Farzad Haghshenas Discloses Regime’s Tortures to Iran Briefing

Iran Briefing : Farzad Haghshenas, an environmental activist and member of the NGO, Sabzchia (The Green Mountain Society), was arrested on May 18, 2011, in his home town, Marivan, Kurdistan Province, north western Iran.

No reason was given for his arrest, and nothing was known about his health condition. He had been kept in the Marivan’s Intelligence detention center for months, and he is said to have been severely tortured by the security forces.

In a phone call to the reporters of Iran Briefing, he disclosed information about his activities, the condition of detention center, and the way he was treated by the security forces.

He said, “I was a member of Sabzchia, an NGO involved with environmental activities, for four years.  The NGO has been officially working for 9 years to promote environmental awareness, to encourage people’s participation in environmental activities and to preserve the environment. Unfortunately, members of Sabzchian, like other activists in Iran, are being persecuted by the Islamic Republic. Some of the members of Sabzchia have been arrested by the Security forces, and they are forced to make baseless confessions and are sentenced to long term imprisonment. Iraj Ghaderi, Behrooz Darvand and Sharif Bajoor, to name a few, are among the members of Sabzchian who were arrested by the security forces.”

He added, “I was kept in the detention center of the Marivan’s intelligence service from May 18, 2011, till October 1, 2011. I was kept in solitary confinement and was under severe mental and physical torture. To double the pressure and torture, I was told by the security forces that my family members had been arrested and tortured too.”

He further said, “I was flogged more than ten times; I was tortured with electric rod, and especially during interrogation, I was hanged from the ceiling to confess that I had connection with the Kurdish opposition parties. I was even threatened with execution.”

He also said, “I fell sick due to torture in prison, but nothing was done for my treatment. I was even banned from meeting with my mother. Numerous human right activists and institutions called for my release but were deliberately ignored by the security forces.”

He went on, saying, “I was released on $50,000 bail on October 1, 2011. I left Iran to Iraqi Kurdistan, an autonomous region of Iraq, after I was released from the jail, and at the moment I live in Iraqi Kurdistan in a very poor mental and physical condition. Besides that, I am at risk of being arrested by the Islamic Republic’s security forces. I call upon all human rights activists and institutions and all international bodies to follow the fate of Kurdish environmental activists arrested by the security forces, and I urge them to save my life.”

 

Latest news
Related news