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Female Prisoners Raped Before Execution “Lest They Go To Paradise”

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Female Prisoners Raped Before Execution “Lest They Go To Paradise”

On 7 Mordad 1388 (July 25, 2009), Mehdi Karroubi, two-time head of Parliament, wrote in a letter addressed to Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani, head of the Expediency Council and the Assembly of Experts: “Some people have severely raped female prisoners, causing injury and damaging their reproductive systems. Others have savagely raped young male prisoners in such a way that some now suffer from serious depression and psychological problems, hiding in the corners of their homes.”

Not many years earlier, another letter had been written and etched into history.

On 17 Mehr 1365 (October 21, 1986), Ayatollah Montazeri, wrote in a letter addressed to Imam Khomeini, leader of the Islamic Revolution in Iran and the man Montazeri was poised to succeed, “Do you know that in some of the Islamic Republic’s prisons they take girls into custody every day? Do you know that during interrogation of girls it is common to use abhorrent and shameful foul language?”

Nasrin Parvaz, a former political prisoner, survivor of the 1988 executions, and author of the book Zire Boteh Laili Abbasi, in a conversation with Radio Farda spoke of her experiences, memories and what she witnessed during her time in Iran’s prisons.

Nasrin Parvaz : “When I returned to Iran from England in 1357 (1978), I saw the first demonstrations. When they closed the Ayandegan newspaper, the people spilled out onto the streets, shouting for freedom. The Hezbollah penetrated into the masses and stabbed [at the people with knives]. These events changed my life; I couldn’t return to England. In 1361 (1982), I was arrested and sentenced to death. In the end my father was able to change the ruling.”

Ms. Parvaz expounded on this [last] point: “Lajevardi sold out hundreds of prisoners to their families. [The prisoners] were set to be executed but he received a hefty sum of money and released the prisoners. Following the visit from the Committee to Investigate Prisons and the third time when Galen DuPaul visited Evin Prison, one night in 1369 (1990) I was released.”

During your nine years in prison did you witness physical torture and or the raping of female prisoners, and did you hear of such cases about the male prisoners?

Nasrin Parvaz: “I myself was tortured and my feet became paralyzed. I couldn’t walk. Before I was arrested I came to know a girl named Yas. She was 14 years old when she was arrested at the protests, and the Committee guards raped her. She was just a child when she became pregnant. I went to see if I could help her for the cortage. In prison, I also came to know a girl named Anahid who was arrested along with her cousin. She was 12 years old when she was arrested, her cousin 14. During their period of interrogation, their cells were next to each other. The interrogator raped her cousin. The two nights when the guards were not on our row, the girls would talk to each other. At one point her cousin told Anahid, ‘ want to kill myself and you must not get upset. I got raped and don’t want to live anymore.’ Anahid told me that all night she screamed to tell the guards to come and not let her cousin kill herself, but she wasn’t successful, and her cousin killed herself.”

In referring in her book to the story of a girl named Yas who became pregnant after she was raped at 14, Ms. Parvaz said that they couldn’t help her in the cortage because they wanted lots of money for such a job. She also wrote in her book of Yas’ marriage with a young man and the baby’s murder after its birth.

Do you remember other stories about rape or sexual exploitation of female prisoners?

Nasrin Parvaz: “One day they took a girl into a solitary confinement cell, in Gowhardasht. After two days she came back and felt sick. Suddenly she started to scream out [what sounded like] what she had said when trying to defend herself during the rape. Her friends understood that she had been raped. Her psychological state was broken. They released her a few years later. When she went abroad, she killed herself.

“Unfortunately, [Iranian] society does not deal properly with rape. Therefore, victims, more so than the offenders themselves, are careful not to let anything slip. The family of the girl never told anyone that she killed herself. But, in my opinion, her suicide was not individual; it was political. They said that she died from a car accident.”

Ms. Parvaz believes that families of rape victims must make the issue of rape public; it’s because of [Iranian] society’s culture that no victim dares to say that she has been raped.

Do you have any information about the men? Were boys/men raped?

Nasrin Parvaz: “In the 1980s they raped men. But the extent of rape at that time was not as vast as it is today. Now they have realized that rape is a means and a quick way to pressure; it has more psychological and physical effect on the [victim]. I know three men who have been raped. One of them was raped 12 years ago and suffered many injuries. Two other people during the arrests two years ago were raped. One of them is still receiving medical attention.”

Ms. Parvaz recommends victims and their families seek psychiatric treatment. She believes writing is one form of remedy that helps [the victims] recognize [and address] problems.

Soudabeh Ardavan is a former political prisoner and survivor of the 1988 mass execution of political prisoners. She spent eight years in Evin and Ghezal Hasar prisons. She talks about some people who didn’t want girls set to be executed to go to Paradise.

Soudabeh Ardavan: “Sexual torture is another tool to crush the prisoner. It is not something that just occurred. Looking at the actions of the Islamic Republic and the torturers during the 1980s, they always thought they could torture more, especially women, in this way. One of the most common finds is that female political prisoners, especially during the years when we were in prison, were mostly 17 or 18 years old—young and unmarried. [The torturers, guards, authorities] thought that girls must be raped before being executed so that they don’t go to paradise. This was systematic. They had religious justification behind [such belief].

“We have examples. For example, the Tabriz prison, they would systematically rape the majority of girls but neither the social nor political circumstances were right for victims of these rapes to speak out. There was also no one from within the regime who would reveal. We have stories which are still behind the veil.

“In these definite cases, they would send sweets or some money to the family of the executed person to say that this is your daughter’s wedding sweets before her execution. They would send a box of sweets while saying that this much money you have to give for the bullets. Let me point out something, all these things coming to light now must come out; it is very good, but in our time the asphyxiation was very bad, meaning during the 1980s when we were in prison.”

Shadi Sadr, a legal expert who recently has been released from prison writes, “Taraneh Mousavi who wore green, on 7 Tir (June 16) at a rally near the Qoba Mosque was arrested and raped. Afterwards, because of a ripped uterus and anus, she was taken out of the hospital in Karaj and in the end was buried in the north of Iran in the middle of a cemetery without name or identification. Even if a name’s not there, it stands as a symbol for all women who were raped in prisons after the 1979 Revolution.”

One of the Plainclothes Officers Who Beat Up the People Immigrates Abroad With His Family

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One of the Plainclothes Officers Who Beat Up the People Immigrates Abroad With His Family

Thursday, August 12, 2010

(Jaras) Jaras has heard talk indicating that Ali Haghtalab, the son of Commander Ahmad Haghtalab, Head of Security at the country’s airports, has immigrated abroad. A picture of him shooting people during the protests in 2009 has been published.

During protests against the presidential election results—especially during the November 4, 2009, rallies—Ali Haghtalab was among the plainclothes officers, and he shot at people.

His father, Commander Ahmad Haghtalab, once occupied with his job at the Leader’s House Guard, became head of security at the country’s airports. Jaras’ news source states that Ali Haghtalab went to Ukraine with his family on a business trip and will most likely reside there or in another country.

After last year’s events–the killing and abducting a great number of people who were protesting the election results–citizens have identified a list of assailants and shooters whose information is now in the hands of the press.

IRGC Request for Newspapers: Identify Weak Spots in the Enemy’s Circulation of News

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IRGC Request for Newspapers: Identify Weak Spots in the Enemy’s Circulation of News

(Jaras) At the onset of National Reporters Day in Iran, the Revolutionary Guards issued astatement calling on owners of newspapers, “In identifying and confronting the weak spots in the regime’s enemies’ circulation of news and reporting, [owners of newspapers can] in this battle impress on them the superior and important power of reporting on [the enemies].”

According to Khabar Online, on the occasion of National Reporters Day on August 8th (the day in 1998 when Taliban murdered Iranian reporter Mahmood Saremi in Afghanistan), the IRGC issued a statement pointing out that, “Journalists are the nation’s overseers, and [they] guarantee an attentive and sincere presence at domestic/international events, incidents and tragedies. They are also key agents in accurately, quickly and correctly presenting and conveying events and realities to the public within the framework of discretion [according to] the nation’s interest and advantage.”

Based upon the Guards’ Office of Public Relations report, the statement highlights what they regard as the “many intimidations from the newspapers, journalists and the ruling regimes themselves to elucidate [what is] in the heart of events and realities by managing and institutionalizing allied newspapers” as well as “the engineering of circulation of news and the employment of journalists trained by Western-Zionist media sources.” The statement described Iranian society’s journalists as having a “very important responsibility” and stipulated that:

“Owners of newspapers, especially thoughtful journalists harboring the Iranian insight of creativity and vigilance, who acquire effective and diverse skills combined with fairness and honesty, can expose the ominous goals and deceptive conduct of [Western/Zionist] ruling powers in their newspapers, and bury the interests and expediencies of the world’s oppressive powers and rulers. By identifying and attacking the enemies’ weak spots in the circulation of news and reporting, in this battle [owners of newspapers can] impress Islamic Iran’s superior and important power of reporting on them.”

At the end of this statement it was emphasized that, “Without doubt the Islamic homeland’s  media society is on the frontlines against the enemies’ threats and soft war. With the Iranian nation’s ideas and culture of resistance and defiance which breathe self-confidence into different social strata and individuals, especially the young generation, the West’s media attack against the zealous and dignified Iranians’ independence, freedom, and quest for justice will face a suitable and humiliating defeat.”

Hamzeh Karami Anguish To Hojjatoeslam Mr. Mohseni Ajehi, Respected National Prosecutor

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Hamzeh Karami Anguish To Hojjatoeslam Mr. Mohseni Ajehi, Respected National Prosecutor

http://www.rahesabz.net/story/22084/

In the Name of God

 

With greetings and high esteem, I wish you divine grace. By presenting the following account through this means of expression, I’m taking the liberty to inform you the manner of arrest, interrogation, and other issues concerning my file:

On 88/3/27 (6/17/09), while I the undersigned was resting at my daughter’s house, security forces around 1am ominously surrounded the entire neighborhood and broke into the entrance of our building, going into my daughter’s apartment with their shoes on without any warrant [for arrest]. The security forces were vulgar and rude with my daughter, son-in-law, and wife. They arrested me and brought me first to Row 209 before transferring me to Row 320 at Evin Prison.

I spent 138 days, which is four and a half months, in solitary confinement. The interrogators from the start began with beatings, blows, punching, and kicking. Initially there were seven interrogators, but after one or two months four of them didn’t come anymore, and only two or three remained to interrogate me until the final stages of the case.

Throughout the interrogation period, I passed out fifteen times during and after the sessions. The interrogations came with intense physical and psychological pressure, and I’m taking the liberty to describe some part of [that experience] as follows:

  • Psychological pressure. For example, every day threatening to execute and kill me; because of my collaboration with Hashemi Rafsanjani I deserved to die. They would always bring me glad tidings of death. In other instances, the interrogators threatened to rape me. Or threatened to send me off to the horrid mass rows where the bad people stay and apparently, according to what is said, where the interrogators rape newly admitted detainees.
  • Threatening to arrest my wife, daughter, and son-in-law in order to probe into the abovementioned so-called case for my arrest and imprisonment. One day, I heard the crying and wailing of a woman from a few cells down during interrogation. My interrogator informed me that, “This is your daughter Zainab who’s being tortured.” Upon hearing this news, I felt as if the world collapsed on my head. Because my daughter has an infant child. For about one month I was mentally and psychologically distressed. Because if they threatened to rape and do other horrible things to me, then what would they do to a young girl? I was also worried that my daughter’s child would have to live without a mother. After one month, they let me call home and I realized that my interrogator had lied and my daughter had not been arrested.
  • My interrogator’s insistence, with his own special technique of abuse and beating, that I confess to having affairs with all the ladies who were in contact with me during the election, such as Mrs. X who regarding the search for genuine documents was in contact with me, or other ladies such as Fatemeh and Faezeh Hashemi Rafsanjani….
  • Exploring personal and private issues along with bullying and torture. They sometimes said that, “This so and so female reporter who has been arrested confessed that she had an affair with you.” And in this way they would psychologically torture me.
  • The interrogators announced that if on the day of the trial I don’t read the declaration of guilt as dictated by them, “One lady in the public court hearing will stand up and proclaim that you had an affair with her and such!” In this way they forced me, for the sake of my family’s reputation, to read their version of declaration of guilt in court, and immediately that trial had been prepared against me and Mehdi Hashemi was broadcast on television. We later heard that the Supreme Leader did not agree with Sound and Vision (state media) to broadcast the trials.
  • The aforementioned text (declaration of guilt) containing many errors such as exaggerations and false statements against other people. We found out that the Supreme Leader in his Eid-e-Fitr address announced that confessing against others in court [without any grounds] is unlawful and ineffective. When in fact these confessions against others occurred at the interrogators’ insistence. At least in my case these issues are completely true.
  • The interrogators’ insistence to write affidavits against other people. In this way, they wanted affidavits against other people and when I wasn’t writing they would hit me. I would write and they would still hit me, “You wrote but you didn’t write everything!” And they would play with my nerves and mind.
  • The interrogators guarding me as I stand by the wall for many hours. Beatings and slapping, hitting me on the neck, kicking and punching my stomach and other parts of my body in such a way that I on two occasions bled and for many days the bleeding continued. In those days, no matter how much I insisted that they bring me to a doctor for treatment, they with the excuse Row 240 has no doctor (at that time Row 240 had no doctor or clinic, and they would bring the ill to Row 209) put off the medical treatment.
  • The interrogators wrote up a story and on their terms I must confess to opportunism as a fuel against Hashemi and myself, and they were demanding me to do this with torture. One of the interrogators many times strangled me until I passed out, kicking and hitting to torture me.
  • Plunging my head in the toilet, in this way sexually and psychologically torturing me.
  • Forbidding me to have a lawyer and other legal rights at the primary stages of the trial and the rehearing, and their interferences in the declarations and the answers which I wrote to the court. Because at the time of my verdict I was still imprisoned at Row 240. I was accused of immoral character because my lawyer Mr. Alizadeh-Tabatabaei also had immoral character! And they called him sexually perverted and refused to accept any power of attorney in my case from him or any other lawyer.
  • Preventing any qualified [review] of financial charges against me and Mehdi Hashemi made by the first court, the rehearing, and the unfair sentencing.
  • Conducting a psychological war against me and sending different people by the door of my cell and asking me, “Who is your interrogator?” The plan was to make me scared of the violent and ruthless interrogator, and that’s a long story.
  • Insulting and humiliating me in front of my fellow inmates and friends who were in the other cells, insulting and humiliating them in front of me. Breaking and crushing the character and dignity of the others as well as mine.
  • Insulting, humiliating, and impugning my wife and daughters which really disturbed me. This issue has a long explanation which cannot fit in this letter.
  • Hitting me in front of others and hitting others in front of me.
  • Throwing lewd and filthy curses at me which are unwarranted to my background and character. For six years I was one of the commanders during the Iran-Iraq War and the holy defense, and head of the IRGC headquarters of Tehran province (10th District). I also served about six years as governor of Varamin. For seven years I was director general for political affairs at the President’s Office during the Hashemi and Khatami administrations. For a time I was also political advisor to a presidential body.  Without any justification, the interrogators behaved very absurdly and foolishly towards my background and character.
  • Keeping me for a long time in solitary confinement for 138 days at Row 240 and at the second phase keeping me for another 100 days on some other charge. Over an eight-month period I was in 240, and four and half months of it in solitary confinement.
  • Humiliating me in front of my children and wife: “If you knew what a rotten father and husband you have, you wouldn’t spend one day with him!” Any way to sow conflict and cynicism in any family is wicked and inhuman.
  • Impugning and lying about my family in saying, “We want to free you but they did an interview with the BBC and don’t let us free you.” When in fact my family has never ever talked with domestic media, let alone the foreign media or the BBC.
  • Psychologically torturing me by bringing me to the other cells and the cells of those being interrogated, such as Seyed Alireza Beheshti (the son of Shahid Beheshti), Alviri, Abu Talebi, Hedayat Allah Aghaei, Mohammad Reza Nourbakhsh, etc. All this inflicted intense mental and psychological pressure.
  • The interrogators as a group would humiliate me by shaving off my beard and keeping my mustache on, laughing and comparing my look to foreign actors.
  • Threatening my family when they visited me, interrupting our conversations and threatening to arrest, etc.
  • Repeatedly disconnecting the phone during my conversations with my family, causing much psychological torture to me and my family.
  • Using foul language too embarrassing for me to describe.
  • Declaring that Hashemi is the second Montazeri and that I am Seyed Mehdi Hashemi, and that I should be executed.
  • Accusing me of seeking to overthrow the regime and being anti-Revolutionary, whereas I, more than all of these interrogators combined, have a history of fighting at the frontlines of war and the holy defense, as well as being part of the revolutionary scene. Yet they consider themselves as despicable inheritors of the Revolution and being in step with it, while considering me and others as outsiders and anti-Revolutionary.
  • They were stubborn forces. They threatened to kill me even if the court does not [formally] sentence me to death! I assert that my family and I have no security because of them, and they averred that if one I day I’m set free, “We will destroy you!” Because in their opinion, I am the corrupted on earth.
  • Even though the story of my interrogations is sad, and all of it cannot be told on this one occasion, I can say that in the face of their pressures they swore to God and the Prophet before me. Yet much to my amazement, they were ridiculing the holy figures and did not have any qualms about their insolence.
  • The next important point is that they would make me confess [to false stories] every day and these confessions were done in several stages along with beating and abuse. I had to confess in writing and on camera.
  • Their insults against my family are very regretful: because Mr. Hashemi’s wife invited my wife and daughters to travel to Mashhad for the 15th of Shaaban, the interrogators taunted that Hashemi’s son had some sinister intentions for my family!
  • Throughout my entire stay in 240, in my four and half month solitary confinement, they forbade me to see a doctor despite the fact that I have heart disease and in the past been receiving medical care. I passed out fifteen times during and after the interrogations.

In especially proving my claims in order to reach the truth, I can make my case against the interrogators public and receive help from other people who have also endured suffering. I could introduce these victims so that the faces of these interrogators are revealed.  I believe that no one has suffered from so much pressure as much as I have, since they were hostile to Mr. Hashemi Rafsanjani and placed me under intense pressure and torture because of my contact with him.

Regarding allegations [against me], I have a proposal. Realize [and achieve] some professionalism.

For alleged [financial] fraud I have been sentenced to ten years in prison, and this verdict lacks official merit. No financial authority has confirmed [that I’m guilty]—unless [those responsible] have pressured and threatened some people to confess. Any confession you receive made under such force and torture is worthless!

I humbly request you to form a non-political court and executing Article 18 for my case and for other indicted people linked to my case. I hope that it will be successful, and that my case would be examined within a legal and lawful environment. Not within a political environment abound with prejudices.

At the time of writing, it has been days since I have left CCU (critical care unit) and my medical treatment hasn’t ended. Sometimes I pass out from nightmares!

The doctors are worried about my psychological situation. Please order that I be released provided that I’ve reached full recovery—because the environment in prison is very tense and stressful for me.

Meanwhile, my medical records from my recent time at CCU and the hospital, and my time under doctor supervision, as well as my lawyer’s defense statement written for appeal which has not yet been examined, are enclosed for your appraisal.

Hamzeh Karami

89/5/11 (8/2/10)

The Guards: Iran’s Unelected Power

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The Guards: Iran’s Unelected Power

http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=37748

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have a growing political and financial power since their founding by Khomeini — and even more through their ties to Ahmadinejad. There is no doubt that the future of Iran will be influenced by the power of the Guards, write Behrouz Aref and Behrouz Farahany.
Middle East Online

Soon after the Islamic Republic was created in 1979, Ayatollah Khomeini, who was fearful of a coup and conscious of disorganization in what had been the shah’s army, set up a new military force. This army of the disinherited, established on 22 April 1979, was legalized by article 150 of the constitution as the Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution, or Pasdaran, also known as the Revolutionary Guards. Their mission is “to safeguard the Islamic revolution, security and public order”.

The deepening crisis within the regime in 1980-1, the removal of Abolhassan Banisadr, its first president, and the armed revolt led by the People’s Mujahedin of Iran, led the Revolutionary Guards to repression in order to confirm Khomeini’s power. When Iraq declared war on Iran in September 1980, the Guards were the only organized force capable of defending the regime against external and internal enemies. They were in charge of military strategy as well as food imports under rationing. They were responsible for the protection of state officials and sat on revolutionary committees claiming to speak for Khomeini.

The dismantling of the radical opposition and the first victories against Iraq ended Iran’s revolutionary period. In a declaration on 6 December 1982, Khomeini recognized the legitimacy of the private sector and private property, and called on the Guards to concentrate on the war effort. After his death in 1989, the Guards backed Ali Khamenei in the election for Supreme Leader (the highest religious and political position) and Ali Akbar Rafsanjani for the presidency. Though the Guards lost political influence during the 1990s, they made up for that by strengthening their hold over the economy. (This is in line with article 147 of the constitution: “In time of peace, the government must utilize the personnel and technical equipment of the Army in relief operations, and for educational and productive ends.”) The activities of the many companies overseen by the Guards are coordinated by the Khatam al-Anbia (construction base) or GHORB, created in 1990.

The growing power of Rafsanjani’s circle, many of whom were amassing fortunes, alarmed Khamenei and the conservatives. When, in March 1996, Rafsanjani’s “reformers” made a breakthrough in the first round of the elections for the fifth Islamic assembly, Khamenei called on the Guards for help: He needed support because he lacked Khomeini’s charisma, political aura and religious authority. So on 6 April 1996, General Yahya Rahim Safavi, commander in chief of the Guards, said that they needed to “come on stage for the second round and with our vote ensure that not one liberal likely to create complications for the people and the country gets into the Assembly.”

Safavi’s intervention turned the power relations within the regime upside down and halted the reformers’ progress. Yet even so, the surprise victory of Mohammad Khatami as president in 1997, beating the conservative candidate Nategh-Nouri, showed how fragile the balance was.

During Khatami’s two terms in office (1997-2005) the Guards sought to undermine his reforms. They controlled a third of Iranian imports through 60 landing stages they had built on the Gulf coast and 10 airports, including Payam near Tehran (which officially belongs to the post and telecommunications ministry). Mohammad Ali Moshaffeq, an aide to the former speaker of the parliament and 2005 presidential candidate, Mehdi Karrubi, said that “more than 25 entrance doors of Mehrabad International Airport in Tehran are publicly claimed to be outside customs control, and no measure has been taken to exert control.”

A number of ministers and secretaries of state are part of the command structure of the Guards. During Ahmadinejad’s 2003-5 term as mayor of Tehran, he helped GHORB win major contracts for public works with a budget of $2.2 billion, including a motorway and underground railway construction. In 2005 the Guards’ power was reinforced when Khatami’s divided supporters were defeated and Ahmadinejad was elected president, beating Rafsanjani who had come to represent corruption and cronyism.

According to a blog by Mirhossein Mousavi — the candidate declared to have lost the last presidential election — GHORB controls more than 800 companies in many fields. These include: the army (manufacturing rockets and missiles); construction and development (road and dam building, mining, irrigation); petroleum and gas extraction (GHORB was awarded a $2.2bn contract to build a 600km oil pipeline to India in June 2009); communications (in 2009 the Etemad Mobin Development Company, affiliated to the Guards, took control of more than 50% of the state Telecommunication Company of Iran without any other bids being invited, a transaction that cost nearly $8bn); and finance (the transformation of two ostensibly charitable foundations into banks is under way).

Plans for a further Guard project were unveiled in November 2009 — the construction of the Chabahar railway in the southeast at a cost of $2.5bn. “We are not a war machine that is useless in peace time,” said General Mohammad Ali Jafari, commander-in-chief of the Guards. He felt obliged to respond in press and parliament to critics who compared his activities to the mafia: The Guards “and the military mafias you see in many countries, including in some of our neighborhoods, have absolutely nothing in common.”

Since the demonstrations provoked by last June’s fraudulent election, the Guards have crucially backed Khamenei and carried out repression. Their 125,000 members are spread throughout several corps of the army and also control the Basij (volunteer militia). In October General Abdollah Araghi, commander of the Guards’ Rasoul-ol-lah corps, confirmed that his organization had assumed responsibility for security in the months after the election. Yadollah Javani, director of the Guards’s political bureau, called for the arrest and sentence of the leaders of the reformist opposition, including Karrubi and Mousavi. On 29 December the Guards officially called on the people to demonstrate in support of the Supreme Leader and accused his opponents of being foreign agents. On the Guards’ internet site (gerdab.ir) there are photos of demonstrators, accompanied by calls for Muslim people to denounce the participants.

The lack of clarity about the expansion of the Guards’ economic and political interests displeases some sectors of Iranian society that are natural supporters of the Islamic Republic: small businessmen, parts of the private sector and politically moderate groups. The Guards have their own internal divisions — some of their support comes from people from poor backgrounds who disapprove of their entrepreneurial activities and coercive tactics. These divisions show how hard it is for the Islamic Republic to decide whether to compromise or crack down. — translated by George Miller

Behrouz Aref and Behrouz Farahany are respectively translator and leader writer for Iranian online newspapers.

Political Activist Continues Hunger Strike and Feels More Pressure

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Political Activist Continues Hunger Strike and Feels More Pressure

(Jaras) While Rahim Rashi has been on hunger strike for civil rights for 17 days, he is still at the Revolutionary Guards’ Intelligence Office’s jail in Urumiyeh. Besides the danger to his health, he faces new restrictions that have been put in place to apply more pressure on him.

According to a Horana report, Rahim Rashi is 57 years old and from the city of Mahabad. While he has been on hunger strike for 17 days, the people in charge at the Guards’ Intelligence Office have prohibited him from seeing his family.

In expressing worry about her father’s poor physical condition and his unknown fate in the Guards’ Intelligence Office’s prison, Rashi’s daughter, Sooran Rashi, in her last interview stated, “After 17 days being on hunger strike and his unknown fate in prison, my father’s physical condition is in peril.”

She also pointed out that, “No matter how many times members of my family went to the Intelligence Office in Mahabad and the Guards’ Intelligence Office in Urumiyeh in order to see my father, no permission to visit has been issued to them by the people in charge of the prison.”

Saharkhiz: I Will Appeal to International Organizations for Justice

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Saharkhiz: I Will Appeal to International Organizations for Justice

Saharkhiz’s letter to the Respected Head of the Judiciary, Ayatollah Sadeq Amoli-Larijani:

I think it is likely that you are now informed by secondary personnel, such as the head of the 15th Division of the Revolutionary Court, or from the newspapers, that I, the undersigned, on Sunday, July 18, 2010, during my sentencing at the aforementioned branch, filed a written complaint against the leaders and agents who beat, wounded, and tortured me, leaving broken bones in my chest, a torn tendril on my left shoulder, inflammations and injuries on other parts of my body. These people are Mr. Mohseni Ajhehi (Minister of Intelligence), Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (the President at the time), and the Supreme Leader. The individuals acting as leaders and agents, those who for all last year were willingly silent in face of the blatant violations and injustice done against me and my family.

It is necessary for you to know that Hojjatoleslam Ajhehi, currently the country’s top prosecutor, played a special role. He is an individual who in different terms and positions personally participated in the beating and abusing of people under arrest. He is the one who, as head of the Special Clerics Court, was permitted at the orders of the Supreme Leader to commit serious brutalities against the late Grand Ayatollah Montazeri, his House, and his students. Mr. Mohseni Ajhehi is that very person who, as undersecretary of the Judiciary, threw sugar bowls at the representatives of the editor-in-chief of national newspapers during a formal supervisory press board meeting—resulting in severe inflammation on my hip. He then injured me by biting my shoulder. Considering the contents of medical reports, because he is guilty in a number of cases, [Mohseni Ajhehi] must be legally penalized and be whipped 74 times.

Mr. Mohseni Ajhehi is the main person (of the three) against whom I have filed my complaint because, at his orders, his agents tied my hands, then punched, kicked, and tortured me in such a way that Article 38 of the Constitution, Article 578 of the Islamic Punishment Law, and the Article 5 of the Human Rights Declaration have been breached during this violent encounter (described in pages 2 and 3 of my defense).

Among all this, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who was directly responsible for Mr. Mohseni Ajhehi at the time of the crime, July 3, 2010, must answer for these criminal actions as explicitly stated in the Constitution, Articles 133, 134, 136, and 137, as subject to his position [as President].

And finally [I have filed my complaint against] the highest leader of the Islamic Republic who gave and gives himself the right to interfere in the country’s legislative, executive, and judicial branches, and considers leaders of power against the spirit and content of the Constitution as well as his orders as “fasl al-khatab al amor.” Therefore, his role in this case is undeniable and influential, and in his position he is accountable and must answer for the actions of people following [his] orders and committing crimes.

The question is why he directly intervenes vis-à-vis the crimes committed at Kahrizak—

Life of Kurdish Political Prisoner Rahim Reshi in Danger

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Life of Kurdish Political Prisoner Rahim Reshi in Danger

http://www.rhairan.us/en/?p=6528

15 , August , 2010

Rahim Rashi, a Kurdish political prisoner, who was transferred from the IRGC intelligence section of Oroumiyeh Prison to the Mahabad General Prison 4 days ago, is still on hunger strike.

RAHANA: One of Rahim Reshi’s sons has been able to arrange a short visit with his father. He described his father’s condition as critical and stated that the Prison doctor had to visit Reshi on the same day.According to the Committee of Human Rights Reporters, his son stated that his father had previously continued his hunger strike until he was released and his health did not improve until months after his release.

Reshi’s family stated that that since “we know our father, we are sure that he will continue his hunger strike until he is released and we are extremely concerned as to his condition.”

Civil Rights activist Rahim Reshi has been detained since July 19th. He went on hunger strike a day after his arrest. He was transferred to the IRGC intelligence section of Oroumiyeh Prison 4 days after his detainment and was held in the prison until 4 days ago.

21 Billion Dollars In the Name of South Pars…. To the Guards’ Liking

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21 Billion Dollars In the Name of South Pars…. To the Guards’ Liking

At the end of the Majlis session on August 13, 2010, Mehdi Pour Fatemi, the Dashti and Tangestan representative in the 8th Majlis, said, “The government has until now given 21 billion dollars to domestic contractors to start up the South Pars [oil field]. It was agreed that 90,000 people would be employed in the South Pars projects, and that 15,000 of those workers be from Bushehr province. Now that domestic newspapers did all their big publicity about this project’s ability to create jobs, the people—especially the youth—of the province want to know where is the 21 billion dollars, and what happened to the jobs?”

The figure which the Majlis representative mentioned was fixed during the Ahmadinejad government by companies associated with the Seal of the Prophets Military Base, which in turn is associated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. It is really the IRGC commanders who must answer to the people where the money has gone. Yet these commanders answer questions with bullets, arrest, and prison. Supervisory bodies of this budget, such as the Planning Organization, were dissolved by the Ahmadinejad government so that no authority stands to supervise and answer questions.

The Revolutionary Guards: Gaining Power in Iran

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The Revolutionary Guards: Gaining Power in Iran

Thursday, Aug. 13, 2009

Members of the Revolutionary Guards shout anti-Israel and anti-U.S. slogans at a Friday prayer service at Tehran University

The shadowy Revolutionary Guards already oversee a 130,000-strong parallel army and run large swatches of Iran’s economy, from dentist clinics to the country’s controversial nuclear program. But signs have emerged in recent weeks that the élite military arm isn’t satisfied: it may just want to run the entire Islamic republic.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), or Sepah for short in Farsi, is widely believed to have played a large role in orchestrating the crackdown on political dissidents and protesters following the disputed presidential election. Its political influence within the regime has always far exceeded the actual army’s, and it has increased exponentially since President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was elected to office in 2005. But the speculation among Iranian opposition sources is that, these days, the IRGC’s powerful patron — whose second term officially began last week — has now become its puppet, falling under the influence of a gang of security chiefs (the so-called New Right) that harbor schemes to further radicalize the regime or topple it in a military takeover. (What’s ahead for Iran’s protesters?)

The IRGC’s maneuvering has been quite public. On Aug. 9, it was a top Revolutionary Guards commander who escalated the ongoing confrontation with the opposition leadership by calling for their arrest. “What is the role of [former President Mohammed] Khatami, [former Prime Minister and presidential candidate Mir-Hossein] Mousavi and [presidential candidate Mehdi] Karroubi in this coup?” asked Yadollah Javani, the organization’s political chief, referring to the alleged plot by the opposition to subvert the regime by way of protests. “If they are the main agents, which is the case, judiciary and security officials should go after them, arrest them, try them and punish them.” (See pictures of the turbulent aftermath of Iran’s election.)

The same day, reports trickled out that, following Ahmadinejad’s dismissal of the Intelligence Minister late last month, as many as 20 officials in the ministry who disapproved of the public airing of confessions by political dissidents were purged, including the deputy minister and chief of counterintelligence. The move, according to Hassan Younesi, the son of a former Intelligence Minister, was engineered by Hussein Taeb and Ahmad Salek, two top Guards commanders. “Never has the Intelligence Ministry witnessed such a politically motivated purge since its establishment,” Younesi wrote on his personal blog.

Meanwhile, the IRGC has been cleaning house. According to an opposition adviser who maintains close ties to the Guards leadership, at least five commanders sympathetic to the reformists were put under house arrest in the aftermath of the election. These purges within Iran’s security apparatus consolidated power in the hands of the top Guards commanders, who form a united hard-liner bloc that is opposed to reconciliation with the opposition or the West. The IRGC, then, is the most effective power bloc in the country, certainly more cohesive in its top leadership than the conservative political faction, which has seen spats between the Supreme Leader, Ayatullah Ali Khamenei, and Ahmadinejad. The Revolutionary Guards leadership has a vested financial interest in isolating the Islamic republic from the West — and focusing its sights eastward toward places like China. Indeed, some observers believe the IRGC’s economic functions may eventually turn it into an entity like South Korea’s government-supported chaebol or multinational conglomerates that were key to that country’s modernization, albeit in controversial ways.

While Ahmadinejad has always had close ties to the Revolutionary Guards — 14 of his 21 ministers in his first-term cabinet were said to have been veterans of the force — his current position suggests that it is now he who must pay homage to the Guards. When he appointed a seemingly moderate in-law as his Vice President last month, in defiance of the Supreme Leader, the Revolutionary Guards quickly put him in his place, warning that his political future was “dependent on his acceptance of velayat-e faqih [or rule by the clergy, the founding tenet of the Iranian theocracy and the chief pillar of the Supreme Leader’s power].” Some members of the opposition, already worried that the IRGC is writing the script current events, wonder if the Guards did not pre-plan the entire crackdown. They point out that four days before the presidential election, the Guards’ weekly newspaper, Sobhe Sadeq, warned of a “Velvet Green revolution” and said the IRGC would never permit the opposition movement to come to power.

Opposition members are drawing nightmarish parallels with a neighboring country. In 1977, a disputed election in Pakistan set off widespread street demonstrations and a show trial that ultimately led to the execution of the Prime Minister. In the end, that government was toppled by a military coup led by a general who would rule for a decade with the help of a shadowy security apparatus. Could something similar happen in Iran?

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1915918,00.html

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