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Conflicting reports on arrest of Ahmadinejad aide

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Conflicting reports on arrest of Ahmadinejad aide

 

The Iranian judiciary has denied reports that Ali Akbar Javanfekr, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s press aide and the director of state news agency IRNA, has been arrested by the authorities.

A number of Iranian media sources reported that security forces entered the offices of the newspaper Iran, where Ali Akbar Javanfekr was holding a press conference today, and arrested the president’s media advisor.

The Shafaf website, a source close to ultra-conservative principalists, reports that the security forces are currently in the building and intend to arrest Javanfekr. The report indicates that reporters have been moved from the premises, and the newspaper is said to have been shut down.

The report claims that the arrest is being resisted by Javanfekr supporters, who demand that the Minister of Culture visit the scene and have started a fire on the fourth floor.

The Nasim website also reports that the Iran newspaper staff members are shouting slogans and resisting Javanfekr’s arrest.

The Mehr News Agency has reported that the prosecutor’s representatives arrested Javanfekr following his press conference where he condemned the shut down of Etemad newspaper.

The Fars news agency reported that a number of political activists and MPs have demanded that the judiciary deal with Javanfekr’s recent actions.

ISNA, however, cited the spokesman for the judiciary, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, stating that Javanfekr has not been arrested. A similar statement was made on IRNA.

In an interview published this week in the Etemad daily, Javanfekr made strong statements against Ahmadinejad’s rivals among the conservative elite.

The Etemad newspaper was shut down yesterday for publishing the interview.

Meanwhile, Javanfekr reportedly has been sentenced to a year in prison for the special Khatoon issue, in which claims were made that the traditional black head-to-toe covering called the chador, which is worn by some Iranian women, has its roots in 19th century Paris rather than Islam.

Ahmadinejad and his supporters have been accused by ultra conservatives of being part of a “deviant current” that is trying to derail the clergy’s rule of the Islamic Republic.

The growing rift in the Iranian regime surfaced last April, when the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei reinstated Intelligence Minister Heydar Moslehi after Ahmadinejad accepted his resignation.

Rather than removing Ahmadinejad, Ayatollah Khamenei has resorted to slowly clipping Ahmadinejad’s wings by arresting a number of his aides and making sure that they do not get a foothold in Parliament in the March elections.

 

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The Order of the Leader’s Rep in the Guards: Kill Them

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The Order of the Leader’s Rep in the Guards: Kill Them

 

Bahram Rafiei

While the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC), the Basij militia under its command, and the law enforcement forces in the Islamic Republic of Iran have been facing deserters and dealing with psychological issues in the past two years because of the oppressive actions of these forces and their interference in the domestic politics of the country, the representative of the country’s leader ayatollah Khamenei in the IRGC force tagged the protestors who had questioned the 2009 election results to be “worthy of death” (mahdoor al-dam) and added that the Guards and the Basij should not have any “hesitations” in crushing them.

Speaking at a seminar titled “Basij and the Media,” ayatollah Khamenei’s representative cleric Ali Saeedi told the audience, which included senior IRGC and Basij commanders, that the supreme leader of the Islamic Republic had as much authority as the Muslim prophet Mohammad 14 centuries ago. “There is no difference in the authority that the missing Prophet and the current vali faghih (supreme religious authority) posses in running the country and therefore all the authority that the Prophet and the Imam enjoyed in the administration of the state then also exist for the current vali faghih,” he said.

Speaking about the Basij he said that the members of the militia, who were heavily involved the 2009 crackdown, had to view the orders of the supreme leader as absolute. “A Basiji views the orders of the vali faghih as final. The orders of the leader are obligatory for the educated Basij. This obedience to the supreme leader is absolute and not selective. We cannot obey the leader at will,” he explained I detail.

Describing what obedience to the supreme leader meant, Saeedi said, “Self-sacrifice for a Basiji must be absolute. It does not stop at material things but includes giving up material objects, life, children and respect.”

“When the Hypocrats (a term the Islamic Republic of Iran uses for the Mujahedin Khalq Organization) stand up against God, they are worthy of death, … just as are the seditionists (a term the Islamic Republic uses for those who opposed the results of the 2009 presidential elections and the Green Movement leaders) of 2009 against whom Basiji members must not hesitate to act,” he declared.

In another part of his talk, Saeedi explained the views of religious hardliners and extremists on the question of legitimacy and sovereignty. “Legitimacy is not something that comes through the vote of people. The role of people is to generate power. (The source of) Rule comes from God.”

The use of harsh and extreme Shiite terms, such as mahdoor al-dam or worthy of death in dealing with opponents of the Islamic Republic is not new. Earlier, ultra-conservative and extremist cleric ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi had made similar remarks. Speaking to a group of Basij and IRGC members on October 16, 2009, Yazdi, who is also known as the theoretician of Shiite violence, is reported to have told his audience, “There are always those who oppose the imposition of justice and who will not surrender unless they are punished, which is why the Quran advocates the use of steel and arms for the implementation of justice.”

In his regular classes to IRGC members too, he has sanctioned the use of “steel and arms” in crushing protestors and has advocated harsh treatment of those who he believes are against Islam, with no room for any leniency. And like Saeedi, he too has said that the legitimacy of the constitution of the Islamic Republic rests with the will and signature of the supreme leader, and not with people.

The desertion of members of the IRGC and the Basij, which picked up momentum after the violent crackdown of peaceful protesters to the 2009 presidential elections, has been confirmed on numerous occasions by officers of these forces. In July/August of 2010 General Mohammad Ali Jaafari, the commander of the IRGC, acknowledged the presence of supporters of reform and opposition personality Mir-Hossein Mousavi and the Green Movement in the IRGC and Basij by saying that the Guards had made efforts to “convince them” to give up their ways . “Many other confusions have been removed and they (i.e., the protestors) have been convinced that their path was wrong, which is better than physically confronting or eliminating them,” he said. And speaking to a group of IRGC and Basij members of Semnan province on July 22, 2010, Jaafari is reported to have said that the members of the IRGC and Basij could not be indifferent to the dangers facing the revolution, implicitly calling on them to be actively supportive against the protestors.

On November 4 last year ayatollah Khamenei himself preached on the virtues and the need of dedication among Basij members when he said, “To remain a Basiji and be resilient, is more important even as remaining a Basiji requires permanent alertness and monitoring.” These words were in fact the leader’s expression of dissatisfaction with some of the members or units of these two forces, something that Guards General Hossein Hamedani had expressed more clearly earlier. Speaking to Khabar Online on October 2, 2010, this commander of the Mohammad Rasoolallah IRGC force said, “At some moments, some of the forces engaged in security operations  had had acted carelessly in battling the seditionists or had acted badly presenting a negative image of the Basij.” He continued, “For what time do we need the Basij? Do we want it for Basij or for the revolution? We do not want a Basij force which remains unharmed when the revolution is harmed.” Hamedani described a situation when he came across a group of Basijis who were engaged in prayers as protesters were marching in a part of Tehran. He questioned their dedication and decision.

The law enforcement forces of the Islamic Republic also have struggled with the issue of deserters. Its commander, Ismail Ahmadi Moghadam on October 2, 2010 had said during a morning speech at a base that members of the force should not be uncertain as to where their loyalty and the “right” was when the enemy was threatening the country. On another occasion in March of 2009 he had spoken of psychological problems among the personnel of the armed forces. “We must strive not to have any staff suffering from psychological pressure, but with every step that we take forwards, we see more psychological pressure on the personnel.”

 

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Plain Clothes Agents Opened Fire at 2 Dervishes

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Plain Clothes Agents Opened Fire at 2 Dervishes

 

HRANA News Agency – On Thursday, November 16, 2011, Security agents attempted to detain two members of Nimatullahi Gonabadi Sufi Sect in Kavar County, Fars Province, Iran, and opened fire at them when the dervishes resisted arrest.

According to a report by Majzooban Nur, Nimatullahi Gonabadi Order website, on Thursday afternoon, while Zabehe Kurdpour and Reza Poshtkar were heading towards the dervishes’ temple in Kavar County, security agents together with plain-clothes officers stopped them and attempted to detain both dervishes. When Zabehe Kurdpour and Reza Poshtkar resisted arrest and tried to escape, security agents opened fire at them. During this incident, no one was injured.

Recently, pressure on Gonabadi dervishes in Kavar County has increased, and more arrests are made continuously such that the members of this religious minority feel more threatened and insecure every day.

 

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Authorities arrest another senior reformist

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Authorities arrest another senior reformist

 

Massoud Sepehr, another senior member of the reformist organization Mojahedin of the Islamic Revolution, has been arrested by Islamic Republic authorities.

The Emrooz website reports that on Thursday morning, plainclothes officials raided Massoud Sepehr’s home and arrested him after a thorough search.

Sepehr, a professor of political science at the Open University of Shiraz, was arrested and sentenced earlier for challenging the 2009 presidential election results by alleging vote fraud.

Following the 2009 election protests, several members of the Mojahedin of the Islamic Revolution were arrested and sentenced to stiff prison terms. The organization was also officially banned from political activity, and recently the government announced that it will not be allowed to provide a list of candidates for the coming parliamentary elections.

Iranian reformists are being rapidly eliminated from Iranian politics in the wake of those 2009 protests, which were sparked when reformist candidates challenged the victory of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and made allegations of vote fraud.

 

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Imprisoned Journalist Awaits Surgery After Nine Months

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Imprisoned Journalist Awaits Surgery After Nine Months

 

Mehdi Mahmoudian, an imprisoned journalist and member of the Participation Front political party, was transferred from Rajaee Shahr Prison to a hospital in May 2011 and will undergo surgery Thursday morning. In an interview with the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, a source close to the prisoner who asked for anonymity for security reasons said, “Mehdi suffers from serious blood pressure fluctuations and keeps having seizures. Only since yesterday have the doctors been able to stabilize his blood pressure. He will undergo surgery on Thursday. Finally, a whole year after his illness and his requests for treatment, the Tehran Prosecutor gave him permission to leave prison.”

Mahmoudian, one of the individuals responsible for disseminating information about the events at Kahrizak Detention Center, was arrested on 16 September 2009 at his home. He was initially detained at Evin Prison, but was moved to Rajaee Shahr Prison in Karaj. Mahmoudian was sentenced to five years in prison on the charge of “assembly and collusion against the regime.” He wrote a letter to Iran’s Supreme Leader about the horrific prison conditions, including the occurrence of rape, at Rajaee Shahr Prison.

“When he was in Evin’s Ward 209, on many nights they sent him to the prison yard without any clothes. This was in December when it was very cold and he spent many nights until morning under the rain. He developed respiratory problems since then and complained numerous times, asking to be sent out of prison for treatment. The Evin Prison infirmary did not even give him medicine. After a while the prison guards wanted to transfer him to a hospital with foot cuffs, but he did not agree to being transferred like this,” the source told the Campaign.

“Mehdi’s situation kept worsening in Rajaee Shahr Prison, until finally last May they transferred him to the hospital. According to the doctors, he has lost a large part of his lung capacity and there is nothing that can be done for him. He will have to live with his half lung now. But since last December, he also developed a fluctuating blood pressure, to the point where several hours each day he would lose consciousness. Prison doctors said that he needs an immediate brain scan and must be immediately transferred to the hospital, but in order to leave the prison he needed permission from the Prosecutor. It took nine months to receive this permission. His transfer was further delayed for a month because they wanted to take him to prison with foot cuffs and Mehdi resisted this, until the prison authorities agree to transfer him without foot cuffs,” the source added.

According to this source, many political prisoners at the Rajaee Shahr Prison are also suffering from poor prison conditions.

“The political prisoners’ ward of the Rajaee Shahr Prison has 30 rooms that are 2 square meters each and are situated along a large corridor. There are no exits at the beginning or end of the corridor, and the prisoners have no contact with each other. This ward houses 60 political prisoners who are forced to spend 21 hours a day next to each other in a cramped space without any connection to the outside world. During the day, the prisoners are allowed only three hours of fresh air. In the cold and hot seasons the time spent outside is during the coldest or hottest times of the day, during which most prisoners do not want to leave their cells. Also, contrary to the procedures that allow prisoners to write to their families twice per month, none of their letters ever reach their families, and after several months the letters are returned to the prirsoners undelivered,” the source said. Many of the political prisoners at this prison have remained unidentified, and up until now the media had not spoken to their families, according to the source. The prisoners are subjected to extra mistreatment and harassment. Many have been beaten and insulted by other prisoners and prison authorities.

The source told the Campaign that prison authorities have commissioned prisoners to beat imprisoned student Ali Ajami many times, causing black bruises under Ajami’s eyes and on his face. Prison authorities not only failed to investigate his complaints but they transferred him to solitary confinement after he complained.

The source added that Issa Saharkhiz, also imprisoned in Rajaee Shahr Prison, is not in good condition and has been assaulted by the other prisoners many times. Previously, prison physicians told him that he might have cancer and that he must be tested for it, but it took three months before he was taken for testing. “Rajaee Shahr Prison is well known to be the worst prison in Iran, but apparently they have made the conditions even worse for political prisoners. They have made a hell inside another hell for them.”

“The prisoners have no in-person visitation, and if they ever are lucky enough and get a visit, in reality it is a behind-the-wall visit, meaning they are not allowed to shake hands or kiss their visitors, something similar to a cabin visit,” the source said.

 

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Soltani To File Suit Against Javad Larijani for False Terrorist Accusation

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Soltani To File Suit Against Javad Larijani for False Terrorist Accusation

 

One day after Mohammad Javad Larijani claimed that distinguished human rights lawyer Abdolfattah Soltani, who is currently inside Evin Prison, was connected to terrorist groups, his wife, Massoumeh Dehghan, told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran that Soltani has never faced such an accusation and that he and his lawyers will be filing a lawsuit against Larijani for the false accusations he leveled against her husband.

Dehghan told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran that she visited her husband this morning and told him about Larijani’s statements during his press conference in New York yesterday. “He said, ‘If it’s possible, I’ll file the suit myself, but my hands are tied here as I have no pen and no paper. But because of the unfounded accusation made against me, a charge about which I have not been informed, nor has it been proven, I will either file a lawsuit against him myself, or I will ask my lawyers to do this on my behalf.’”

During a press conference at the United Nations in New York yesterday, Mohammad Javad Larijani, Head of the Iranian Judiciary’s Human Rights Council, responded to a question about the arrests of human rights lawyers such as Abdolfattah Soltani. “No lawyer is in prison because he is a lawyer or he is a defender of human rights. But any person who is involved in activities which are against the security of the state, especially their relations with terrorist groups … Mr. Abdolfattah Soltani has relations with terrorist groups which are responsible for murdering more than 10,000 people in Iran,” Larijani told the reporters.

“Mr. Soltani and his lawyers have been informed about his charges.  The case’s indictment has been submitted, his conviction ruling has been issued, and his case has been transferred to the judicial court branch and we have never heard such things. This is a continuation of Mr. Mortazavi’s [Saeed Mortazavi, former Tehran Prosecutor] story who called Soltani a spy after his arrest several years ago. My husband was acquitted later and of course none of them ever even apologized, let alone paid damages for his serving seven months in prison and in solitary confinement. Really, if someone collaborated with terrorists, how come they only remembered this two months after his arrest?” said Dehghan.

In an earlier interview with the Campaign, Dehghan affirmed her husband’s charges. “Mr. Soltani himself told me when he called that his charges are ‘propagating against the regime,’ ‘establishing the Defenders of Human Rights Center,’ ‘assembly and collusion against national security,’ and ‘accepting an unlawful prize.’ By ‘unlawful prize,’ they mean the Nuremberg International Human Rights Award, which Mr. Soltani received in 2009.”

Authorities arrested Soltani, co-founder of the Defenders of Human Rights Center, on 10 September 2011. Currently, he is being held in Ward 209 in Evin Prison. This is Soltani’s third arrest since 2005.

Reacting to Larijani’s statements, Dehghan told the Campaign, “All I can say is that I’m really sorry. From a legal stance, Mr. Larijan’s conduct is a crime. So long as Mr. Soltani has not appeared before a court and his charges have not been proven, he is not allowed to make such statements. As the Judiciary Deputy for Human Rights, he must know these things. Even if such charges are accurate and Mr. Soltani is a criminal, so long as [these accusations] are not proven, [Larijani] is not supposed to talk about them. And, secondly, based on what reasoning and evidence did he make these statements?”

“Because of the unfounded allegations leveled against my husband and the damage this has caused my family, I want my husband’s lawyers to file suit against Mr. Larijani and I hope that [this lawsuit] is reviewed in an impartial court,” added Dehghan.

According to Abdolfattah Soltani’s wife, the lawyer and co-founder of Defenders of Human Rights Center’s temporary detention orders were extended for two more months today.

 

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UN atomic watchdog condemns Iran

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UN atomic watchdog condemns Iran

 

AFP – The UN atomic watchdog’s board passed Friday a resolution of “deep and increasing concern” about Iran’s nuclear activities after a damning new report from the Vienna-based body.

But the text, proposed at the International Atomic Energy Agency by the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, Germany and 12 others, stops short of reporting Iran to New York or setting Tehran a deadline to comply.

The resolution said it was “essential for Iran and the Agency to intensify their dialogue” and calls on Tehran “to comply fully and without delay with its obligations under relevant resolutions of the UN Security Council.”

A total of 32 countries on the 35-nation IAEA board of governors voted in favour, with Indonesia abstaining and Cuba and Ecuador voting against, diplomats said.

But to assuage Chinese and Russian misgivings, the resolution has no timeframe for Iran to comply, calling instead for IAEA head Yukiya Amano to report to the board in March on Tehran’s “implementation of this resolution.”

Last week, the IAEA came the closest yet to accusing Iran outright of seeking to develop nuclear weapons, in a report immediately rejected by the Islamic republic as “baseless.”

The US envoy to the IAEA, Glyn Davies, told the board on Friday that the “watershed report … leaves little doubt that Iran, at the very least, wants to position itself for a nuclear weapons capacity.”

He rejected criticism that the resolution was too weak.

“This resolution does the job,” Davies told reporters. “It gives us the tools we need to get the job done.”

Britain, France and Germany said in a joint statement they were “gravely concerned” by the report, saying it “paints a very disturbing picture … The international community cannot simply return to business as usual.”

But Iran’s envoy Ali Soltanieh said it was “unprofessional, unbalanced, illegal and politicised” and has “deeply ruined the worldwide reputation of the Agency as a technical competent authority.”

He told reporters that Iran would not suspend its uranium enrichment activities and that the resolution would only serve to strengthen its resolve.

“It will be business as usual … We will continue our work as before,” he said, accusing Amano of making a “historical mistake.”

The report laid bare deep differences within the so-called P5+1 bloc dealing with the Iran question, the five permanent members of the UN Security Council — the United States, China, Russia, Britain, France — and Germany.

Washington, Paris and London jumped on the IAEA report as justification to increase pressure on Iran, already under four rounds of Security Council sanctions and additional US and European restrictions.

But Beijing, which relies heavily on Iranian oil imports, and Moscow, which also has close commercial ties and built Iran’s only nuclear power plant, have been more cautious.

Israel’s ambassador Ehud Azoulay on Thursday expressed disappointment at the resolution, having hoped for a stronger response and even what would be a fifth round of sanctions, saying the resolution “could be tougher.”

But Western diplomats stressed all major powers had agreed, thus avoiding what would have been a potentially damaging split in the UN Security Council, where relations have already been tested this year over Libya and Syria.

“It is good we have a resolution supported by the six (powers),” a European envoy said. “It supports the work of the agency, condemns the lack of Iranian cooperation and calls on Iran to cooperate at last and without delay.”

Mark Hibbs from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace think tank said the text fails to single out weapons-related items in Amano’s report, “and, most significantly, it doesn’t set any deadline for Iran to comply.”

 

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Suspicion in Iran that Stuxnet caused Revolutionary Guards base explosions

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Suspicion in Iran that Stuxnet caused Revolutionary Guards base explosions

 

Is the Stuxnet computer malworm back on the warpath in Iran?

Exhaustive investigations into the deadly explosion last Saturday, Nov. 12 of the Sejil-2 ballistic missile at the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) Alghadir base point increasingly to a technical fault originating in the computer system controlling the missile and not the missile itself. The head of Iran’s ballistic missile program Maj. Gen. Hassan Moghaddam was among the 36 officers killed in the blast which rocked Tehran 46 kilometers away.
(Tehran reported 17 deaths although 36 funerals took place.)

Since the disaster, experts have run tests on missiles of the same type as Sejil 2 and on their launching mechanisms.

DEBKAfile’s military and Iranian sources disclose three pieces of information coming out of the early IRGC probe:
1.  Maj. Gen. Moghaddam had gathered Iran’s top missile experts around the Sejil 2 to show them a new type of warhead which could also carry a nuclear payload. No experiment was planned. The experts were shown the new device and asked for their comments.
2.  Moghaddam presented the new warhead through a computer simulation attached to the missile. His presentation was watched on a big screen. The missile exploded upon an order from the computer.

The warhead blew first; the solid fuel in its engines next, so explaining the two consecutive bangs across Tehran and the early impression of two explosions, the first more powerful than the second, occurring at the huge 52 sq. kilometer complex of Alghadir.

3.  Because none of the missile experts survived and all the equipment and structures pulverized within a half-kilometer radius of the explosion, the investigators had no witnesses and hardly any physical evidence to work from.

Iranian intelligence heads entertain two initial theories to account for the sudden calamity: a) that Western intelligence service or the Israeli Mossad managed to plant a technician among the missile program’s personnel and he signaled the computer to order the missile to explode; or b), a theory which they find more plausible, that the computer controlling the missile was infected with the Stuxnet virus which misdirected the missile into blowing without anyone present noticing anything amiss until it was too late.
It is the second theory which has got Iran’s leaders really worried because it means that, in the middle of spiraling tension with the United States and Israel or their nuclear weapons program, their entire Shahab 3 and Sejil 2 ballistic missile arsenal is infected and out of commission until minute tests are completed. Western intelligence sources told DEBKAfilethat Iran’s supreme armed forces chief Gen. Hassan Firouz-Abadi was playing for time when he announced this week that the explosion had “only delayed by two weeks the manufacturing of an experimental product by the Revolutionary Guards which could be a strong fist in the face of arrogance (the United States) and the occupying regime (Israel).”

Iran needs time to thoroughly investigate the causes of the fatal explosion and convince everyone that the computer systems controlling its missiles of the Stuxnet malworm will be cleansed and running in no time just like the  Natanz uranium enrichment installation and Bushehr atomic reactor which were decontaminated between June and September 2010.

If indeed Stuxnet is back, the cleanup this time would take several months, according to Western experts – certainly longer than the two weeks estimated by Gen. Firouz-Abadi.

Those experts also rebut the contention of certain Western and Russian computer pros that Stuxnet and another virus called Duqu are linked.

The head of Iran’s civil defense program Gholamreza Jalali said this week that the fight against Duqu is “in its initial phase” and the final report “which says which organizations the virus has spread to and what its impacts are has not been complete yet. All the organizations and centers that could be susceptible to being contaminated are under control.”

 

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Arrests of Kurdish Activists Continues: Three More Arrests

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Arrests of Kurdish Activists Continues: Three More Arrests

 

In the continuing wave of recent arrests of Kurdish political and civil activists, a local human rights activist told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran that security forces stormed the homes of five Kurdish activists and arrested three of them. They were unable to arrest the other two because they were not home at the time.

On 23 October, security forces affiliated with Sanandaj Information Office raided the homes of Varia Khosravi, a civil activist and member of the Kurdistan Green Association and a resident of Hassanabad village outside Sanandaj; Akbar Gouyali, a political activist and former political prisoner and a resident of Kalaneh village outside Sanandaj; and Razgar Roshani, 23, a member of the Sanandaj Green Association from Sanandaj. Forces searched the homes of the three activists and arrested Varia Khosravi and Akbar Gouyali, but were unable to arrest Razgar Roshani who was not home at the time of the raid.

According to the source,  the forces also stormed the homes of two other Kurdish activists, Kamran Rahimi, 25, a member of the Kurdistan Green Association and Kaveh Tahmasebi, 26, a former political prisoner on 25 October and 13 November.  Security forces arrested Rahimi after searching his home but were unable to arrest Tahmasebi who was not home at the time.

The three Kurdish activists remain in detention and under interrogation inside the Sanandaj Information Office Detention Center.

 

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Wife of political prisoner: when I told authorities about the tortures, they laughed at me

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Wife of political prisoner: when I told authorities about the tortures, they laughed at me

 

Kaleme– Journalist Siyamak Ghaderi has been incarcerated in Evin prison for over a year and a half without furlough. He was arrested in August 2009 and tried and convicted in branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court, presided by Judge Moghiseh. Ghaderi was convicted on the charges of “Propaganda against the regime”, “Publishing and spreading lies”, and “Disturbing the public”.

One of Ghaderi’s main charges was writing on his blog “Irnaye ma” (our IRNA), where he criticized the officials at the IRNA news agency (the official state-run Iranian news agency). He also wrote about the Green Movement and its leaders.

His wife Farzaneh Mirvand recently spoke to Kaleme about Ghaderi’s latest situation, and the problems she faces as the wife of a political prisoner wife and raising their only child.

Mirvand stressed that her husband was tortured in ward 209 of Evin prison but authorities have paid no attention to the complaints.

INTERVIEW

Kaleme: Tell us about your husband’s physical and mental status.
Farzaneh Mirvand: Thank God he is fine now. He just misses being at home with his family.

Kaleme: Tell us about the time he was in ward 209. Apparently you had no news on him for a long period of time?
Farzaneh Mirvand: Even thinking about the days that my husband was held in ward 209 is very difficult for me. He was held in solitary confinement for 34 days under harsh interrogations. He was blindfolded, beaten with a baton, and threatened for the purpose of extracting false confessions.

During one of his interrogation sessions, an interrogator slapped his face so hard that he and the chair he was sitting on hit the ground. My husband is still suffering from an injury to his neck from the fall.

Kaleme: Have you filed a complaint with the judicial authorities about this incident?
Farzaneh Mirvand: Yes, about these pressures and other violations. I have gone to every place I could and have told the authorities about the [incidents], but they just laughed at me.

Even during his trial, my husband told the Judge about the tortures, but he, without paying any attention to my husband’s remarks, issued a verdict based on my husband’s false confessions.

I even wrote to the Islamic Human Rights Council, informing them about my husband’s tortures, but the only reply I received from them was that they had received the letter and my request was logged.

My husband was in ward 209 for nine months and the interrogators told him that if he does not provide them with false confessions they would not transfer him to the public ward 350.

Kaleme: Like most of the political prisoners and detained journalists, Mr. Ghaderi’s main charge was “Propaganda against the regime”. Is that the reason why they fired him from IRNA?
Farzaneh Mirvand: Yes, they fired him from his job [that he had for] 18 years, while his case was still pending in court. However, given the fact that the plaintiff in this case is Mr. Javanfekr (the head of IRNA), one of Ahmadinejad’s senior advisers, the action was not very surprising.

Kaleme: Was your husband’s sentence finally confirmed? In your previous interviews you said your husband is incarcerated without a final verdict and is imprisoned without being sentenced.
Farzaneh Mirvand: Yes, about two weeks ago, the Appeals Court upheld his four-year prison sentence and my husband was informed of the verdict. He immediately requested a hearing, but we already know what the results will be.

Kaleme: Mr. Ghaderi has been incarcerated for a year-and-a-half without furlough. Has he, like other political prisoners, been denied furlough for no reason at all?
Farzaneh Mirvand: I have no idea, but the Public Prosecutor’s recent denial of furlough for my husband makes us believe that all these decisions and the unjust sentence of three years on the charge of “Assembly and colluding”, and one year for “Propaganda and publishing lies” goes back to the animosity and the differing view points between my husband and Mr. Dolatabadi (the Public Prosecutor) from the time they worked together.

Eight months ago, I informed Mr. Dolatabadi of my husband’s condition without mentioning his name. His reply was that my husband has the right to furlough and he told the soldier present to provide me with the furlough request form. However, when I started filling out the form, he asked my husband’s name, and as soon as he heard “Siyamak Ghaderi”, he became outraged and exclaimed, “No, no, don’t write it. It’s too early for him to be released.”

The Prosecutor had requested the heavy sentence of 20 years ban from journalism and leaving the country, and exile to Iranshahr prison. This further strengthens the thought that the Prosecutor’s actions are based on a personal grudge against my husband.

Kaleme: So, Mr. Ghaderi, as part of his sentence, has been banned from his profession and is to be exiled for his prison term?
Farzaneh Mirvand: No, fortunately, despite the Prosecutor’s request, none of these were included in my husband’s verdict.

Kaleme: As a political prisoner’s wife, what is your condition and what kind of problems do you encounter?
Farzaneh Mirvand: I can only tell you that it is very hard. One of the smallest and least important problems that I face now is financial hardship. I struggle with this situation, and sometimes it becomes so difficult that I can only pray to God to give me strength to endure these problems- especially since my son misses his father very much.

Kaleme: How is your son doing?
Farzaneh Mirvand: My son, Ali is an introvert and also very patient. But, recently, especially since the start of the school year in September, he has been acting a little strange because he sees his father less.

One day he said something that really brought pain to my heart. He said, “I am starting to forget what my father looks like. Lately, when I have a dream about him, I don’t see his face anymore.” After hearing this I decided to put a picture of his father up on the refrigerator so he can see his face all the time.

After Ali heard that his father has requested furlough, he recited prayers every night. He was very optimistic that [his prayers would be answered]. He said that, even if his father is granted one day of furlough, he will have many plans [set up for his father on that day].

I didn’t tell him for days that the furlough request had been denied. When he heard the news, he locked himself up in his room for hours.

Overall it’s not a good situation. He is a teenager and has his own specific needs. I may be a very good mother, but I can not replace the role of his father.

Kaleme: We heard that the authorities have asked Mr. Ghaderi to write a letter requesting pardon so he can be released ahead of his full term sentence, but he has denied their request. Is this so, and if so, why?
Farzaneh Mirvand: Yes, when they informed my husband of his sentence they asked him to write a letter requesting pardon, but my husband refused saying he has not committed any crime to request a pardon.

Apart from this, in our religion, forgiveness is an admirable and beautiful act. In which Islamic text does it mention that a written request is required to be forgiven- unless the act of forgiveness is for propaganda purposes only and not an act to please God.

Kaleme: As a political prisoner’s wife you must have suffered a lot of hardships, however, even during times of hardship there can be good times as well. Can you tell us your best memory?
Farzaneh Mirvand: I cannot recall a specific memory, but I, like you, believe that in every hardship there also is a blessing. I could say that, perhaps all this has caused intellectual development and a change in my point of view- that is the best thing that has happened to me during this time.

Kaleme: What do you personally request from the Judicial authorities?
Farzaneh Mirvand: I have no request for them. Our lives are being steered by a much greater power.

 

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