Since January 2010, the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran has published dozens of reports of unannounced secret group executions at Vakilabad Prison in the northeast city of Mashhad. These executions were largely in violation of international human rights law and domestic procedures. Judicial authorities have continuously evaded questions about these executions and the names of those executed have never been officially announced.

This briefing paper features the first list of victims of secret executions in Vakilabad and other execution statistics, as well as witness testimony and official accounts of the executions. This briefing paper also details the major characteristics and illegality of these executions.

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Introduction

Background

The Numbers of Secret Executions in Vakilabad

Inside Vakilabad: Trends and Violations in Secret Executions

International Legal Context

Executions in Other Iranian Prisons

Table I: 101 Named Individuals Secretly Executed in Vakilabad Prison

Table II: Reported Secret Executions in Mashhad’s Vakilabad Prison

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Introduction

Since January 2010, the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran has published dozens of reports of unannounced secret group executions at Vakilabad Prison in the northeast city of Mashhad. These executions were largely in violation of international human rights law and domestic procedures. Judicial authorities have continuously evaded questions about these executions and the names of those executed have never been officially announced.

On 21 December 2011, Ayatollah Sadegh Amoli Larijani, head of the judiciary, said “I categorically deny any secret mass executions…All executions are announced to my office…if anyone has information about executions anywhere that have been secret and without knowledge of families, let us know and we will investigate it.”

Now, reliable sources close to government agencies associated with these executions have disclosed the names of one hundred and one of the people put to death in the past two years to the Campaign. The victims of secret executions at Vakilabad were largely charged with drug trafficking offenses, and their families and lawyers were absent at the time of their executions.

This briefing paper features the first list of victims of secret executions in Vakilabad and other execution statistics, as well as witness testimony and official accounts of the executions. This briefing paper also details the major characteristics and illegality of these executions.

The end of the report also offers evidence of secret executions in the prisons of Birjand, Ghazal Hessar in Karaj, Karoun Prison in Ahvaz, Taybad, Orumiyeh and Qom.

Background

Local witnesses and human rights activists from Mashhad told the Campaign that from January 2010 until September 2011, authorities carried out secret group executions on 24 separate occasions in Vakilabad Prison, resulting in the deaths of over 365 people.[1] The prison administration and judiciary have never publicly announced these executions nor the names and identities of the victims. The prisoners executed were mostly charged with drug trafficking offenses.

In the wake of increasing reports by human rights groups about secret executions taking place in Iran, and the Iranian government’s abuse of the death penalty, the international community has become more concerned about the issue.

On 14 March 2011, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon issued a report on the situation of human rights in Iran which partly corroborated the Campaign’s findings on secret group executions at Vakilabad. The report stated:

In July 2010, a large number of prisoners were reportedly executed at one time in Mashhad prison. When OHCHR staff sought further information from Iranian counterparts during a visit to Tehran in December 2010, they confirmed that 60 persons had been executed in Mashhad in pending cases mostly linked to drug trafficking.[2]

The secret killing spree has elicited other international concern and condemnation, and was cited as a rights violation in the October 2011 interim report by Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran, Ahmad Shaheed.

According to international law, the death penalty is only available for “the most serious crimes.” Several authoritative bodies including the UN Human Rights Committee have made clear that drug offenses do not meet the “most serious crimes” standard. Therefore, Iran’s practice of executable offenses violates the government’s international obligations. As the UN’s Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Christof Heyns, said about Iran’s use of the death penalty on 2 February 2011, “Such a practice is unacceptable. … Under international law, the death penalty is regarded as an extreme form of punishment which, if it is used at all, should only be imposed for the most serious crimes, after a fair trial.”[3]

The Numbers of Secret Executions in Vakilabad

The Campaign has documented 365 individuals who were secretly executed at Vakilabad since January 2010.

Iranian officials have by and large remained silent on the issue, withholding nearly all statistics and details of these executions. Nonetheless, credible sources from within the judicial department of Razavi Khorasan province as well as Vakilabad Prison have disclosed to the Campaign the identities of 101 victims of secret executions. These persons were executed en masse on five separate occasions between 9 June and 20 December 2010. Among the victims was one woman; all other named persons were men. Sixteen foreign nationals were also executed: fourteen from Afghanistan, one from Ghana, and one from Nigeria.

These names were obtained from the confidential documents of government agencies directly connected to implementing executions.

This list of 101 individuals and the total of 365 executions in Vakilabad only refer to the secret executions, and does not include other executions (see Tables I and II. Other executions that do not occur in secret are mostly related to retributive crimes such as homicide that are implemented in the presence of the victim’s family.

The executions are considered “secret” because they are implemented without the notification or presence of attorneys or family members, who only learn of the execution days after its occurrence. Even the prisoners themselves are not notified until a few hours before the implementation of the death sentence.

These executions are considered “unannounced” because judicial and government officials have not disclosed any information such as names or the numbers and dates of the executions. Effectively, the government does not take public responsibility for these executions.

Secret Executions Outside of Vakilabad

The Campaign has documented 471 secret executions since January 2010 in Vakilabad and other prisons throughout Iran. However, the true number is believed to be much higher as Iranian authorities have failed to offer transparent accounts of executions in Iran (see: Executions in Other Iranian Prisons).

Local witnesses report similar executions in Taybad Prison, Birjand Prison, Ghezel Hessar Prison in Karaj, Orumiyeh Prison, and Karoun Prison.

Since the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran has not been able to confirm the above-mentioned information through correspondence with witnesses or reliable sources, the number of executions in these prisons will not be released. The Campaign will continue to search to obtain more information on this matter.

Inside Vakilabad: Trends and Violations in Secret Executions

Over the past two years, witnesses have come forward to speak out against the spree of mass executions in Vakilabad. These people include former prisoners, families of victims, prison personnel, individuals close to the criminal justice system and even some government officials. Some witnesses spoke anonymously while others testified openly.

The collective testimony paints a full picture of these death sentences, moving from trial to implementation. Sources describe the common attributes of secret executions at Vakilabad, including their mass and group nature, lack of fair trials, as well as conditions leading up to the actual execution.

The section below covers some of the common features described in interviews with credible witnesses to the Campaign.

Lack of Fair Trials and Drug Convictions

Some witnesses testified to the lack of due process in the trials and death sentences of victims of secret executions at Vakilabad. Trials were conducted in a hasty manner, often without legal or diplomatic representation, and nearly always for drug offenses.

One source told the Campaign that some of the trials lasted only a few minutes.

A local source who talked to several families and lawyers of executed persons in Mashhad told the Campaign:

Several branches of the Revolutionary Court of Mashhad, without observing fair judicial procedures or national laws, review several drug offense cases an hour.

In the majority of cases, [these convictions and] death sentences are based primarily on the reports of the Intelligence Office or information provided by the Revolutionary Guards, false information, or confessions by the prisoners attained under severe physical torture. This torture was usually implemented in the detention centers.

The vast majority of these death sentences issued by Mashhad’s Revolutionary Court are for prisoners with drug related offenses. The verdicts are reached during a brief court session, usually without the presence of the court-appointed lawyer.

Within just a few months the sentence gets approved and implemented.[4]

Several witnesses of Mashhad describe the issuance and confirmation of these trials as hasty and unjust and consider the judicial process of these cases unfair and inequitable. Earlier, on 18 August 2010, the nephew of one of the executed prisoners told the Campaign: “It took only two months from the time of the arrest to the implementation of his uncle’s sentence and he was not granted the right to a fair trial.”

The nephew added that, “discovering 300 grams of drugs in my uncle’s house was the basis for issuing his death sentence, despite his claim that the drugs belonged to someone else who had run away; in a rushed and illegal procedure the death sentence was issued and the truth or inaccuracy of his claim was never investigated.”[5]

Many of the Vakilabad victims were reportedly foreign nationals. Authorities allegedly failed to observe diplomatic protocol and inform the relevant embassies of these arrests, trials and death sentences. Thus, in almost all these cases, the defendants did not have access to diplomatic representation, as required by international law. This requirement, in part, is designed to ensure foreign governments can protect the due process rights of their citizens accused of crimes abroad. Moreover, according to the Campaign’s source, these individuals, as a result of their unfamiliarity with Persian, were unable to understand the judicial procedure or the questions asked of them by the court.

Nearly all sources from Mashhad, told the Campaign that the vast majority of executions were implemented for drug related crimes. However, under Iran’s international legal obligations, authorities are barred from executing individuals for drug offenses. Officials have thus refused to respond to international criticism that their pattern of execution violates human rights law with regards to capital punishment.

Mass Executions and Group Killings

Besides testifying to due process violations, other witnesses detailed the rate of executions and atmosphere of Vakilabad’s death row. These witnesses emphasized the mass and group nature of the executions.

Prominent religious scholar and political prisoner Ahmad Ghabel, who was first convicted on 20 December 2009 and imprisoned for 170 days, published an essay detailing the atrocities at Vakilabad Prison.

According to Ghabel, at least ten people were executed every two weeks during his time in Vakilabad. Ghabel describes his experience:

During my three months imprisonment, in ward 6/1 of Vakilabad Prison, according to the statistics provided by the prison’s officials and guards, more than fifty people were transferred to Ward 6/1 and shortly thereafter were executed. In just one instance thirty-one people were executed.

Why, if these executions were supposedly justified and legal from the point of view of officials, were they carried out in secret for sentences such as drug trafficking, retribution and rape? If they are not defensible then why are they implemented at all?

Why doesn’t the Islamic Penal Code heed the instructions of the Quran which say, ‘do not indulge in killing’? Isn’t the killing of several people in a month or a year excessive? Why is no one looking for a solution to this problem?

According to unofficial estimates there were hundreds of inmates on death row [in Vakilabad] in the short time I was there. I got to know many of these people personally.[6]

In a letter dated 10 August 2010, imprisoned labor activist Hashem Khastar testified to the execution of 63 prisoners in secret group executions at Vakilabad Prison.

A relative of a Vakilabad victim executed on 18 August 2010 characterized the secret and group nature of the executions.[7] He told the Campaign that he received the body of his family member in Behesht Reza cemetery in Mashhad and only learned then that his family member had been executed simultaneously with 66 other people. The relative added that when he went to retrieve the body, he saw the bodies of many others who had been executed.

In a rare instance of corroboration by state officials, on 22 June 2011 Mashhad’s chief prosecutor Mahmoud Zoghi verified that there were a “high number of unannounced executions” at Vakilabad carried out in March, April and May of 2011.[8]

Surprise Implementation and Manner of Execution

Several witnesses told the Campaign that authorities implemented secret executions in an unexpected manner. They also offered detailed accounts of the execution process.

The majority of the victims were not informed of their sentence until a few hours before the execution was carried out. Moreover, most executions occurred without prior notice to the families. In some cases, family members were coincidentally visiting inmates in Vakilabad the day of their execution.

A source who was formerly imprisoned in Ward 5 of Vakilabad Prison, where the majority of death row inmates are kept, previously told the Campaign: “In many cases, a few hours before the execution, the prisoners were visited by their families and were then taken directly from the visiting rooms to the gallows.”

Another source described how since prisoners were not told when their execution would take place, they waited for their names to be called every time prison officials came to the cell blocks to announce that day’s scheduled executions. In effect, death-row inmates were forced to imagine their execution over and over again the source said.

During the announcement of scheduled executions, especially in Ward 5, some prisoners, from the fear of hearing their own names, reportedly lost control of their bodily functions and screamed and cried.

One former prisoner said, “You can smell death in rooms 101, 102 and 104 of Ward 5 of Vakilabad prison. Everyone is awaiting the unknown day of their execution.”[9]

Ahmad Ghabel also spoke about the uncertain and frightening circumstances leading up to the executions:

Prisoners of this ward know that once the execution is decided, they are prevented from moving within the ward while the prisoners facing death are escorted by prison guards and transferred to their cells. Late at night or at dawn everything goes back to normal, meaning the prisoners were sent to their creator, and the executioners are free from this exhausting and painful task.[10]

According to judicial procedure in Iran, the defendant’s lawyer has to be served with the notice of implementation of the sentence by the Supreme Court.[11] In the cases of these secret executions, the notice was only sent to Mashhad’s prosecutor, while the families and lawyers were left in the dark. In the cases of foreign nationals, there is evidence to suggest that their respective embassies were also unaware of the pending executions.[12]

Despite the lack of prior warning to the family and representatives of the victims, in many cases the medical examiner’s office actually issued many of the corresponding death certificates up to a day before the execution, exemplifying the bureaucratic efficiency of these executions. The death certificates listed the cause of death as ghatl-e ghanooni, or “legal murder.”

The method of execution was hanging. Many of the executions occurred at dusk. Contributing to the shroud of secrecy surrounding the executions, the phones within Vakilabad were disconnected a few hours before, preventing calls in and out of the prison.

Most of the executions took place in open-air corridors within the prison that lead to the visiting rooms. Just a few hours prior to the executions, the prisoners gathered and were transferred to Ward 6/1 to perform ritual cleansing and write their wills. They were then taken to the execution corridors. In a few cases, the prisoners were reportedly executed in the basement of the Revolutionary Court of Mashhad.

Officials from several government agencies are the only witnesses of the actual hangings. A representative of Mashhad’s prosecutor, a representative of the police station based in the prison, a representative from the police for west Mashhad or the town of Naja, the prison’s judge, a representative of the medical examiner’s offices, the prison warden, and prison security unit are all present during executions. The officials then sign an internal confirmation of the execution, which is one of the documents given to the medical examiner to produce the death certificate.

International Legal Context

The secret executions at Vakilabad violate Iran’s obligations under international human rights law. Iran’s actions contravene international laws on issuing death sentences for drug offenses, using coerced confessions as evidence, depriving defendants of the right to legal council and access to embassy representatives, and conducting judicial proceedings in a hasty manner.

Right to Life

Article 6(2) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which Iran ratified in 1975, mandates that, “[i]n countries which have not abolished the death penalty, sentence of death may be imposed only for the most serious crimes … this penalty can only be carried out pursuant to a final judgement rendered by a competent court.”[13]

The UN Human Rights Committee, the leading international authority on the ICCPR, and the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, have made clear that drug offenses do not meet the “most serious crimes” standard and therefore Iran’s practice of sentencing drug offenders to death violates the government’s international obligations.[14]

Articles 6 adds that, “[n]othing in this article shall be invoked to delay or to prevent the abolition of capital punishment by any State Party to the present Covenant.”

Ninety-six countries including Brazil, Turkey, and Rwanda, have formally abolished the death penalty, while another 34 countries, such as Kenya, Morocco, and Russia, have ended its use in practice.[15]

Right to Fair Trial

Article 14 of the ICCPR guarantees all criminal suspects the right to a fair trial. Defendants at Vakilabad and family members testify to lack of counsel with lawyers, trials lasting only a few minutes and coerced confessions.[16]

Article 14 mandates further that “in the determination of any criminal charge against him … everyone shall be entitled to a fair and public hearing by a competent, independent and impartial tribunal established by law.”

Article 14 adds that “everyone shall be entitled to the following minimum guarantees,” including adequate time for preparation of a defence and communication with legal counsel; right to a lawyer; right to a language interpreter if he [or she] cannot understand or speak the language used in court; and the right not to be compelled to confess guilt.

The UN Human Rights Committee has noted that “statements or confessions obtained through torture” or ill treatment are inadmissible in judicial proceedings under article 7 of the ICCPR.[17]

Moreover, the UN Safeguards Guaranteeing Protection of the Rights of those Facing the Death Penalty make clear that “[c]apital punishment may only be carried out pursuant to a final judgement rendered by a competent court after legal process which gives all possible safeguards to ensure a fair trial,” and that defendants must have access to multiple appeals.[18]

Right to Diplomatic Representation

Under article 36 of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, which Iran ratified in 1965, the Iranian government is required to report the arrest of foreign nationals to their respective embassies “without delay” and give the suspects the right to seek assistance from their governments.[19] Iran has executed foreign nationals from Afghanistan, Nigeria and Ghana reportedly without notifying embassy representatives.

Executions in Other Iranian Prisons

Birjand Prison

Executions in Birjand Prison are similar to those in Vakilabad in that they are unannounced. Local sources say that hundreds of prisoners have been secretly executed since March 2009. In June 2011, Mohammad Bagher Bagheri, the Southern Khorasan Deputy Director of Social and Preventive Crimes of the Judiciary, announced the executions of 140 individuals for drug trafficking in the province from March 2010 to March 2011. Bagheri said that the Revolutionary Court would deal assertively with corrupters and drug traffickers.[20]However, Bagheri did not provide any details of these or other executions, nor did any other provincial official.

Ghezel Hessar Prison in Karaj

The Campaign reported 25 secret executions at Ghezel Hessar Prison on 3 July 2011. Sources told the Campaign that dozens of prisoners have been secretly executed in this prison without their names being announced or details being released by judicial officials. Given the limitations in disseminating information from inside prison, there is no specific information about the aforementioned executions.[21]

On 16 March 2011, a violent conflict took place in Ghezel Hessar Prison, after which officials of the Prisons Organization of Iran said that 14 prisoners were killed. Other sources told the Campaign that the number of those killed is higher than what government officials claimed. One political prisoner said that the actual number of those killed was 86, most of whom were shot directly in the head. This clash took place in Ward 2 of the prison, where thousands of inmates are being held on death row, and none of the prisoners are armed. The Campaign is unable to independently confirm these statistics, provided by unofficial sources, and an independent investigation into the events that transpired and the secret executions is necessary.

Karoun Prison in Ahvaz

Local witnesses and sources also testified to secret executions in Karoun Prison in Ahvaz. In Karoun Prison, aside from the inmates who are charged with drug-related crimes, political prisoners, many of whom are members of the Arab People’s Party, are also secretly executed. Recently, nine Arab activists were executed in a group, the news of which was never announced by government media. The group execution was reported by Amnesty International.[22] The Campaign also reported on secret executions of drug trafficking convicts inside prisons throughout Khuzestan province.[23]

Taybad Prison

Afghan civil organizations have given accounts of the secret execution of dozens of Afghan citizens in Taybad Prison. In April 2010, 45 Afghan prisoners were executed at this prison over the course of only two days. Those executed were arrested in Iran for transporting and smuggling drugs. Local sources reported that executions in Taybad Prison are not only limited to Afghans and many Iranian citizens have been executed as well.[24]

Orumiyeh Prison

According to reports by human rights sources, unannounced executions of drug trafficking convicts have also taken place in Orumiyeh Prison. The Iran Human Rights Organization and Mukrian News Agency announced the execution of ten people in the past year: two on 7 July 2011, three on 22 May 2011, and five on 20 April 2011.[25]

Qom Prison

Secret, unannounced executions also take place in Qom Prison, where those executed are also mostly charged with drug-related crimes. On 30 June 2011, the Iran Human Rights Organization reported of four unannounced secret executions at this facility.[26] Kalame website also reported of the dire conditions at Qom Prison (known as Langrud Prison of Qom), and the secret executions of fifteen individuals and dozens of others on death row there.[27]

Table I: 101 Named Individuals Secretly Executed in Vakilabad Prison

Table II: Reported Secret Executions in Mashhad’s Vakilabad Prison

DOWNLOAD PDF OF REPORT

PRESS RELEASE

The possibility of a US military strike against Iran has been debated for almost a decade, since Iran’s nuclear program first gave rise to concerns about the possible development of a nuclear weapon and calls for exercising a “military option” to stop it. Some have also suggested an attack to change the government of Iran, citing its abusive human rights policies in addition to conflicts with US regional interests. What do Iranians, who would be most affected by an attack, think about its likely impact on their society and their political aspirations? How would an attack on Iran impact human rights, the movement for a more open society and on the future of civil society there? Debates in Western policy circles have not, in general, taken these views into account. This report is based on interviews with 35 leading and influential Iranian civil society activists, lawyers, intellectuals and artistic and cultural figures, all of whom live in Iran.

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Raising Their Voices: Iranian Civil Society Reflections on the Military Option

1. Foreword
2. Executive Summary
3. Introduction
4. Methodology
5. Part I: Key Reflections on the Military Option
6. Conclusion
7. Part II: In Their Own Words

Death in Prison: No One Held Accountable

International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran

June 2011

Since 2003, 17 political prisoners and prisoners of conscience have died while in custody in Iranian prisons allegedly due to torture, medical neglect, and misconduct of prison authorities. Six of the prisoners were detained and died after the 2009 election and the ensuing crackdown on government critics and political opponents. For most of these deaths, no one has yet been held accountable, despite the fact that in all these instances, family members or lawyers of the prisoners have alleged that authorities were responsible for the deaths due to their physical abuse of the inmate or inadequate medical attention.

In all the cases detailed in the report, Iranian officials never provided full or compelling accounts for the prisoners’ deaths. Authorities failed to launch full or independent investigations in most instances. In several cases, authorities even denied lawyers and family members access to details about the prisoner’s death, refused to allow an autopsy, and did not allow lawyers or family members to file grievances. In the high profile case of Canadian-Iranian journalist, Zahra Kazemi, and abuses at the notorious Kahrizak Detention Center, prosecutors did bring criminal charges against alleged perpetrators, but only against low-level prison guards. The guards in Kazemi’s case were acquitted and high-ranking officials openly implicated in the Kahrizak abuses were never prosecuted.

The Campaign believes the number of deaths caused by official wrongdoing would be greater than the 17 published in the report if undocumented cases and the cases of ordinary non-political inmates were accounted for.

In sum, the deaths prisoners of conscience in Iran indicate a pattern of abuse and willful neglect. The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran calls on authorities to ensure the treatment of prisoners met international standard and launch independent investigations into all deaths documented in the report, and responsible persons to be prosecuted and held accountable.

Below is a summary of the cases documented in the full length Persian language report.

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Photojournalist Zahra Kazemi

Zahra Kazemi, photojournalist, was arrested on 23 June 2003 for taking photographs outside of Evin Prison in Tehran. Kazemi told police interrogators that while under interrogation at the Prosecutor’s Office, she was beaten in the head. On 27 June 2003, Kazemi was taken to the hospital after slipping into a coma. She died in the hospital on 10 July 2003. Kazemi’s cause of death was officially announced as brain hemorrhaging.

A special fact-finding committee, appointed by then President Mohammad Khatami, implicated Tehran’s Prosecutor Saeed Mortazavi in the death of Kazemi. The committee’s findings were reviewed inside the Iranian Judiciary under the oversight of Mortazavi himself. The Judiciary at first charged an Intelligence Ministry employee with involuntary manslaughter and refused to investigate Mortazavi’s direct involvement in the case. The Intelligence Ministry suspect was later acquitted of the charge and released. The four lawyers who represented Kazemi’s family were threatened and eventually arrested and imprisoned on unfounded charges.

Political activist Akbar Mohammadi

Akbar Mohammadi, political activist, was arrested for the first time on 9 July 1999 and released on medical furlough. He was re-arrested on 11 June 2004 and reportedly launched a hunger strike, according to Sohrab Soleimani, Head of the Department of Prisons of Tehran. Mohammadi died while in prison on 30 July 2006. Mohammadi suffered from seizures and spinal disc problems, and according to his parents and lawyers, was repeatedly beaten in prison and denied medication. Witnesses present at Mohammadi’s burial said he had signs of injuries on his face, head, and body. The Iranian Judiciary, despite promising to investigate Mohammadi’s cause of death, never reported any findings. The Medical Examiner’s report was also never released. Khalil Bahramian, one of Mohammadi’s lawyers, was later prosecuted on charges of “insults and libel” in a suit filed against him by officials at Evin Prison.

Valiollah Feyz Mahdavi, political prisoner

Valiollah Feyz Mahdavi, political prisoner, was arrested in September 2001 and sentenced to death on the charge of “attempting to plant a bomb.” His sentence was reduced to imprisonment after approval from Head of the Judiciary Ayatollah Shahroudi, according to a public statement made by one of Mahdavi’s lawyers. Mahdavi began a hunger strike on 26 August 2006 to protest his case. He died in prison in September 2006.

On 4 September 2006, the Head of the Department of Prisons of Tehran, Sohrab Soleimani, announced Mahdavi’s “suicide attempt” and said he was transferred to a hospital, but denied he was on hunger strike. Prison authorities announced Mahdavi committed suicide by hanging himself in his cell. Two days later, the Head of the Public Relations Office of the Department of Prisons of Tehran claimed Mahdavi attempted to hang himself in his cell and was taken to a hospital where he died. Mahdavi’s body was never delivered to his family and security forces carried out his burial. The Medical Examiner’s report detailing Mahdavi’s cause of death was never released.

Zahra Baniyaghoub, physician

Zahra Baniyaghoub, physician, was arrested on 12 October 2007 and died in prison on 14 October 2007. Baniyaghoub and her fiancé were arrested by Morality Police in the city of Hamadan. Baniyaghoub’s father arrived at the Morality Police headquarters in Hamadan to pick her up, but was told she had committed suicide thirty minutes earlier using pieces of fabric from a banner. Baniyaghoub’s brother later said he spoke with her only fifteen minutes prior to the announced time of death, and that she was calm and peaceful, awaiting their father’s arrival to take her home. Baniyaghoub’s family members who attended her burial reported that she was still bleeding from her nose and ear. One of her lawyers, Shirin Ebadi, visited the room where Baniyaghoub was alleged to have committed suicide, and said that considering Baniyaghoub’s height, the room’s ceiling was not high enough to commit suicide by hanging. There were also discrepancies about the time of death.

Three suspects were charged with Baniyaghoub’s death but the charges were later dismissed and the cause of death confirmed as suicide. Upon the family’s appeal, a court in Tehran found two men in violation of administrative laws and sentenced them to two and one-year prison terms respectively. All authorities were acquitted of murder charges.

Ebrahim Lotfollahi, student activist

Ebrahim Lotfallahi, student activist, was arrested on 6 January 2008, and nine days later, on 15 January 2008, his family was informed of his death. Authorities told his family that he had committed suicide, but did not provide any other details. Lotfallahi’s family and the Defenders of Human Rights Center have requested an investigation into Lotfallahi’s death. No one has been charged or held responsible in connection with his death.

Amir Hossein Heshmat Saran, political activist

Amir Hossein Heshmat Saran, political activist, was arrested in 2004 on the charge of establishing the “Iranian National Unity Front” organization. A few days before 4 March 2009, Saran became ill, and other inmates took him to the infirmary twice. The first time, the infirmary refused to accept him, and after hours of delay when his condition became critical, authorities transferred him to an outside hospital. Authorities reportedly wrote above his hospital bed that he had been admitted for mental problems. However, his wife claimed that the attending doctor told her Saran was “brain hemorrhaging, and his lungs were infected with the infection spreading to the rest of his body.” She speculated that, “He must have received medical aid earlier, but he was brought to the hospital when he was practically dead.” Saran’s wife added that she heard from his cellmates that the night before, Saran was beaten severely by prison guards. Prior to his death, Saran suffered from a heart condition and was denied medical treatment.

Omidreza Mirsayafi, blogger

Omidreza Mirsayafi, blogger, was sentenced to prison in November 2008 on charges of insulting religious leaders and engaging in propaganda against the Islamic Republic. He died in March 2009. On 18 March 2009, Mirsayafi was diagnosed with very low blood pressure and was transferred to the prison infirmary. Three hours later he was transferred to a hospital. Authorities declared the cause of his death to be a drug overdose. However, his brother stated that Mirsayafi’s body showed evidence of a broken skull, bruised back, and bloody nose and ears. The authorities prevented an autopsy and have not responded to his family’s complaints.

Amir Javadifar, Mohsen Rouhoulamini, Mohammad Kamrani, and Ramin Aghazadeh Ghahremani, all protestors

Amir Javadifar, Mohsen Rouhoulamini, Mohammad Kamrani, and Ramin Aghazadeh Ghahremani, all protestors, were arrested by security forces on 9 July 2009 during a post-election protest, and sent to Kahrizak Detention Center. According to the report of a parliamentary committee, these individuals faced poor prison conditions, lack of medical attention, and torture. The committee requested that judiciary officials investigate the deaths of these individuals. However, two years later, the case has not yet been settled. Kahrizak Detention Center was reportedly closed after the deaths of these individuals. Several low-level prison guards have been prosecuted for abuses in Kahrizak, including for the deaths of these four protestors. However, the former Prosecutor of Tehran, Saeed Mortazavi, and Tehran’s police chief, Ahmad Reza Radan, have not faced trial despite a parliamentary investigation that held them accountable for abuses at Kahrizak.

Mohsen Dogmechi, former political prisoner

Mohsen Dogmechi, a former political prisoner, was arrested by authorities on 7 September 2009. He was sentenced to prison for providing financial support to the families of political prisoners and sent to Evin Prison. He died on 28 March 2011. While in prison, he had complained of severe stomach pain, weight loss and heart problems. However, authorities ignored his complaints and denied him medical aid. Four months later he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and prescribed chemotherapy. Authorities delayed his treatment by over a month and soon after, he passed away. After numerous threats by the authorities, Dogmechi’s wife, for the safety of her son, decided not to push for an investigation into his death.

Hassan Nahid, communications engineer, was arrested in 2004 and sentenced to prison for revealing classified evidence. Nahid died in prison in April 2011. He had suffered from health complications and was diagnosed with cancer. However, not only was he denied medical aid, authorities also added an additional three years to his prison sentence for failure to pay a fine that was part of his original. In an open letter, a group of prisoners wrote that Nahid was denied the basic rights of a prisoner, including medical care, while in prison.

Hoda Saber, journalist and political activist

Hoda Saber, journalist and political activist, was most recently arrested in July 2010. Authorities sentenced him to prison on charges stemming from his political activism. He died in Evin Prison on 12 June 2011. Authorities stated that the cause of his death was a heart attack. Saber had gone on hunger strike on 2 June 2011 to protest the reportedly wrongful death of political activist Haleh Sahabi. On the eighth day of his hunger strike, Saber felt severe pain in his chest and stomach. He was transferred to the prison infirmary; however, shortly thereafter, authorities reportedly returned him to his cell. His cellmates said that Saber told them that while he was in the infirmary, security officials posing as medical personnel severely beat him. Sixty-four other political prisoners have confirmed this testimony. Saber’s health conditions further deteriorated and officials failed to provide him with medical aid. He was transferred to the hospital when it was too late and soon after he passed away.

Ten parliamentary representatives have publicly called for an investigation into the cause of his death, however, at the time of this writing, there has been no response by authorities.

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Other Questionable Deaths of Political Prisoners:

Abdulreza Rajabi, a member of the Mojahedin-e Khalgh Organization (MEK), was arrested by authorities in 2001 and sentenced to life in prison. On 28 October 2008, Rajabi was transferred from Evin Prison to Gohardasht Prison. He died the same night. Authorities have not released any information regarding the cause of his death.

Kaveh Azizpour

Kaveh Azizpour, a Kurdish political activist, was arrested in 2006. In late April 2008, authorities transferred him to a hospital while he was in a coma and he died 20 days later on 17 May 2008. Azizpour’s relatives have said that in the second year of his sentence, he had two brain surgeries after suffering from “a stroke as a result of torture.” Iranian judicial authorities never provided an official explanation about the political prisoner’s death.

Hashem Ramezani, a Kurdish citizen, was arrested by authorities in January 2009. Four days later, his family was called to appear at the Intelligence Office in the city of Orumiyeh to claim his body. Authorities informed the family that Ramezani had committed suicide during his detention. Judicial and Intelligence authorities in Orumiyeh did not approve the Ramezani family’s request to transfer his body to the Medical Examiner’s Office in Tehran for an autopsy to determine the cause of death. They were further asked to not speak publicly about his death at the Intelligence Detention Center in Orumiyeh and to bury him immediately.

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Deaths of Ordinary Prisoners:

In addition to political prisoners, there were several other cases of prisoner deaths among ordinary non-political prisoners:

Mohammad Rajabi Sani was arrested on 30 September 2004 following a street fight with two other citizens, and transferred to Ghezel Hessar Prison. Authorities transferred him to Rajaee Hospital in the city of Karaj a few days later, saying he had lost brain function in prison. Sani, who was prescribed heavy medication for psychological disorders he developed while serving in the Iran-Iraq War, was denied his medication and refused access to a doctor. When his health deteriorated in prison, authorities transferred him to the mental ward. Believing that Sani was “faking” his illness, prison personnel allegedly attacked and beat him and transferred him to a hospital only after he slipped into a coma. The Judiciary first announced that Sani’s cause of death was an “advanced internal infection.” However, a public outcry over the treatment of mental patients at Ghezel Hessar Prison forced the Judiciary to launch an investigation.  Authorities concluded that Sani’s death was the result of “negligence on the part of four prison officials who did not do their legal duties and caused the individual’s death.”

Several other suspicious deaths of ordinary non-political prisoners have also been publicly reported. The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran continues its efforts to gain more information about these cases, including nine deaths among female inmates between November 2005 and June 2009 inside Gohardasht Prison in Karaj, where the women either died under suspicious circumstances or had allegedly been murdered in prison. Fereshteh Famil, Hanieh Hadian, Arezoo Abdi, Fereshteh Rajabzadeh, Mina Maleki, Katrin Safa, Shirin Zoghi, Hedieh Moayedi, and Mahnaz Akbari are some of these victims.

Download PDF of report

Amidst Iran’s deepening crisis, officials are doing all they can to prevent outside scrutiny of human rights conditions in the country, while proclaiming to respect their international obligations. Mohammad-Javad Larijani, head of Iran’s High Council for Human Rights, along with other officials, consistently obfuscate any serious international discussion of the country’s deteriorating human rights record by engaging in distortion or misrepresentation of facts and by diverting criticism with discussion of issues extraneous to their record. The Campaign has compiled public statements made by Larijani and other Iranian officials in this report and compared them with Iran’s actual human rights record.

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Official Distortion & Disinformation: A Guide to Iran’s Human Rights Crisis

Introduction

1. Cooperation with UN Human Rights Mechanisms

2. Executions

3. Torture

4. Arbitrary Detention of Government Critics

5. Freedom of Expression and Association

6. Ethnic Discrimination

7. Freedom of Religion

8. Right to Education

The Campaign has interviewed 27 students and conducted source research in this comprehensive report on systematic discrimination and exclusion from higher education in Iran. The report includes a list of 217 students who were barred or expelled from university based on activity on campus, political opinions, or religious belief.

Download PDF of report

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Punishing Stars: Systematic Discrimination and Exclusion in Iranian Higher Education

I. Executive Summary
II. Background
III. In Their Own Words: Interviews with Students
IV. Unfolding of Starred Student Controversy
V. Regulatory Framework for Denial of Education
VI. Violations of International Law
VII. Recommendations
VIII. List of Students Barred from Higher Education, 2005-2010

United Nations A/65/370
15 September 2010
Original: English
Promotion and protection of human rights: human
rights situations and reports of special rapporteurs
and representatives

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The situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran
Report of the Secretary-General

Contents

I. Introduction

II. Thematic issues

A. Torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, including flogging and amputations
B. Death penalty and public executions
C. Executions of juvenile offenders
D. Stoning as a method of execution
E. Women’s rights
F. Rights of minorities, including the Baha’i community
G. Freedom of peaceful assembly and association and freedom of opinion and expression, including following the presidential elections in June 2009
H. Due process rights and impunity, including in relation to the presidential elections in
June 2009

III. Cooperation with international human rights mechanisms and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights

A. Universal periodic review
B. Cooperation with the United Nations human rights treaty system
C. Cooperation with the special procedures
D. Cooperation with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights

IV. Conclusions and recommendations

Download Report (PDF)

In the name of God who created life and wisdom

I have remained in illegal detention for 8.5 months, since 29 December 2010. According to my defense lawyers, it is not clear who ordered my arrest.

During my interrogation, I was under duress and torture. As I point out in the enclosed defense bill, I was informed of my charges in an illegal manner. My arrest and the location where I was detained were both illegal. I was in a solitary cell for 40 days inside Ward 40 of Evin prison, and I spent two months inside Ward 209. I also spent 24 days at Kachouei Prison and presently I have been exiled to Rajaee Shahr Prison for more than three months.

Simultaneously, my two defense lawyers, Nasrin Sotoudeh and Mohammad Oliaifar, have been arrested and imprisoned. My other defense lawyer, Mr. Mahmoudi, was detained for 20 days and yet another, Ms. Giti Poorfazel, was summoned and intimidated. The security-judicial system has charged me with a variety of crimes in a wholesale, ambiguous, and unfounded way. The security apparatus has asked the judge for maximum punishment and exile for me. The court will not convene according to Article 168 of the Iranian Constitution. [Article 168: Political and press offenses will be tried openly and in the presence of a jury, in courts of justice. The manner of the selection of the jury, its powers, and the definition of political offenses, will be determined by law in accordance with the Islamic criteria.]

Therefore I cannot recognize this court as fair or just. This show trial is convened at the will of the security apparatus and in service of the regime. Of course I reserve the right to pursue my rights in international and impartial courts of law, registering my complaint for the way the court has ruled and the security-judicial apparatus has treated me, and to demand material and non-material damages against the initiators and operators who caused the loss of my rights.

Lack of observation for trial procedures

What matters to me is that the law and the procedures are observed. When laws are observed, even if the wishes of the representative of the Ministry of Information who has requested maximum punishment, exile, and lifetime social deprivation for me are granted, it won’t matter to me. That is why I present this defense with an unburdened conscience and willingly, hoping for my right to freedom. A fair judgment on my case, especially from the public, is sufficient for me.

It is necessary that I present a realistic and objective, albeit short, report about my arrest, detention, interrogation, and trial, in order to make it clear how well the trial procedures have been followed.

On the morning of 27 December 2009, four men who claimed to be from the Prosecutor’s Office entered my house without an arrest warrant, showing a blanket order. After they searched the premises, they took me along with two computer hard disks and a few other things. As I did not believe that their actions were legal, I did not sign the list of items they were taking. The only reason I went with them was because I was concerned that they might confront my family members. In fact, if I had the possibility of resisting this illegal and forceful action, I would not have allowed them to search my home and to enter the private domain of my life and to take me. I must add that their blanket order had the Prosecutor’s signature under it.

They took me to Ward 209, changed my clothes, put blindfolds on me, and transferred me to the solitary cells of Ward 240. As soon as I entered the Ward, someone asked me my name. I said, “I’m Tabarzadi.” He asked me a question and I answered it. After a few questions and answers, he threatened me and said, “We will put a stick up your … .We will try you like a communist member of the Toudeh Party.” I was blindfolded, holding my towel, toothbrush and glasses in my hand. Just because I said, “Do as you wish,” he punched me in the neck, pushed me and with the help of another individual who was waiting there, pushed me into my cell. I stayed in that cell for 40 days and after that, I was kept in another cell inside Ward 209 for another 61 days. During the first 40 days, they interrogated me repeatedly, threatening and insulting me, degrading me. During the past 15-16 years, I had never experienced such insults and pressure during any of my detentions and interrogations. This caused the interrogations to deviate from a normal and legal path, putting me in a stubborn, rather than intimidated, state and hence I do not recognize these interrogations as legal at all. Additionally, I did not and do not trust them in any way about their possession of documents, which they claim they retrieved from my computers, or which they said they found on my blogs, or [which they claimed] were written by me. This is because I had no possibility to compare and match their claims against my writings.

Additionally, all interrogations were derailed into areas that had nothing to do with the charges of which they had supposedly informed me. They attempted to force me through repeated threats, intimidations, and insults, to give in to their illegal demands for false confessions. For example, [they wanted me] to accept that in return for my interviews or my legal activities I had received money from foreigners.

Regarding how I was informed of my charges and the arrest warrant, a sadder story took place. They arrested and detained and interrogated me for three days, and on 31 December 2009, they took me and several other detainees, blindfolded and in a most insulting manner, from Ward 240 to the ground floor of Ward 209. They sat us on the floor, facing the wall, and without allowing me to remove our blindfold, they handed me my arrest warrant and another sheet of paper, which supposedly listed my charges. All the people who were arrested on Ashura Day, [27 December 2009] were handed a photocopied page which contained four general charges. This method of informing me of my charges reminded me of field marshals! My temporary detention orders were never extended. I have been in prison for the past six months, having only been informed of my charges and the warrant in the way I explained, and I don’t know what my orders say. I have been moved around five times. I was in solitary confinement inside Ward 240 for 40 days, about two months in Ward 209, one month in Ward 350, 25 days in Kachouei Prison, and now it has been more than a month since I have been transferred to Rajaee Shahr Prison. You can judge this method of detention yourself!

But the next point is about the court. According to Article 168 of the Iranian Constitution, political crimes must be tried in a public court with the presence of a defense lawyer and a jury. The jury has to be comprised of trusted professionals and social elite who are asked to express their fair judgment about the charges. The court has to be public so that the free press can publish the court proceedings in order to inform the public. These are the conditions under which the court’s decision and the suspect’s defense can be meaningful. But the way the courts are now, the trial is based on the indictment prepared by the Prosecutor’s representative and a judge who has been installed by the regime. No matter how hard the judge may try to be independent, he will not be able to step outside the framework of the regime’s interests and security policies. The trials are held in the absence of representatives of public opinion and a jury. The rulings issued by these courts are known to be illegal in advance, as the courts are not legally qualified to address the charges raised.

I call upon public opinion and educated and impartial human beings to judge the way the laws and trial procedures were implemented in my arrest, detention, interrogation, trial, and sentencing. I wish for that judgment to be placed on a page of the history of this era in order to show the way I have had to endure the present situation, putting my best asset, my life, out of my control like this. If we focus on the fact that everyone’s life is his most valuable asset, we will heed caution in issuing prison sentences or illegal detention orders. I have not defrauded anyone financially; I have not oppressed anyone; and I have not betrayed my country, my nation, and their interests and security. Why should I be in illegal detention and be deprived of the implementation of laws in my case? If there is no one or no organization in Iran to be accountable about this, how else would I pursue this injustice other than through international organizations?

Prisoner Heshmatollah Tabarzadi

Karaj, Gohardasht, Rajaee Shahr Prison

September 2010

Cc: Free media

Published by: Student Committee in Defense of Political Prisoners

* Note: For the sake of brevity, sections of the letter in which Tabarzadi refutes the charges against him have been omitted. The full text may be obtained from the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran

Download PDF of Reporters’ Guide

The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran has reviewed and analyzed over twenty interviews with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and prepared a guide for reporters to be used during his visit to New York for the United Nations General Assembly. The Campaign has highlighted important trends on human rights issues and advisement on how to approach those issues with Ahmadinejad. The entire report is linked below.

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How to Interview Iranian Officials on Human Rights Issues

I. Introduction: Human Rights Under Siege in Iran

II. A Brief Summary of Major Human Rights Violations in Iran

III. Iranian Officials’ Claims on Rights Issues: Myths vs. Facts

IV. Notable Facts about Iran’s International Record and Cooperation on Human Rights

V. Interviewing Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

VI. Argumentative Ahmadinejad: Quotes from Interviews

VII. Suggested Questions for President Ahmadinejad

VIII. List of Interviews with Iranian Government Officials

IX. Appendix: Iranian Officials’ Replies to Human Rights Oriented Questions in Previous Interviews

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Call for Removal of Head of State-Controlled Radio and TV

Need for Independent Media More Urgent than Ever

Ezzatollah Zarghami

(11 August 2010) The Iranian state-controlled radio and television, Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), has acted as an arm of intelligence and security agencies implicated in gross human rights violations since the disputed presidential election of June 2009, the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran said today.

The Campaign’s research and investigations into the content of programs produced and broadcast by the IRIB reveal a close working relationship between intelligence and judiciary officials in charge of prosecuting post-election detainees, such as in the case of Maziar Bahari, a Newsweek journalist who was detained last year.

The IRIB has also aired defamatory programs against well–known political personalities and civil society activists, such as Dr. Shirin Ebadi, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and Dr. Fatemeh Haghighatjoo, a former member of parliament, in the guise of documentaries. The IRIB has also exerted unlawful coercion on the families of those killed and injured during the past year’s protests to make false statements.

The Campaign is calling for the removal of Ezzatollah Zarghami, IRIB’s director, for his involvement in covering up gross human rights violations and propagating false, slanderous, and unfounded allegations.

“Iranian state television has colluded with intelligence and security agencies in trampling over the rights of detainees and citizens,” said Hadi Ghaemi, the Campaign’s spokesperson.

Interviews with former detainees and the families of protestors killed by security forces, coupled with a detailed review of Iranian TV programs, reveal the notable role of the IRIB as a tool in service of human rights violations.

The Campaign’s research indicates that IRIB producers worked hand in hand with interrogators, intelligence officials, and judiciary officials to obtain and film false confessions.  Through heavily edited segments, scenarios were propagated, promoted by the Intelligence Ministry, to conceal human rights violations and make unfounded allegations against dissidents..

Under Iranian laws, IRIB producers and directors of these programs are guilty of “dissemination of falsehoods,” “insult and defamation,” “slander,” and “disturbing public opinion,” and should be prosecuted in a court of law for their libelous programs.

Active Participation in “Show Trials” and Interrogations

Maziar Bahari, an Iranian-Canadian journalist, spent three months in prison after the Iranian election in 2009.  Bahari, who made confessions under duress, told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran that his taped confession was a fabricated show, coordinated by Iranian state television and certain press outlets close to the Iranian government.

“Three teams of reporters came into the prison, Press TV, IRIB’s Persian service, and Fars news Agency…the interrogator said, ‘We will give some of the footage from your confession to be broadcast on the 8:30 program.’  During the confessions, the IRIB team members talked to the interrogators…they were completely coordinated.  For example, the interrogator would hand them a piece of paper and would say: make sure you ask this question, too,’” said Bahari.

Bahari told the Campaign that when he told his interrogator that he would not be able to remember all the questions and answers he was supposed to repeat before the camera, his interrogator said, “’In order to make it easier [for you], we will convert the text of your confessions into questions and answers. Therefore, the reporters would ask these questions and you would answer them.’ Therefore each of the three reporters had a set of questions and I gave the answers I was supposed to give. One was a reporter from the IRIB Persian service, one was a reporter from the English language Press TV, and the other was a reporter from Fars News Agency. All three of them and I were reading from a script. The IRIB reporters read the interrogator’s questions. When I made a mistake, just like an interrogator, the reporter would say ‘It’s better if you say it this way.’”

According to Bahari, there was complete coordination between his interrogators and the IRIB team. “The room where I was interviewed by Press TV was the same as my interrogation room. Only that during the taping, a red curtain was put up behind me and my interrogator sat behind the curtain making sure I spoke as they wished,” said Bahari.

On 1 August 2009, Iranian state television broadcast the trial session of over one hundred post-election detainees. Prior to the broadcast, most of the detainees had not had access to their lawyers or their families.

A defendant prosecuted during this trial told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran that, “confessions which were made on television were completely rehearsed. People whose confessions were broadcast were separated from the others earlier and taken to a large room next door. Necessary coordination was made with them and despite what was shown in court, all confession scenes had been pre-planned. Before the court session I saw one of the defendants who was forced to confess rehearsing a text with the Deputy Prosecutor.”

According to this witness, the IRIB crew cooperated closely with the prosecutors to prepare the stage for the “show trials.”

“The coverage for the trial session was completely different from regular trials. Several hours prior to the session, the camera crew of IRIB’s News unit discussed the details and ways to cover the trial with authorities from the Prosecutor’s Office.  One of the defendants was identified by his first initials in court, but was later introduced on television with his full first and family name.  Even though the Tehran Prosecutor, Saeed Mortazavi, was not present at the court session, prior to the meeting he met with a man who seemed to be responsible for the coordination between the Prosecutor’s Office and the IRIB Television unit. During the court session, Mortazavi and the Head of Fars News Agency watched the court proceedings in the room behind the courtroom through a closed circuit television,” the witness told the Campaign.

The IRIB’s cooperation with interrogators and prosecutors was not limited to the trial dates but extended throughout the interrogations. A post-election detainee forced to cooperate and make false confessions under severe psychological and physical coercion told the Campaign that IRIB’s news networks were close to judicial authorities during the prisoner confession sessions. This witness is currently out of prison on bail.

He told the Campaign, “In several instances, Saeed Mortazavi, the Tehran Prosecutor, took the post-election detainees to his office while at the same time, a team from IRIB’s News Network was also present there. Professional cameras and equipment were set up by the IRIB’s News Network team in order to record prisoner confessions which had been scripted and edited in prison earlier, and had been rehearsed in prison numerous times. The text for the confessions was approved by an authority responsible for the interrogation. Some of these confessions were extracted prior to the trial session. The objective of recording the said confessions was to simultaneously broadcast segments of it on the night the trial session was held. For some reason, only some of the recorded confessions, such as those of Messrs. Abtahi, Atrianfar, Maziar Bahari, Amir Hossein Mahdavi, and a few others were broadcast.”

Covering Up Murders of Protestors

The IRIB has actively attempted to cover up the murder of protestors by security and Basij forces. It has produced several programs with regards to the death of Neda Agha Soltan, making contradictory claims regarding her death.

Neda’s mother, Hajer Rostami, told the Campaign, “They [IRIB] have broadcast three films and each time contradicted their earlier claims. As Neda’s mother, as far as I know, she went out to protest and was killed by their forces.” Regarding the truthfulness of IRIB programs about Neda, her mother said, “No one believes these lies, neither Iranian people nor those abroad.”

Rostami added that she is not planning to bring a lawsuit against the IRIB because she believes it will not be properly investigated. “When she was killed I filed a lawsuit which has not been processed at all. Who should I complain to now regarding these films?” she asked.

Addressing Ezzatollah Zarghami, head of the IRIB, Neda’s mother told the , “Mr. Zarghami claimed Neda was an actress because she had her eyes open as she passed away.  I want to tell him to put himself in my place for a second. His words have had a terrible impact on me. God knows Neda was not an actress, she was a young woman like other youth. Mr. Zarghami, Neda’s eyes kept open and will remain open until they reach a conclusion. If she had closed her eyes, maybe it wouldn’t have had the same impact. Her open eyes shook the world, shook the Iranian nation.”

Massoumeh Chegini, wife of Moharram Chegini, who was killed on 15 June 2009 in Tehran in front of Meghdad Basij Station during a post-election protest, told the Campaign, “After my husband was killed, some people came to our house with cameras. They asked me ‘Why did your husband go to the street?’ ‘Was he political?’ ‘What kinds of activities did he do?’ They said that a group of rioters had killed my husband. But they couldn’t have killed my husband. Who can go on the roof and shoot bullets on people?  I asked them, ‘How did a group of rioters know that my husband was on the street and that he had to be killed?’  They said ‘some people took advantage of the circumstances that day.’”

The father of an individual who was shot in front of the IRIB’s offices last summer and currently suffers from severe physical complications told the Campaign, “I have been summoned many times and asked to go to IRIB’s Channel Two TV station. They want me to be interviewed and say that I condemn the savage behavior of the gangsters and hoodlums.  After we talked about this several times and I refused to do this, one day a group came to my home with cameras and equipment without prior appointment. They said we have come from the TV station to make a documentary film about your child who is a victim of hoodlums’ violence. I refused their offer and told them nothing has happened to him to warrant the making of a documentary film by the IRIB.”

Defamation and Slandering of Political Personalities and Activists

In addition to the close cooperation of the IRIB with intelligence agents and interrogators, the IRIB has systematically produced and broadcast television programs aimed to target well-known personalities through attributing undue, libelous, and untrue matters to them.  The medium has never shown any accountability for the claims it has made, nor for publishing the responses provided by the subjects who all reside outside the country.

On 26 May 2010, Ezzatollah Zarghami announced plans for broadcasting such programs.  He told  a Conference organized by the Political Organization of Isargaran Society, “A documentary has been produced for the anniversary of the election. It explains for viewers the sedition story starting prior to the election, all the way through post-election. The very nature of the sedition is that the public understands the realities of it [only] after it happens; and so, after this sedition is explained, the reality of it becomes more believable.”

The television series which was first broadcast as “Sedition Documents” and later as “Enlightenment,” is accessible through the website of the Young Reporters Club, affiliated with the IRIB.

The program was about the following individuals:

1. Dr. Fatemeh Haghighatjoo, Member of the Sixth Parliament; broadcast on 26 May 2010.
2. Fariba Davoodi Mohajer, women’s rights activist and journalist; broadcast on 30 May 2010.
3. Mohsen Sazegara, political and media activist; broadcast on 6 June 2010.
4. Ataollah Mohajerani, former Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance, broadcast on 8 June 2010.
5. Ali Afshari, political activist and former member of Daftar-e Tahkim-e Vahdat student organization; broadcast on 13 June 2010.
6. Shirin Ebadi, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and head of the Defenders of Human Rights Center; broadcast on 10 June 2010.

In the film broadcast about Fariba Davoodi Mohajer, her photographs were manipulated and fabricated information was used. Davoodi Mohajer has denied the authenticity of the used material. “The film which was broadcast about me was completely fabricated and aimed to defame me,” she told the Campaign.

For example, throughout the program, it was repeatedly claimed that Davoodi Mohajer had held several government positions. “During the 30 years of the Islamic Republic’s rule, I have never held a government position. I never served as an advisor during the reformist era. I did not hold a position at the Strategic Research Center,” she said. “A bunch of fabricated photographs which had nothing to do with me were used.”

In a similar program broadcast about Dr. Fatemeh Haghighatjoo, it was said that an American organization related to the US Senate had awarded her with a prize. It was also said that she considers “murderers of Iran’s children….among her own circle.”  At another point in the program, her speech at Amnesty International, regarded as a “Zionist” and “anti-God” organization, was criticized. There were many other topics raised in the film which Haghighatjoo refers to as “complete lies.” “In the five minute program broadcast about me, there were 15 lies—it means there were three lies every minute,” she told the Campaign.

The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran believes that the title of “Sedition” indicates this program’s pivotal role in character assassination and the violation of citizens’ rights through the propagation of slander and libel about Iranian citizens. It further demonstrates that the IRIB has served as the media arm for security and intelligence organizations in disseminating fabricated information against individuals.

Article 175 of the Iranian Constitution explicitly requires the IRIB to respect freedom of expression.  Article 22 of the Constitution states that “The dignity, life, property, rights, residence, and occupation of the individual are inviolate, except in cases sanctioned by law.” Furthermore, according to Article 37, “Innocence is the basic principle. No person is considered legally guilty, except in cases where his/her guilt is established in a competent court.”

All of these principles are violated in IRIB programs attacking well-known members of civil society and political activists.

The Campaign is calling for the removal of Ezzatollah Zarghami as the head of the IRIB. Furthermore, the Campaign believes that the absence of independent Television and Radio broadcasting in Iran is making it impossible for individuals defamed by the IRIB to defend themselves in a court of public opinion. The Iranian Judiciary and Parliament should launch an independent inquiry into violations by the IRIB in broadcasting these programs.

Accelerating Slide into Dictatorship

Human Rights in Iran since 12 June 2009

PDF Download

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Violations of Citizens’ Rights

Killing of Peaceful Demonstrators by Government Forces

Arbitrary Arrests and Disappearances

Torture and Ill-Treatment of Detainees

Violations of Freedom of Expression and Information

Violation of the Obligation to Protect Human Rights Defenders

Appendix — Testimony of Ebrahim Sharifi

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Introduction

Human rights in Iran have deteriorated precipitously for over four years, since the onset of the administration of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. But since the disputed presidential election on 12 June 2009, Iran’s slide into dictatorship has sharply accelerated.

For the past four years, the government has increasingly cracked down on dissent; persecuted women’s rights activists seeking to end discriminatory legislation; denied labor activists their international right to organize; restricted the freedom of expression; persecuted student activists; arrested and otherwise persecuted members of religious minorities; tortured political defendants and convicted them in unfair trials; denied minorities their cultural rights; and executed more prisoners in absolute terms than any other country except China, including juvenile offenders. The government has shut down human rights organizations and arrested and imprisoned human rights defenders.

These developments occurred in the context of the militarization of the government bringing it under control of intelligence structures and the Revolutionary Guards, as well as the manipulation of the Judiciary by intelligence and security agencies.  To provide a pretext for the repression of human rights and civil society and its own escalating arrogation of power, the Ahmadinejad government has stoked international tensions in an attempt to stir nationalistic feelings and support for itself by conflict with members of the international community.

In order to retain power, and before the eyes of the world, political authority in Iran has been allowed to be hijacked by military, intelligence and security forces, which have tried to violently crush the movement for freedom, democracy, human rights, and normalization of international relations.

Ayatollah Syed Ali Khamane’i, who had, until the elections, been viewed as an arbitrator of power between different political factions, has become a political partisan through his unwavering support of Ahmadinejad’s government and his policies in the post election era.

In the aftermath of the disputed 12 June election, hundreds of thousands of Iranians publicly protested what they said was massive fraud in counting the ballots. These protests were numerous and largely peaceful. On June 19, Ayatollah Khamane’i, who as the commander in chief is responsible for the actions of the security forces, the Revolutionary Guards, and the Basij militia, threatened the protestors with use of force if they did not desist.

Over the following days, government forces confronted demonstrators with excessive and sometimes lethal force, leading to dozens of deaths, hundreds of injuries and at least 4,000 arbitrary detentions. The government has recently publicized mass trials in which prominent reformists and others read confessions that bore every sign of being coerced, and the Campaign have gathered testimonies that confirm allegations of widespread torture and rape of persons in detention.

This brief report details how an accelerating slide into dictatorship has been accomplished by the grave violation of Iran’s international human rights obligations.

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Violations of Iranian citizens’ right to freedom of association and freedom of assembly, protected by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) as well as the Iranian Constitution  (Art. 27)

Following the disputed 12 June elections, Iranian authorities  banned peaceful demonstrations in Iran’s main cities including Tehran, Shiraz, Isfahan, Tabriz, Mashad and Rasht, as well as elsewhere, to protest electoral fraud and to demand human rights. Security and intelligence forces as well as Basiji militias on motorcycles brutally attacked demonstrators, using batons, tear-gas, pepper-spray, water cannon, chains, and live ammunition and plastic bullets, killing an as yet undetermined number of them. The use of force against demonstrators has been excessive, unlawful, and in gross violation of the standards contained in the United Nations Basic Principles on the Use of Force by Law Enforcement Officers upheld by the UN General Assembly.  Many victims were killed or gravely injured by gunshots or blows to the head, which is to say, intentionally.  Security agents have arrested injured demonstrators when they sought medical treatment in hospitals.

Iran’s  Leader, Ayatollah Khamane’i demanded an end to demonstrations and threatened to hold opposition candidates responsible for any problems.  Others among Iran’s highest religious and political authorities announced a policy of criminalizing dissent, which can have lethal consequences, given Iran’s excessive use of the death penalty and lack of independent courts.  Ayatollah Khatami, an influential hard-line cleric, has demanded that demonstrators be considered “enemies of God (Mohareb),” guilty of crimes under Iran’s Islamic legal code for which they can be executed.  Iran’s Leader has also demeaned protesters, terming them “rioters” and has thus legitimated harsh punishment of those who have been detained on the basis of their political views and for exercising their right to freedom of assembly and to peacefully demonstrate their views.

Despite these threats, hundreds of thousands of Iranian citizens peacefully demonstrated  on several occasions including 20 June, 9 July, to commemorate student demonstrations ten years earlier, on 17 July,  at Friday Prayers, and on other dates.  The gatherings were met with severe violence by the authorities, resulting in hundreds of arrests and injuries and numerous killings.

The Mayor of Tehran, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, estimated that three million persons have taken part in demonstrations on 20 June.

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An unknown but apparently large number of peaceful demonstrators have been killed by government forces and militia in the course of demonstrations

Iranian authorities assert that approximately 30 persons have died in the course of events since the 12 June elections, but several forms of evidence point to a much larger figure. To date, a lack of transparency and manipulation of information by government authorities has obscured the truth.  Authorities have threatened family members against discussing injuries and deaths of victims, and in some cases forced families to claim their loved ones died of natural causes. Investigations by political organizations and NGOs have been forcibly thwarted and halted.

The authorities have repeatedly used excessive, lethal force, which has led to the death of persons who were not even involved in demonstrations. For example, Basiji militiamen have been documented by photographs and videos firing at crowds from atop buildings. Massive volleys of gunfire against protesters were witnessed on 14 June, 20 June, 9 July, and on other dates. Ten students were killed on 14 June in attacks in Isfahan, Tabriz, and Tehran. Medical professionals with access to the records of morgues of three hospitals have reported that 34 bodies of demonstrators were deposited in one day, and some of the bodies reportedly showed multiple bullet wounds.

Families of disappeared persons seeking information from the authorities have been shown albums of photographs of the dead reportedly containing hundreds of photographs, and some have reported seeing “hundreds” of corpses in makeshift morgues. Many bodies were reportedly buried in anonymous graves in Behesht Zahra cemetery overnight.

A number of detainees have died from wounds they received, either before or after their arrest, while they have been in custody. The body of Mohsen Ruholamini, the son of a supporter of unsuccessful presidential candidate Mohsen Rezai, was returned to his family reportedly bearing marks of torture and ill-treatment. The authorities claimed he died of meningitis. Amin Javadifar, a student detained on 9 July, also reportedly died in detention.

Ramin Qahremani, 30, was tortured in prison and his body was delivered to his family recently. According to the Norooz website, he was arrested in his home after agents identified him from a bank security camera. He was kept in prison and tortured for 10 days before being released. He told his mother that for several days he was suspended from his feet. He was taken to the hospital a few days before being released for internal bleeding in his chest. Ramin’s body was buried under the supervision of the police forces.

Taraneh Mousavi was arrested on 28 June near the Masjed Ghoba.  She was reported as disappeared for several weeks and finally her burned body was found near Ghazvin. It was reported that she was severely sexually abused while she was in detention. Her case was revealed by reformist presidential candidate Mehdi Karroubi, but his information was denied by State authorities. Mohammad Kamrani, 18, was arrested in Tehran on 9 July 2009 and was transferred first to Kahrizak detention center and later to Evin prison. On 15 July 2009, his family was informed that he was in Evin prison and was transferred to the Loghman hospital under guard control. As he received no treatment there, and was simply left handcuffed to the bed, his family obtained permission to transfer him to Mehr hospital, where he died on 16 July from severe injuries. Hamid Madah Shourche, a member of the Mousavi presidential campaign in Mashad, was arrested while he was protesting at Goharshad Mosque. He was tortured and died several days after his release, in the first week of July, because of brain damage. Pouya Maghsoud Baygi, a medical student in Kermanshah, was arrested on 20 June by Intelligence forces in Kermanshah, and died because of the severity of his torture in the prison.

The number of dead has been claimed by Iranian opposition researchers at around 73.

In the 50 days after the 12 June presidential elections, Iran executed 115 convicted prisoners, according to Amnesty International. The authorities have provided no detailed information about who many of these persons were, and what crimes they allegedly committed. This “alarming spike” in executions is considered a warning to dissidents, who may be charged with crimes for which they could face capital punishment.

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Arbitrary arrests, disappearances, and detentions including incommunicado detention; unfiar trials; disregard for due process

On 11 August, the Judiciary’s spokesperson, Alireza Jamshidi, announced that around 4000 citizens have been arrested and detained since the elections. About 400 people are believed to be in detention as of this writing.

A large number were ordinary people who were taken into custody as they participated in peaceful demonstrations.  The authorities also arrested hundreds of opposition figures, journalists, human rights lawyers and activists, intellectuals, and professors, and students including prominent former members of the government.  The Campaign has compiled a list of about 240 of those detained who were arrested in the first 10 days after the election. While some of them were released on heavy bail, others who had been ordered released on bail and paid the required sums were not released, including Mohammad Ghouchani, journalist. The families of some detainees could not pay the high bails demanded, as high as $500,000 (500 million toman) and such detainees, including for example Shiva Nazarahari, had to remain in jail. However, the detentions continue, and have included three grandsons of Grand Ayatolah Montazeri, who has openly criticized the abuse of citizens’ rights, and son of Ayatolah Mousavi Tabrizi. On September 17, at least four well-known people were arrested, including, Sayed Mehdi Mousavinejad,  the brother-in-law of Ali Abtahi, a former vice president also in detention; Mehdi Mahmoudian, human rights activist and a member of the reformist Iran  Participation Front; Mehdi Mirdamadi, son of Mohsen Mirdamadi, General secretary of Iran Participation Front , who is in prison; and Hossein Nourinezhad, the head of public outreach of  Iran Participation Front.

Following mass trials, many detainees have had no access to their families and lawyers and still are in solitary confinement, including for example Mustafa Tajzadeh and Abdollah Ramezanzadeh. The first information available about Abdullah Momeni since his arrest on 21 June, and confirmation that he was even alive, was his appearance at the mass trial on 13 September.

Due process violations have accompanied all arrests.  Arrests have been made with no warrants or other court documents being presented, or documents that gave authorities carte blanche to arrest anyone; they have often been made late in the night or very early in the morning and family have been abused in the process; arrests have been made by plain-clothes agents presenting no identification; personal property has sometimes been damaged or confiscated; and detainees have been taken to unknown locations, essentiallydisappeared.

Arrests have in a number of cases threatened the lives of the detainees:  Seed Hajjarian, a detained reformist political figure, suffers from severe physical problems as a result of an assassination attempt in 2001, and needs special care 24 hours a day; a journalist in detention; Ebrahim Yazdi, a former Foreign Minister, was arrested and taken into detention while in the intensive care unit of a hospital. Dr. Mohammad Maleki, who was arrested while he was under treatment for prostate cancer, wasn’t able to walk and two agents helped him to the car. He needs special injections and conditions for his treatment that cannot be found in prison. According to the report published by the Committee to Investigate Arbitrary Detentions, many  detainees arrested after 12 June suffer serious health problems, including Behzad Nabavi who had open heart surgery before his arrest. Abdullah Momeni and Isa Saharkhiz  also suffer serious health problems.

Many of those detained are reportedly held in solitary confinement and in incommunicado detention. They have been prevented from contact with families, friends, or lawyers.  Detentions have been extended without legal justification.

The government has not released a comprehensive list of those detained and their whereabouts, nor has it announced what charges detained persons face, leaving many hundreds of family members in a state of high anxiety; as indicated above, the charges may carry death sentences.  Cases have been documented in which officials have willfully misled family members seeking information about missing relatives, and concealing the fact that such persons were dead.  The large number of unaccounted for persons raises fears about torture and also that many of the missing are dead.

Among those detained are several foreign nationals, including Kian Tajbakhsh, an Iranian-American social scientist, who is still in prison,  Maziar Bahari, an Iranian-Canadian journalist.

Human Rights Watch and FIDH expressed concern about the appointment of Iranian prosecutor Saeed Mortazavi, who has been asked to investigate and prosecute detained reform leaders. Mortazavi has been implicated by the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions for involvement in a range of grave human rights violations. He was subsequently removed from the position and appointed as a deputy of the national general prosecutor.

The mass trials of those detained for political reasons have been widely condemned for being “show trials” completely at variance with international standards of due process, and in violation of Iranian law.  Defense lawyers have been denied access to their client’s files, and have not been informed about which courts would consider their cases. Lawyers have informed the Campaign that in some cases, defendants have been given court-appointed lawyers without informing their own attorneys.

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Torture and ill-treatment of detainees

There have been credible reports of torture and ill-treatment including inter alia rape, beatings, and sleep deprivation aimed at confirming the government’s claims that protests have been orchestrated by foreign governments or terrorist organizations.

For example, Ahmad Zaidabadi, the director of the Advar Tahkim Organization and a prominent journalist, was detained on 13 June at his home. A person posing as a delivery man lured him out of his house and unidentified agents kidnapped and took him away. In protest against the illegal manner of his detention, the lack of charges against him, and the conditions of his detention, Zaidabadi was on a hunger strike during the first 17 days of his detention.

His wife, Mahdieh Mohammadi, was able to visit him only after 65 days of having no access to him. During their visit, Zaidabadi told her that he had spent 35 days in solitary confinement, in total isolation, where there was no sound, no light, and no human contact. He told her he felt like he was in a grave, developing serious mental disorientation, and becoming suicidal. Since he could not find any means for committing suicide, he started to scream nonstop. The prison guards eventually realized that he is on the verge of insanity and transferred him to a different solitary cell. During the visit, Zaidabadi told his wife that interrogators had asked him to give guarantees that he would never engage in political activism, although they had not formally charged him.

Amnesty International has reported that Mostafa Tajzadeh, Abdollah Ramezanzadeh and Mohsen Aminzadeh, all imprisoned supporters of opposition candidate Moussavi, are reported to have undergone “intensive interrogation” sessions in Tehran’s Evin prison.  Ramazanzadeh, the spokesperson in Khatami’s cabinet, was arrested on 13 June in the street when he was seriously beaten, causing injuries to his head and rib cage. Since his detention, he has not been charged and the location of his imprisonment remains unknown. After 74 days of detention, Ramezanzadeh was brought to the mass trials in which he asked journalists to tell his family that he was fine. Up to that date, his family had no information about his situation.

The Campaign has received information indicating that other prisoners, about whom no information is available about their legal situation, have suffered beatings and other ill-treatment, including Keyvan Samimi a journalist and human rights defender. Keyvan Samimi was arrested at the midnight of 14 June while Security Forces broke into his house  and confiscated his personal computer and belongs. According to his lawyer, Nasrin Sotudeh, she visited him for the first time on 10 September in presence of his interrogator. He told that her that he was beaten twice and the prison doctor certified that the sign of torture was seen on his left leg. Sotudeh also has said that she has had no access to his file, but during the visit, he and his interrogator informed her that he was charged with membership in the illegal groups including, the National Religious Coalition, the National Peace Council, and the Committee to Investigate Arbitrary Detentions.

“Confessions” by detainees aired on state television have led associates and family members to allege that they could only have been obtained under coercion.  The large number of persons held in incommunicado detention, and in unknown locations, leads to fears about torture and ill-treatment especially in consideration of the very widespread use of torture to produce confessions in Iranian trials, which are often the only evidence upon which defendants are convicted.

Students and many of ordinary prisoners were tortured severely, and there are credible reports of sexual abuse. Fifty students arrested on 14 June were taken to the basement of the Interior Ministry, four levels underground. According to information received by the Campaign, they were tortured en route to the facility and once there.  Packed into a small room, they were reportedly beaten with batons if they touched one another.   They were beaten and humiliated if they used toilets for more than 30 seconds. The students were reportedly sexually tortured.

The Campaign has been informed that as many as 100 cases of rape have been filed privately with the Speaker of the Parliament, Ali Larijani, but he has dismissed them all as false.

Ebrahim Sharifi, 24 years old student in Tehran, was kidnapped by plainclothes agents on 22 June by plainclothes agents for one week. He provided detailed testimony to the Campaign regarding his torture and rape during detention. He said he was subjected to severe beatings, mock executions, and sexual assault. When he attempted to file a judicial complaint and told several judicial authorities what happened, intelligence agents threatened him and his family, forcing him into hiding. Sharifi’s full account is detailed in the appendix of this report.

Another charge of rape was reported to the Campaign, in which a female detainee was raped in one of the prisons in north part of Iran. One of the members of an opposition election campaign was forced to accept that he had had sexual relationships with 10 women who were active in the campaign, and he refused. Suddenly, his female colleague was brought into the room and raped in front of the others. Both have now been released, but the rape victim suffers severe depression.

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Violations of freedom of expression and information

Since the disputed elections, Iran has arrested and detained over 30 journalists and photographers.   Numerous journalists from opposition media have been detained including 20 from Kalemeh Sabz alone.

Bahman Ahmad Amouiee, a journalist and women’s rights defender, was arrested along with his wife, Zhila Baniyaghoub, a journalist, in his home on 20 June 2009. Amouiee is deprived access to his lawyer as well as his family. His lawyer has no access to his file. After 70 days in detention, he had a very short phone call to his wife and said that Judge Mortezavi was in charge of his case. He said that his interrogation had ended and his case was referred to the court, but he didn’t know which branch was in charge. On 31 September, prison officials informed Zhila Baniyagoub , who was released recently, that Amouiee is banned from having visitors.

Mohammad Ghouchani, a journalist and editor in charge of Etemad Meli daily was arrested after presidential contender Karoubi’s letter to the Guardian Council was published on 20 June 2009. Ghouchani was ordered to release on bail on 23 August and the release letter was issued. Maryam Baghi, his wife, in an interview on 6 September said that after his release letter was issued he was transferred to solitary confinement on 27 August and later to ward number 240 in Evin prison and was under sever interrogation. As of this writing he is in ward 209. He is charged with “participation in illegal gatherings to endanger national security,” and “writing articles instigating unrest.” However, his family has said that he was not present in any demonstrations and during the weeks after the election he had not authored any articles. In his most recent call to his family, as of this writing, he told them that despite the order to release him on bail, interrogations have been resumed and he is under tremendous pressure to make false confessions. His interrogators have told him he will not be released unless he makes a confession.

Issa Saharkhiz, a journalist and a founder of the Association to Defend Press Freedom, was arrested on 3 July 2009. He spent 40 days in solitary confinement in the Revolutionary Guard prison in Tehran. Nasrin Sotoudeh, his lawyer, was able to visit him after 40 days and informed that his rib cage was broken. Sahar Khiz suffers high blood pressure and allergies and requires a special diet and he is not able to take any medications. His temporary detention order has been renewed for another two months.

The office of the Journalists Association was closed by order of the Tehran Prosecutor without any explanation on 5 August, the Day of Journalists, while the Association was preparing to hold its general assembly.

More than 300 journalists wrote a letter on 8 September to Tehran Prosecutor and requested the release of detained journalists and respect for the freedom of the press.  Many were immediately summoned and threatened. They were asked to withdraw their signature and cooperate with the Intelligence services to name those who wrote the letter and collected the signatures. About 15 of them were ordered to stay in Tehran and were banned from travelling.

A number of foreign journalists have been expelled from Iran and prohibited from reporting the events, and in some cases Iranian official media and authorities have accused foreign journalists of inciting unrest, at the behest of the government of the United Kingdom.

A Greek journalist for the US-based Washington Times, Iason Athanasiadis, was detained and ill-treated.

Foreign journalists have been prohibited from observing protest demonstrations and other important events. Websites and phone lines have been blocked on several occasions, preventing the circulation of information on the elections and the post-elections situation in the country.  Foreign news broadcasts have been jammed.

Private social networking websites have been used to persecute individuals and their associates. The authorities shut down such sites, including Facebook, for periods of time.  Mobile telephone networks have been shut down on election day, which was meant to prevent sharing election-monitoring information.

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Violations of the obligation to protect human rights defenders

Human rights defenders including human rights lawyers have been targeted for arrest since 12 June and a number have been taken into custody.  Plain-clothes agents arrested three members of the Defenders of Human Rights Centre (DHRC), including lawyer Abdolfattah Soltani, who was arrested by persons posing as clients; lawyer Mohammed Ali Dadkhah, and M. Abdolreza Tajik. Soltani is also a member of the Committee to Investigate Arbitrary Detentions; other members of the Committee who have been detained include  Alireza Tajik and Kayvan Samimi.  Colleagues of Mohammad Ali Dadkhah arrested along with him included Malihe Dadkhah (his daughter), Sara Sabaghian, Bahareh Dowaloo, and Amir Raiisian.  All of these lawyers, prior to their arrest,  represented numerous individuals who had been detained since 12 June. All were subsequently released.

One member of the Committee to Investigate on Arbitrary Detentions, Kayvan Samimi, remains in prison and no official information was released about on him, although it was reported that he was tortured severely. According to the Committee spokesperson, Hasan Asadi Zaydabadi, six members of the Committee have been summoned several times and requested to shut down the group, stop issuing press statements, and cease visiting the families of detainees.

Shiva Nazarahari, a human rights activist and editor in charge of the web site of the Committee for Human Rights, was arrested on 14 June at her office. The night before intelligence agents had gone to her home and searched everywhere and took her personal belongings. She spent 36 days in solitary confinement in ward 209 in Evin prison and was reportedly tortured to confess to what the interrogators wanted. In September, she was ordered to be released on $500,000 bail, which her family wasn’t able to afford, and she remains in prison. Recently, the bail was reduced to $200,000, which still too high for her family to afford. On 17 September, her lawyer and family finally received permission to visit her. She informed them that her interrogator had told her that she won’t be released even if the bail is posted.

The DHRC, founded by Nobel Peace Laureate Shirin Ebadi and others, has been closed since December 2008, when it was shut down by Iranian authorities.  Ms. Ebadi has come under renewed threat, as media close to the government published a letter claiming to have been written by war veterans and the families of martyrs as well as experts, in which they demanded that legal proceeding be brought against Ebadi for allegedly violating the law in the course of her human rights advocacy (since 12 June, Ms. Ebadi has undertaken urgent missions to leading international officials to convey concerns about human rights violations in Iran and request engagement by the international community). The threatening letter is considered a signal that Ebadi can face prosecution in Iran.

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Appendix : Testimony of Ebrahim Sharifi

Ebrahim Sharifi, was kidnapped by plainclothes agents on 22 June by plainclothes agents for one week. He provided detailed testimony to the Campaign regarding his torture and rape during detention:

My name is Ebrahim Sharifi, born on 27 February 1985, 24 years old and a computer science major at Azad University in Tehran. Before the 12 June elections I was active in a grassroots campaign office for presidential candidate Mehdi Karroubi.  I did campaigning by doing graphics work, making posters and distributing them. After the elections, believing the result were not true, I participated daily in protests. In many of the protests, security and intelligence agents took my pictures and videotaped me, which I did not mind.

On the evening of June 22, as I was on my home, in Kangan Boulevard, a black car pulled over next me. A middle aged man, perhaps 40-45 years old, wearing a grey suit, seated in the passenger sit called me over. As I approached the car, a third person from behind grabbed me, twisted my hand behind my back, put on plastic handcuffs, blindfolded me and threw me into the back seat and pushed my head down. I felt a period of about 40 minutes passed before we stopped at a place where there was no more sound of cars. They pushed me like a lamb into what felt like a large hall. I was still blindfolded and handcuffed. I could hear the heavy sounds of others breathing.

That night I felt asleep handcuffed and blindfolded. I was not given any food or drinks. Some people would ask to be taken to a bathroom but no one would come. The next day, the sounds of a girl in pain and screaming were heard. I and others started protesting. In response, someone came in and said we have to be collectively punished. They took out our clothes, leaving on my underclothes and threw me on the floor. I thought there were 30-40 other detainees in the room. I was still handcuffed and blindfolded. They started beating me and others on the back with some kind of a whip. It was thick and elastic. The person was whipping me and four other people, because I was counting. He would whip each person three times and then move on to the next and repeat the cycle. He was doing this for hours and was getting tired as the interval between each whipping became longer and longer. My mouth was close to the ground and I could smell urine and blood.

Afterwards, more hours past, I don’t know how many, until someone came in and put some kind of relieving cream on my back. I was exhausted and passed out. Until the next day we were not given any food or drinks. I don’t know how long I was asleep that someone came in and pulled me up, holding me under my shoulders. They ordered us to line up and said we have been condemned to execution. I had heard many stories of fake executions, but still was gripped in fear. They took us to an outdoor space; it must have been early morning as I felt a morning breeze. They put a rope around my neck and said your execution order has been issued verbally, you are charged with being Mofsed fi-al Arz (corrupt on earth), and we are waiting for the written order to come. I felt an hour passed like this, until someone came and announced, “For now the Leader has pardoned you, get lost.”

I was taken back to the big hall. They took off my handcuffs and gave us a few pieces of stale bread and potatoes and a glass of water that tasted awful. In the following days, I was subjected to mock executions twice more. During the last instance, I protested by saying if you want to hang me why don’t you just do it? Why all these games? Someone came forward and hit me hard in the stomach. I fell down and he continued to keep hitting me in the stomach till I was throwing up blood. He told someone else, “Take this –expletive- and impregnate him.” The other person dragged me on the floor to another room as I was very weak. In there, he  tied my hands to a handcuff that was connected to the wall, tied my feet, and pulled down my underwear. He then said “If you can’t protect your –expletive- how do you want to bring about a Velvet Revolution?” He then sexually assaulted me. I was feeling so weak and became unconscious.

When I gained consciousness, I was no longer blindfolded and was lying on a bed and tied to it with metal handcuffs. It looked like a clinic. In the bed next to me was another person who screamed nonstop; a medical worker, probably a nurse or a doctor, would came by frequently and inject him with a serum. I was constantly throwing up blood. About 16 or 17 hours passed like this. In these circumstances, someone came and stood behind my bed and told the medical staff: “Doctor, he is dying or should we finish him off ourselves?” I heard the doctor’s voice responding: “He is in terrible shape. He could cause us lots of trouble like the other two. Just get rid of him.”

A few more hours passed. They untied me from the bed, blindfolded me again and put on the plastic handcuffs. Then they asked my name and phone number. I think they took me back to the detention hall. From there they led me to a car and drove me off for about 10-15 minutes. They stopped and led me out of the car still blindfolded. They told me to count to 60 and then take off my blindfolds. I was on Sabalan Highway. It was morning time. I managed to walk to a supermarket and call a friend who came and picked me up and took me home. My  mother couldn’t believe I was alive; she thought I had been killed.

The next day, the first thing I did was to go to a psychologist.  I also talked to several lawyers and friends who recommended I file a judicial law suit. I went to the judiciary office in Elahieh and wrote up a complaint about being kidnapped. The authorities told me it is not within their jurisdiction and I should go to the Revolutionary Court. I went there but they repeated the same thing. I went to the criminal court and they wrote a letter to the Police Detective Bureau to investigate the case. From there I took the letter to the First Bureau of Detectives in Niavaran. There, the authorities told me it doesn’t relate to them and I should go to the Central Detectives Bureau in Shapour and Mowlawi intersection. I went there and the staff there asked me for the report of my disappearance that my father had filed. I told them it is filed with the First Bureau of Detectives, so they sent me back there. At the First Detectives Bureau they told me, “We cannot release your file to you,” so I returned to the Central Detective Bureau.

Finally, the authorities there stamped my letter saying the relevant crime is kidnapping and asked me to go to Branch 11 of police detective bureau . First they asked me to come back the next day, but I insisted that the signs of torture and my beatings were starting to go away and I wanted to give a testimony now. A detective eventually agreed to interview me. He told me it is probably the work of the Ministry.” I asked which Ministry and he replied: “The Intelligence ministry. If I were you I wouldn’t follow it up.” I insisted that I wanted to follow up and want to be examined by a state-certified physician. He eventually agreed and wrote a letter to the office of state-certified  medical office. When I went there, they said I should return the next day. I went back but they kept making excuses and wouldn’t examine me. I finally realized they are not willing to examine me.

A week passed and I finally decided to go meet with Mr. Karroubi. I went to his offices and told him my entire saga. He asked me to provide my testimony to Judiciary officials. Tehran’s prosecutor’s office contacted me and said they want to expedite my complaint. But then suddenly out of the blue, the official asked me, “What is your expectation from Karroubi?” I responded I don’t want anything from him.

On 19 August, I met with Mr. Mohammadi, the representative of Dorri Najaf-Abadi, the country’s General Prosecutor and I gave him my testimony. The next day, Mr. Moghaddami, the representative of Mr. Moratazivi, Tehran’s general prosecutor contacted Mr. Karroubi that Mortazavi has asked to meet with all witnesses. At 2 p.m. on 20 August, I went to Mr. Karroubi’s office and met with Mr. Moghaddami. He asked me to write down my entire testimony and I did so. Then he started asking me questions that were irrelevant to my detention and what had happened to me. He said how can we know you haven’t been paid by Karroubi to make these allegations? I was very surprised. These insinuations were repeated multiple times by Moghaddami.

He then sent me to the state-certified medical offices for examinations. The doctor there told me with nearly two months having past since the occurrence of the sexual assault, there will be no visible signs by now.

During this period, several judiciary agents had combed through my neighborhood, talking to local shopkeepers and our neighbors, collecting information about me.

On 23 August, I was due to meet with a group of parliamentarians and to provide them my testimony. That day, on the street, a car approached me and pulled over. It was a Peugeot and the driver called me over. He claimed to be a friend of my father and spoke very warmly of him and had so many details about my family; I was persuaded he is an old family friend. He offered to give me a ride. He drove me from Niavaran towards Darabad. In the car he suddenly warned me, “Look, if you give testimony to the parliamentary committee, you and your entire family will be killed in a staged accident. You know we are capable of doing it.” I was shocked that he was aware of my imminent meeting and realized he is an intelligence agent.

I left the car and realized that my family and I are in great danger, because while there is no will within the Judiciary to investigate my case,  there are much efforts to intimidate me and my family into silence and to make false accusations that I have been paid by Karroubi to make up my story. I immediately went into hiding. Subsequently my father was threatened. I left the country and since then my friends and associates have been under pressure to denounce me. Some of them have been called into the Intelligence Ministry and interrogated for hours. I fear for my family and friends’ safety in Iran.

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