NEWS FROM INSIDE IRAN – PERIOD 22 OCTOBER 2018 TO 3 NOVEMBER 2018

NEWS FROM INSIDE IRAN –

PERIOD 22 OCTOBER 2018 TO 3 NOVEMBER 2018

Stes de Necker

(PLEASE NOTE THAT INFORMATION SOURCES ARE NOT PUBLISHED IN ORDER TO PROTECT THE IDENTITY OF OUR INFORMANTS. UNDER SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES CERTAIN INFORMATION CAN BE MADE AVAILABLE ON RECEIPT OF A DULY MOTIVATED REQUEST)

22 OCTOBER 2018

Iran Issues Jail Sentences For Young Women Arrested During August Protests

The Iranian Judiciary issued prison sentence from 6 months to 12 months for five young women for participating in protests last August, reports from Iran say.

Yasaman Ariani, 23, and Saba Kordafshani, 19, and, Azar Heydari have been sentenced to one year behind bars while Mozhdeh Rajabi and Niloufar Homafar were sentenced to six months.

Yasamin Ariani and Saba Kord Afshari were lingering in limbo in Qarchak Prison in Varamin since the time of their arrest on August 2, 2018. They have been transferred from Qarchak to Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison after their sentences were issued.

Yasamin Ariani was arrested after helping an old woman who was thrown to the ground by anti-riot units.

Right after their arrest, the young detainees posted a message on their experience and calling for help via a cellphone from inside a State Security Force van as they were being taken to jail.

Yasamin Ariani’s mother said her daughter had gotten arrested 75 days ago outside the City Theatre in Tehran while she was trying to help a lady brutalized by the police.

The families of the arrested protesters held a protest outside the Revolutionary Court on Tuesday, October 16, 2018, demanding release of their children.

Thousands of enraged protesters poured into the streets of several Iranian cities for several days in early August, protesting the country’s faltering economy, skyrocketing inflation, hardship and hiking prices.

Reportedly, dozens of protesters were arrested and taken to Evin and Qarchak prisons. Videos and images shared on social media show the Regime’s anti-riot units using horrific violence against the mainly young protesters.

On August 8, Amnesty International called for the immediate and unconditional release of all detainees, as well as an “impartial and independent” investigation into the suspicious death of Reza Otadi, 26, who was killed during the same protests in Karaj.

28 OCTOBER 2018

Torturers and officers in Zahedan prison for the humiliation and torture of prisoners in need of medical treatment send them to the hospital with naked legs and chains and bracelets.

On Sunday, 28 November, a sick prisoner was sent to” Imam Ali” Hospital while his legs were chained and he doesn't have shoes. You can find the picture from this prisoner in attached.

Also from other side as you know the officers in prisons in Iran reduced the prisoner’s meal and often the prisoners are hungry.

29 OCTOBER 2018

Family Of Labor Rights Activist Threatened By Intelligence Agents

Wife of labor rights activists Jafar Azimzadeh, has been threatened by agents of the Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) to report her husband.

Two undercover Intelligence and Security agents went to the house of the family of Azimzadeh on October 24, 2018, instructing his wife Akram Rahimpour and his family to inform the Intelligence Department when he returned home, otherwise they would be in trouble.

This is the third time in seven months that MOIS agents have referred to Ms. Akram Rahimpour in the city of Showt (Maku Free Zone), West Azerbaijan Province in Iran.

Akram Rahimpour has been intimidated and threatened to turn in her husband while none of the official institutes, including the Tehran Prosecutor’s Office, have summoned the labor activist since March, either orally on the phone or by a written warrant.

Azimzadeh, the president of the Free Workers Union of Iran, was arrested on April 30, 2014—a day before International Labor day for helping coordinate the collection of 30,000 signatures from workers in support of a list of demands including the formation of the Free Workers Union of Iran and the Union of Expelled and Unemployed Workers, as well as for organizing labor protests and speaking to foreign media outlets.

He was freed on bail after being interrogated and held in solitary confinement for 46 days.
On March 1, 2015 Azimzadeh was sentenced reduced from an original 17 year sentence for “assembly and collusion against national security” and “propaganda against the state.” The Appeals Court upheld the sentence and the labor activist surrendered himself to Evin Prison on November 8, 2015.

After nearly eight months, he and Esmail Abdi, an imprisoned teacher, and
former secretary general of the ITTA, went on hunger strike to protest the regime’s approach to legitimate trade activities as national security threat.

Widespread domestic and international support and 63 days of hunger strike led to the temporary release of the activists.

29 OCTOBER 2018

Iran Blocks Gathering At Tomb Of Ancient Persian King Cyrus The Great

Iran’s authorities appear to have taken measures to prevent citizens from staging a gathering at the tomb of the ancient Persian king Cyrus the Great that attracted thousands of people celebrating the country’s pre-Islamic glory.

Crowds of mostly young Iranians were compelled to use nearby hilltops to continue their path towards the tomb of Cyrus the Great near the ancient city of Pasargad in central province of Fars to celebrate the day unofficially marked in the Iranian calendar as Cyrus Day.

Videos released on social media show them using different paths to reach the site, causing heavy traffic even on the adjacent village roads.

Reports suggest that the authorities dispatched a variety of security units to Pasargad, to prevent people from entering the site.

They blocked roads leading to the tomb from Sunday afternoon to limit the number of people who visit the tomb. Online footage purportedly shows concrete barriers erected on the roads leading to the area.

The state security forces that were stationed at previously launched checkpoints, turned back vehicles that had come from other provinces, only permitting vehicles with local license plates (belonging to nearby cities of Fars Province) to pass through. Iranians with vehicles having license plates from other cities, such as Bandar Abbas, Yazd, and Lorestan Province are saying that authorities preventing them from heading towards Pasargad.

Numerous state police and Revolutionary Guards Basij units were stationed in many areas near an exit from Shiraz leading to Pasargad, preventing people from reaching the site.

Some people moved toward Pasargad by foot via detours and mountain paths.

The state security forces have imposed tight measures in Shiraz since early Monday morning, not even allowing people to park in many places.

Some of the people who were travelling toward Pasargad were arrested by the state security forces, and some vehicles were impounded, according to the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI).

The entire security apparatus is currently on high alert and installing cameras to control the roads and prevent Iranians from rallying at the Cyrus the Great tomb.

During the past few days several Iranians received threatening text messages warning them that those attending the “illegal” Cyrus Day gathering could face prosecution. It wasn’t clear who sent the messages.

Iranians gather every year on October 29, which many believe is the day he conquered Babylon, at the pre-Islamic king’s tomb, located in the ancient city of Pasargadae in the central province of Fars, to celebrate Cyrus Day, an unofficial holiday.

29 OCTOBER 2018

A Glimpse Of Evin Prison, Iran’s Most Notorious Jail

With a capacity now detaining 15,000 people, the Evin Prison has built a reputation of Iran’s rampant political repression.

Standing at the foot of the Alborz Mountains in northwestern Tehran, it has held hundreds of peaceful activists, journalists, intellectuals and human rights lawyers throughout its disgraceful history.

The structure of prison wards

Evin Prison is a vast complex that consists of multiple buildings, generally up to three floors high with two sections on each floor.

Wards 209, 240 and 241 which have solitary cells called “Suites” are controlled by the Ministry of Intelligence (MOIS).

Ward 209 or section 209 is the most dreadful ward of Evin Prison. Inmates are detained under torture. The ward is made up of 10 rows, each containing eight solitary cells. Due to overcrowding, up to 10 people are kept in every cell. Each solitary cell has its own individual lavatory.

The torture room is located in the ward’s basement where there are all kinds of medieval equipment for torture, including Apolo (a special bed for giving electric shocks to the prisoner while his head is covered by an iron helmet where his cries echo into his own ears), wired beds for flogging with cables, hangers from which prisoners are hanged from the ceiling by foot or by hands as they are tied behind their backs.

No one except the personnel and convicts is allowed into the Intelligence Ministry Ward 209, even the highest officials.

Ward 240 (parts of which are under the control of security and intelligence units), has several floors and each floor has a long corridor containing several cells on both sides. Each cell is about 8 square meters inside which the toilet and the shower are separated by a curtain from the cell’s area. These cells are designed for one person but they are actually holding 6-7.

Ward 2A is under the control of the Revolutionary Guards Corps Intelligence Department.

Political prisoners are blindfolded at all times when outside of their cells in this section.

IRGC’s Detention Center 66 or Section 325 is under the control of the Revolutionary Guards Corps. This section was used for interrogating those arrested during the 2009 unrest in Tehran.

Ward 350 was used for the detention of political prisoners but was partially closed down after a prison riot in 2014 and all the prisoners were transferred to Rajaie Shahr Prison in Karaj, Iran’s fourth largest city.

The Methadone Ward: There is a hall, actually a big cell, in the women’s ward that is always closed. Prisoners call it the Methadone Ward. Closed-circuit cameras are installed in this cell to monitor inmates round the clock, depriving them of minimum freedom of action within the limited space of the cell.

Prisoners are deprived of going out for break and they have to spend all hours of the day in that closed-door hall. The door opens only when food is distributed.

Women’s Ward is consisted of three halls with all windows sealed. So, there is not sufficient sun light for prisoners aggravating their illnesses. Bathrooms and the kitchen lack ventilation.

There is no emergency medical facility for prisoners. To receive her medication, a prisoner must first obtain an authorization, then wait until the visitations day on Sunday, to give the prescription to her relatives to purchase her medicine from an outside pharmacy. Then she will have to wait until the next visit, to receive her medication from her relatives.

Referring to a medical center outside the prison is tremendously difficult and may take several months to receive just an authorization.

By the time the prisoner receives a medical leave usually after 9 to 12 months, her illness has progressed. Once in the hospital, her treatment is usually interrupted midway.

Every entry and exit to and from the prison requires humiliating frisking. A prisoner must be handcuffed while she walks into the dispensary.

The Women’s Ward is constantly monitored by cameras.

Whenever prison wardens encounter a protest or some form of resistance by prisoners, they threaten to relocate them to the notorious Qarchak Prison. 

Wards 7 hold mostly prisoners convicted of financial crimes. The ward has eight halls, with the capacity to hold 200 inmates each, although 700 prisoners are now held in each hall.

Sometimes political prisoners are taken to the ward 7, which violates Iran’s own regulations on the principle of separation of crimes.

Halls 1 and 12 of the Ward 7, are located in the basement floor. Many prisoners in these halls suffer from joints diseases due to humidity. Prisoners are usually deprived of warm water for showering in winters.

Common complaints include, lack of ventilation, insufficient and filthy bathroom facilities, prevalence of contagious diseases, lack of sunshine.

Ward 8 is populated mostly by those convicted of financial crimes, drug traffickers and pirates – mainly from Somalia.

In summer, ward eight of Evin prison stinks more than usual. It is hot and unbearable as there is no air conditioner and the water coolers do not work properly. The cells are filthy and infested with beetles and bugs, particularly when temperatures rise.

Nutritional status

Reports indicate food comes in meagre portions and is barely edible. It is so little that hungry inmates are forced to collect the residue of other food trays as well as the food which was left on the ground. That small amount of the food distributed in prison is sometimes rotten and expired. 

Prisoners have to buy at their own expense their needed dairy products, vegetables, fruits, and protein at rocket high prices from the prison’s stores.
Reports indicate prison officials make a profit from selling expired food to prisoners at much higher prices.

Food quality is extremely low and unsanitary. Sand and even mouse feces have been found in the food. Fruits and vegetables are non-existent.

There have been complaints to the prison authorities against malnutrition, especially by political prisoners who are aware of their rights and who have demanded food adequate to maintain health and well-being.

A source close to one of the prisoners said the prison’s management threatens prisoners of holding them in solitary confinement if they object to the lack of food or to the prison’s bad conditions.

Medical condition

Medical treatment withheld to punish prisoners or force them into making false confessions is a common place.

Prison authorities callously deny prisoners of conscience and other political prisoners adequate medical care, putting them at grave risk of death.

The Office of the Prosecutor, which is responsible for decisions concerning medical leave and hospital transfers often refuses to authorize hospital transfers for sick prisoners even though the care they need is not available in prison, and denies requests for medical leave for critically ill prisoners against doctors’ advice.

In some cases, prison officials had also violated prisoners’ rights to health, or were responsible for torture or other ill-treatment. In several cases, they withheld medication from political prisoners or unnecessarily used restraints such as handcuffs and leg shackles on political prisoners, interfering with their medical treatment, bruising theirs hands and feet or causing them discomfort and humiliation.

An Amnesty International report published in July 2016 revealed that in addition to deliberately delaying or refusing urgent specialised medical care for political prisoners, prison authorities in Iran have regularly downplayed or dismissed the seriousness of their medical problems, treated serious ailments with simple painkillers and withheld essential medication.

In addition to denial of adequate medical access, prisoners are usually held in overcrowded, unsanitary and poorly ventilated conditions which often exacerbates prisoners’ pre-existing medical problems or contributes to new problems, causing irreparable damage to their health.

Prison’s clinic

A number of prisoners suffering from AIDS are detained in Section 7. Medical attention is barely given to prisoners in this section. Only when prisoners go on hunger strike or when media attention is given to them are they taken to hospital for treatment.

Prisoners say that the prison psychologist prescribes neurological drugs to many prisoners without any medical grounds.  

Uncovered and unclear medications are given to the prisoners.

According to prisoners, Medical personnel assist with torture. A doctor named Shahriar Pourfarzam makes sure that when a person is interrogated under torture, she/he could survive so that the interrogator could continue to torture.

Unsafe and infectious medical service is available on a high expense. A significant number of prisoners particularly those their spouses are also imprisoned, cannot afford the high cost of health care.

Prison’s store

Prison store is a part of the jail’s own perverse economic system. Prison officials make a profit from selling the essential needs of prisoners such as soap, shampoo, even food.

Prisoners’ families must provide the cash they need for day-to-day life. Those without support live in the lowest circle of misery on meagre and substandard prison supplies.

Most of the prisoners believe that the low quality and hygiene of food in prison, is deliberate to make prisoners buy from prison’s shops where All food items are sold above market prices.

The items sold in prison shop are out-of-date but the Prisoners have no choice byt to buy these goods at prices several times more expensive.

Inspections and threats

Up to 50 prison agents periodically search prisoners’ cells. All the prisoners are required to go to the prison courtyard during the search. The agents confiscate and “steal” the prisoners’ belongings during the search. 

After each inspection, many of the prisoners’ equipment disappeared and a large amount of their food is destroyed.

Prison authorities in various ways sell second hand phones and SIM cards at high prices to the prisoners and they confiscate the same phones and SIM cards during the inspections.

Political prisoners describe being severely beaten by dangerous prisoners incited by prison officials. They use such criminals as a cover up to harass political prisoners and prisoners of conscience.

Prison visitations

There are no criteria or standards for prisoners’ visitation rights in the notorious Evin prisons. Family visits and phone calls are used as a tool by prison authorities to exert more pressure on the prisoners.

Political prisoners and prisoners of conscience who are routinely harassed by the authorities have greatly limited visits.

Sometimes, visitations and telephone calls are denied to punish prisoners. Political prisoners are punished when they protest arbitrary behaviour and inhuman treatment by revolutionary guards or when they convey prison conditions to their families. If a prisoner sends a letter out of prison, she is severely punished. Punishments range from denial of visitations and telephone calls, to incarceration in solitary cells, to adding new charges to the prisoner’s case, and in some cases sending the prisoner to internal exile.

Evin prison’s visiting hall has about 80 cabins specifically designated for visits. This number of cabins is sufficient for the families of political prisoners to quickly undergo their visits; however, the policy of the prison authorities is to send the visitors in groups of ten people at a time.

Prisoners can only communicate with first-degree family members for twenty minutes via a cabin meeting. A cabin meeting is a visit through a dirty and blurry window and through a headset that is controlled by prison authorities.

The Women’s Ward has no telephone facility for the political prisoners to make phone calls to their family and children. 

Women political prisoners are only granted 20-minute (most often cabin) visits per week with their families.

Some of the women political prisoners have young children whom they only have contact with via telephone. Some psychologists believe that cabin visits from behind a glass wall can be destructive to the psychological health of the prisoners’ children. Therefore, many of the families try not to bring the children to visit as much as possible.

30 0CTOBER 2018

A Tsunami of Unemployment in Iran

The increasing downturn in Iran’s economy has led to an ever-growing economic and social crisis manifested in unprecedented rates of unemployment, poverty, and inequality.

A state-run website, Eqtesad online, published a story on May 5, titled “Broken backs under the weight of unemployment”, saying: “2/3 of the Iranian people live under the poverty line! Maybe this statistic has not been written anywhere but it is a sad truth that rarely any official dares to reveal.”

State-run ILNA news agency published a report on October 23 quoting a member of Iran’s expediency council saying that “nearly 70 percent of the factories, workshops, and mines in the country are bankrupt or have closed down.”

The economic catastrophe, rooted mainly in four decades of economic mismanagement, has taken such staggering dimensions that Iranian officials now consider it one of the major national security challenges the Iranian regime faces.

On September 26, state-run Etelaat newspaper wrote: “As a warning to policymakers, one should pay attention to the fact that if the economic situation of the country has been the main motivating force of recent protests; if the protests are analyzed as a reaction to a 10-percent inflation and 12-percent unemployment rate, it’s inconceivable how harsh the responses would be if the inflation rate reached multiples of ten and accompanied by a twin crisis of banks and currency and added to extreme increases in the unemployment rate. Therefore, policymakers should pay attention to the fact that the recent economic turmoil, which nothing has been done to contain it despite continuous warnings by economic experts, can have a variety of consequences.”

Another example of the Iranian regime’s increasing concerns about the economic situation is the parliament research center’s recent comments to Mehr news agency on September 2.

Officially known as the Research Center of Islamic Legislative Assembly, the center has access to classified information of the Foreign Ministry, Intelligence Ministry and the Defense Ministry of Iran and primarily works for members of the Iranian parliament, their committees and staff.

Having access to classified information in Iran, considering how secretive and opaque the country and its political system is, amounts to quite a privilege that helps create scientific and credible reports about the socio-economic situation of the country.

After expressing grave concerns about the deeply rooted unemployment crisis, Iranian parliament’s research center says: “Considering the unemployment rate among the young, women, and university graduates in different provinces and remembering the protests in winter 2017-2018 is a warning that reveals the necessity of change in Iran’s economic path more than ever before.”

The center calls the increase of unemployment rates to over 15 percent very alarming and warns again that, “the unemployment rate of 15-to-29-year-old women in Kurdistan, Kerman, Ardebil, and Kermanshah provinces is more than 84, 79, 78, and 76 percent [respectively].”

Looking at some of the recent comments by Iranian officials is more than revealing.

On September 14 Iranian outlets reported Masoumeh Aghapuralishahi, an Iranian MP and board member of the economic commission, saying: “We are beyond the unemployment flood. I predict that by the end of October, there will be a tsunami of unemployment. We have put so much pressure on manufacturers on different levels, including in procuring raw materials, that the production cycle is facing problems.”

“By doing these things, instead of an Islamic economy, a kleptocracy is implemented,” she adds.

On September 29, Tejarat Farda website wrote: “The unemployment tsunami has happened in Iran’s economy a relatively long time ago and the more complex economic situation in a recent month has just revealed it more clearly.”

On August 29, ISNA news agency quoted the chief of the “Kar” [meaning labor] parliamentary group saying: “Currently, in Iran, one in every six-person works. Nearly 20 million young persons aged between 15 and 29 are unemployed. Unemployment rates among 15- to 29-year-old males and females are 21 and 40 percent [respectively].”

With U.S. sanctions on Iran’s energy sector, the country’s single most important source of income, nearly a week away, and considering the country’s ill economy rooted in decades of mismanagement on the one hand and the regime’s tendency to curb and control dissent through subsidies along with brute force on the other, it is hardly possible to put enough emphasis on the current unemployment crisis in Iran and its security implications for the Iranian regime.

30 OCTOBER 2018

No news on young woman, Sahba (Lamia) Hemadi, 21, who was arrested by intelligence agents in early October. She is 7 months pregnant. 

Sahba Hemadi, lives in Abuzar Street in Susangerd also known as Dasht-e Azadegan.

She has contacted her family only once since the time of her arrest when she did not even know where she had been jailed. The family of Sahba Hemadi is extremely concerned about her situation.

In addition to Sahba Hemadi, two other women Zoudiyeh Afrawi, 55, and Ghaisiyeh Afrawi, 60, residents of Albou Afri village in Susangerd, have also been arrested along with their sons.

Iran’s intelligence and security forces have rounded up and detained hundreds of Ahvazi Arabs, including several children, in what appears to be an escalating crackdown in Iran’s Khuzestan province.

The authorities appear to be using an attack on an IRGC military parade in Ahvaz on September 22 as a pretext for cracking down on the populace in and around Ahvaz, making dozens of arbitrary arrests. Human Rights activities reported that at least 600 Ahvazi activists have been arrested so far.

Family members said the arrests have been carried out without warrants by agents of Iran’s security and intelligence services, usually following home raids of Ahvazi Arab activists during the late evening or early morning hours in the regional capital city of Ahwaz, as well as in Hamidieh, Khafajieh, and rural areas.

In some cases, security forces abducted detainees from the streets or their workplace.

The authorities have not provided any information about the detainees’ condition and whereabouts despite repeated inquiries by their families.

Ahvazi human rights activities revealed that 180 detainees have been transferred to Shiban prison in the north of Ahvaz.

One of the detained activists, 70-year-old Sadegh Al-Nazari is suffering from variety of diseases, according to Ahvazi human rights activists, with his family extremely concerned for his fragile health.

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On September 22, gunmen who fired on a military parade in the Iranian city of Ahvaz killed more than two dozen people and wounded more than 50 others. Iranian state media said 25 people, including civilians and members of the IRGC, had been killed while at least 60 others were wounded.

Despite a September 24 statement by Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence stating that only 22 people were arrested with links to the attack on the military parade, reports indicate that hundreds of people have been arbitrarily detained.

The names of some of the detainees who have been identified by human rights activists are as follows:

1- Ahmad Amin Ghezi( Ghias Ghezi),writer, researcher and cultural activist from Zowieh Ameri neighbourhood, Ahwaz city
2- Saeed Ali-Raza Nazari 63 years old,from Al-Safi neighbourhood, Ahwaz city
3- Sajad Silawi,25 years old, from Al-Safi neighbourhood, Ahwaz city
4- Jawad Badawi,26 years old, from Malashiah neighbourhood, Ahwaz city
5- Shani Shmosi from Malashiah neighbourhood, Ahwaz city
6- Khalil Silawi from Malashiah neighbourhood, Ahwaz city
7- Jamil Silawi from Malashiah neighbourhood, Ahwaz city
8- Sadegh Silawi from Malashiah neighbourhood, Ahwaz city
9- Fares Shamosi from Malashiah neighbourhood, Ahwaz city
10- Ali Mazrah from Malashiah neighbourhood, Ahwaz city
11- Samir Silawi from Malashiah neighbourhood, Ahwaz city
12- Riaz Shamosi from Malashiah neighbourhood, Ahwaz city
13- Ali Heydari ,Shayea’s son, from Malashiah neighbourhood, Ahwaz city
14- Yousef Khasrgi, from Malashiah neighbourhood, Ahwaz city
15- Jawad Hashemi, from Malashiah neighbourhood, Ahwaz city
16- Ali-Raza Deris ,from Malashiah neighbourhood, Ahwaz city
17- Maher Masodi, from Malashiah neighbourhood, Ahwaz city
18- Riaz Zahyri, from Shahrak-Aahwaz neighbourhood, Ahwaz city
19- Khaled Silawi, from Malashiah neighbourhood, Ahwaz city
20- Mokhtar Masodi, from Malashiah neighbourhood, Ahwaz city
21- Ali Albaji, from Albaji village, arrested in Malashiah neighbourhood, Ahwaz city
22- Mohammad Masodi,from Malashiah neighbourhood, Ahwaz city
23- Jader Afrawi, from Malashiah neighbourhood, Ahwaz city
24- Aghil Shamosi, from Malashiah neighbourhood, Ahwaz city
25- Saeed Jalil Mosawi, from Malashiah neighbourhood, Ahwaz city
26- Aisa Badawi, from Malashiah neighbourhood, Ahwaz city
27- Hadi Abidawi, from Malashiah neighbourhood, Ahwaz city
28- Saeed Sadgh Mosawi, from Malashiah neighbourhood, Ahwaz city
29- Ahmad Heydari, from Malashiah neighbourhood, Ahwaz city
30- Milad Afrawi, from Malashiah neighbourhood, Ahwaz city
31- Aadel Zahyri, from Malashiah neighbourhood, Ahwaz city
32- Abdolah Silawi, from Malashiah neighbourhood, Ahwaz city
33- Abas Badawi, from Malashiah neighbourhood, Ahwaz city
34- Mohsan Badawi, from Malashiah neighbourhood, Ahwaz city
35- Farhan Shamosi, from Malashiah neighbourhood, Ahwaz city
36- Mohamad Amori, 26 years old, from Malashiah neighbourhood, Ahwaz city
37- Naeem Heydari 24 years old, from Malashiah neighbourhood, Ahwaz city
38- Araf Ghazlawi, Hanon’s son, from Malashiah neighbourhood, Ahwaz city
39- Kazam Ghazlawi ,Hanon’s son, from Malashiah neighbourhood, Ahwaz city
40- Ali Alhyee, from Malashiah neighbourhood, Ahwaz city
41- Shaker Sawari 29 years old, from Malashiah neighbourhood, Ahwaz city
42- Saeed Ghasam Mosawi, from Malashiah neighbourhood, Ahwaz city
43- Fazal Shamosi, from Malashiah neighbourhood, Ahwaz city
44- Sohrab Mojadam,27 years old, from Darwishiah, Kot-Abdolah, Ahwaz city
45- Karim Mojadam, from Kot-Abdolah
46- Jafar Hazbawi, 28 years old, Aneed’s son, from Kot-Abdolah
47- Ahmad Hazbawi, 28 years old, from Kot-Abdolah
48- Araf Naseri ,30 years old, Aeedan’s son, from Kot-Abdolah
49- Osameh Temas, 26 years old, from Shakareh neighbourhood, Ahwaz city
50- Ahmad Temas,28 years old, from Shakareh neighbourhood, Ahwaz city
51- Mohamad- Moamani Temas, 55 years old, from Shakareh neighbourhood, Ahwaz city
52- Saeed Jasem Rahmani(Mosawi), 33 years old, from Alawi(Hai-Althawra) neighbourhood, Ahwaz city
53- Majed Kaldawi, Sadon’s son, from from Alawi neighbourhood (Hai-Althawra), Ahwaz city
54- Saeed Hamod Rahmani(Mosawi), from Alawi neighbourhood (Hai-Althawra), Ahwaz city
55- Hatam Sawari, from Alawi neighbourhood (Hai-Althawra), Ahwaz city
56- Jasam Kroshat, 45 years old, from Alawi neighbourhood (Hai-Althawra), Ahwaz city
57- Nori Neissi, from Alawi neighbourhood (Hai-Althawra), Ahwaz city
58- Hossein Heydari, from Alawi neighbourhood (Hai-Althawra), Ahwaz city
59- Adnan Sawari, from Alawi neighbourhood (Hai-Althawra), Ahwaz city
60- Mohammad Heydari,25 years old, from Alawi neighbourhood (Hai-Althawra), Ahwaz city
61- Majed Sawari, from Alawi neighbourhood (Hai-Althawra), Ahwaz city
62- Ali Sawari, from Alawi neighbourhood (Hai-Althawra), Ahwaz city
63- Mohammad Sawari, Sabah’s son, from Alawi neighbourhood (Hai-Althawra), Ahwaz city
64- Ali Mazbani-Nasr(Sawari), from Alawi neighbourhood (Hai-Althawra), Ahwaz city
65- Ahmad Kroshat, Kazam’s son, from Ahwaz city
66- Jafar Aobidawi, from Zahireh(Goldasht) neighbourhood, Ahwaz city
67- Ahmad Bawi, from Zahireh(Goldasht) neighbourhood, Ahwaz city
68- Ali Shejairat (Abo-Farogh), from Amoelha, Ahwaz city
69- Mahmod Dorghy, from Amoelha, Ahwaz city
70- Aziz Hamidawi, from Amoelha, Ahwaz city
71- Amoid Bachari, from Amoelha, Ahwaz city
72- Ramin Bachari, from Amoelha, Ahwaz city
73- Jamil Ahmad-Pour, from Azizeh neighbourhood(Kheshair), Ahwaz city
74- Fahad Neissi , from Shahrak-Ahwaz, Ahwaz city
75- Jamil Heydari, 33 years old, from Kampolo, Ahwaz city
76- Majed Heydari, 25 years old, from Kampolo , Ahwaz city
77- Ahmad Hemri, 29 years old, bachelor , from Mandali neighbourhood, Ahwaz city
78- Ali Sawari, 23 years old, Chaseb’s son , from Azizeh neighbourhood(Kheshair), Ahwaz city
79- Danial Adel Amjad, 43 years old, from Mashali neighbourhood, Ahwaz city
80- Mosa Mazraeh, from Abo-Hmaza , Khafajeh city
81- Abdul-Rahman khasreji, 32 years old, from Kot-Saeed-Naeem,Khafajeh city
82- Mahdi Mazraeh, 22 years old, Aziz’s son ,from Abo-Hmaza , hospital employee, Khafajeh city
83- Ahmad Swedi, from Hajeh village , Khafajeh city
84- Adnaan Mazraeh , from Khafajeh city
85- Mrs Sahba(Lamia) Hamadi, from Koi-Abozar neighbourhood, Khafajeh city
86- Hassan Harbawi, from Khafajeh city
87- Ali Swedi, from Hajeh village Khafajeh city
88- Faiz Afrawi, 30 years old, Married from Al-Boafri village, Khafajeh, he arrested with his mother
89- Mohammad-Amin Afrawi, 37 years old, from Al-Boafri village, Khafajeh city, he arrested with his mother
90- Abas Moghinami, 26 years old from Hajeh village, Khafajeh city
91- Mortiza Bit-Sheikh-Ahmad,24 years old, Naser’s son, from Hajeh village, Khafajeh city
92- Mortiza Moghinami , 22 years old, from Hajeh village, Khafajeh city
93- Aref Moghinami, 27 years old, from Hajeh village, Khafajeh city
94- Hamdan Afrawi, Abas’s son, from Al-Boafri village, Khafajeh city
95- Amir Afrawi, Fazel’s son, from Al-Boafri village, Khafajeh city
96- Ali Afrawi, Hamad’s son, from Al-Boafri village, Khafajeh city
97- Mohammad Mohamadi( Abiat), 22 years old, from Hamidiyeh city, arrested with plastered feet
98- Ghasem Kabi(Kabawi), 24 years old, from Hamidiyeh city
99- Mahdi Saedi, 27 years old, from Hamidiyeh city
100- Lami Shamosi, from Hamidiyeh city
101- Aadel Afrawi, from Hamidiyeh city
102- Mahdi Koti, from Hamidiyeh city
103- Ali Koti, from Hamidiyeh city
104- Satar Koti, from Hamidiyeh city
105- Ali Mansori, from Hamidiyeh city
106- Ali Saki, Amrawah’s son, from Howeyzeh city
107- Abas Saki, Abad-Ali, from Howeyzeh city
108- Abo-Shalan Saki, from Howeyzeh city
109- Khazal Temimi(Fazeli),30 years old, from Shiban area, Ahwaz city
110- Ali Sawari,30 years old, Sahi’s son, from Shakareh neighbourhood, Kot-Abdolah
111- Mostafa Sawari,25 years old, Sahi’s son, from Shakareh neighbourhood, Kot-Abdolah
112- Khaled Abidawi, 25 years old, from Shakareh neighbourhood, Kot-Abdolah
113- Abas Heydari, 23 years old, from Shakareh neighbourhood, Kot-Abdolah
114- Mortza Amiri, from Darwisheh neighbourhood, Kot-Abdolah
115- Yasin Amiri, 23 years, from Darwisheh neighbourhood, Kot-Abdolah
116- Sadegh Heydari,28 years old, Ghasem’s son, from Malashiah neighbourhood, Ahwaz city
117- Jalal Nabhani, from Ameri neighbourhood, Ahwaz city
118- Khaled Hazbawi, 40 years old, married, from Kanteks( Majd) neighbourhood, Kot-Abdolah
119- Mohammad Hazbawi, 30 years old, Abdul-Karim’s son, from Kanteks( Majd) neighbourhood, Kot-Abdolah
120- Raza Batrani, 34 years old, from Kanteks( Majd) neighbourhood, Kot-Abdolah
121- Tareq Amiri, 24 years old, from Darwisheh neighbourhood, Kot-Abdolah
122- Jamal Mojadam , 25 years old, from Darwisheh neighbourhood, Kot-Abdolah
123- Mosa Mazraeh, 25 years old, Studying in university, from Khafajeh city
124- Rashid Kroshat, from Mandely neighbourhood, Ahwaz city
125- Hakim Kroshat , Manan’s son, from Ahwaz city
126- Mrs Zodeh Afrawi, 55 years old, from Al-Boafri village, Khafajeh city
127- Mrs Qaisiah Afrawi, 60 years old, from Al-Boafri village, Khafajeh city
128- Jawad Mahnapour(Afrawi), from Al-Boafri village, Khafajeh city
129- Ali Moghinami, from Hajeh village, Khafajeh city
130- Hossain Hamodi( Sabhani),25 years old, from Azizeh neighbourhood (Khashair), Ahwaz city
131- Yahiah Borwieh, from Ahwaz city
132- Naji Salimy( Kabi), Salman’s son, from Bit-Mahmed village, Shush city
133- Yahiah Salim, Naji’s son, from Bit-Mahmed village, Shush city
134- Azim Shawerdi, Abed’s son, from Khanafreh village , Falaheh( Shadegan) city
135- Ibrahim Shawerdi, 31 years old, Kanan’s son, from Khanafreh village , Falaheh( Shadegan) city
136- Khaled Albokhanfar, Saed’s son, from Khanafreh village , Falaheh( Shadegan) city
137- Ahmad Shawerdi, 24 years old, Abdoljalil’s son, from Khanafreh village , Falaheh( Shadegan) city
138- Mahdi Shawerdi, 17 years old, Hasan’s son, from Khanafreh village , Falaheh( Shadegan) city
139- Adnan Khanafreh, from Khanafreh village , Falaheh( Shadegan) city
140- Moslem Farajolah, married, from Shushtar city
141- Anwer Ashory, 26 years old, Derchal’s son, from Bit-Ashor village, Falaheh(Shadegan)
142- Mohamad-Raza Jalali,26 years old, Hasan’s son, from Koi-Abozar, Khafajiah city
143- Rahim Amin-Por ( Heydari) ,from Zaheriah( Goldasht), Ahwaz city
144- Mahdi Aobidawi, 25 years old, from Khafajeh city
145- Mostafa Jalali, 29 years old, married, from Khafajeh city
146- Loghman Sharafi( Khasraji), married , from Tasfeh area, Ahwaz city
147- Yousef Marawna , 18 years old, Aasi’s son, from Malashiah neighbourhood, Ahwaz city
148- Abdolah Haiati , Kazam’s son , from Saeed-Khalaf neighbourhood, Ahwaz city
149- Nader Haiati , Kazam’s son , from Saeed-Khalaf neighbourhood, Ahwaz city
150- Mostafa Basirey , Azat-Alah’s son , from Kyan-Abad neighbourhood , Ahwaz city
151- Kazam Sayahi , Faleh’s son , from Hamidiyeh city
152- Mansor Askari , from Koi-Alawi, Ahwaz city
153- Yahia Aobidawi , 28 years old, from Hamidiyeh city
154- Ghasam Aobidawi , 26 years old , from Hamidiyeh city
155- Jafar Aobidawi , 28 years old , from Hamidiyeh city
156- Hassan Bit-Said , 30 years old, from Hamidiyeh city
157- Ali Mazraeh , 29 years old , from Hamidiyeh city
158- Adel Zabi , from Koi-Alawi neighbourhood , Ahwaz city
159- Araf Abiat , from Koi-Alawi neighbourhood , Ahwaz city
160- Nader Sharifi , 50 years old, from Malashiyeh neighbourhood, Ahwaz city
161- Najem Heydari , 30 years old, from Koi-Alawi neighbourhood , Ahwaz city
162- Rasoul Chaldawi , 27 years old, from Koi-Alawi neighbourhood, Ahwaz city
163- Saeed-Fahad Alawi , 24 years old , Abolhail’s son, from Shawoor , Shush city
164- Abdul-Hamid Kanani , 25 years old , from Shawoor, Shush city
165- Amin Solimani , 27 years old, Naser’s son , from Shawoor, Shush city
166- Mohammad Aobidawi , 26 years old, Aisa’s son , from Shawoor , Shush city
167- Walid Haiawi , 28 years old, Mahmod’s son, from Shawoor , Shush city
168- Hassan Berisam ( Kanani), 24 years old, from Shawoor , Shush city
169- Jasem Ghanami Sowidi , 27 years old, Married , from Hajeh village, Khafajeh city
170- Halim Sawari , 46 years old, from Khafajeh city, arrested with two of his children
171- Aghil Sawari, 20 years old, Halim’s son , from Khafajeh city
172- Raza Sawari , 17 years old, Halim’s son , from Khafajeh city

31 OCTOBER 2018

Iran Sentences 15 Protesting HEPCO Employees to Prison and Flogging

Fifteen employees of the Heavy Equipment Production Company (HEPCO),
have been issued suspended prison and lashing sentences for striking for unpaid wages.

The state-run ILNA News Agency said that based on the ruling issued by Branch 106 of the Criminal Court in Arak city, each of these 15 workers has been ordered to serve a year to two and a half years in prison and be flogged 74 lashes for “disrupting public order” and “instigating workers via the internet to demonstrate and riot”.

Suspended sentences function like bail conditions; defendants are expected to keep a low profile and not engage in any form of activism for the duration of their sentence.

The 15 employees and their sentences are as follows;

1. Amir Houshang Pour Farzanegan, sentenced to one year behind bars and 74 lashes for “disrupting public order through instigating workers to demonstrate”
2. Morteza Azizi, sentenced to 18 months behind bars and 74 lashes for “disrupting public order through instigating workers to demonstrate” and “leading illegal workers’ gatherings”
3. Hamidreza Ahmadi, sentenced to 18 months behind bars and 74 lashes for “disrupting public order through taking part in illegal gatherings” and “instigating participants to disrupt public order”
4. Mehdi Abedi, sentenced to one year behind bars and 74 lashes for “disrupting public order through taking part in illegal gatherings”
5. Berouz Valashajardi, sentenced to 18 months behind bars and 74 lashes for “disrupting public order through taking part in illegal gatherings” and “instigating workers via the internet to demonstrate and riot”
6. Abolfazl Karimi, sentenced to 30 months behind bars and 74 lashes for “disrupting public order through taking part in illegal gatherings,” “disrupting public order through instigating workers to demonstrate” and “spreading propaganda against the state by publishing and posting protest banners”
7. Yaser Ghalami, sentenced to 18 months behind bars and 74 lashes for “disrupting public order through taking part in illegal gatherings” and “disrupting public order through organizing gatherings”
8. Amir Farid Afshar, sentenced to 30 months behind bars and 74 lashes for “disrupting public order through taking part in illegal gatherings,” “disrupting public order through instigating workers” and “spreading propaganda against the state via launching HEPCO Telegram channel”
9. Hadi Fazeli, sentenced to 18 months behind bars and 74 lashes for “disrupting public order through taking part in illegal gatherings,” “instigating and leading workers to disrupt public order” and “spreading propaganda against the state via posting video clips and images and sending messages”
10. Amir Fatahpour, sentenced to 18 months behind bars and 74 lashes for “disrupting public order through taking part in illegal gatherings,” “leading and instigating workers to disrupt public order”
11. Majid Yahyaie, sentenced to one year behind bars and 74 lashes for “disrupting public order through taking part in illegal gatherings”
12. Behrouz Hassanvand, sentenced to two years behind bars and 74 lashes for “disrupting public order through taking part in illegal gatherings” and “defying the state security forces”
13. Farid Kouhdani, sentenced to 18 months behind bars and 74 lashes for “disrupting public order through taking part in illegal gatherings” and “disrupting public order through spreading propaganda against the state”
14. Majid Latifi, sentenced to 18 months behind bars and 74 lashes for “disrupting public order through taking part in illegal gatherings” and “instigating workers to disrupt public order and demonstrate against the state”
15. Ali Maleki, sentenced to one year behind bars and 74 lashes for “disrupting public order through taking part in illegal gatherings”

HEPCO, a lucrative industrial complex founded before the Islamic Revolution, was privatized last year.

Labor rights activists say that immediately following the privatization the workers’ difficulties began.

The private owners sacked thousands of workers and many employees lost their health insurance and pension benefits.

Iran’s Free Trade Union reported on its Telegram channel that “8,000 workers used to work at the HEPCO industrial complex before its privatization. Now, only 1,000 of them are left.”

Past workers’ protests at the HEPCO complex have been met with violence. According to media reports, as well as pictures and video clips published on social media, on September 19, 2017 anti-riot police attacked HEPCO and another recently privatized industrial complex in Arak, Azarab, and arrested several protesters.

Some of the anti-riot forces drove through the protesters on motor bikes while firing tear gas and beating them with sticks, according to reports.

In one of the video clips published on social media, protesters can be heard shouting “Poor workers don’t deserve to be battered.”

The employees of HEPCO in Arak, Markazi province, launched another strike for several days, protesting to unpaid wages and the reduction of retirement bonuses in May.

During the protests, one of the workers tried to commit suicide by jumping off a bridge in protest to the lack of response from the company’s owners. He was saved by his colleagues at the last minute.

Tensions between the workers of HEPCO and the company’s management have been ongoing for months over unpaid wages and uncertainties surrounding the company’s future.

The Labor Commission of the National Council of Resistance of Iran promptly condemned this inhuman sentence and the punishment of Iran’s workers. The NCRI stipulated: “The judiciary of the mullahs is telling the workers, whose only sin is to demand payment for their toil, that if in the next five years, they dare do anything wrong, they will be subjected to such punishments, and they should give in to their working conditions, which means not getting paid for their labor.”

According to Amnesty International, “independent unions in Iran are banned, workers have few legal rights or protections, and union activists are regularly beaten, arrested, jailed and tortured.”

Iran’s Labor Code does not grant citizens the right to form independent unions, despite Iran’s ratification of the UN’s International Convention on Civil and Political Rights and membership in the International Labor Organization.

1 NOVEMBER 2018

UWTSBC Vice-President Gets 6 Years In Prison For Trade Union Activists

Prison sentence against the vice-President of the Syndicate of Workers of Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company, Ebrahim Madadi was upheld by Tehran’s Appeals Court.

The UWTSBC member was sentenced to five years and three months behind bars by the 26th Branch of Tehran Revolutionary Court headed by judge Ahmadzadeh in August 2016.
Madadi has been detained several times in connection of his trade union activists, most recently having served a prison term from 2009 to 2012.

According to Mohammad Saleh Nikbakht, Madadi’s attorney, he has been sentenced to prison on charges relating to his trade union activists.

60 year old Ebrahim Madadi, suffers from various illnesses such as diabetes and prostate problems, and has been kept in Rajaei Shahr Prison without medical care.
“This labor activist is not able to withstand imprisonment because of multiple illnesses and it will cause him many problems,” Saleh Nikbakht said. 

Several senior members of the Tehran Bus Drivers’ Union, including Reza Shahabi and Davoud Razavi, have been previously imprisoned for their peaceful activism.
According to Article 27 of Iran’s Constitution, “Public gatherings and marches may be freely held, provided that arms are not carried and that they are not detrimental to the fundamental principles of Islam.”

Article 149 of the Labor Law meanwhile requires employers to support employee-housing cooperatives.

Independent labor unions are banned in Iran, strikers are often fired and risk being detained, and labor leaders face long prison sentences on trumped up national security charges.

1 NOVEMBER 2018

Human Rights Lawyer Mohammad Najafi Began His Three Years Prison Sentences

Human rights lawyer Mohammad Najafi began his three years prison sentence in Central Prison of Arak.
Mohammad Najafi has been sentenced to three years in prison and 74 lashes for “disturbing the state” and “publishing falsehoods” after he advocated for a young client, 22-year-old Vahid Heydari who died under suspicious circumstances in an Iranian detention center.

“The rulings against me, Ali Bagheri and Abbas Safari were upheld without any changes: One year and 74 lashes for ‘disturbing the state,’ and two years for ‘publishing falsehoods,’” Najafi wrote in a Facebook post on October 18, 2018.
“The sentences against the other defendants, including six of my clients, were suspended for five years,” he added.

In January 2018, attorney Mohammad Najafi told media outlets that the authorities were trying to cover up the cause of the suspicious death of Heydari, who died in detention at the 12th Police Station in Arak sometime between the end of December 2017 and the beginning of January 2018 by claiming he had committed suicide. Iranian authorities have claimed at least two other detainees “committed suicide” in custody in 2018: Iranian-Canadian environmentalist Kavous Seyed-Emami and Sina Ghanbari.

1 NOVEMBER 2018

Iranian Baha’i Man Taken To Jail For Allegedly Promoting His Faith

Iranian Baha’i Zabihollah Raoufi, 69 began his prison sentence in Sanandaj Prison on October 31.
The Appeals Court in Iran’s Kurdistan Province had upheld a one-year prison sentence against 69-year-old Zabihollah Raoufi, who was accused of proselytizing his Baha’i faith.
He had also been sentenced to a year in exile in the remote desert town of Minab, Hormozgan Province, a term he must serve after his prison sentence according to the verdict issued on July 22, 2018.

The charges against the 69-year-old shopkeeper were “propaganda against the state” and “assembly and collusion against national security by promoting Baha’ism.”

According to the New York-based Center for Human Rights in Iran quoting a source, several people who associated with Mr. Raoufi were arrested by the Intelligence Ministry and when they were asked questions about him, they denied he was proselytizing and said he would only respond if he was asked about his faith. But the Intelligence Ministry agents said that even giving a response is considered proselytizing and that Baha’is have been warned that they should not answer questions from non-Baha’is about their religion.

Zabihollah Raoufi, was one of eight Iranian Baha’is whose prison sentences had been confirmed in July by Iranian appeals courts.

An appeals court in the central city of Yazd confirmed prison terms for six Baha’i men and one Baha’i woman. 

Two of the men sentenced by the Yazd court, Mehran Islami Amir Abadi and Mehranband Amir Abadi, were given prison terms of 18 months. 

Mehran Islami Amir Abadi already was facing one year of prison time in connection with another case, his 2012 arrest on charges of spreading anti-government propaganda. He probably would have to serve the previous sentence and the new sentence consecutively, keeping him in prison for 2½ years.

five other Baha’is as receiving three-year prison terms from the Yazd court were Soroureh Foroughi Mehdi Abadi, a woman, and four men: Farzad Rouhani Munshadi, Ahmad Jafari Naeim, Ramin Hassouri Sharafabadi, and Mohammad Ali Tadrisi.

Intelligence Ministry agents in Sanandaj arrested Raoufi in 2015 and released him on bail six days later, with a court later convicting him of spreading anti-government propaganda, related to his alleged activities in promoting the Baha’i faith.

Raoufi previously was arrested in 2009 on similar charges and served six months in prison in the western city of Tuyserkan.

The Baha’is are Iran’s most persecuted religious minority. After the revolution, more than 200 Baha’is were executed in Iran because of their religious allegiance. In 1981, the religion was banned.

Although Article 23 states that “no one may be molested or taken to task simply for holding a certain belief,” followers of the faith are deprived of many of their fundamental rights, including access to higher education and the right to work freely.

1 NOVEMBER 2018

Daughter Of Detained Teachers’ Rights Activist Pens Open Letter On Father’s Unlawful Arrest

Daughter of recently arrested teacher, Abbas Vahedian, has written an open letter about her father’s unlawful arrest, protesting the authorities failing to provide any response to her inquiries on her father’s case.

In part of her letter, Hengameh Vahedian has wrote, “During the 18 days since my father’s inhuman and unlawful detention, I fought myself to the extent I could to suppress my anger and anguish; I struggled with concern to find any information on my father’s physical and mental condition. I tried every possible way but found not a single news to relieve my family.

“I went to the information center. I went to the Revolutionary Court, without finding a single proper answer to my questions and concerns! However, I heard only one answer when they said no order had been registered to have my father arrested, and it was not clear which agency had taken action! How is it possible in a country to arrest a person and have a legal warrant to enter his home, without a court and an agency issuing and carrying out the order?

“If humanity and awareness are considered a crime, if defending one’s homeland is considered a crime, and if talking about freedom and demanding one’s rights are considered a crime, then I am proud that my father is a criminal!”

On October 11, Abbas Vahedian, a teacher and ITTA member, was arrested at his home in Mashhad on the eve of the nationwide teachers’ strike. The state security agents raided his house, confiscated his personal belongings and took him to an unknown location.

Iranian authorities have arrests at least four Teachers’ Trade Association members in connection with the nationwide teachers strike.

The strike, called by Iran’s Coordinating Council of Teachers’ Syndicates, involved teachers staging sit-ins at schools around the country to protest poor living conditions, problems with their jobs and heavy security measures imposed in their schools.

Another prominent teachers’ rights activist detained in Iran’s crackdown on teachers unions, is Hashem Khastar. He mysteriously disappeared on October 23 in the city of Mashhad in northeast Iran.

The Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) intelligence confined him in a psychiatric hospital.
He has been hospitalized in an emergency room and is banned from any family visits, based on orders issued by security officials, according to Sedighe Maleki-fard, Khastar’s wife.

“He was completely healthy and after retiring spent many of his days farming. The only medication he consumed were blood pressure pills. Khastar being hospitalized in an emergency section of a special facility for psychiatric patients means [authorities] injected a special type of medication with the intention of killing him, or he had been severely injured under torture or during his arrest,” Mrs. Maleki said.

Mrs. Maleki-fard issued a call to her compatriots asking them to raise the issue of her husband’s arrest with the Iranian regime’s judiciary and demand his release.