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Payman Karimi in Danger of Blindness; Hassan Farji in Aftermath of Heart Attack

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Payman Karimi in Danger of Blindness; Hassan Farji in Aftermath of Heart Attack

 

HRANA News Agency – Medical conditions of two political prisoners locked up in Ward 350 of Evin Prison are reported critical. Payman Karimi suffers from diabetes and is in danger of losing his sight entirely; Hassan Farji has suffered a heart attack resulting in speech impediment and physical and mobility impairment.

According to a report by Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), Payman Karimi was arrested following the events after 2009 presidential elections in Iran. He was transferred to the prison hospital two months ago due to frequent volatility of blood glucose level and remains there to this day. Since his hospitalization, Payman Karimi has experienced many diabetic shocks and consequently has blurry vision. According to medical doctors, if the current situation continues, Payman Karimi will be in danger of losing his eye sight entirely.

Furthermore, Hassan Farji is another political prisoner suffering from a number of medical problems including heart and digestive diseases. Recently, when he was told that he had been sentenced to 10 years in prison, Hassan Farji suffered a heart attack and had to be taken to Modaress Hospital. However, he was again behind bars in Evin Prison before long. At this time, Hassan Farji has lost most of his ability to talk, can’t walk and is incapable of taking care of himself.

Hassan Farji’s cellmates have found out that prison officials mistakenly told him that a new 10 year prison term had been issued for him. The new verdict should have been given to another prisoner with the same name convicted of smuggling weapons.

Medical examiner and coroner’s office has issued two certificates indicating that these two prisoners are incapable of tolerating imprisonment due to their physical health. However, Tehran’s prosecutor, pressured by Iran’s security and intelligence apparatus, has refused to obey these legal orders.

 

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US general: Iran-backed groups biggest Iraq threat

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US general: Iran-backed groups biggest Iraq threat

 

AP — Iranian-backed militias present the most dangerous security threat for Iraq, outpacing al-Qaida-linked terrorists who have been blamed for the spike in violence there, a senior U.S. military officer said Tuesday.

Maj. Gen. Jeffrey S. Buchanan, the top U.S. military spokesman in Iraq, said the Shiite militias — together they have several thousand insurgents — are working to keep the Baghdad government weak and isolated. Decisions on the number of types of attacks launched by the three main militia groups, he said, are made inside Iran, including through their ties with the powerful Quds force.

The escalating threat underscores the dangers as the U.S. prepares to pull its troops out by the end of the year. Iraqi officials are discussing whether they want to have some American forces stay in the country past that deadline.

“The Quds force is providing direct support (to the militias) in terms of manning, equipping, provision of intelligence,” Buchanan said. “They have been at least exhibiting the behavior that lines up with a strategy that wants to keep Iraq weak and isolated from everybody else, all of its neighbors and the United States. And so they’ve been employing political means, economic means, security means in the way that these militant groups operate.”

Buchanan told reporters at the Pentagon that while al-Qaida in Iraq may be responsible for the recent wave of violence, including execution-style shootings outside Baghdad late Monday, the group is not as big a threat to the stability of the state as the Shiite militias.

The militias, he said, are much larger and have deeper ties political parties in Iraq as well as the connections to Iran.

He said there are 800-1,000 al-Qaida in Iraq — far fewer than they used to have. Of those, he said most are Iraqis, and only “a trickle” are foreign fighters who mainly come in across the Syrian border and are recruited as suicide bombers.

The three militia groups total more than that, with several thousand in the Promised Day Brigade, the militia group linked to anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and his Mahdi Army. Kataib Hezbolla is much smaller with hundreds of members, not thousands. And the third group, Asaib Ahl al-Haq, or Band of the People of Righteousness, is somewhere in the middle.

In other remarks, Buchanan said the U.S. has worked with Iraq security forces to prevent incidents of abuse or torture of detainees and ingrain more professional standards in the troops. He acknowledged there are occasional lapses, but he said the Iraqis are developing judicial systems to deal with such problems. It takes time, he said, for such change to take hold.

Buchanan shed little light on the U.S. preparations to get all troops out of Iraq by year’s end. Military leaders have said that they are keeping options open so they will be prepared to respond if the Iraqis ask that some American forces stay on past their December departure date.

Military leaders have said that the Iraqis have acknowledged they need further help in training and equipping their forces, gathering and sharing intelligence and protecting their air space and borders. But the continued presence of U.S. forces on Iraqi soil would also likely spur more violence.

Al-Sadr has called on U.S. troops to leave the country or risk more attacks.

And as violence has escalated in the past few months, senior U.S. officials have said part of it is an attempt to make it appear that the militants are causing the American withdrawal.

There are about 46,000 U.S. troops in Iraq. The withdrawal plan was spelled out in 2008 under an agreement reached between U.S. and Iraqi leaders.

 

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Tehran is involved in the assassination of Hariri

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Tehran is involved in the assassination of Hariri

 

The German magazine Spiegel, wrote in its latest issue: International tribunal for assassination of Rafiq Hariri, former prime minister of Lebanon, has informations which connect regime of Tehran to Hariri’s assasination.

Spiegel, quoting intelligence sources whose names are not revealed, wrote: The International tribunal has recently release names of four people charged and is following signs that relates Iranian regime to this case. The four people charge in Hariri’s assassination are all members of Hizbullah.

The government of Lebanon has announced that it has no sign of the accused and is not able to arrest them.

According to Spiegel’s report, Hariri’s court claims that the accused travelled to Iran in 2004 and spend several months in a Khomeini military base near Qom city, where they underwent military training for the terrorist operations.

The report adds: The trainings supervisors designed decorations similar to the scenes of terror and bombings in Lebanon, and even conducted explosion operation tests. The four accused of Harriri’s terror have left Lebanon, and at least three of them live in Iran now.

 

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Death row political prisoner denied legal representation

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Death row political prisoner denied legal representation

 

Abdolreza Ghanbari, the secretary and member of the Science Board of a university who was arrested during post-election events in 2009 was
sentenced to death on the charge of receiving a phone call from
abroad- which was later said to have been from an opposition party.
His death sentence has been upheld and referred to the Sentence
Implementation Department.
According to reports, Abdolreza Qanbari was denied the right to a
lawyer of his choosing during the time he had filed for an appeal and
is currently denied a lawyer.
Despite his family’s efforts to get him a lawyer of their choosing,
the Tehran Revolutionary Court has opposed this issue. (Human Rights
Activists in Iran – Aug. 6, 2011)

 

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More than 30 journalists languishing in Iranian prisons

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More than 30 journalists languishing in Iranian prisons

 

Only in the past year, more than 10 journalists who were previously
released on bail, were jailed after their sentences were finalized…
Currently more than 30 journalists have been jailed with sentences
ranging from 1 to 12 years of prison.
Ahmad Zeid Abadi, Alireza Rajayi, Abolfazl Abedini, Esa Saharkhiz, Ali
Malihi, Nader Karimi Jouni, Emad Bahavar, Shahin Zinali, Heshmatollah
Tabarzadi, Bahman Ahmadi Amouyi, Siamak Qaderi and dozens of other
journalists are currently jailed in the prisons of the Islamic
Republic of Iran serving their prison terms. Sentences that were
issued in show trials without due process and the presence of a jury.
The Iranian government has still maintained its place as the most
violent violator of the right to free speech, free media and other
civil liberties not only because of the presence of more than 30
journalists sentenced to about 150 years of prison overall but because
of the summonses and pressures that a large number of Iranian
journalists are subjected to including Abdolreza Tajik, Mohamamd
Quchani, Farzaneh Roustayi, Nazanin Khosravani, Ahmad Gholami and
others. (Human Rights Activists in Iran – Aug. 11, 2011)

 

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Iranian regime officially aid the gunmen in Iraq : Al-Asadi

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Iranian regime officially aid the gunmen in Iraq : Al-Asadi

 

The oldest Iraqi Interior Ministry deputy, Adnan al-Asadi, emphasized that smuggling of weapons from Iranian borders into Iraq is continued widely and Iraqi officers who were involved in these smuggling operation are arrested, Iraqi newspaper Azzaman wrote on August 10th.

Yesterday, in a press interview, al-Asadi said: Smuggling weapons from Iran is done via Maysan province in Iraq, formally and informally, and in large volumes of missiles and bombs. He added: three security force officers have been arrested; one of them was a justice ministry officer, the second was an anti-terrorism officer, and the third one was an officer of  border forces.

 

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More Than Fifty Baha’i Citizens Imprisoned in Iran

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More Than Fifty Baha’i Citizens Imprisoned in Iran

 

HRANA News Agency – While in various international gatherings and interviews conducted with foreign media, Iranian government officials continue to claim that no one is imprisoned in Iran because of their beliefs, according to official statistics, there are more than 50 Baha’i citizens either temporarily detained or serving prison terms in various cities throughout Iran.Additionally, there is at least the same number of Baha’i citizens waiting to be tried or sentenced in different cities all over the country.

According to a report by Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), in various cities including Tehran, Karaj, Esfahan, Shiraz, Semnan, Mashhad, Urmia, Tabriz, Pars Abad, Ghaem Shahr, Babol, Sari, Kerman, Rafsanjan, Sanandaj, Yasuj and Kermanshah, there are a large number of Baha’i citizens who are in a legal state of limbo with their future uncertain.

All of these Baha’i citizens have been arrested, charged or convicted of propaganda against the regime by the virtue of their Baha’i faith or acting against the national security through attending religious Baha’i gatherings, membership in Baha’i organizations, managing Baha’i communities in cities or the whole country, or defending the rights of Baha’i citizens in Iran.

Baha’i citizens who are imprisoned in Iran’s official prisons or the detention centers operated by the Intelligence Agency include:

 

Evin Prison – Women’s Ward

1. Mahvash Sabet – Sentenced to 20 years in prison (Previous member of Iranian Baha’i Governing Council)
2. Fariba Kamalabadi – Sentenced to 20 years in prison (Previous member of Iranian Baha’i Governing Council)
3. Manijeh Nasrollahi – Sentenced to 3 years and 6 months in prison (Transferred from Semnan Prison)
4. Sahba Rezvani – Sentenced to 3 years and 1 months in prison (Transferred from Semnan Prison)
5. Susan Tabyaniyan – Sentenced to 1 ½ years in prison (Transferred from Semnan Prison)
6. Sholeh Taief – Sentenced to 1 year in prison (Transferred from Semnan Prison)

Evin Prison – Ward 350

7. Sama Norani – Sentenced to 1 year in prison
8. Payman Kashfi – Sentenced to 4 years in prisonArtin Ghazanfari – Sentenced to 1 year in prison

Evin Prison – Temporarily Detention / Interrogation

9. Kiumars Bahin-A’in – Transferred from Esfahan Prison
10. Shamim Bahin-A’in – Transferred from Esfahan Prison
11. Sina Ravankard – Transferred from Yasuj Prison
12. Parvaneh Behamin – Transferred from Yasuj Prison (A resident of Kata Village)
13. Behruz Behamin – Transferred from Shiraz Prison
14. Malieh Roozbehe (Roozkhosh) – Transferred from Shahravazlar in Fars Province
15. Behnoosh Dadgar – Transferred from Esfahan Prison
16. Kamran Mortezaie – Imprisoned in relation to Baha’i Provisional University
17. Vahid Mahmoudi – Imprisoned in relation to Baha’i Provisional University
18. Ramin Zibei – Imprisoned in relation to Baha’i Provisional University
19. Noshin Khadem – Imprisoned in relation to Baha’i Provisional University
20. Mahmoud Badavam – Imprisoned in relation to Baha’i Provisional University
21. Farhad Sadaghi – Imprisoned in relation to Baha’i Provisional University
22. Riyaz Sabhani – Probably imprisoned in relation to Baha’i Provisional University

 

Rajai Shahr Prison – Karaj

23. Jamal Aldin Khanjani – Sentenced to 20 years in prison (Previous member of Iranian Baha’i Governing Council)
24. Afif Naimi – Sentenced to 20 years in prison (Previous member of Iranian Baha’i Governing Council)
25. Behrooz Tavakoli – Sentenced to 20 years in prison (Previous member of Iranian Baha’i Governing Council)
26. Saied Rezaie – Sentenced to 20 years in prison (Previous member of Iranian Baha’i Governing Council)
27. Vahid Tizfahm – Sentenced to 20 years in prison (Previous member of Iranian Baha’i Governing Council)

 

Mashhad

28. Sima Eshraghi – Sentenced to 5 years in prison
29. Rezita Vaseghi – Sentenced to 5 years in prison (New case open)
30. Nahid Ghadiry – Sentenced to 5 years in prison (New case open)
31. Davar Nabilzadeh – Sentenced to 5 years in prison
32. Jalayer Vahdat – Sentenced to 5 years in prison
33. Kavyz Nozdehi – Sentenced to 2 years in prison
34. Sima Rajabiyan – Sentenced to 2 years in prison
35. Nasrin Ghadiri – Sentenced to 2 years in prison
36. Homman Bakhtavar – Sentenced to 2 years in prison
37. Dari Amri – Held in Mashhad Intelligence Agency Detention Center
38. Farhod Eshtiagh – Held in Mashhad Intelligence Agency Detention Center (Transferred from Esfahan Prison)

Semnan

39. Behfar Khanjani – Sentenced to 4 years in prison
40. Siamak Ayghani – Sentenced to 3 years in prison
41. Ali Ehsani – Sentenced to 2 years in prison

Khash

42. Mehran Bandi – Sentenced to 3 years and 6 months in prison (Transferred from Yazd Prison)

Sari

43. Tareh Taghizadeh – Sentenced to 22 months in prison
44. Samira Samiei – Sentenced to 6 months in prison

Amol

45. Houshang Fanaian – Sentenced to 4 years in prison

Shiraz

46. Raha Sabet – Sentenced to 4 years in prison

Esfahan

47. Vahid Misaghian – In temporary custody by Intelligence Agency
48. Shahnaz Talehi – In temporary custody by Intelligence Agency
49. Kayvan Dehghani – In temporary custody by Intelligence Agency
50. Navid Parvini – In temporary custody by Intelligence Agency
51. Negar Sobhanian – In temporary custody by Intelligence Agency
52. Farshid Badakhsh – In temporary custody by Intelligence Agency

Yasuj

53. Ali Bakhesh Bazr Afkan – Sentenced to 2 years and six months in prison

 

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Hossein Ronaghi Maleki severely beaten up and transferred to hospital

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Hossein Ronaghi Maleki severely beaten up and transferred to hospital

 

Imprisoned blogger Hossein Ronaghi who is suffering from kidney disease and has undergone 2 major operations in the last few months, was transferred to Taleghani hospital with serious injuries sustained after being brutally attacked.

Ahmad Ronaghi Maleki, this blogger’s father told Human Rights House of Iran (RAHANA), “After the beating, Hossein was severely injured and lost consciousness. They transferred him to Taleghani Hospital where he was unconscious for hours. At the end of the night, they transferred him back to prison.”

Ahamad Ronaghi who was visibly shaken due to his son being ruthlessly beaten said, “They want to drag my son to prison. The person who attacked Hossein was a Revolutionary Guard. The Revolutionary Guards have become so powerful that they can do as they please with the prisoners. Hossein’s life is not safe in prison and ours is not safe outside of prison. Hossein gets brutally attacked and beaten up in prison and we are constantly being threatened and harassed.”

He said to Human Rights House of Iran (RAHANA), “I am asking all human rights agencies to pay attention to my son’s situation. I am desperately worried for my son’s life. His situation is extremely worrisome. His condition is very grim.”

Hossein Ronaghi Maleki had written a letter to Tehran’s Attorney General telling him of the role of outside agencies in exerting added pressures on the prisoners. Regarding his own situation he said, “Do you remember I told you about my lack of access to proper nutrition, medicine, specialized doctors and a calm environment needed for my recovery. Do you remember what your response was? Your response was that due to IRGC’s objection, you were not able to grant me a furlough. Do you remember in our previous meetings, you had said that if the Medical Examiner’s office agrees that a medical leave is necessary, you would grant me a furlough?

After what you told me, I researched and found out that the Medical Examiner’s office had approved my medical furlough 3 months prior to our talk and they had already sent you their letter of approval. I told you at the time of our conversation that it is the security agencies that decide who and how someone can receive medical treatment.”

Hossein Ronaghi Maleki, blogger and human rights activist was arrested on December 13, 2009 and is now spending his 15-year sentence behind bars.

 

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Cultural Activists Rounded Up in West Gilan Province and Sardasht

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Cultural Activists Rounded Up in West Gilan Province and Sardasht

 

Twelve cultural and student activists have been rounded up in the towns of West Gilan, West Eivan and Kermanshah in Iran’s northern province of West Azerbaijan. Based on reports published by Kurdish news sources, some of the detainees told their family members through phone calls that they were being held at security prisons. Family members of those detained said they had been denied visits to their family members behind bars. Journalist and human rights activist Kaveh Ghasemi Kermanshahi and another reporter Khosrow Kordpour spoke with a Rooz reporter on the arrests.

According to the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, and the Mokrian news agency, security agents had in recent days arrested eleven cultural activists and Kurdish students in towns across West Gilan province, and in Mashad, and Sardasht.

These sources named the detainees as Farhad Vakilnia, Maziar Mohammadi, Maryam Amini, Jamal and Aziz Khani, Naim Najafi, and Sajjad Jahanfar, all from West Gilan province. Rooz has learned that in addition to these others have been arrested as well, and they include Sina Mohammadi, a cultural activist in Eivane Gharb (West Eivan) town in the province of Kermanshah.

On July 30, Kurdish poet Alireza Sepahi-Laeen was also arrested in Ghasemabad of Mashad city by security forces.

Kaveh Ghasemi Kermanshahi, himself a journalist and human rights activist, told Rooz “detainee Sajjad Jahanfard is a recognized writer and scholar, while Maryam Najafi was the secretary of a literary society. Naeem Najafi was the head of Taghvesan cultural website. The other detainees too were active in cultural and literary events.”

Kermanshahi said that these arrests were the continuation of the policy by Tehran to confront Kurdish activists but he pointed out that after the clashes in the Ghandil hills and the armed confrontation between the opposition forces, these policies have intensified and entered a new phase so that the regime now has no tolerance even for cultural and literary activities and events.

He said that this is not the first time that authorities feared cultural activities in Kermanshah and Ilam, but that these measures of physically confronting cultural activists en-masse is a rare event.

Regarding what charges these detainees could face, Kermanshahi speculated that the regime may try to link these individuals to the opposition groups, even though the record of these individuals clearly shows that there is no such affiliation.  He pointed out that such baseless charges had been made against human rights activists in the past. He named Abbas Jalilian and Mehdi Hamidi, both literary and cultural figures, as examples of individuals who had been detained and charged on unreal claims. Both of these activists were arrested in 2009, and were later convicted on charges of espionage. Jalilian was released from prison after remained detained for 15 months while Mehdi Hamidi is serving his 5 year sentence under harsh conditions with no rights to leave the prison to visit his family members. He is being kept in Hamedan’s central prison.

In 2010 too a number of cultural activists were arrested in the towns of Saghez and Marivan. Some such as poets Behzad Kordestani and Ghader Shiri were subsequently released on large bails while others such as Mokhtar Hooshmand, a painter and head of the Marivan’s artistic society have been sentenced to long prison terms.

In related news, three Kurdish students Soleyman Vahidinia, Ali Naderi and Nasser Aman have been in detention in the town of Sardasht (West Azerbaijan province) for over a month now. The head of the Mokrian news agency Khosrow Kordpour told Rooz that, “These three were arrested in Sardasht about a month ago and then transferred to Mahabad. They have not been formally charged with a crime and thus remain in limbo in Mahabad’s main prison.” According to Kordpour the charges against these individuals relate to security issues and illegal border crossings. None of these detainees have been tried yet.

 

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Delays in verdict for detained Americans a violation

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Delays in verdict for detained Americans a violation

 

Lawyer of the two detained Americans in Iran says that the case judge is violating court regulations by delaying the verdict over the week limit.

Massoud Shafii stated that according to Iranian law, the courts are required to issue their verdict a week after the final trial. Shafii told the Campaign for Human Rights: “Once the judge announces the end of the trial, he must run sentence right there or at most take a week to do so. Therefore in this case I have to say that the judge is in violation.”

Shane Baeur and Josh Fattal got their final trial on July 30, and yesterday, the spokesman for the judiciary, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei announced that the court’s verdict for the two Americans will be issued soon.

Massoud Shafii added however: “In such sensitive cases they are so concerned about the content of the verdict that they do not pay attention to the administrative issues and delays in such cases are not unprecedented.”

Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal are the two Americans that were detained in July of 2009 together with Sarah Shourd in the Iran-Iraq border regions for illegal entry.

Iranian authorities have accused them of espionage but they maintain that they entered Iranian territory inadvertently during a hiking trip in the mountainous regions of Iraq.

Sarah Shourd was released on bail in September for medical reasons.

 

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