After Residents Leave Town Post-Earthquake, Refugees Remain Unsupported

Following a 7.2 magnitude earthquake near the town of Van in Turkey, Iranian refugees in the town are in dire condition. According to reports received by the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, many refugees have lost their residences due to the earthquake and remain deprived of temporary housing as well. Fortunately none of the Iranian refugees have sustained serious physical injuries. Several refugees told the Campaign that they are not allowed to leave the town, and have ended up sleeping outside without tents or facilities. The Turkish government has asked its citizens to leave town or to live outside their homes for several weeks because of the emergency state and fear of more earthquakes. There has been news in the past 48 hours that refugees were granted permission to leave town for a short period and return afterwards.

Appeals Court Upholds Verdicts of Panahi, Malekpour, Tajik

The death sentence of Saeed Malekpour, a Sharif Industrial University graduate who was arrested in 2008 by IRGC’s Cyber Army on the charge of “managing pornographic websites,” was upheld for the second time last week. According to BBC Persian, though Malekpour’s death sentence was overturned last June, Judge Moghisseh upheld the ruling again and Malekpour was informed of this on 19 October. Malekpour was sentenced to 7.5 years in prison followed by execution on charges of “propagating against the regime through designing pornographic websites,” “insulting sanctities,” “insulting the leader,” “insulting the president,” “contact with state enemy groups,” and “corruption on earth.”

Political Prisoner’s Health Deteriorates in Prison

A source told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran that Ali Tari was sentenced to 6 months in prison on 11 October 2011 when he appeared at Mati Kola prison in Babol. In the absence of a security ward inside Mati Kola Prison, Tari was transferred to the prison’s Quarantine Ward. After spending two days next to drug criminals, he was transferred to Ward 2 of Mati Kola prison, where murderers and dangerous criminals are held, and is currently in dire prison conditions.

Sotoudeh Banned From Visiting Family for Refusing to Wear Chador

Prominent Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh has been banned from having visitations with her family for three weeks. Expressing surprise over the punishment, her husband, Reza Khandan, told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, “This week we went to Evin Prison as usual on Sunday. After we wrote our names on the visitation list, a prison officer told us that she is banned from having visitors for three weeks, because she refused to wear a chador inside the prison.”

“Prison Authorities Say He Won’t Need Warm Winter Clothes As He Will Be Executed”

Eghbal Moradi, father of Zanyar Moradi, a Kurdish prisoner at Rajaee Shahr Prison in Karaj, told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran that the Supreme Court upheld his son’s death sentence. “My relatives went to prison this week to bring Zanyar warm clothing, as the cold season has come. But prison officials told them that he would not need the clothes as his death sentence has been upheld. They told my relatives this explicitly, adding that they would be informed of the execution date,” Eghbal Moradi told the Campaign.

Secret, Unannounced, Group Executions Continue Inside Iranian Prisons: At Least 14 More Executed Inside Mashad’s Vakilabad Prison

While Iranian authorities remain silence about the executions of drug traffickers inside Mashad’s Vakilabad Prison, the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran has learned that seven prisoners were hanged on 11 August, and another seven were hanged on 20 September. According to information received from a source, the executions were carried out in groups. All those executed had been charged with drug-related crimes.
The source told the Campaign that in addition to the above two dates, at least two more group executions were carried out during summer 2011 inside Vakilabad Prison, but the Campaign has been unable to find additional details about these executions.

My Son Is Refusing Medication, Says Hossein Ronaghi Maleki’s Father

Imprisoned blogger Hossein Ronaghi Maleki has stopped taking his medication in order to protest the prison authorities’ refusal to allow him to be hospitalized for his kidney and gallbladder problems. In an interview with the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, his father, Ahmad Ronaghi Maleki, expressed grave concern for his son’s deteriorating health and mistreatment by Evin Prison infirmary personnel who refuse to accommodate his son there.

VIDEO: Special Rapporteur Ahmad Shaheed’s Press Conference in New York 20 October 2011

Days Before Release, Christian Pastor’s Prison Sentence Extended

On 18 October, Iranian judicial authorities in Iran extended the prison term for Pastor Behnam Irani by five years, invoking a suspended sentence from 2008. Irani is a member of an evangelical group called Church of Iran and the leader of a house-church in Karaj.

A Church of Iran spokesperson told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran that authorities originally arrested Irani in 2006 for his church activities and he spent several months in detention. On 23 February 2008, Branch 30 of the Appellate Court in Tehran sentenced Iran to a five-year suspended prison term on charges of “acting against national security.”

Weekly Rights Podcast 38

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