Nobel Laureate Shirin Ebadi and Rights Groups Demand Moratorium on Executions

(Paris, 14 February 2011) – Other nations and the UN should speak out against a wave of executions in Iran, the Nobel Peace Laureate Shirin Ebadi and six human rights organizations said today. Shirin Ebadi and the human rights groups called on the Iranian Judiciary and Parliament to institute an immediate moratorium on all executions.

At least 86 people have been executed since the start of 2011, according to information received by the six organizations. The groups are Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Reporters without Borders, the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, the International Federation for Human Rights, and its affiliate, the Iranian League for the Defence of Human Rights.

Peaceful Protests End With Two Killed, 150 Arrested, And Dozens Injured

According to news published by official organizations, at least two protesters were killed and 150 others were arrested during the 14 February demonstrations. The first protester to lose his life was Sane Jaleh, 26, and a drama student at the Tehran Arts University. The Sunni student, originally from Paveh, Kurdistan, received a direct bullet shot which led to his death at the hospital.

“I Vehemently Deny His Being A Basiji,” says Sane Jaleh’s Close Friend

Reza Sajadi, Secretary of Tehran Arts University’s Islamic Association, and a close friend of Sane Jaleh, a victim of the14 February demonstrations, told the International Campaigns for Human Rights in Iran that despite threats made on him, he strongly denies his friend’s membership in the Basij Organization. “I was Sane’s close and intimate friend. I vehemently deny his being a Basiji. At least, he was not a Basiji during his university education. He was just a simple member of the University’s Islamic Association. Now, if he was a Basij member before his college life, I don’t know about it. His photographs with Ayatollah Montazeri, which we distributed today, are my evidence for what I say,” he said.

The Truth About Sane Jaleh’s Murder — Student Protester Was Killed By Direct Shot

While Iranian government media claimed that Sane Jaleh, one of those killed during protests on 14 February in Tehran, was a member of the Basij paramilitary forces, a member of the Tahkim-e Vahdat student organization told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran that Jaleh was not a Basiji. In fact, he told the Campaign, Jaleh was a member of the Tehran Arts University’s Islamic Association, and that he had attended previous demonstrations as well. He told the Campaign that Jaleh was directly shot at while trying to run away from armed plainclothes forces.

Authorities Unleash a Wave of Violence Against Demonstrators

(14 February 2011) Iranian security forces should end the use of excessive force, intimidation, and arbitrary arrest against peaceful demonstrators said the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran today. The Islamic Republic is openly violating freedom of assembly in Iran, while claiming to support it in Egypt.

Today, 14 February 2011, thousands of demonstrators came out in Tehran and other major Iranian cities, in what organizers called a rally in solidarity with protestors in Egypt and Tunisia. However, Iranian security forces suppressed demonstrations across the country, reportedly attacking crowds with tear gas, paint bullets, sticks, electric batons and live ammunition. There were reports that one demonstrator was killed.

An Eyewitness Account of Demonstrators Ambushed By Plainclothes Forces, Teargas, And Shots Fired In Tehran

A journalist who was an eye witness among the protestors today, sent the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran his observations of violence unleashed by forces, use of teargas, electric batons, shots fired, and finally getting hit by batons during the 14 February demonstration. He explained in his report that police forces and Special Guard motorcyclists ambushed people on side streets, and Basijis in unrecognizable clothes stepped into the crowds and started beating and injuring them:

Prominent Iranian Academics and Intellectuals Condemn Executions’ Tsunami

In a letter to the UN Secretary General, a group of prominent Iranian academics and intellectuals living abroad strongly condemned the wave of recent executions in Iran (Note that the figures for executions quoted in the letter are those of mid-January. Since then, the available information indicates that in 2010 at least 542 and in [...]

Weekly Rights Podcast 22

In this week’s ‘Weekly Rights Podcast’: the Campaign calls on the Iranian government to grant a permit for rallies in support of protestors in Egypt and Tunisia; the trial for three American hikers began and their lawyer Massoud Shafiee tells the Campaign he has not been allowed to see his clients; ten more prisoners were secretly executed in Vakilabad Prison in Mashad, five of whom were Afghan nationals; Shirin Ebadi questioned the case review process for Iranian-Dutch national Zahra Bahrami who was executed last week; Kurdish prisoner Zanyar Moradi has been sentenced to public hanging for moharebeh; and Egyptian activist Wael Ghonim spoke with the Campaign and thanked Iranians for setting an example for Egyptians.

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Government Tightens Grip to Prevent Planned Demonstration on Monday

(11 February 2011) The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran called for the immediate release of dozens of journalists and dissidents who have been arbitrarily detained in an apparent effort to intimidate Iranians from participating in a 14 February rally in solidarity with the Egyptian pro-democracy movement.

The Campaign also called for an end to all restrictions on the movements of opposition leaders Mehdi Karroubi and Mir Hossein Moussavi, their associates and family members. Other prominent opposition figures are also under constant monitoring according to family members who spoke with the Campaign on the condition of anonymity.

Egyptian Activist’s Message to Iranians: Learn From Egyptians, And We Learned From You

Wael Ghonim, the Egyptian activist hailed by observers worldwide as a hero and one of the leaders of the Egyptian uprising, appeared with a green wristband during his public speeches and interviews. As the peaceful protests after the disputed 2009 presidential election in Iran were named the “Green Movement,” Ghonim’s green wristband has become a source of interest for Iranians.