Secret Group Executions Continue at Vakilabad; Dozens More Executed In April and May

Though Iranian judicial authorities continue to stay silent about the execution of prisoners with drug-trafficking charges inside Mashad’s Vakilabad Prison and refuse to acknowledge the executions or related statistics, informed sources tell the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran that more than 70 individuals were hanged inside this prison in March, April, and May. [...]

Lawyer’s ‘Nationalism’ on Par with Apostasy Says Deputy Prosecutor

Lawyer and human rights activist Mohammad Ali Dadkhah faced new charges in a trial court hearing held on Saturday, 21 May, including a charge on the same level as apostasy, according to the Deputy Prosecutor. Dadkhah’s charges ranged from membership in the Defenders of Human Rights Center, to representing a case against Isfahan’s Metro for endangering national heritage monuments.

Imprisoned Teacher in Death Row Ward at Vakilabad Prison

A human rights activist in the city of Mashad told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran that Hashem Khastar, a retired teacher from Mashad who was imprisoned inside Security-Political Ward 6/1 of Mashad’s Vakilabad Prison, has been transferred to Hall 102 of Ward 5 in that prison. Ward 5 of Vakilabad Prison houses convicts who have committed murder and drug-related crimes. According to requirements for separating prisoners inside prisons, prisoners of conscience and political prisoners should not be kept inside this ward.

Mansour Osanloo Back in Prison Despite Serious Illness; No Phone Contact with Family

Mansour Osanloo, the imprisoned founding member of the Syndicate of Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company (Sherkat-e Vahed), who had been hospitalized for the past few days for his heart condition was returned to prison again on Saturday, 21 May, despite dire medical needs. “Because prison conditions are dangerous for Mansour’s health, I tried very hard through the Prosecutor’s office to have him come back home from the hospital, and to remain under house arrest [instead]. I even offered to also look after the forces [watching Osanloo], just so that Mansour would return home, because according to his doctors’ diagnosis, he must be on a proper diet, eat fruits and vegetables, and stay in a stress-free environment, where none of these would happen in prison,” Parvaneh Osanloo, wife of the labor activist, told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran.

Release Women’s Rights Activists

Iranian judicial authorities should immediately release two recently detained women’s rights activists, the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran said today. The Campaign added that the Judiciary should end the harassment and arbitrary prosecution of citizens engaged in lawful actions aimed at challenging Iran’s discriminatory laws.

Two women’s rights activists and members of the One Million Signatures Campaign, Maryam Bahreman and Mahboubeh Karami, were detained on 11 May and 15 May respectively. Bahreman is being held in an unknown location on charges of “acting against national security.”

Government Attacks Baha’i Online University, Detains 30 Instructors

(23 May 2011) Iranian authorities should stop attacks on the Baha’i Institute for Higher Education and end policies that discriminatorily deprive members of the Baha’i Faith access to higher education, the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran said today. Authorities should immediately release all Baha’is working with the Institute detained in a raid on 21 May 2011, the Campaign added.

According to the Baha’i International Community, Iranian authorities arrested at least 30 Baha’is in a series of coordinated raids in Tehran, Karaj, Isfahan, and Shiraz, targeting a community initiative to provide higher education to Baha’i students barred from university admission.

Blogger Refuses to Defend Himself in Court in Protest of Unjust Proceedings

At his court session held at the Revolutionary Court on Saturday, 14 May, blogger Payman Roshan Zamir did not present a defense for himself in protest to the unjust proceedings of the judicial review. “According to requirements expressed in the law for a political suspect’s trial court, there should have been an open court, a jury, and a Representative from the Prosecutor; none of these were present. What is happening inside the Judiciary is that all laws are interpreted against the legislator’s intentions and against the suspect. I was entitled to an open court, whereas even my father was not allowed to attend, and when the lawyer brought him into the court after a lot of hardship, the Judge did not let him be present,” Roshan Zamir told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran about his court proceedings.

Secret and Unannounced Executions in Khuzestan

Local sources in Khuzestan Province told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran that during the past months, Judiciary authorities did not announce several executions that took place inside the province’s prisons. The Campaign previously reported of dozens of unannounced and secret executions inside Mashad’s Vakilabad Prison and other prisons in the country, all of which have remained unannounced by the Judiciary authorities. Several eyewitnesses visiting Khuzestan prisons have reported seeing families who had come to claim bodies of their executed relatives; however, official sources have not published any statistics pertaining to the executions. In one case the families stated that a group of convicts with drug-trafficking charges were executed together.

“Rumors of Hunger Strike by American Prisoners are Serious,” Says Lawyer

Massoud Shafiee, lawyer to the American prisoners held in Iran, told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran that following the absence of Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal at their court trial on 11 May, rumors about his clients’ hunger strike are serious and their absence at the courtroom did not have a convincing reason. “I can only believe these words as rumors, as I don’t have any information about them. But it was inappropriate not to bring them to their trial session. There was no convincing legal reason for not bringing them to court. Worse yet, no one provided a convincing reason for not bringing them,” Massoud Shafiee told the Campaign.

“His Last Wish Was To Embrace Me, But They Didn’t Allow It,” Says Mother Of Executed Inmates

On 17 May the death sentences of two brothers, Mohammad and Abdollah Fathi Shoorbariki, were carried out. Their mother, Mahvash Alasvandi, told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran that her children’s grievances were never reviewed and their last wishes of embracing their mother were not granted. “All we said was that their complaints be reviewed before executing them. We said what is the rush? They are in your hands and they are not going anywhere. You have held them for nine months. Review their complaint first and then execute them. But unfortunately they didn’t do this.”