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Senators call for release of Canadian resident condemned to death in Iran

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Senators call for release of Canadian resident condemned to death in Iran

 

Twenty-five senators called Tuesday for the immediate release of 25 political prisoners in Iran, including a computer programmer and Canadian resident who is now on death row.

Sen. Linda Frum, who rallied her colleagues, said that Iran’s unlawful detention and execution of political prisoners — in particular, Canadian residents — is unacceptable.

“As a member of the Senate of Canada I condemn the Iranian regime’s deplorable abuse of human rights and call for the immediate release of unlawfully held prisoners” Frum said in the Red Chamber. “Canada will not stay silent on these issues.”

Each of the 25 senators delivered a speech detailing the case of one jailed Iranian. Among them was Saeed Malekpour, a 35-year-old website designer and Canadian resident who has been condemned to death. He was convicted of “desecrating and insulting Islam” after software he developed was used on pornographic websites, without his knowledge.

Campaigners for Malekpour’s release say he has been tortured with electric shocks and beaten with cables while in captivity.

Relations between Canada and Iran are at their lowest point in decades, as Canada and its allies step up sanctions in a so-far futile attempt to curb Tehran’s nuclear ambitions. On Jan. 31, Canada ratcheted up sanctions again, freezing assets of Iranian officials and entities.

Alidad Mafinezam, a spokesman for the Iranian-Canadian Congress, said members of his community are pleased the senators are speaking up and that their cries for help are starting to be heard.

“There are a number of Canadian residents currently languishing in Iranian prisons,” he said. “We need to raise awareness of this problem.”

Mafinezam said Iranian Canadians are increasingly fearful of being slapped by arbitrary or trumped up charges if they return to Iran to visit.

“It makes Iranian Canadians feel we are not safe travelling there to meet our ailing grandmothers,” he said. “They’ll say you’re a spy also.”

Mafinezam said the Iranian regime is unlikely to be swayed by the senators’ speeches. He said a more effective engagement strategy would be to send a delegation of Canadian lawmakers to Iran, to make their case directly to Iran’s decision makers.

 

Source: insideofiran

Supreme Leader Directly Responsible for Illegal Detentions of Opposition Leaders

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Supreme Leader Directly Responsible for Illegal Detentions of Opposition Leaders

 

Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, should immediately release the three opposition leaders who have spent the last year under illegal house arrest and stop using extrajudicial and inhumane methods to silence political opponents, the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iransaid today.

Today, nearly one year since the house arrest began, the Campaign released a multimedia project containing a detailed timeline, “News of a Kidnapping,” accompanied by a short video and a letter-writing campaign calling for the release of former prime minister Mir Hossein Mousavi, former speaker of Parliament Mehdi Karroubi, and prominent political advisor and university chancellor Zahra Rahnavard.

“Khamenei bears the ultimate responsibility for these house arrests, which indeed are nothing short of a kidnapping,” said Hadi Ghaemi, the Campaign’s spokesperson. “Khamenei is operating above the law of the land, and the intelligence and judicial apparatus are tools of repression in his hands, operating with impunity and without any regard for the law or the constitution,” he added.

These house arrests are illegal under both Iranian and international law. Iranian law does not contain any provisions authorizing house arrests. Any detentions must be followed by proper charges and prosecution in a court of law. Authorities have not applied any of these steps in the cases of Rahnavard, Mousavi, and Karroubi.

Moreover, the detainees have not even had access to basic rights normally afforded to prisoners, such as regular visitations, proper health care, or access to lawyers. Since their house arrest, the three leaders have had minimal access to and communications with their immediate families, raising fears for their mental and physical health. For instance, during the first seven months of his confinement, Mehdi Karroubi was allowed access to fresh air only once.

No Iranian official has directly accepted responsibility for the house arrest of these opposition leaders. However, it has become apparent that Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei is ultimately responsible for ordering the arrests and their continuation.

On 28 January 2012, in an interview with the semi-official Fars News Agency, First Deputy Speaker of the Parliament Mohammad Reza Bahonar said that Khamenei was the final decision-maker in ordering the house arrests.

“These continued illegal detentions demonstrate the epic hypocrisy of Iranian leaders,” said Ghaemi. “On the one hand, they want to claim the mantle of Arab uprisings against dictatorships, and on the other hand they are kidnapping opposition leaders and keeping them under house arrest without any due process whatsoever.”

The United Nations General Assembly, in a resolution adopted 21 November 2011, “Express[ed] deep concern at … [t]he continuing and sustained house arrest of leading opposition figures from the 2009 presidential elections.”

Calls for the release of the three leaders have been increasing in Iran. On 25 January 2012, 39 prominent political prisoners published a statement that said, “We call upon all freedom-loving citizens across the globe to create public awareness regarding the upcoming sham and rigged parliamentary elections in February, and to continue to do everything in their power to ensure that the detained leaders of the Green Movement are released in the month of February.”

On 26 January 2012, Nobel Peace Laureate Shirin Ebadi supported this call and urged the international community to advocate for the release of the opposition leaders from their house arrest.

The Campaign calls on all international actors with access to the Iranian government to urge the release of Rahnavard, Mousavi, and Karroubi. In particular, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon should call on Iranian authorities to end the unjust and illegal house arrest of the opposition leaders.

Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, two presidential candidates in the disputed June 2009 election, along with Zahra Rahnavard, an outspoken critic and Mousavi’s wife, have been under house arrest since 14 February 2011, when they called for demonstrations in support of the Arab Spring. Fatemeh Karroubi, a social activist and Karroubi’s wife, was also put under house arrest at the time but has since been released due to medical reasons.

During a brief visit by his daughter on 7 September 2011, Mousavi told her that if she wanted to comprehend his condition, she should read Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s News of a Kidnapping, which details the kidnapping of ten notable Colombians by drug kingpin Pablo Escobar. This comparison inspired the title of the Campaign’s timeline.

“When prominent figures from within the establishment are treated in such an extrajudicial and inhumane manner, the fate of regular prisoners of conscience, captive to intelligence and judicial operatives, is many-fold worse,” Ghaemi said.

The Campaign reiterated its call for the immediate release of all prisoners of conscience held unjustly in Iranian prisons solely for their peaceful opinions and beliefs.

Hezbollah chief says group gets support, not orders, from Iran

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Hezbollah chief says group gets support, not orders, from Iran

 

Lebanon’s Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah acknowledged on Tuesday for the first time that his armed movement received financial and material support from Iran, but denied it took instructions from the Islamic Republic.

Nasrallah said Hezbollah previously only confirmed Iranian political and moral backing because it did not want “to embarrass our brothers in Iran”, but had changed policy because Iran’s leadership had announced its support in public.

“Yes, we received moral, and political and material support in all possible forms from the Islamic Republic of Iran since 1982,” Nasrallah told supporters by videolink in a speech marking the anniversary of the birth of the Prophet Mohammed.

“In the past we used to tell half the story and stay silent on the other half … When they asked us about the material and financial and military support we were silent.”

Nasrallah said Iran had not issued orders to Hezbollah since the movement was founded 30 years ago, adding that if Israel attacked Iran’s nuclear sites, the leadership in Iran “would not ask anything of Hezbollah.”

He said if that were to happen, Hezbollah’s own leadership would “sit down, think and decide what to do.”

Speculation has grown that Israel might be planning to attack Iranian nuclear facilities after strong public comments by Israeli leaders about Iran’s atomic ambitions.

Many analysts believe that in the event of an Israeli attack on Iran, Hezbollah — which fought a punishing 34-day war with Israel in 2006 — would attack the Jewish state.

Nasrallah’s statement will not surprise world powers, including The United States, which lists the group as a terrorist organization, and says it has military support from Iran and Syria.

Hezbollah was set up 30 years ago by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards to fight Israeli forces which had invaded Lebanon.

Nasrallah denied U.S. charges that his movement was involved in money laundering or drugs smuggling, saying Iran’s support meant the movement was not in need of cash.

Federal prosecutors in the United States said in December three Lebanese financial institutions linked to Hezbollah laundered more than $240 million through the U.S. used car market.

U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration officials have also said Hezbollah has become involved in the drug trade, facilitating distribution and sale of cocaine in West Africa.

Nasrallah said Hezbollah was not involved in money laundering, nor in drug smuggling which was religiously forbidden. “No drugs, no money laundering and not trade at all,” he said of Hezbollah activities.

The Hezbollah leader also defended his support for close ally Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who is trying to crush an 11-month uprising against his rule. The United Nations says Assad’s crackdown on protests has killed 5,000 people.

Nasrallah, who has praised the uprisings in other Arab countries which toppled three entrenched leaders last year, said Assad still enjoyed support from the army and a large section of the population, and criticized Syria’s opposition for rejecting Assad’s promised reforms and offers of dialogue.

“They say we don’t want dialogue and we don’t want reform (because) it’s too late … It’s too late when there is fighting in Syria and there are people pushing it to civil war?”

“They are betting on the West, on America, on money and weapons to overthrow the regime. But this is a losing bet,” he added.

Source: Alarabiya

The mental health of Reza Malek, Ayub Ghanbarpourian, and other political prisoners jailed in Evin prison is in peril

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The mental health of Reza Malek, Ayub Ghanbarpourian, and other political prisoners jailed in Evin prison is in peril

 

By Firooze Ramezanzadeh

According to the latest reports received from Evin prison in Tehran, the mental health of several political prisoners in Evin prison is steadily deteriorating.

For those on death row, the perils are grave.  Uncertainty about when their execution sentence will be carried out adds to the mental pressure on prisoners sentenced to death.

Additionally, some of these individuals are subjected to mock execution.  According to several political prisoners who endured mock execution while incarcerated in Evin prison, prisoners are blindfolded and made to stand on a chair.  They then feel a rope placed around their neck.  Unbeknownst to them, the rope is in fact not attached to anything – however since they are blindfolded and cannot see they can only assume it is a noose and that they will be executed by hanging.  Then the chair is suddenly drawn out from under them and they prepare for the worst.  Only when they fall, instead of hang, do they then realize the execution was staged.  The psychological torture of mock executions results in severe and lasting mental harm.

Other pressures of confinement manifest itself in substance dependency issues, as well as irregular sleep patterns and behaviors.  Some prisoners reportedly smoke one to two packs of cigarettes a day.  Many prisoners reportedly scream and shout in their sleep.  Many suffer from insomnia – some complain of intermittent sleep patterns while others, like Reza Malek(Malekian), a former agent of the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence who is serving an 11 year sentence since his arrest in July 2001 for attempting to disclose information about Iran’s notorious “Chain Murders”[1], cannot sleep at all.  Reportedly, Malek lies down in his cell but fails to fall asleep every night.

According to sources, another prisoner on death row named ‘Karimi’ has attempted suicide twice.  ‘Karimi’ reportedly demonstrates mental instability when he speaks and causes a lot of noise and disturbance in Evin prison’s Ward 350 most nights.

The treatment of those who have attempted suicide while incarcerated is also indicative of the mental suffering of inmates in Evin prison. Ayub Ghanbarpourian, a political prisoner held in Evin prison’s Ward 350, suffers from excessive shaking of the hands, has difficulty concentrating, and has made several suicide attempts by swallowing pieces of glass.

This 20 year old worker was arrested in May 2009 and detained in Ward 2A of Evin prison, controlled by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).  He was eventually transferred to Ward 350.  Now, almost three years into his detention, Ghanbarpourian remains in an uncertain legal situation and is denied visitors.  His continuing incarceration has put enormous financial strain on his family, particularly in recent months.

Following Ghanbarpourian’s suicide attempts, he was hospitalized in Aminabad hospital in Tehran in handcuffs and shackles.

Reportedly, anyone in Evin prison who attempts suicide is admitted to a mental hospital for two weeks.  In hospital, the prisoners are restrained with handcuffs and their feet are shackled and chained. According to reports received from those incarcerated in Evin prison, the restraints placed on suicidal prisoners worsen the already delicate health condition of these prisoners.

Source: iranhrdc

Jailed student activist severely tortured in Ardabil Prison

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Jailed student activist severely tortured in Ardabil Prison

 

Eunice Soleimani, a student activist who was expelled from Bu-Ali Sina University and has been detained since

December 2011 in Ardabil Prison, was once again beaten by prison agents.
According to reports, Mr. Soleimani who was severely tortured before this in the Tabriz Intelligence Agency, was beaten and tortured this time for going on a hunger strike.
The former secretary of the Turkish Center at Bu-Ali Sina University in Hamedan went on a hunger strike from some time ago in protest to his condition and transgressions by prison officials.
During his August 2010 temporary incarceration in the Tabriz Intelligence Agency, this Azari activist was abused and tortured by intelligence agents and according to his family, suffered three heart attacks after being subjected to electric shocks and being injected with mood and mind altering drugs by his interrogators.

 

Source: kanoonjb

Iran ‘arrests journalists over links to the BBC’

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Iran ‘arrests journalists over links to the BBC’

 

Iran has arrested several people over alleged links to the BBC’s Farsi-language service, according to Iranian state media.

A report by the semi-official Mehr news agency said the individuals had done reporting for the BBC and helped the corporation train Iranian journalists but did not name the people detained nor say how many had been arrested.

It quoted an unnamed official as saying the group had been active in Iran since 2009.

The BBC said in a statement that the report “should be of deep concern to all those who believe in a free and independent media” but added it had “no BBC Persian staff members or stringers working inside Iran.”

In October, Iran released two filmmakers who were in jail on similar charges.

Tehran has accused the BBC of operating as a cover for British intelligence and of hosting Iranian dissidents.

Source: Telegraph

Iran’s parliament summons Ahmadinejad on economic policy

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Iran’s parliament summons Ahmadinejad on economic policy

 

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will appear in parliament next month to be grilled on his handling of the economy, state radio reported on Tuesday, after lawmakers took the unprecedented action of summoning him.

Around 100 members of the 290-seat assembly signed a petition to call up Ahmadinejad, in what analysts saw as part of deepening political infighting among the Islamic Republic’s hardline rulers before a parliamentary election on March 2.

Mohammad Reza Bahnoar, the parliament deputy speaker, said Tuesday that lawmakers are demanding Ahmadinejad answer questions on the economy, including purportedly bypassing a special budget for the Tehran subway and public transportation.

He is also to be queried about foreign and domestic policy decisions.

It’s the first summons of its kind for an Iranian president since 1979. Lawmakers had threatened in the past to summon Ahmadinejad, but their attempts failed, sometimes because they were blocked by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s top authority.

“Ahmadinejad will be immediately informed about the decision … He has to appear in parliament a month after being officially informed,” said Bahonar.

Could face impeachment

Parliament has often crossed swords with the government over Ahmadinejad’s economic policies. Under the constitution, it could impeach the president if he ignores the summons or attends the session, but fails to convince his questioners.

Impeachment, however, is considered unlikely because it would damage the whole ruling establishment at a time when Iran faces intense world pressure over its disputed nuclear work.

“This will only weaken Ahmadinejad’s camp but will not lead to his removal,” said one lawmaker, who asked not to be named.

Some analysts linked the summons to efforts by some MPs to win favor with voters fed up with government policies.

Hardline rivals of Ahmadinejad accuse him of being in thrall to a “deviant current” of advisers seeking to undermine the authority of the powerful clergy in the Islamic state.

“Ahmadinejad’s ministers failed to answer MPs’ questions … That is why the president has been asked to attend the parliament,” said lawmaker Omidvar Rezaei.

Khamenei has suggested that Iran could scrap a directly elected presidency in favor of one picked by parliament – something critics say could weaken Iran’s version of democracy.

The parliamentary election is Iran’s first nationwide poll since Ahmadinejad’s disputed re-election in 2009 ignited eight months of street protests, the worst unrest in three decades.

That vote, which the opposition says was rigged in the president’s favor, harmed the legitimacy of the clerical establishment and deepened rifts among hardline ruling elites.

 Source: Alarabiya

Zanyar and Loqman’s Execution Imminent: Key in the Hands of Friday Prayer Leader

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Zanyar and Loqman’s Execution Imminent: Key in the Hands of Friday Prayer Leader

 

By Kaveh Ghoreishi

Marivan’s Friday prayer leader, Mamusta Mostafa Shirzadi, who is a main player in the twisted case of Loqman and Zanyar Moradi, is not willing to make any public comments about the case of the two young men who have been sentenced to death. Shirzadi tells Rooz, “I don’t think it wise to speak to the media; not now, not ever.”

As Zanyar Moradi’s father tells Rooz, the death sentences have been upheld by the appellate court and have been forwarded to the relevant authorities for implementation.

Zanyar Moradi and the 25-year-old Loqman Moradi have been charged for allegedly murdering Sa’adi, the Friday prayer leader’s son, as well as spying for the British government.

In November 2009, Press TV, the Islamic Republic’s official English-language news network, announced that “four terrorists” with connections to the British government had been arrested in Marivan. According to that report, the four accused individuals had allegedly carried out five murders over a two-year period.

Following that news report, a video was broadcast in English by Press TV, showing several individuals, including Zanyar and Loqman Moradi, confessing to the murder of the Friday prayer leader’s son.

Loqman and Zanyar Moradi’s family members, however, previously told Rooz that the confessions were fabricated and extracted by force from their sons.

Zanyar and Loqman Moradi have since released an open letter from prison announcing that their confessions were extracted under torture and after they were threatened with “sexual rape” by their interrogators.

Under Iranian law, Zanyar and Loqman Moradi can escape death only if their family secures the agreement of the victim’s father, in this case the Marivan Friday prayer leader, Mamusta Mostafa Shirzadi. Zanyar’s father, Eqbal Moradi, tells Rooz, “Our only hope is that the Friday prayer leader doesn’t succumb to pressure from the national security organizations. Mamusta Shirzadi knows better than anyone else how his son was murdered. We think the Friday prayer leader has been caught in a political-national security game here. He knows that Zanyar and Loqman are innocent and I hope he remembers that.”

Loqman Moradi’s family members confirmed that they have not been able to visit their son, who is held at the Rajaishahr Prison in Karaj, for the past eight months.

Several social media campaigns have been set up to stop the execution of these two young men, but it appears that the key to their lives in this instances is only in the hands of Mamusta Mustafa Shirzadi, who has lost his own son too.

Source: Payvand

Human Organ Traffic in Iran

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Human Organ Traffic in Iran

 

By Mohsen Ezhei

Sepah On Line: The Sepah on line informers have exposed the dirty face Human Organ Trafficker he is not but Hojat- ol- eslam Gholam Hossein Ejei, he was born in 1335, politician, religious body and Judge to the special Islamic court, minister of secret during the 9th government and now is the chief prosecutor of the ministry of Justice
He has committed a lot miss judgements while he was the prosecutor of the suprim court like giving false exacution orders and one of the most important case was when Mr. Gholamhossein Karbaschi was condemned, of course his ability dosent end there we would point out some of his activities.  During years one of the most common things for people to scape the poverty and face the high cost of living has been selling out Kidneys, under the strict observation of ministry of health there are special centres who are largely active and they see it as reasonable and logical to sell vital organs, for one the loss of his organ and for the other a high amount of payment to obtain it
Now we are going to expose him and his activities
1. The payment to buy the kidney from the seller is around 2.5 million toman which is then sold ten times more in the black market
2.  by buying the kidney from unhealthy people and drug addicts and presenting it as healthy organ is another crime, because both the donator and the buyer are sentenced to go back to hospital again
3.  Sale and sending the organs overseas countries
But the history dose not end there
Recently we have known that Ejai by abusing of his political status has committed even worse crimes, such as ordering the autopsies of those who have died of stroke and then emptying the bodies and without the permission of the family proseeding to sell the organs to the buyers on the black market
Before this Ejei has shown his corrupted nature, especialy when he was the director of the national security of this regim, his cruel and savage nature such as dealing with those who were against him before his high assignment in the government such as torturing personally those captured, or ordering the confiscation of property and wealth of the people by extortion and then agreeing to return them back to their legitimate owner for a great amount of money, even lands which were donated by people to the Oghaf and properties who did not have any deeds and so on
With hope of Cleansing our country from the power of these people

Iran: Arrest Sweeps Target Arab Minority

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Iran: Arrest Sweeps Target Arab Minority

 

Dozens Held; 2 Have Died in Custody

Iranian security forces arrested more than 65 Arab residents during security sweeps in Iran’s Arab-majority Khuzestan province since late 2011 according to local activists, Human Rights Watch said today. The Iranian government should immediately charge or release those arrested, Human Rights Watch said. Authorities should also investigate reports by local activists that two detainees have died in Intelligence Ministry detention facilities in the past week.

Reports by local activists about security sweeps in the towns of Hamidiyeh, Shush, and Ahvaz indicate that authorities carried out at least some of the arrests in response to anti-government slogans and graffiti spray-painted on public property expressing sympathy for the Arab Spring and calling for a boycott of Iran’sparliamentary elections, scheduled for March 2, 2012. Human Rights Watch received information that Mohammad Kaabi, 34, and Nasser Alboshokeh Derafshan, 19, died in detention facilities run by local intelligence officials in Shush and Ahvaz respectively, apparently as a result of torture. The local activists say that most of those arrested are being held in incommunicado detention.

“There has been a blackout inside Iran on this latest round of arrests targeting Arab protesters and activists,” said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “Authorities should immediately divulge the reasons for the arrests, give detainees access to family members and lawyers, bring all detainees promptly before a judge, and hold anyone responsible for torture to account.”

Human Rights Watch expressed concern for those in custody. Based on past government actions some of those arrested could be at imminent risk of execution if they are convicted by revolutionary courts of national security crimes including terrorism or espionage, or face prosecution on such charges. Human Rights Watch is not aware of any charges that have been brought in these cases.

According to several Iranian Arab rights groups, security forces have since November 2011 arrested at least 18 Arab men in Hamidiyeh, 25 kilometers west of Ahvaz, the provincial capital. The first arrest, on November 28, was of the prominent activist Hasan Manabi, an elementary school principal, and his brother Ghabel. A close friend of Hasan Manabi told Human Rights Watch that security and intelligence forces had arrested him numerous times since 2005. He said that Manabi, who had told the friend about torture and ill-treatment at the hands of intelligence officials following earlier arrests, had decided in late 2010 to seek asylum in Turkey.

Manabi’s friend told Human Rights Watch that the Intelligence Ministry summoned and detained Manabi’s wife for several days to pressure him to return to Iran. Manabi returned in September 2011 and introduced himself to intelligence officials in Ahvaz, who interrogated him, then released him after several hours. But on November 28 intelligence agents raided Manabi’s home and arrested him and his brother Ghabel. The authorities have since accused Hasan Manabi of spying for the United States and the United Kingdom, in addition to having ties with Arab opposition groups operating in Khuzestan province.

A local Khuzestan activist told Human Rights Watch that the latest round of arrests in Hamidiyeh began when security forces arrested nine Iranian Arabs on January 10 and four more on January 26 and 30. Most are between ages 20 and 28, and some had previously been detained for participating in demonstrations demanding more rights for Iran’s ethnic Arab minority. At least one has been released on bail, the local activist said, and several others have since been arrested.

Authorities have also arrested at least 27 people in Shush, 115 kilometers northwest of Ahvaz, in recent weeks. A local activist there said that security forces, including plainclothes members of the Intelligence Ministry, initiated the arrests in response to anti-government slogans and graffiti spray-painted on public property expressing sympathy for the Arab Spring and calling for a boycott of Iran’s parliamentary elections, scheduled for March 2. The activist said that security forces set up checkpoints throughout Shush. After they arrested Jasim Kaabi, his daughter Khadijeh, and his son Mohammad in their home on January 21, he said “people became angry and poured into the streets.” In response, security forces arrested at least 24 men, most of them in their 20s, on January 25 and 26. The arrests took place in Ahmadabad, Khazireh, Davar, and several villages outside of Shush.

“For about four days [from January 25] Shush was effectively under martial law, which has since been lifted,” the activist said. “But the city is still under a heavy security presence.”

The local activist told Human Rights Watch that Mohammad Kaabi, who was arrested in Shush on January 21, died in custody at a local Intelligence Ministry detention facility. The local activist confirmed reports from other activists that on February 2 authorities from the Shush Intelligence Ministry office contacted Kaabi’s family and informed them that he had died. The official reportedly told the family that authorities had already buried Kaabi’s remains and there was no need for funeral services. They warned the family not to conduct a public mourning service for their son.

Prior to news of Kaabi’s death, local activists told Human Rights Watch that 19-year-old Nasser Alboshokeh Derafshan had allegedly died after being tortured on January 30 in an Intelligence Ministry detention facility in Ahvaz. A source close to Derafshan’s family told Human Rights Watch that security forces arrested Derafshan on January 26 for unknown reasons.

On January 30, agents from Ahvaz’s Intelligence Ministry called Derafshan’s father and told them to come pick up him up, the source said. When his father arrived at the detention facility, he caught a glimpse of a body inside the ambulance parked there and asked if it was his son, but the authorities denied it. He followed the ambulance to Golestan hospital and discovered that the body in the ambulance was his son’s. The source told Human Rights Watch that Derafshan’s family saw signs of torture on his body, including bruises on his face, neck, waist, and ribs. The authorities claim that Derafshan died of natural causes.

The source told Human Rights Watch that authorities have so far refused to return Derafshan’s body to his family.

Local activists also told Human Rights Watch that intelligence agents have arrested at least 11 Arab men in and around Ahvaz since February 3. Security forces arrested another 10 Arab men, all of whom are members of the Sunni sect, on January 17, activists said. One of them told Human Rights Watch that security forces, many of them plainclothes agents, are present throughout Ahvaz and the situation there is very tense.

Human Rights Watch has received the names of many of those arrested or killed, but has not been able to verify the circumstances of each arrest due to severe government restrictions on independent monitoring and reporting in the province. Human Rights Watch previously called on Iranian authorities to allow independent international media and human rights organizations access to investigate allegations of serious rights violations in the province.

“Security operations in Khuzestan province since protests there last April have resulted in the largest number of deaths and injuries since the crackdown that followed the disputed 2009 presidential election,” Stork said. “With the province under an information blackout and the history of secret convictions and executions, we have reason to be very worried about the people the authorities have been snatching up and carrying off there.”

Background
Khuzestan province, where much of Iran’s oil and gas reserves are located, has a large ethnic Arab population believed to number more than 2 million, possibly a majority of residents. Despite Khuzestan’s natural resource wealth, ethnic Arabs have long complained about the lack of socioeconomic development in the region. They also allege that the Iranian government has systematically discriminated against them, particularly in employment, housing, and civil and political rights.

The arrests in Hamidiyeh, Shush, and Ahvaz are the latest in an intense government security and media campaign over several years targeting Khuzestan Arab residents and activists. The government routinely alleges that Arab rights activists and protesters engage in terrorism and espionage, or are tied to armed Arab separatist groups. On December 13, 2011, Press TV, a government English-language station, aired a documentary featuring three Arab men who confessed before the cameras that they had carried out terrorist activities. The program alleged that the men – Hadi Rashedi, Hashem Shaabani, and Taha Heidarian – were part of a group called ‘Khalq-e Arab,’ supported by US and UK interests and foreign-based Iranian Arabs who fronted as human rights activists.

A source who knows both Rashedi and Shaabani told Human Rights Watch that the two men are among more than 10 others from the town of Khalafabad, located about 120 kilometers southeast of Ahvaz, who have been arrested and detained by authorities since January 2011. He said he believes the men were forced to confess to these crimes after being subjected to physical and psychological torture.

In April 2011, Human Rights Watch documented the use of live ammunition by security forces against protesters in cities throughout Khuzestan province, killing dozens and wounding many more. No Iranian official has been held to account for these killings.

Authorities also arrested several hundred demonstrators and rights activists, some of whom are still in detention, and executed at least seven Arab men and a 16-year-old boy in Ahvaz’s Karun prison between May 4 and May 7, Iranian Arab rights groups reported. Local rights activists have told Human Rights Watch that at least some of those executed had been arrested only weeks before, during the April protests. Activists say that at least four others died in custody between March and May. The authorities should open independent and transparent investigations into all alleged killings, Human Rights Watch said.

The April 2011 protests were held to mark the sixth anniversary of 2005 protests in Khuzestan, in which security forces opened fire to disperse demonstrators in Ahvaz and other cities and towns, killing at least 50 protesters and detaining hundreds. The 2005 crackdown led to a cycle of violence throughout Khuzestan province, including several bomb attacks in June and October 2005 and January 2006 that killed 12 people. In response, the government imprisoned numerous activists it claimed were Arab separatists responsible for terrorist attacks against civilians and sentenced more than a dozen people to death on terrorism-related charges. Since 2006, authorities have executed at least 19 Iranians of Arab origin.

Names of People Reported Arrested in Khuzestan Province Since November 2011 (provided by local activists)*

Shush: Qasem Badavi, Jaajaa Chenani, Aadel Dabbat, Ahmad Dabbat, Ashur Dabbat, Faisal Dabbat, Kazem Dabbat, Ebrahim Heidari, Hamid Kaabi, Jaafar Kaabi, Jasem Kaabi, Karim Kaabi, Khadijeh Kaabi (female), Mohammad Kaabi (died in detention), Sajjad Kaabi, Ali Kenani, Abbas Khasraji, Mehdi Khasraji, Moslem Mazraavi, Morteza Mousavi, Hasan Navaseri, Mehdi Navaseri, Salar Obeidavi, Amir Sorkhi, Adnan Zoqeibi, Ahmad Zoqeibi, Osman Zoqeibi

Hamidiyeh: Hasan Abiat, Jalil Abiat, Jamal Abiat, Aadel Cheldavi, Adnan Cheldavi, Karim Doheimi, Ali Heidari, Mohammad Adnan Helfi, Ghabel Manabi (arrested November 2011), Hadi Manabi, Hasan Manabi (arrested November 2011), Seyed Faraj Mousavi (released on bail), Heidar Obeidavi, Khaled Obeidavi, Ayoub Saedi, Emad Saedi, Abbas Samer, Eidan Shakhi

Ahvaz (and vicinity): Ahmad Afravi (Sunni), Nasser Alboshokeh Derafshan (died in detention), Majid Bavi (Sunni), Abdolvahid Beit Sayyah (Sunni), Valid Hamadi, Qazi Handali Farhani (Sunni), Jamal Hazbavi (Sunni), Tofiq Heidari, Hamid Khanfari Batrani (Sunni), Hossein Khazraji (Sunni), Said Khazraji (Sunni), Jasem Marvani, Taher Moaviyeh, Mohammad Naami, Seyed Ahmad Nazari (Sunni), Aadel Saedi, Hossein Savari, Ali Sayyahi, Ali Sharifi, Sadoun Silavi, Khalaf Zobeidi (Sunni)

*This list is not exhaustive and Human Rights Watch could not independently verify whether the individuals listed remain in detention.

 

Source: HumanRightsWatch

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