NEWS FROM INSIDE IRAN –
PERIOD
3 NOVEMBER 2018 TO 10
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
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3 November 2018
UN
Rights Expert Urges Iran To End Execution Of Child Offenders
The U.N. independent expert on human rights in Iran urged Tehran
on Wednesday to abolish the death penalty for juveniles.
“I appeal to the Iranian authorities to abolish the
practice of sentencing children to death, and to commute all death sentences
issued against children in line with international law,” Javaid Rehman, special
rapporteur for human rights in Iran, told a General Assembly human rights
committee.
At least 85 individuals arrested as minors, are known to
be on death row. They include, Mohammad Kalhori, Hamid Ahmadi, Abolfazl Naderi,
Babak Pouladi, Mohammad Khazaian, Pouria Tabaie, Mohammad Salehi, Mehdi
Bohlouli, Mohammad Reza Haddadi and Saleh Shariati.
In contrast to the international law, retrials of
juvenile offenders pursuant to Article 91 of the 2013 Islamic Penal Code result
in renewed death sentences following arbitrary assessments of their “maturity”
at the time of the crime.
Article 6.5 of the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights states that death sentence “shall not be imposed for crimes
committed by persons below eighteen years of age.”
Iranian authorities detain death-row child offenders
until they pass their 18th birthday and then they execute them.
JUVENILE
DEATH ROW
In 2018 alone, five individuals convicted of murder when
they were minors have executed in Iran. Zeinab Sekaanvand, who was accused of
killing her husband when she was 17, was executed three weeks ago.
Rehman said: “Claims that she was coerced into confessing
to the killing, had been beaten following her arrest and was a victim of
domestic violence were reportedly not adequately examined during her trial.”
Despite amendments made to the Islamic Penal Code in 2013
that allow judges to give alternative sentences for juvenile offenders in
certain circumstances, executions continue unabated in Iran.
Rehman said that “numerous” other juvenile offenders were
on death row in Iran.
SERIOUS
CONCERNS
Rehman took up his post in July, but the Iranian
authorities have not yet allowed him to visit the country in order to observe
the human rights situation for himself, saying that they reject his mandate
entirely.
Rehman has expressed serious concerns about human rights
in Iran, especially the fate of arrested protesters and the rights of women.
Iran has been awash with protests since December, when
the failing economy, high unemployment, the rising cost of living, sparked
massive social discontent.
Shortly after the demonstrations began, at least 50
people were shot dead in the streets and 8,000 were arrested and threatened
with the death penalty.
Rehman said: “I remain concerned about the fate of those
arrested during the protests, and call upon the government to ensure that all
those imprisoned for peacefully exercising their freedom of opinion and
expression are released.”
While the rights of women and girls also need vast
improvements, with one particular issue highlighted this year being the
mandatory veiling of women.
Rehman said: “Any form of coercion on women violates
their rights. So, enforcement and forced dress code, thereby, is contrary to
international human rights law.”
3 November 2018
Iran Human Rights Monitor, Monthly
Report – October 2018
Introduction
October was
replete with numerous instances of human rights violations as Iran continued
its rampage of domestic crackdown.
Iranian
authorities have a dismal report card of at least 22 executions this month,
including the execution of a woman despite being only 17 at the time of alleged
crime.
Reports from
inside Iran also indicate the intelligence and security forces continued
to make arrests of Ahvazi Arabs, including several children and women, in what
appears to be an escalating crackdown in Iran’s Khuzestan province.
News has
detailed a large number of truck drivers in various provinces have reportedly
been detained for participating in the strike, with a spokesperson for the
judiciary threatening “heavy punishment.”
The news of
Iranian environmentalists facing charges which could carry the death
penalty stirred controversy across Iran. The Tehran prosecutor
claimed that four of the eight detained Iranian environmentalists have been
charged with “sowing corruption on Earth”, which could be punishable by death.
Furthermore,
Jafari Dolatabadi said that the legal cases against the detainees have been
already prepared and are ready to be presented to courts.
Eight
environmentalists, Niloufar Bayani, Houman Jokar, Sepideh Kashani, Amir Hossein
Khaleqi, AbdolReza Kouhpayeh, Taher Qadirian, Sam Rajabi and Iranian-American
dual citizen Morad Tahbaz have been held in temporary custody by the Islamic Revolutionary
Guards Corps’ Intelligence Organization since last January.
Human Rights
Watch has called on Iran to immediately release eight environmental activists
who’ve been detained since January unless authorities “can produce evidence to
justify the charges against them and guarantee a fair trial.”
Iran Human
Rights Monitor’s Monthly Report – October 2018 reviews the executions, arrests
and cruel sentences issued for people, the arbitrary murders, deaths in
custody, inhuman treatment and cruel punishments, prison conditions and
persecution of religious minorities.
The right to life
Executions
Iran Human
Rights Monitor has registered 22 executions which were carried out in the
prisons of Urmia, Birjand, Qazvin, Rajaei Shahr, Shahre Kord, Isfahan, Maragheh,
Ilam, Shirvan, Sirjan, Zahedan and Ardebil.
Iran
executed a female victim of domestic and sexual violence who was convicted of
killing her husband when she was a minor.
Zeinab
Sekaanvand was hanged on October 2 in Urmieh central prison in West Azerbaijan
province.
She was just
15 when she was forced to marry her abusive husband and at 17 she was jailed
for his murder in 2012 after she confessed under torture.
About the
horrific execution of 24-year old Sekaanvand, Amnesty International’s Middle
East Research and Advocacy Director, said: “Her execution is profoundly unjust.
The fact that her death sentence followed a grossly unfair trial makes her
execution even more outrageous.”
Philip
Luther added: “Zeinab Sekaanvand said that, soon after she was married at 15,
she sought help many times from the authorities about her violent husband and
alleged that her brother-in-law had raped her repeatedly.
“Instead of
investigating these allegations, however, the authorities consistently ignored
her and failed to provide her with any support as a victim of domestic and
sexual violence.”
EXECUTIONS CARRIED OUT IN OCTOBER 2018
Arbitrary murders
Iran Human
Rights Monitor recorded 11 arbitrary murders including killing of Kurdish porters and merchants and Balichi men.
Authorities
take harsh measures against porters under the pretext of smuggling while the
widespread aspect of smuggled goods and currency in Iran confirms this reality that the
“small smugglers,” who are constantly arrested and even killed by state police,
are actually a very small piece of a very large puzzle.
Inhuman treatment and cruel
punishments
Iran’s
judiciary issued flogging for 60 people and handed down a hand for one person.
Fifteen
staff members of the HEPCO manufacturing company in Markazi Province, Iran,
have been issued suspended prison and lashing sentences for striking for unpaid
wages, reported the state-funded Iranian Labor News Agency (ILNA) on October
28, 2018.
“It should
be noted that some of these workers… were labor representatives negotiating
with the employer,” said the ILNA report. “The workers say they want the new
Labor Minister [Mohammad Shariatmadari], who had given assurances about the
freedom to organize labor protests, to step in and prevent their prosecution.”
The workers
convicted of “disturbing the peace” at the Heavy Equipment Production Company
(HEPCO) are: Majid Latifi, Behrouz Hasanvand, Hamidreza Ahmadi, Amir Houshang
Pour Farzanegan, Morteza Azizi, Hadi Fazeli, Abolfazl Karimi, Farid Kodani,
Majid Yahyaie, Amir Fatahpour, Yaser Gholi, Amir Farid Afshar, Mehdi Abedi, Ali
Maleki and Berouz Valashajardi.
Pedram
Pazireh, graduate student in culture &media affairs & deputy UTUCI
secretary, was sentenced to a 7-year prison sentence and 74 lashes for
organizing a ceremony commemorating the national Student Day. The verdict was
issued by the notorious judge, Mohammad Moghiseh.
A court in
the central city of Arak, issued prison sentences and lashes for 11 protesters
arrested during the December/January uprising that spread to over 140
cities across the country. These individuals are facing charges such as
“disrupting public order and peace by taking part in illegal rallies.”
Arrests
Iran Human
Rights Monitor registered 2442 arrests across the country including 543
politically motivated arrests, 11 arrests on religious and ethnic grounds, and
1888 arbitrary arrests.
Human Rights
groups accused Tehran of carrying out a weeks-long campaign of “repression”
against Ahwazi Arab ethnic minority in Khuzestan province, southern Iran,
including arrests of children and women.
The wave of
detentions follows a deadly armed attack on a military parade in the city of
Ahvaz. Amnesty International believes that the timing suggests that the Iranian
authorities are using the attack in Ahvaz as an excuse to lash out against
members of the Ahwazi Arab ethnic minority, including civil society and
political activists, in order to crush dissent in Khuzestan province.
Prominent
teachers’ rights activist Hashem Khastar, who mysteriously disappeared October
23 in the city of Mashhad in northeast Iran, remained in detained by the
Islamic Republic’s Intelligence Ministry at a psychiatric hospital.
“He was
completely healthy and after retiring spent many of his days farming. The only
medication he consumed was 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,” Sedighe Maleki, the wife of Mr. Khastar said.
The unionist
representing teachers in Iran’s northeastern Razavi Khorasan province, was the
latest of several education activists to be detained in Iran this year while
promoting teachers’ rights to engage in union activities and protest peacefully
for better working conditions.
More than
261 truck drivers were detained during the course of the strike and threats of
death were issued by government officials who labeled the drivers “road
bandits”, which carries severe punishment and sometimes the death sentence in
Iran. A judiciary official also warned truck drivers holding the nationwide
strike over pay and high prices of “harsh penalties” if they continue their
protests, state media said.
Mohseni Ejei
warned truck drivers who have continued their protests for higher wages and
affordable parts despite several rounds of arrests.
“Harsh
penalties await those who … block lorry traffic on roads,” he said, according
to IRNA.
General
prosecutor Mohammad Jafar Montazeri said last week that protesting drivers may
face death sentences under stern laws against highway robbery, the state
broadcaster IRIB reported.
Before this
in October, a court in Qazvin Province called for the death penalty against 17
striking truck drivers in the north western province.
At least
four teachers were arrested in connection with a two-days long peaceful sit-in
for teachers’ and education rights in Iran while an unknown number of teacheres
were summoned to Intelligence Ministry’s offices in Tehran, Qazvin, Bojnourd,
Saqqez, Marivan, Kermanshah and Aligoudarz.
The Iranian
Teachers’ Trade Association (ITTA) reported on October 14 that the head of its
secretariat, Mohammad Reza Ramezanzadeh, and a teacher, Mohammad Ghanbari, were
arrested after the strike was launched on October 13, 2018.
On October
11, Abbas Vahedian, a teacher and ITTA member, was arrested at his home in
Mashhad on the eve of the sit-in strike by security agents who raided his
house, confiscated his personal belongings and took him to an unknown location.
In Aligoudarz,
Lorestan Province, Amin Azimi, also an ITTA member, was freed on October 16,
two days after being arrested.
Teachers in
several Iranian cities did not show up to class on October 13 to join a
peaceful sit-in protesting poor living conditions, problems with their jobs and
heavy security measures imposed in their schools.
Prisoners
More than 70
political prisoners went on hunger strike for over a week in Urmia (Orumiyeh)
Central Prison despite pressures and hollow promises provided by the prison
authorities.
These
inmates launched their hunger strike on October 14, protesting an attack by the
prison’s special guard units targeting ward 12 where political prisoners are
held. The prison guards beat them severely and dragged many to solitary
confinement. This attack took place after the prisoners were protesting the
beating of another inmate and his transfer to incommunicado. A number of the
political prisoners suffered severe injuries.
Farhad
Meysami, a defender of Iranian women’s rights who has been jailed in Tehran is
in poor health due to a hunger strike.
Meysami, a
medical doctor who was detained in July for protesting against laws forcing
Iranian women to wear the hijab, has been on a hunger strike since August 1 and
has lost 18 kilograms while being held in a medical clinic at Tehran’s Evin
prison, where he is being force-fed intravenously.
Meysami has
vowed not to end his hunger strike until he and two other prominent activists
arrested for protesting the hijab are released.
Golrokh
Iraee, Atena Daemi and Maryam Akbari Monfared, three women political prisoners
in the women’s ward of Evin Prison were deprived of their family visitations for three weeks since October
2, 2018.
Prison
agents that the illegal verdict was handed down because of the three women
political prisoners’ verbal argument with prison guards at the visitation hall
where they chanted slogans.
The three
women political prisoners, Golrokh Iraee, Atena Daemi and Maryam Akbari
Monfared, demanded to see the verdict, however, the head of the women’s ward
said it had been verbally communicated to them by Charmahali, the Prison
Administrator, and the Prosecutor’s Office.
Violation of other rights
On October
23, Tehran Chief of Police announced that “255 operations were carried out in
Tehran”, in which 240 people including 45 juveniles were arrested.
Hossein
Rahimi said that the detainees were accused of “troublemaking, destroying
public property and instigating public opinion on the internet” among other
things.
He further
announced that 210 shops including café’s, gyms and 67 parks were raided during
255 operations which were carried out in 48 hours.
A video was
also posted by ISNA state-run News Agency which purported to show the Tehran
Chief of Police “interrogating” a young man on the street.
The young
man was shot by the police after attacking a police station with a machete.
When asked
why he attacked the police station, the young man says that he did it in
retaliation to the death of his uncle by the police, who died after 12 hours in
police custody.
3 November 2018
Wave Of Arrests In Khuzestan In
Vicious Crackdown On Ahwazi Arabs
The Iranian
authorities have waged a sweeping crackdown against the Ahwazi Arab ethnic
minority, arresting hundreds of people in Khuzestan province, southern Iran, in
recent weeks, according to Amnesty International.
The wave of
detentions follows an early October attack on a military parade in Iran’s
southwestern city of Ahwaz.
Gunmen
opened fire on an military parade in the city of Ahwaz, killing at least 25
people, including civilians, and injuring 60, state media reported. Nearly half
of those killed were members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, reports say.
There were
also conflicting reports about the four attackers, with state media saying all
four had been killed after local deputy governor Ali Hosein Hoseinzadeh said
two of the four had been arrested.
As for who
carried out the attack, there was confusion over the names of groups that
either claimed responsibility or were blamed for the attacks.
According to
IRNA, the separatist group Patriotic Arab Democratic Movement in Ahwaz claimed
responsibility for the attack.
Patriotic Arab Democratic Movement in Ahwaz later rejected IRNA’s report that it had claimed responsibility for the attack.
It remains
unclear who was exactly responsible, as claims and denials followed.
Several
Iranian officials vowed a strong response to those responsible and claimed
foreign countries were behind the terror plot.
AI notes
that the Islamic Republic has used the deadly attack on the military parade as
an excuse to go after Arab ethnic rights activists across Khuzestan.
“The Iranian
authorities are using the attack in Ahwaz as an excuse to lash out against
members of the Ahwazi Arab ethnic minority, including civil society and
political activists, in order to crush dissent in Khuzestan province,” said
Philip Luther, Amnesty International’s Research and Advocacy Director for the
Middle East and North Africa.
“All those
suspected of criminal responsibility for the horrific attack in Ahwaz must be
brought to justice”, Luther asserted.
Those
arrested include political and minority rights activists, AI said, adding, “The
arrests have taken place in towns, cities and villages across Khuzestan
province including Ahwaz, Hamidiyeh, Khorramshahr and Shush. The mass arrests
have created a climate of fear among the Ahwazi Arab community, which already
faces persecution and discrimination in Iran.”
Responding
to the Governor of Khuzestan province, Gholamreza Shariati’s recent comments
that there are no civil society activists, women and children among those
detained, Amnesty International says it has received credible information that
students, writers, civil society, minority rights and political activists have
been arrested at their homes, places of work or in the streets.
“Among those
detained is Sahba(Lamya) Hammadi, a civil society activist who is pregnant. She
was arrested on 6 October at her home in the city of Susangerd in Khuzestan
province. She contacted her family the day she was arrested but her family have
not heard from her since”, AI reported.
Moreover,
according to AI “Zoudieh Afrawi and Gheysieh Afrawi, two women from Susangerd,
were arrested separately in their homes on October 22. Their children had been
arrested earlier in the day. They both telephoned relatives a week after their
arrests and told them they were being held by the Ministry of Intelligence.
Their relatives have not heard from them since.”
In its
latest statement, Amnesty International has called on the Iranian authorities
to release immediately and unconditionally anyone being held solely for
peacefully exercising their rights to freedom of expression, association or
peaceful assembly or solely on account of their ethnic identity.
4 November 2018
Civil Azerbaijani Activists Tortured
By Intelligence Agents In Iran
Ministry of
Intelligence agents violently attacked two female Azerbaijani Turkic activists
in an attempt to extract false confessions, leaving one in the hospital with
broken teeth and injured fingers.
In late
October, Ministry of Intelligence agents arrested Nasim Sadeghi and Hakimeh
Ahmadi without explanation and sources close to the women reported that the
pair were severely beaten.
According to
Ahmadi’s husband Gholamreza Ghorbani, Hakimeh is hospitalized at the Tabriz
Army Hospital, and the Intelligence Ministry agents have demanded that he pay
the hospital and treatment fees.
In a video
posted on sicial media on October 30, where Ghorbani explained that his wife
had been severely injured – agents broke her fingers and two of her rib bones –
and has now been moved to the hospital. He said that the authorities had
refused to tell him which hospital she was in, forbade him from visiting, and said
that he would be liable for the cost of the medical treatment.
The charges
against Ahmadi, who was arrested on October 18 and threatened with a
close-combat weapon, are still unknown.
Ms. Hakimeh
Ahmadi, the mother of two young children, had previously been detained in
September and was released after three days on a 100-million-touman bail.
Another
civil activist woman, Nasim Sadeghi, who was sent to Tabriz Central Prison on
October 29, told her family in a phone call that she’d been forced to confess
after the authorities beat her and threatened to arrest her children and her
sister’s children.
Although she
was not originally told of her charges, the general prosecutor’s office
reported that she was arrested for “propaganda against the government through
anti-government news activity in cyberspace”.
She was
finally released on October 31, on a bail of 150 million tomans. She had been
arrested on her walk home on October 21.
Sadeghi was
previously arrested in July, alongside dozens of other people, for taking part
in a public protest against controversial comments published in the newspaper
Tarh-e No. She was held and interrogated for five days in the Intelligence
Detention Center of Tabriz on yet more bogus propaganda charges, before being
released on a 1 billion rial bail.
4 November 2018
Beyond
Poverty, Iranians On The Verge Of Absolute Famine
With over 150,000 million barrels of proven oil reserves,
Iran owns the third or fourth largest oil reserve (based on different
types of estimation) among oil-producing countries. Only second to Russia, Iran
has also one the largest gas reserves in the world.
Iran is also ranked among 15 major mineral-rich
countries, having the world’s largest zinc reserves, second largest copper
reserves, 9th largest iron reserves, 10th largest uranium reserves,
etc. The list goes on.
According to a recent study by the Iranian Regime’s
Islamic Parliament Research Center, while accounting only for one percent of
the world population, Iran has over seven percent of its minerals.
But despite all its riches, more than 80 percent of the
nation lives below the poverty line, and the middle class has essentially
disappeared.
The absolute poverty rate in Iran has risen from 12
percent in 2017 to 50 percent this year, with a poverty line of nearly 6
million toumans (approx. $460), this year.
Iran’s annual support to Hezbollah is $700-800.
19 million Iranians live in slums, 7.4 million children
are deprived of education,
25% of the youth are unemployed, workers have lost 75% of their economic
capabilities, and nearly 1,000 children under the age of 3 are abandoned every
year. These are just a few of the numerous consequences of rampant poverty in Iran.
Another vivid result of poverty has been the astonishing
phenomenon of many Iranians willing to sell their kidneys and other body
organs, and even mothers pre-selling their unborn fetus. This is parallel to
the growing phenomenon of child labor, a swelling number of homeless people
roaming the streets and people even resorting to making homes out of graves.
The use of terms such as “line of poverty” and “absolute
poverty” have become commonplace in Iran. And state-run media always provide
the most optimistic estimates.
An Iranian regime official recently admitted, “The
government and its officials are faced with a 60-million strong populations
that is on the verge of absolute famine. This is not a joke—it’s the bitter
truth. We must take it seriously.”
Where is all the money going?
According to the Iranian regime’s figures, Iran has had a
$66 billion income from oil exports and $32.3 billion in non-oil exports. Where
has all the money gone?
The regime continues to expand budgets allocated for
meddling in Middle East countries, boosting its nuclear and ballistic missile
drives, and launching dozens of military and security forces imposing an
intense atmosphere of internal crackdown.
Iran
spends $15-20 billion a year to fuel the war in Syria.
It spends $25-30 billion a year to manufacture weapons of
mass destruction and to acquire illicit material and equipment for the nuclear
program. It spends $100 million per year supporting Hamas and Palestinian
Islamic Jihad. Companies owned by Khamenei and the IRGC account for 50% of
Iran’s GDP, half of which is spent on warmongering in the region.
4 November 2018
Cruel And
Inhuman; Executions In Iran
Annual report
on the death penalty in Iran, October 2018
Introduction
While
160 countries across the world have either abolished the Death Penalty or at
least called a moratorium on its use, the clerical regime ruling Iran remains
among the world’s most brutal.
The
Iranian regime executes more people per capita than any other country. The
total number of executions carried out in Iran stands only next to China, whose
population is over 17 folds greater. According to Amnesty International, Iran
accounts for over half of executions world over.
Tehran
sanctions capital punishment for political dissidents as well as ethnic and
religious minorities. Juvenile offenders and women are not excluded.
Iran
Human Rights Monitor recorded at least 3,602 death sentences carried out during
Rouhani’s tenure. This includes the executions of 34 juvenile offenders, 84
women and 86 political prisoners.
Since
January 2018, at least 223 people have been executed. The executions of at
least nine political prisoners and six individuals who were under 18 at the
time of the crime have been confirmed. 35 executions were carried out in
public. The actual numbers are likely to be much higher as most executions are
carried out secretly.
The
death penalty is not only a means for punishment in Iran, but a tool for
preserving the rule of those in power in the face of an increasingly furious
populace.
The
most recent case was the Judiciary spokesman threatening to execute truckers
participating in a nationwide strike to demand their rights.
In
yet another case, the head of the Revolutionary Court warned that those
arrested in the January 2018 protests could face the death penalty.
On
the occasion of the World Day Against the Death Penalty, Iran Human Rights Monitor
draws attention in this report to the common use of the death penalty in Iran
often carried out before completion of the due process of law against young
Iranians.
Iran
HRM calls on all international human rights advocates, in particular the High
Commissioner for Human Rights and the Special Rapporteur on the situation of
human rights in Iran, and the Working Group on Arbitrary Executions, to use
their powers and authority to compel the clerical regime to stop its prevalent
use of the death penalty.
Executing
Child Offenders
Iran
is one of only four countries known to have executed child offenders since
2013.
At
least 85 individuals arrested as minors, are known to be on death row.
They include, Mohammad Kalhori, Hamid Ahmadi, Abolfazl Naderi, Babak Pouladi,
Mohammad Khazaian, Pouria Tabaie, Mohammad Salehi, Mehdi Bohlouli, Mohammad
Reza Haddadi and Saleh Shariati.
In
contrast to the international law, retrials of juvenile offenders pursuant to
Article 91 of the 2013 Islamic Penal Code result in renewed death sentences
following arbitrary assessments of their “maturity” at the time of the crime.
Article
6.5 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights states that
death sentence “shall not be imposed for crimes committed by persons below eighteen
years of age.”
Iranian
authorities detain death-row child offenders until they pass their 18th
birthday and then they execute them.
Iran
has executed at least five child offenders across the country since January
2018:
Amirhossein
Pourjafar
On
January 4, authorities in Karaj prison executed Amirhossein Pourjafar for the
rape and murder of a 3-year-old girl when he was 16. Pourjafar, who was 18 when
he was executed, told Shargh newspaper on December 30, 2017, that he was under
influence of alcohol when he committed the crime. Mojtaba Farahbakhsh,
Pourjafar’s lawyer, told the newspaper that Pourjafar had signs of a “conduct
disorder” and had been hospitalized in a mental health center during his
detention. Despite these circumstances, the authorities pushed ahead with
carrying out the death penalty.
Ali
Kazemi
On
January 30, authorities in Bushehr prison, in southern Iran, executed Ali
Kazemi for a murder he allegedly committed when he was 15. He was executed even
though the authorities had promised to try to halt the execution. On the
morning of January 30, prison authorities called to reassure the family that
the execution had not taken place. However, at midday, Kazemi’s family found
out that the execution had just been carried out.
Mahboubeh
Mofidi
On
January 30, in Nowshahr prison in northern Iran, authorities executed Mahboubeh
Mofidi, who was married when she was 13, for the alleged murder of her husband
in 2014, when she was 17. Mofidi was 20 when authorities executed her on
January 30 in Nowshahr prison in Mazandaran province.
Abolfazl
Chezani Sharahi
On
June 27, Abolfazl Chezani Sharahi, aged 19, was executed in Qom prison in Qom
province, central Iran. He was sentenced to death for a murder committed
when he was aged 14 based on an official medical opinion that he was “mature”
at the time of the crime.
Zeinab
Sekaanvand
On
October 2, 24-year-old Kurdish woman Zeinab Sekaanvand was executed in Urumieh
central prison, in Iran’s West Azerbaijan province, despite being only 17 at
time of alleged crime. Sekaanvand was married at 15, suffered domestic abuse
and reportedly endured torture during her police interrogation.
Executing
political prisoners
10
political prisoners have been executed since January 2018, most of which
despite international campaigns urging reprieve.
Ramin Hossein
Panahi, Zaniar Moradi and Loghman Moradi
Ramin
Hossein Panahi and cousins Zaniar Moradi and Loghman Moradi were executed on
Saturday, September 8.
The
trials of all three men were grossly unfair. All were denied access to their
lawyers and families after their arrest, and all said they were tortured into
making “confessions”. They had been sentenced to death despite these massive
failings in due process.
The
two cousins had spent eight years on death row since confessing to a 2009
killing of the son of a Muslim cleric in Marivan, a confession that both men
later said was extracted under torture.
Panahi
was sentenced to death in January for allegedly drawing a weapon against
Iranian security forces operating in northwestern Iran’s predominantly ethnic
Kurdish region in June 2017. He confessed to taking up arms against the state,
but Amnesty said family members who saw him in court believe he also was
tortured into confessing because of apparent torture marks on his body.
Ramin
Hossein Panahi began a hunger strike at Rajaei Shahr prison on August 26 by
sewing his lips together in protest at his death sentence.
Mohammad
Salas
On
June 18, Iranian authorities executed Mohammad Salas convicted of killing three
police officers during clashes involving members of a Sufi order, despite calls
to stop his execution.
According
to Amnesty International, the 51-year-old bus driver was convicted and
sentenced to death in March following a “grossly unfair trial.”
Salas
said he was forced under torture to make a “confession” against himself. This
“confession”, taken from his hospital bed, was broadcast on state television
weeks before his trial and used as the only piece of evidence to convict him.
He was not allowed access to his chosen lawyer at any point before or during
his trial, and his independent lawyer’s repeated demands to the authorities to
allow critical evidence indicating his innocence were dismissed outright.
Death-row
prisoners, horrifying numbers
Rjaie Shahr
Prison
The
highest number of executions count up for Rajaishahr Prison. This prison is
also known as Gohardasht. It’s located in the city of Karaj approximately 20 km
west of Tehran.
Around
264 inmates are held in ward 10 of this prison, of which 86 are on death row,
meaning one third.
In
ward 3, known as the youth ward, with around 180 inmates under the age of 25,
around 80 are currently on death row condemned for “retribution in kind.” A
number of these individuals were arrested under the age of 18. This accumulates
to nearly half of the youth ward and one-third of ward 10 are inmates on death
row.
In
ward 3 nearly 120 of the 210 inmates are on death row. This is more than half.
In
ward 2, known as the Dar Al Quran ward, 120 of the 160 inmates are condemned
based on “retribution” charges.
Qezel Hessar
Prison
Unit
2 of this prison has around 1,000 death row inmates, with numerous individuals
charged with murder and others for drug offenses.
Urmia Central
Prison
Inwards
1 to 4 of this jail more than 166 individuals are currently on death row. All
the while this may not be the latest numbers.
Wards
1 and 2 of this prison, specified for mentally disturbed inmates, eight
individuals are on death row. Ward 12 is also home to three death row inmates.
The
so-called youth ward houses six individuals condemned to execution.
Ward
15, known as the drug offenses ward, six individuals are known to be on death
row.
Zahedan
Central Prison
According
to the latest list of names rounded up in March, 145 inmates are on death row.
Some of which have been held in the horrendous conditions of this jail for
years awaiting their execution. Drug criminals and a number of political
prisoners are seen among the death row inmates.
24
individuals in ward 4 of this prison are on death row, mostly for drug-related
charges, murders or affiliation to political groups.
Wards
1 and 3 of this prison houses another 21 death row inmates.
Dastgerd
Prison of Isfahan
This
prison has around 20 death row inmates, charged with murder and drug offenses.
Death-row
prisoners’ conditions
The
17th World Day Against the Death Penalty aims at raising awareness on the
inhumane living conditions of people sentenced to death.
Death
row prisoners in Iran linger in catastrophic conditions from solitary
confinement to the medieval tortures inflicted on them. The living conditions
tend to dehumanize death-row prisoners and take away their dignity.
In
many cases where people were sentenced to death or executed, the proceedings
did not meet international standards of the due process of law. This includes
the extraction of “confessions” through torture or other ill-treatment.
The
tortures some death row prisoners were reportedly subjected to follow:
Completely
stripping the prisoners and pouring boiling hot water on them;
Pushing
needles into their genitals;
Hanging
prisoners upside down from their feet;
Hanging
prisoners by their wrists;
Pulling
out the prisoners’ nails;
Leaving
the prisoners in absolute darkness for about forty days. Some prisoners lose
part of their eyesight;
Depriving
prisoners of bathing for two months;
Restricting
prisoners’ use of restroom to only once in every 24 hours;
Giving
prisoners food rations the size of the palm of a hand;
Forcing
prisoners to eat in the same unwashed plate for three months;
Flogging
prisoners while eating their food.
Many
spend prolonged periods on death row, sometimes for more than a decade. On
numerous occasions, prisoners are sent to the gallows, and then returned to the
cell.
Sometimes,
they inform prisoners of scheduled hanging but postpone its implementation. In
this way, death-row prisoners have to endure additional pain and suffering.
Sometimes,
the families are not informed of the execution of their loved ones adequately
in advance and not given the chance to say goodbye.
A
commonplace in many Iranian prisons is to force the families of execution
victims to pay for the noose used to hang their loved ones, or the bullet used
to shoot them. The victim’s body is not delivered to the family until the money
is paid.
2018
reports included cases of authorities refusing to deliver the body of execution
victims to their families or burying them without the families’ permission.
5 November
2018
Inhuman
Conditions Of Women Prisoners At Khoy Prison
Women prisoners at Khoy Prison, West Azerbaijan, have
been transferred to the prison’s visitation hall, where they have placed under
deplorable conditions while being denied fresh air breaks and family visits.
The inhuman measure has been taken under the pretext of doing repairs.
The prisoners do not have any beds and they have to sleep
on the floor in the hall. Due to the freezing weather, the detainees suffer
from numerous illnesses including kidney pains and severe infections.
The women’s ward in Khoy Prison has three rooms. 15 of the
40 detainees in this ward sleep on the floor in the ward’s corridor because
they do not have beds.
Iranian Kurdish woman Zeinab Jalalian is being held at
Khoy Prison where she has been constantly subjected to torture by the
authorities, who are deliberately blocking her access to specialized medical
care, despite her deteriorating health.
She has several medical conditions, including heart,
intestinal, and kidney problems.
She is at risk of losing her eyesight in prison as she is being denied surgery for a worsening eye condition called pterygium, which is impairing her vision and causing her severe discomfort.
She is at risk of losing her eyesight in prison as she is being denied surgery for a worsening eye condition called pterygium, which is impairing her vision and causing her severe discomfort.
On July 30, 2018, she and a group of other women prisoners
went on hunger strike to protest restrictions imposed on them while being
denied of their basic needs.
5
November 2018
Iran’s Court
Rejects Complaint Over Morality Police Physically Attacking Women
The
complaint of two young woman which they had filed against Iran’s Morality
Police beating them for ‘Insufficient’ head covering was rejected, according to
attorney Mohammad Hossein Aghasi who represented the women who was cited by the
state-run IRNA news agency.
“The
9th Branch of the Prosecutor’s Office of the Armed Forces Judiciary Committee
overturned the case, arguing that there was not sufficient evidence,” Aghasi
said.
In a
tweet posted on November 2, the attorney said that the Armed Forces Judiciary
Committee rejected his complaints he filed on behalf of the students against
two female guidance patrol officers while the video of the incident was widely
circulated on social media at the time.
“We had filed a complaint that a female
officer had dealt blows and insulted (the students) and requested that the
Taleghani Park guard who was witness to the incident be present in the court as
a witness but the prosecutor did not ask the guard to be present,” the lawyer
said.
“He
only listened to the testimonies of three other girls who were with my clients
at the time and said that the testimonies were not the same,” he added.
A video from Iran showing a woman being violently
attacked for her “insufficient” head covering by the country’s so-called
morality police went viral on April 18.
The
footage shows members of the special taskforce tackling two women and wrestling
one of them to floor because her hijab was loose.
The
latter is verbally cautioned, before a female police officer slaps her in the
face and wrestles her to the floor. The young woman is heard screaming
repeatedly: “Let me go, let me go.”
One
of the young women suffered from a heart condition and went unconscious as a
result of the beatings.
A
crowd gathers around as the attack continues, and at one point a woman who does
not appear to be part of the religious police is seen attempting to comfort the victim.
The
footage shows one of the young women threatening the police with legal action,
to which an officer can be heard responding: “You can’t do a damn shit.”
Within
hours of the video going viral, Iran’s minister of interior, Abdolreza
Rahmani-Fazil, ordered an inquiry, according to an official statement that
called the incident “an unusual treatment of a woman at the hands of the
morality police”.
The
statement insinuated that the young woman had provoked the police by swearing at
them when they asked her to respect the law. But it said the reaction of the
police was also “unconventional”.
Massoumeh
Ebtekar, Presidential deputy on Women and Family Affairs, denounced the
treatment of the young woman on Twitter. “How could this treatment be
justified?” she tweeted. “Even if they were insulted, should the police react
like this? I categorically condemn this behaviour and will pursue the matter.
This is a harsh and anti-religious treatment that no human deserves.”
But
on April 20, Alam ol-Hoda, Khamenei’s representative in Mashhad, denounced
those who had defended the women victimized in this incident, saying, “A
wrongdoing by an officer or agent should not undermine the essence of this
religious vice.”
On
April 23, Sadegh Amoli Larijani, head of the Judiciary Branch, stressed in a speech on the need for the State
Security forces to act within the frameworks of religion and law. He
reiterated, “No one should be allowed to resist against law enforcement by the
State Security Force or insult its officers. The SSF will not take even one
step back,” according to the state-run ISNA news agency.
On
the same day, Kayhan daily the mouthpiece of the regime’s Supreme Leader,
called for praising the policewoman. “It is very logical that the policewoman
involved in the incident be praised and encouraged by the Interior Minister and
the SSF Commander.”
On
April 30 Hossein Rahimi, Tehran’s Chief of Police, who was quoted by the
state-run Fars news agency denied reports that the officer beating up the young
women had been suspended. He declared, “We powerfully defend our agents.”
Alireza
Rahimi, member of the parliamentary Committee on National Security and Foreign
Policy, also tweeted on April 30 that the committee had held a meeting with SSF
commanders where the Commander of the State Security Force, Hossein Ashtari,
announced that the officer involved had been granted a plaque and honored at
the SSF command headquarters only two days after the incident.
The
IRGC-backed Fars news agency went to the aid of the State Security Force by
claiming that the victims had deliberately incited the attack and the fact that
they had a camera to shoot the film, proved that the incident had been planned
for taking political advantage.
A video recording of the woman being attacked by
members of the so-called morality police can be watched on YouTube:
5 November
2018
Update on the abduction of Mr. Hashem
Khastar, 65 years old cultural activist and experienced teacher from Iran
On the afternoon of Monday, November 5th, dozens of
people from Mashhad, along with family members of Mr. Hashem Khastar, gathered
and protested his kidnapping and imprisonment in the psychiatric ward of Ibn
Sina Hospital in front of the hospital.
Within the first minutes of the gathering, the son of Mr.
Saeed's who was present at the gathering was arrested by police and repressive
security agents.
Law enforcement officers told Mr. Hashem's sister that she
should leave the place, but she stood up against the repressive forces of the
regime and demanded the release of her brother.
The riot guard closed the path to the hospital to prevent
the protesters from reaching the hospital.
Reports from the scene suggest that one of the women who
were present at the site was brutally arrested. Another person who came to the
scene for news coverage for a news agency was arrested by agents and taken to
the hospital and in order to stop her from reporting.
The wife of Mr. Khastar also announced from the beginning
that she would stay in front of the hospital for as long as it would take to
free her husband and subsequently the regime forces also arrested her and took
her to an unknown location.
Ms Maliki has recently underwent a heart operation.
5
November 2018
U.S. re-imposes all Iran sanctions lifted
following 2015 nuclear deal
The United States is officially re-imposing Monday all
sanctions lifted under the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal as the Trump
administration adds nearly 700 regime targets, including 50 financial
institutions linked to the mullahs’ regime.
The Treasury Department is blacklisting hundreds of
entities, including individuals, banks, vessels, aircraft and the Iranian
regime’s energy sector as part of measures to reapply crippling measures. These
sanctions follow the decision made by the Trump administration's decision in
May to pull out of the highly flawed nuclear deal.
This recent initiative brings the total of Iranian regime
targets blacklisted to 900 in less than two years and represents a significant
increase in Washington's efforts to enforce economic pressure on the Iranian
regime.
"The maximum pressure exerted by the United States
is only going to mount from here," said Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin
in a statement ahead of a briefing with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
"We are intent on making sure the Iranian regime stops siphoning its hard
currency reserves into corrupt investments and the hands of terrorists."
Among the sanctioned entities are 92 entities owned or
controlled by Ghadir Investment Company, previously identified the US
government as an investment firm with links to the Execution of Iman Khomeini's
Order, a regime-owned enterprise under direct control of Iranian regime Supreme
Leader Ali Khamenei.
The Treasury Department also blacklisted 70 financial
institutions linked to the Iranian regime, including their foreign and domestic
units. These entities have assisted in funneling billions of dollars to the
Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) Quds Force, designated as a terrorist organization
by the U.S. Those firms include Bank Melli, Arian Bank, Future Bank and the
Export Development Bank of Iran.
Some of the banks sanctioned on Monday have served as
"financial conduits" for the regime’s Ministry of Defense and Armed
Forces Logistics and the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, according to
Washington.
"This action is aimed at cutting off Iranian banks
that facilitate Iran's domestic repression and foreign adventurism from the
international financial system, and will highlight for the world the true
nature of the regime's abuse of its domestic banking system," Sigal
Mandelker, Treasury's counter-terrorism chief, said in a statement.
The Trump administration also blacklisted more than 200
individuals and vessels involved in the Iranian regime’s shipping and energy
sectors, including the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines, being a
maritime carrier, and the oil transport entity National Iranian Tanker Company.
"They're the strongest sanctions we've ever
imposed," said President Donald Trump on Sunday evening, hours before the
sanctions on Iran's energy, shipbuilding and banking sectors kicked in at
midnight. "We'll see what happens with Iran," adding "they're
not doing very well."
Monday’s sanctions are yet another sign of the failed
appeasement policy vis-à-vis the Iranian regime receiving a major blow and
setback. The mullahs’ regime has enjoyed significant concessions under this
approach, prolonging its rule through the infliction of enormous pains and
suffering on the Iranian people in the past three decades.
Those who have chosen to appease the Iranian regime have
blatantly neglected the mullahs’ atrocious human rights violations. This
includes the 1988 massacre of over 30,000 political prisoners in prisons across
the country consisting of mainly members and supporters of the main Iranian
opposition People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK).
These states have also allowed the mullahs to acquire weapons
of mass destruction, export terrorism and fuel wars across the Middle East and
beyond.
“Appeasement of the mullahs’ religious fascism has been
the most significant factor helping the regime to survive and prolonging the
Iranian people’s pain and suffering over the past three decades.” – Maryam
Rajavi
6 November 2018
Human
Rights Watch Says Iranian Protesters Sentenced In Unfair Trials
Iran’s judiciary convicted at least 24 Iranian protesters
on vaguely defined national security charges, Human Rights Watch said in
a November 5 statement.
Their prison sentences ranged from six months to six
years.
They were among more than 50 people arrested on August 2
during a protest ignited by anger over economic hardships, soaring unemployment
and corruption.
According to HRW, on October 28, authorities also
arrested a human rights lawyer who had been convicted to three years in prison
for reporting a protester’s death in detention.
Less than a year ago, attorney Mohammad Najafi was
advocating for a young client who died under suspicious circumstances in an
Iranian detention center. Nine months later, In “reprisal for exposing
Heidari’s death in custody” and “reporting that his body bore marks of torture”
and other ill-treatment, including cuts and bruises, Najafi was sentenced to
three years in prison and 74 lashes on the charges of “disturbing the state”
and “publishing falsehoods.”
“The rulings against me, Ali Bagheri and Abbas Safari
were upheld (by the Appeals Court) 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.
Najafi and Safari began their prison sentences in Arak’s
Central Prison on October 28.
The court also sentenced 10 other protesters who were
arrested during the December and January protests on charges such as disturbing
public order and publishing false information to prison terms ranging from one
to three years.
“Iranian government officials repeatedly advertise to the
world that the repeated protests in the country signal that there are real
freedoms in Iran, while these same protestors languish in prison for years,”
said Michael Page, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch.
“Prosecuting peaceful protesters will only add fuel to Iranians’ boiling
frustration and discontent with the situation.”
HRW reported that prosecutors charged at least three
Iranian protesters with “assembly and collusion against national security” due
to “participating in a protest without a permit that disrupted public order.”
In the sentencing of at least two people, including Saba Kordafshari, 19, the
evidence prosecutors presented was solely their social media posts reporting on
the protest.
The two young women were sentenced each to one year in
prison.
Yasamin Ariani, and Saba Kord Afshari, were lingering in limbo
in Qarchak Prison in Varamin since the time of their arrest. They have been
transferred from Qarchak to Evin Prison after their sentence was issued.
Yasamin Ariani was arrested in August along with several
other young men and women in Tehran. After being apprehended, they posted a
clip on the internet from inside the State Security Force van, identifying
themselves and asking for help.
Yasamin Ariani’s mother said her daughter was arrested
outside the City Theatre in Tehran while she was trying to help a lady
brutalized by the police.
HRW said that prosecutors and prison officials denied the
detainees access to a lawyer throughout the investigation and the trial and
pressured them to plead guilty.
Iran’s judiciary has issued a list of 20 state-approved
lawyers that detainees accused of “national security crimes”, the type of
charge that’s usually issued against activists and dissidents, must choose from
for legal representation.
On July 31, a wave of protests began in the city of
Esfahan and quickly spread to other cities, including Karaj in Alborz province
and Tehran, the capital. On August 3, a protesters identified by social media
accounts as Reza Otadi was shot and killed during protests in Karaj.
Authorities announced the establishment of a special committee to investigate
his death, consisting of the Revolutionary Guards, police counterintelligence
units, and a prosecutor, but have yet to disclose their findings.
Under international law, everyone has the right to
freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, as guaranteed under the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Iran is
a party. The United Nations Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms
by Law Enforcement Officials provide that security forces should apply
nonviolent means before resorting to the use of force. Whenever the lawful use
of force is unavoidable, law enforcement officials should use restraint and act
in proportion to the seriousness of the offense and minimize injury.
Torture and cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment are
banned at all times, and evidence obtained by torture or other coercion may not
be submitted as evidence in a trial. The ICCPR also guarantees the right to a
fair criminal trial, including to be informed promptly of the nature and cause
of the charges; to have adequate time and facilities to prepare a defense; to
communicate with counsel of one’s choosing; to be present at the trial; and to
examine the prosecution’s witnesses.
“Countries that engage with Iran should press authorities
for independent investigations into the proliferating number of abuses
committed by Iran’s repressive intelligence and security apparatus,” Page said.
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