Kamiar Alaei

UPDATE: (29 June 2009) Dr. Kamiar Alaei has been released on parole for 10 days and is required to report to prison after that time.

(27 May 2009) Dr. Kamiar Alaei is a doctoral candidate at the SUNY Albany School of Public Health in Albany, New York and was expected to resume his studies there in the fall of 2008. In 2007, he received a Master of Science degree in Population and International Health from the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston. Since 1998 he and his brother, Dr. Arash Alaei, have been carrying out HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention programs, particularly focused on harm reduction for injecting drug users.

He and his brother have been held in Evin prison in Tehran since June 2008. They were indicted in December 2008 on charges of communicating with an “enemy government” according to their attorney, Masoud Shafie.

Dr. Kamiar Alaei has been detained far longer than Iranian penal code allows. Articles 30-34 of the Code of Penal Procedure of the Islamic Republic of Iran allow for detentions but require that the investigating judge issue such detention orders for one month at a time and for no longer than four months.

Over 3,100 people from more than 85 countries have signed an online petition demanding their release, which can be viewed at http://www.IranFreeTheDocs.org.

Dr. Arash Alaei

UPDATE: (29 June 2009) Dr. Arash Alaei has been released on parole for 10 days and is required to report to prison after that time.

(27 May 2009) Dr. Arash Alaei is the former director of the International Education and Research Cooperation of the Iranian National Research Institute of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease. Since 1998 he and his brother, Dr. Kamiar Alaei, have been carrying out HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention programs, particularly focused on harm reduction for injecting drug users.

He and his brother have been held in Evin prison in Tehran since June 2008. They were indicted in December 2008 on charges of communicating with an “enemy government” according to their attorney, Masoud Shafie.

Dr. Arash Alaei has been detained far longer than Iranian penal code allows. Articles 30-34 of the Code of Penal Procedure of the Islamic Republic of Iran allow for detentions but require that the investigating judge issue such detention orders for one month at a time and for no longer than four months.

Over 3,100 people from more than 85 countries have signed an online petition demanding their release, which can be viewed at http://www.IranFreeTheDocs.org.

Nine Pointed Star -- One Symbol of the Baha'i Faith

Current as of 16 July 2009 (only published names; information changes daily and some arrests go undocumented)

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She was charged with attempting to create a “soft revolution”.

She was sentenced to three years in prison in January 2009 and her first appeal was denied in March 2009. A second and final appeal is awaiting decision.

UPDATE: (30 April 2009) Maryam Malek was released on 29 April at midnight local time after spending 5 days in detention. Five members of the Mothers Committee of the One Million Signatures Campaign met the spokesperson for the Judiciary and presented their protest letter to the head of the Judiciary. They requested him to release Maryam on 28 April. Malek who was previously ordered to be released on $20,000 bail, was released on a third person guarantee.

(27 April 2009) Maryam Malek is a member of the One Million Signatures Campaign and a reporter on legal matters related to family courts. She was arrested and transferred to Vozara Detention Center on 25 April 2009, after being summoned for interrogation and charged in the Revolutionary Courts.

She has been charged with “propaganda against the state,” and “membership in the One Million Signatures Campaign.” The magistrate, Mr. Heidarifard, has issued bail in the amount of $20,000 (20 Million Toman), but she was not able to provide such large amount. She is currently being held in Tehran’s Evin Prison.

UPDATE: (17 March 2009) Hana Abdi has been released from prison after completing her prison sentence.

UPDATE: (9 October 2008) The review of Hana Abdi’s sentence on 7 October 2008 resulted in a reduction of the lower court’s sentence from five years to one and a half years. Her imprisonment in exile sentence was also nullified.

UPDATE: (2 October 2008) Hana Abdi, after being held for two months in the detention center of the Intelligence Ministry of Sanandaj, was transferred to the Central Prison of Sanandaj. The court decided on 26 April 2008 behind closed doors, not permitting her family to attend. Abdi was sentenced to 5 years of imprisonment in exile in the town of Garmi in western Azerbaijan on 18 June 2008. She was charged by the Second Branch of the Islamic Court of Sanandaj, presided by Judge Tiari, with “gatherings and conspiracies to endanger national security” based on Article 610 of the Islamic Penal Code. Mohammad Sharif, Abdi’s lawyer, said: “This sentence is based upon information obtained during interrogations by the Intelligence Ministry during Abdi’s solitary confinement. It is the most severe punishment which could have been levied and no notice was given to Abdi’s defense team about its issuance.” Based on the testimony of Abdi’s family, she was tortured while in solitary confinement as well.

Abdi is currently held in Sanandaj’s Central Prison. On 13 August 2008, she was taken to the Fourth Magistrate’s Branch of Sanandaj where she was formally charged with “propaganda against the system,” by communicating with the outside regarding her prison conditions.

Hana Abdi (21) is a student and women’s rights activist in Sanandaj, capital of the western province of Kurdistan. She is a member of Azarmehr Association of Kurdish Women, a local organization. Actively promoting women’s rights, she worked to educate women about their legal rights within the framework of the One Million Signature Campaign and collected signatures in support of its demands. The One Million Signature Campaign is a nationwide effort to remove discrimination against women from Iranian laws. Hana studies psychology at Payam Noor University in Birjand.

On November 4, 2007, intelligence agents arrested Hana in her grandfather’s house and transferred her to the Intelligence Ministry’s detention center. A few hours later, Ministry agents searched her house and confiscated materials relating to One Million Signature Campaign as well as her personal computer and notes. On the day of her arrest, Intelligence Ministry agents told Hana’s family that she would be freed within a few days after they finished questioning her. On November 8, her family went to the Intelligence Ministry headquarters, seeking information about Hana. Ministry’s officials told Hana’s family she would not be released for another month, but failed to inform them of any charges pending or filed against her.

After Hana had been interrogated for nearly three months by Intelligence Ministry agents, on January 25, 2008, Mohammad Sharif, Hana’s lawyer, told the Iranian Student News Agency that she had been transferred to Sanandaj’s Central Prison. The authorities have not provided any information about her case and the charges against her. The authorities have not permitted Hana’s family to visit her.

A month before Hana’s arrest, on October 9, 2008, her friend and women’s rights campaigner Ronak Safazadeh was arrested. Hana and Ronak had celebrated Children’s Day and collected signatures for the One Million Signature Campaign on October 8. The next day, intelligence agents arrested Ronak Safazadeh in her house.

UPDATE: (14 April 2009) Ali Nejati was released from Dezful Prison on 14 April 2009 after a guarantor secured his bail amount.

(23 March 2009) Ali Nejati is a leading union activist of the Haft Tapeh Sugar Cane Factory Trade Union who was detained at his home on 8 March. Intelligence Ministry agents failed to provide a detention order but continued to search Nejati’s home and confiscate documents related to the trade union. There were no charges filed against him and no official notice given on where he was taken.

There are serious concerns for Nejati’s health and the risk or torture and ill-treatment. He is being held in incommunicado detention, even his wife has been unable to see or speak to him.

On Thursday, 12 March, a judge at Shoush Revolutionary Court issued a temporary detention order. On the same day, Judiciary officials told Nejati’s wife that he has been transferred to the prison in Dezful, a nearby city.

As Nejati’s wife attempted to visit him at Dezful prison, she witnessed his transfer out of that prison in a car. Since then, Nejati’s family has had no information about his whereabouts. When Nejati’s wife requested information from Shoush Revolutionary Court, the authorities told her that the judge who issued the order had left to celebrate the New Year and would not return until 4 April.

UPDATE: (26 May 2009) Ahmad Ghasaban was released from prison on 11 May on bail of $200,000 (200 million Tomans).

UPDATE: (18 March 2009) Ahmad Ghasaban, a student activist at Amir Kabir University, was detained on 24 February by security agents at his home. He is reportedly held in Evin prison and  is under interrogations. Ghasaban was previously imprisoned for 15 months.

UPDATE: (4 September 2008) Ahmad Ghasaban was conditionally released from Evin Prison on 13 August 2008.

On May 3, 2007, plain-cloths security agents arrested Ahmad Ghasaban, editor of student publication, Sahar, as he was planning to file a complaint with judicial authorities.

Security forces arrested Ghasaban, Majid Tavakoli, and Ehsan Mansouri along with five other students following a week of unrest at Amir Kabir University in May 2007. Although a court acquitted them of charges brought against them and ordered their immediate release on December 24, 2007, prison authorities have refused to free them.

On May 1, 2007, copies of four student publications, Rivar, Sarkhat, Atieh, and Yeksan were distributed throughout Amir Kabir University, containing articles and caricatures deemed insulting to government officials. The appearance of the controversial publications coincided with student elections for the Islamic Association. The editors of the four publications immediately disavowed any involvement in printing and disseminating them. They expressed their shock and said their publications’ logos were faked to produce these counterfeit issues. In a letter to the head of the Judiciary, Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, on May 2, 2007, the editors strongly condemned the content of the fake publications and asked Shahroudi to investigate and prosecute those responsible.

However, the authorities arrested the editors of the publications along with four other students, accusing them of responsibility for their publication.On May 3, 2007, plain-cloths security agents arrested Ahmad Ghasaban, editor of Sahar, as he was planning to file a complaint with judicial authorities. On May 9, Majid Tavakoli, member of the central council of Amir Kabir’s Islamic Association was summoned to the Revolutionary Court in Tehran and subsequently arrested. Ehsan Mansouri, political secretary of the Islamic Association at Amir Kabir University, was arrested after security agents raided his parent’s house on May 29, 2007. The authorities also arrested five other students during the same period who were subsequently released. The prosecutor brought charges of “propaganda against the state,” “insulting the Supreme Leader,” and “insulting sacred beliefs” against Ghasaban, Ehsani, and Tavokoli.

During their detention, interrogators have subjected the three students to severe physical and psychological abuses, according to letters sent out of the prison by the detainees as well as public statements by their families.

After sending three letters to the head of the Judiciary, Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, the families of the three detained students wrote a fourth letter to him detailing ill-treatment and torture of the detainees on July 24, 2007. These included: simultaneous physical assault by seven interrogators resulting in loss of consciousness and transfer to the medical ward; continuous interrogation session lasting 24 hours; threats to kill detainees and their family members;, beatings using electric cables;withholding meals for up to 48 hours; and other ill-treatment aimed at obtaining coerced confessions.

On August 13, the three detainees, in letters written inside prison, reiterated that they had no role in printing and disseminating the fake publications, and that under sever ill-treatment they have been forced to make false confessions.

Tehran’s prosecutor general, Saeed Mortazavi, summoned the detainees families to his office on August 19, telling them: “I have warned you many times not to speak publicly about the case and not to give interviews to the media. But you continue to do so. I have ordered [prison authorities] to transfer your children to solitary confinement and to bar any phone calls or personal visits.” He also referred to accusations that the detainees have been tortured, by telling their families: “Who says they have been tortured? I must determine if it is torture and I say it is not. We have not implemented torture yet, so you know what torture means!” He also insisted that the three detainees had confessed to their role in issuing the fake student publications.

The Sixth Branch of the Revolutionary Court in Tehran commenced hearings against Ghasaban, Tavakoli, and Mansouri on September 22. The students’ lawyer, Mohammad Dadkhah told reporters that the prosecution did not present any incriminating evidence except for the confessions obtained after torture in detention. During their testimony to the court on September 29, the students confirmed that their confessions were obtained under duress and are false. Nevertheless, the presiding Judge Babaii found the students guilty of charges and sentenced them to lengthy prison terms on October 15.

For the crime of “propaganda against the state,” Judge Babaii sentence Tavakoli and Ghasaban to one year in prison. He sentenced Mansouri to six months imprisonment on a similar charge.

For the crime of “insulting the leader,” Judge Babaii sentenced Tavakoli to two years imprisonment and Ghasaban and Mansouri to one and a half years.

The judge also disqualified his court from considering the charge of “insulting sacred beliefs” and referred the case to a public court. On November 11, 2007, Tehran’s public court convened a trial for the students. After the trail, the student’s lawyer said the charges discussed in court included “insulting the sacred beliefs,” as well as “insulting the president.” After holding three sessions, the public court announced its decision on December 18. It dropped charges against the three detainees and acquitted them. In addition the court set bail in amount of 800 million Rials ($88,000) for each of the detainees.

Although the families of detainees posted bail shortly after the public court’s decision, prison authorities have refused to release the students. Officials in the judiciary insist that both cases are referred to appeals court and they will not release the students, regardless of the fact that one of their own judges has ordered their release by issuing and collecting bail.

UPDATE: (26 May 2009) Hossein Torkshavand was released from prison on 25 April on bail of between $200,000-$300,000 (200 to 300 million Tomans).

(18 March 2009) Hossein Torkshavand, a student activist, was detained on 5 February 2009, at a ceremony to honor Mehdi Bazargan, the first Iranian prime minister after the revolution of 1979. He is reportedly being held in Evin Prison and is under interrogation.

UPDATE: (26 May 2009) Esmaiel Salmanpour was released from prison on 25 April on bail of between $200,000-$300,000 (200 to 300 million Tomans).

(18 March 2009) Esmaiel Salmanpour, a student activist, was detained on 5 February 2009, at a ceremony to honor Mehdi Bazargan, the first Iranian prime minister after the revolution of 1979. He is reportedly being held in Evin Prison and is under interrogation.