detained more than 50 people during protests in Tehran.
Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch said: “The Iranian government is using the authoritarian playbook to respond to protests, criminalize peaceful dissent, and protect security forces from scrutiny.”
She added: “Rather than blaming ‘foreign elements’ for protests, Iranian authorities should allow citizens to critique the government through their right to peaceful dissent.”
On July 31, a new wave of protests against the deteriorating economic conditions and perceptions of government corruption began in the city of Esfahan and quickly spread to other cities, including Karaj in Alborz province and Tehran, the capital.
Tehran Penitentiary Guards Launch “Brutal” Attack on Imprisoned Sufi Muslimsضرب و شتم دراویش در ندامتگاه تهران بزرگ و انتقال به سلول انفرادی
AUGUST 31, 2018
Guards in Iran’s Great Tehran Penitentiary (GTP) attacked and beat detainees inside Ward 3 of the prison on August 29, 2018, and moved some of them into solitary confinement.
The detainees are Sufi Muslims belonging to the Gonabadi Order—also referred to as dervishes—a persecuted religious minority in Iran.
Niloufar Dowlatshah, the wife of detained Sufi, Mohsen Azizi, told the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) on August 29 that the authorities had also threatened the detainees’ families who had gathered outside the prison to go home or risk being arrested.
“The authorities denied that anyone had been beaten and told the families that it was just a normal incident and the situation was calm,” Dowlatshah told CHRI. “Do they think it’s normal to severely beat the prisoners?”
“One of the detainees contacted his family from inside prison and said the attack by the guards against the inmates was very brutal,” she added.
Nearly 300 Gonabadi Sufis are imprisoned in wards 2, 3 and 4 of the GTP after being arrested during a protest in Tehran in February 2018 that resulted in the death of one dervish and three policemen.
At least 20 of the protesters were issued heavy prison sentences in August 2018. Eight of them were sentenced in absentia after they refused to appear in court in protest against the denial of their due process rights.
The guards attacked the detainees as around 30 dervishes resumed a sit-in, which began on June 13 outside an officer’s post in Ward 3, to protest the detention of four Sufi women in Gharchak Prison, located south of Tehran.
Several of the detainees were badly injured and suffered broken bones, while others were transferred to solitary confinement as punishment for their protest, according to Dowlatshah.
University Student Sentenced to Seven Years Imprisonment in Iran as another is Ordered to Attend Friday Prayersحبس در بندرعباس، محکومیت به حضور در نماز جمعه سمنان و اعتراض دانشجویان در تهران
AUGUST 31, 2018
As Iran continues to imprison university students for attending protests, a judge in the city of Semnan, 140 miles east of Tehran, has ordered one to attend Friday prayer sessions every other week for two years while another one in Tehran has sentenced a young woman to seven years in prison.
All Muslims are required to observe the Friday prayer but mostly older, devout people attend the sessions in Iran, which are injected with political slogans and designed for propaganda purposes.
“About 14 medical school students were arrested during the December-January protests and convictions have been issued against two of them,” Deputy Health Minister Mohammad Reza Farahani told reporters on August 29, 2018.
“One of them is from Semnan and I haven’t seen the verdict but the student has been sentenced to participating in Friday prayers every other week for two years,” he added.
The deputy minister did not mention the student’s name or gender.
Charges against some of the detained medical students have been dropped but “six or seven” others are awaiting trial, added the official.
Female Photography Student Gets Seven Years
The previous day, Saeid Khalili, the attorney of Parisa Rafiei, a photography student at the University of Tehran, announced on August 28 that his client had been sentenced on her birthday by a preliminary court to seven years in prison, 74 lashes, a two-year ban on traveling abroad and prohibited from political and social activities for two years.
Agents of Iran’s Intelligence Ministry had arrested Rafiei, 21, on February 25.
“If it wasn’t unjust and unfair to sentence you on the evening of your birthday to seven years in prison for student activities, then how should we describe it?” Parisa’s father, Soltanali Rafiei, tweeted on August 29.
“It’s enough to compare your heavy sentence with the light convictions given to offending insiders [government officials or people linked with them] in order for everyone to grasp the extent of this injustice,” he added.
The charges against the 21-year-old Rafiei are “assembly and collusion against national security,” “propaganda against the state” and “disrupting public order.”
According to official sources, more than 150 university students were arrested in the aftermath of nationwide protests in Iran in December 2017 and January 2018.
