Several days after rumors about prison abuse, and psychological and physical pressure on Nasrin Sotoudeh started circulating on the internet, the prisoner of conscience’s husband told the Campaign that on 17 October, the investigative judge at Evin prison Court advised Sotoudeh’s lawyer, Nasim Ghanavi, that Sotoudeh’s case has been forwarded to the Revolutionary Court.

“This morning when Ms. Ghanavi went to follow up on my wife’s case, the investigative judge advised her that the investigation is complete and the case has been forwarded to the court. Of course they said nine days ago that the interrogation and investigation phases were complete, but a few days ago, before going to bed, I read the news of my wife’s torture on websites,” said Khandan.

“Sotoudeh’s lawyer has also been told other things. She had followed up on issues such as her telephone rights. She was told today that because Nasrin was not willing to contact her family in the presence of officers, they had decided not to give her permission to call,” Khandan explained.

“According to the law, when the investigation and interrogation phases are complete and the suspect’s file is sent to court for a ruling, the suspect should either be released, or if they remain in prison, they must be given the rights of ordinary prisoners.  Nasrin Sotoudeh has not been given visitation or telephone privileges, and she remains in a solitary cell,” said Reza Khandan, questioning the decision to not allow Sotoudeh to contact him.

“I can’t confirm nor deny the rumors about torture, as I have no information about her. Though after news about her hunger strike was announced, the activities intensified and our back and forth trips to the Judiciary and its related organizations grew several fold, but, unfortunately, we were unable to get any information about her. The only way we can prove  whether she has been tortured or not is talking to her; we will have to talk to her and she can say whether she was tortured or not,” said Khandan, emphasizing that the information blackout on his wife’s condition makes things suspicious.

Nasrin Sotoudeh was arrested at Evin prison Court on 4 September after being summoned there. She has only made three short phone calls to her family since her arrest. In addition to Sotoudeh, two other lawyers with the Defenders of Human Rights Center, Mohammad Seifzadeh and Mohammad Ali Dadkhah, have also been summoned to court and interrogated regarding the Center’s activities. Mohammad Oliaifard, another lawyer who represents political prisoners, is also in prison.

Hengameh Shahidi sentenced to 6 years in prison

A source close to journalist and prisoner of conscience Hengameh Shahidi told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran that despite her family’s efforts to reduce her $600,000 bail, authorities at the Prosecutor’s Office have not agreed to the family’s request. According to the source, Shahidi’s health is unfavorable and pursuing her medical needs requires treatment outside of the prison. Prosecuting authorities have said that Shahidi’s family’s appeal for bail reduction is being considered but no decision has been made yet.

Hengameh Shahidi has not been allowed to contact her family by phone in more than two months, and the only contact she has with outside world is through weekly visits by her family members. According to this source, Shahidi’s psychological condition is unfavorable since the amount of bail is unreasonably high and the decision to reduce the bail is taking too long.

Background:

In a recent interview with the Campaign, Shahidi’s mother talked about the journalist’s problems and illnesses inside prison and her lack of access to medical attention at Evin, stating that Shahidi needs to receive medical attention from medical professionals outside. Shahidi is a journalist who is currently serving a six-year prison sentence. (Link)

“Hengameh has developed rheumatic heart disease, kidney problems, stomach problems, and severe depression in prison. She has even been transferred outside the prison a few times for MRIs, and prison doctors have said that she needs outside medical attention in order to address her ailments. I don’t know why the American hiker, whose charge was espionage according to the authorities, would be released due to her illness, but my child cannot go on medical leave for treatment. After two months, eight days ago they asked for a $600,000 bail in order to release her on medical leave. They know that Hengameh’s parents who are retired teachers would not be able to post a $600,000 bail…I wrote a letter to the Prosecutor yesterday, telling him that I am incapable of posting this bail…The worst thing for a mother is to see her child sick and be unable to help her. If I were to sell whatever I own in this world I could not come up with $600,000. After I get her out, I will still have to spend thousands of dollars on her medical treatment. My house is tied up as collateral for the first time she was arrested and released on bail. I have nothing else. They know all this. If they don’t want to grant her medical leave, they should just say it and treat her inside the prison,” Shahidi’s mother, Nahid Kermanshahi told the Campaign.

The husband of this member of the Center for Human rights Defenders told the Campaign: “Since during the last contact she had with me she told me ‘in case the number of days in between my telephone calls exceed four days, you should know that I have gone on a hunger strike,’ I think according to what she said she must have been on a hunger strike for twelve days now, meaning she’s been on hunger strike since 23 September. Her last contact with her lawyer was on 18 September, and before that she had called the house twice; now something like seventeen days have passed and we have not heard from her. I went to the prosecutor’s office three times, and gave them three letters. I also went to the investigators, so did her lawyer, Nasim Ghanavi. Her lawyer is following her case but so far no one has responded to our inquiries. We are now in a limbo. All our communication channels are closed. My understanding is that she is not in a good situation and we’re strongly concerned for her.”

Nasrin Sotoudeh was arrested on 4 September 2010 after she appeared at the Evin Prison Courts and was transferred to a solitary cell. Ms. Sotoudeh’s office and home had been searched by security forces a week prior to her summons, and her computer and personal belongings had been confiscated. She represented many prisoners of conscience.

“With every passing day, my concern increases. During the first 12 days, she was able to contact her family and her lawyer three times. But it’s now been 17 days since we last heard from her. I think they have demands of her which she does not wish to grant, and now they are putting pressure on her with the tool of cutting her contacts, so that she would agree to their demands. There might also be other pressure we don’t know about,” said Reza Khandan about the imprisoned lawyer’s latest status.

Ms. Sotoudeh has represented several prominent individuals such as Issa Saharkhiz, journalist, Heshmatollah Tabarzadi, political activist, and Shirin Ebadi, lawyer. Sotoudeh has also represented juvenile offenders sentenced to death.

“The case investigator refused to see me several times when I went to the courts. Only once, when they mistook me for Nasrin’s lawyer, they let me in. Then he told me ‘you have no role in this case and we cannot give you any information.’ In those few minutes, all they told me was ‘Yes, she is well,’ but they didn’t give me any information about her health conditions. You know that these words do not reassure us. If she is well, then why wouldn’t they allow her to contact her family? Never mind the visit. This woman has two young children and it is only natural that they would be worried for her. She must be allowed to visit and to have telephone contact while they are doing their investigations. According to the law, she is a suspect, not a criminal. She is only in prison based on a claim; even that claim has not been clear to us. Under such circumstances, she is being punished along with her family,” said Reza Khandan about his efforts to gain information about his wife’s well-being.

“Only a couple of kilometers away from Evin Prison, our information about her condition and her case is as limited as yours, thousands of kilometers away from Evin. I am her husband and the investigator tells me that I have no position in her case and he can’t tell me anything,” added Reza Khandan.

The night before appearing at the Evin Prison Court, Sotoudeh had gone to see her father with her two children, ages three and twelve, unaware that this would be her last visit with her father. Sotoudeh’s family has requested her release for her father’s funeral. In a statement, the Mourning Mothers requested for Sotoudeh’s release:

In memory of Mrs. Sotoudeh’s father,

It has been two weeks since the arrest of Nasrin Sotoudeh, the courageous lawyer of many of our children. She was summoned in writing to provide some explanations to the Evin prison court, but was arrested and moved to solitary confinement inside Evin prison.  The Evin prison court ordered her arrest, knowing that her father was hospitalized in  ICU. He died today, waiting for her daughter’s return. The brave lawyer’s three-year-old boy, Nima, had a birthday this week, waiting for his mother. He and her twelve-year old sister, who has suffered an anxiety attack following witnessing their home’s being stormed and searched by 10 security forces, need their mother’s care.

The arrest of a loving mother and a defender of the defenseless has added to our pain. We, the Park Laleh Mothers (Mourning Mothers), emphasize that the continued imprisonment of a law-abiding and dedicated lawyer is a cruel and inhumane act.

We are gravely concerned for Nasrin Sotoudeh, her children, and her mother, and demand her immediate and unconditional release so that she may be reunited with her children and participate in her father’s funeral.

A campaign formed by the Committee of Human Rights Reporters presented signed petitions to the Interests Section of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Washington for her release. The purpose of the campaign is to raise awareness about her situation and her seven months in prison in a limbo. The campaign demands her acquittal and immediate release.

Nazar Ahari’s lawyer, concerned by the heavy sentence issued by the same court for his other journalist client, Badrossadat Mofidi, expressed concern that despite the existence of any evidence in Nazar Ahari’s case file, she might also be handed a heavy sentence.

According to her lawyer, Nazar Ahari was accused of moharebeh (enmity with God) in her first case file. But according to her family, this charge was not brought against her the second time she was arrested.  In an interview with the Campaign, a Nazar Ahari family member said that both her lawyer and family believe that she should be freed, and that the charges of moharebeh have not been brought up during the past few months. In many post-election trials of political prisoners, the courts have completely disregarded any defense presented by the suspects and their lawyers. Nazar Ahari’s friends, former colleagues and those who monitor the worsening human rights situation in Iran demand that the Iranian officials release her immediately.

“Starred Student” was Blacklisted from Graduate Studies for her Peaceful Women’s Rights Activism

Somayeh Rashidi

(21 January 2010) Iranian judicial and prison authorities have refused to release any information about charges against women’s rights activist Somayeh Rashidi (24), who was arrested on 19 December 2009, the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran reported today.

During the past two months, over a thousand people have been detained through the use of a blanket detention order, which is effectively a license for security and intelligence agents to arrest anyone at will. Hundreds of these detainees, similar to Somayeh Rashidi, have disappeared into Iranian prisons without any information available to their families or lawyers.

Based on two brief contacts Somayeh Rashidi has been able to make, it is known she is in solitary confinement in Evin prison. The Campaign calls upon the Iranian Judiciary to divulge the charges against Rashidi and the evidence upon which they are based, and to release her immediately pending an independent investigation of her case.

Prior to her arrest, authorities stormed her house on 14 December 2009 at 6:00 a.m., searched the premises, and confiscated several personal items belonging to her and her roommate, including computers and hand-written notes. At the time, she was served a summons to attend Branch 12 of the Revolutionary Court on 19 December 2009. Upon appearing at the court, she was interrogated and read her charges, arrested, and detained. Over the past few days, her temporary detention orders have been extended and she continues to remain in solitary confinement.

Somayeh Rashidi, who comes from a traditional and religious family, has been active in peaceful women’s rights work in NGOs and also at universities, for which she has been persecuted by authorities.

She is a member of the One Million Signatures for Equality Campaign and has been active in the Campaign’s Education Committee. Most of her activities were concentrated on domestic violence. She had started a student organization, the Iranian Women’s Language Society, around this topic and was providing training in this area. The organization’s license was later revoked.

Right to Education Denied to “Starred Students”

Rashidi lost her job at a research institute because of her social activism, and was also a “Starred Student,” barred from graduate studies despite her top academic performance. She studied Sociology in college and passed the nationwide university entrance exam with high scores in Women’s Studies and Cultural Studies last year.

Although Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad flatly denied the existence of “Starred Students” during the 2009 presidential election debates, the phenomenon has affected Iranian students since his first election in 2004. Undergraduate students who engaged in political, cultural or social activities in colleges, notwithstanding their high grades, had to be “selected” by the Ministry of Information. None of the “Starred Students” were able to attend their classes, even after they attended the selection sessions and signed written promises demanded by intelligence authorities. Rashidi had ranked fourth in Women’s Studies and twenty-ninth in Cultural Studies in entrance exams. During the months after she became a “Starred Student,” she tried all legal avenues to follow up on her case, including meeting with members of parliament. She had meetings with Ministry of Science and Technology authorities as well, but none of these meetings changed her situation.

Other “Starred Students” tried to alleviate their difficulties through establishing the Committee to Defend the Right to Education. Some of those individuals are now in prison, facing unfounded charges. Some of these charges include “relations with Islamic Republic of Iran opposition groups such as the Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO),” which have been denied by the defendants and their friends and families.

Several “Starred Students” have told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran over the past few weeks that their political activities were all within Iranian law, but those activities have resulted in their being blacklisted and denied their right to education. Officials refrain from acknowledging these charges.

“Starred Students” recently convicted include Zia Al-din Nabavi, sentenced to 15 years imprisonment and 74 lashes, and Majid Darri, sentenced to 10 years imprisonment. Other members of the Committee to Defend the Right to Education currently in detention are: Soroosh Sabet, Mahdiyeh Golroo, Shiva Nazarahari, and Peyman Aref.

Persecution of Women’s Rights Activists

Numerous women’s rights activists have been targeted for persecution and arrest in the context of the ongoing political turmoil in the Islamic Republic. At this time, women’s rights activists Mansoureh Shojaie, Mahin Fahimi, Shiva Nazarahari, Parisa Kakaie, Zohre Tonkaboni, Alieh Eghdamdoust, Bahareh Hedayat, Mahdiyeh Golroo, Shabnam Madadzadeh, and Maryam Zia are all in prison. Journalists Badrossadat Mofidi and Mahsa Hekmat, and political activists Azar Mansouri, Atefeh Nabavi, Shabnam Maddadzad, and Niloufar Hashemi Azar also remain in detention.

The nine mothers suffer from various illnesses and were taken back to Vozara Detention Center from Sajjad and Firuzgar hospitals in Tehran.

On Sunday morning, family members and supporters of the Mourning Mothers congregated in front of the Vozara Detention Center demanding information and reasons for detaining 33 mothers. The authorities however, refused to provide any information. At around noon, an ambulance entered the detention center, causing much anxiety regarding the health of the detained mothers.

Following the lack of any accountability from officials, a spontaneous protest in support of the detained mothers took place, in which the crowd chanted “Free the Mothers!” and blocked nearby traffic. Security forces attacked the crowd and violently dispersed it. Two passengers in a passing car who were taking pictures of the protest were detained and taken inside the detention center.

The Campaign is seriously concerned about the health of the detained mothers and holds the Iranian authorities fully responsible for their well-being. The Campaign strongly condemns the unlawful detention of the 33 mothers who are seeking accountability for the killings and disappearances of their children and calls for their immediate and unconditional release.

The names of the 28 of the 33 mothers currently being held in Vozara Detention Center are: Tahereh Akhshay, Zahra Afrouz, Fatemeh Farhadi, Kobra Najafpour, Zahra Atab, Sadigheh Shokri, Ziba Shekoor-Sadiqi, Mansoureh Behkish, Farideh Sahraie, Maliheh Sahraie, Touba Daralshfaie, Zari Nojavan, Fereshteh Taodoli, Masoumeh Ataar, Fatemeh Rastegar, Fatemeh Salehi, Nosrat Khaki, Soraya Jaafari, Maryam Hossein Gholizadeh, Hakimeh Shokri, Manizheh Taheri, Eshrat Khabarhassan, Mohtaram Karamad, Jila Mahdavian, Leila Seifallahi, Ansieh Bakhshay, Izedi, Tabrizi.

For more information about the Mourning Mothers and the circumstances of their arrest yesterday visit: http://www.iranhumanrights.org/2010/01/iran-30-members-of-mourning-mothers-detained/

(9 January 2010) Security forces attacked and detained 30 members of Mourning Mothers in Laleh Park and surrounding streets in Tehran today at around 4 p.m. local time, the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran reported. Mourning Mothers is a group of mothers whose children have been killed in recent events. More than a hundred police and plain clothes agents attacked today’s gathering and transferred the detainees to the Vozara Detention Center in Tehran.

“No culture permits such violence to be unleashed against mothers. How can this government, which claims to have moral and religious authority, treat mothers who have lost their children in such a way? The Iranian officials should know that the activities of Mourning Mothers will not stop until their legitimate grievances are properly addressed,” said Hadi Ghaemi, the Campaign’s spokesperson.

An eyewitness, in an exclusive interview with the Campaign, described today’s event as the following:

“I was in Laleh Park today around 4 p.m. More than a hundred police and plain clothes agents had occupied the park and its perimeter. They would not allow anyone to even sit on the benches or congregate. Every Saturday, the Mourning Mothers and their supporters gather in the Park. Today after about 70 mothers had entered the park, security forces engaged them and started chasing them, grabbing them, and forcing them into police vans. They used a lot of violence and insults in the process. One of the mothers who is 75 years old has been taken to a hospital.”

After the killing of Neda Agha Soltan and Sohrab Aarabi by government forces during the summer protests, Mourning Mothers was formed by women whose children have been killed recently and their supporters. Many civil society activists as well as mothers whose children had been executed in previous years, as well as mothers whose children have been arbitrarily detained or disappeared at the hands of the security and intelligence forces have joined the group. The group’s principle demand is for the authorities to be accountable for the deaths, disappearances, and detentions of their children.

The eyewitness told the Campaign that: “After the detentions of the Mothers, their families and other members of the group went to the Vozara Detention Center and forced the officials there to confirm and provide them the names of the detainees. The officials announced 30 names to them. Tomorrow, family members and their supporters will go back to demand their release from the judge in charge.

The Campaign called on the judicial authorities to immediately and unconditionally release all the detainees and to identify and prosecute all of the agents responsible for the attack and detention of the Mourning Mothers.

(5 January 2010) Numerous women’s rights campaigners, female journalists and relatives are being arrested and persecuted as authorities in the Islamic Republic of Iran attempt to repress masses of Iranians from advocating for their civil rights in recent weeks, the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran said today.

“It is evident that the authorities are singling out women’s rights activists and arbitrarily arresting them, as well as female journalists, in the context of recent public demonstrations,” stated Aaron Rhodes, a spokesperson for the Campaign.

Dr. Nooshin Ebadi, the sister of Nobel Peace Laureate Shirin Ebadi, was arbitrarily arrested on 28 December. Nooshin Ebadi has no record of political or human rights activism and her arrest is a blatant attempt to intimidate and silence Shirin Ebadi.

“The arrest of Shirin Ebadi’s sister is an act of hostage-taking by the state and should be strongly condemned by the international community,” Rhodes said.

Some activists have been threatened with execution, while others have disappeared, with no official record of their arrest or whereabouts provided.

Atieh Yousefi, one of the most active members of the One Million Signatures Campaignin the city of Rasht, was arrested on the Shiite Holy day of Ashura (27 December). According to information provided to the Campaign, Yousefi was arrested while trying to assist a young man who had been severely injured by plain clothed agents who had beaten him. Still in detention, a judge has denied her family permission to visit her.

On 2 January 2010, Parisa Kakaie, a member of the Committee of Human Rights Reporters, who had been summoned to the Intelligence Ministry and threatened in telephone calls, was arrested when she appeared at the Intelligence Office. On 3 January, Kakaie called her home and said that she was in ward 209 of Evin prison. Previously, Kakaie was summoned to Branch 3 of the Revolutionary Court, along with other women’s rights activists, and was questioned at the Investigation Office of the Intelligence Ministry.

Bahareh Hedayat, a women’s rights advocate and a leading student activist, was arrested on 30 December 2009, by intelligence agents who presented a written order to detain her. Her home was searched and many of her personal belongings, including her computer and books, were confiscated.

Zohre Tonkaboni, 62, a former teacher and member of Mothers for Peace, was arrested on 28 December. Mahin Fahimi, another member of Mothers for Peace, was arrested on 8 December 2009, along with her son, Omid Montazeri. Fahimi’s husband was executed in 1988 while he was a political prisoner.

On 20 December 2009, Shiva Nazarahari, a leading member of the Committee of Human Rights Reporters, was arrested on a bus en route to Qom for Grand Ayatollah Montazeri’s funeral, when the bus was stopped by Security Forces in Enqelab Square in Tehran. Nazarahari went on a dry hunger strike after she was arrested, and was transferred to the health clinic of Evin prison’s ward 209 on 1 January, where she was warned that she would be executed if she continued her hunger strike. Previously, on 14 June 2009, Nazarahari had been arrested at her office but was released after 100 days on bail of $200,000, and is waiting for her trial. Before  these detentions, she had been arrested in August 2004, in a gathering of  political prisoners’ families in front of the UN building, and was sentenced to a one-year suspended prison term.

Somayeh Rashidi, a women’s rights activist and member of the One Million Signatures Campaign, was arrested on 20 December 2009 while she appeared before the Revolutionary Court following her summons. She was questioned in court without her lawyer being allowed to accompany her; later, she was transferred to Evin prison. Her home was subsequently searched by agents who took her personal belongings and those of her roommate. Rashidi was previously denied the possibility to pursue her graduate work in women’s studies because of her activities.

Maryam Zia, a women’s rights activist who is the director of an organization devoted to children’s welfare, and is the wife of Mansour Hayat Ghaybi, a member of the Executive Board of the Bus Workers’ Union, Vahed Syndicate, was arrested on 31 December at her home. She wasn’t at home when the plainclothes came to arrest her, but her son was forced to call her and ask her to come home. She was taken to an unknown location. Previously, she had been arrested during the women’s rights gathering in Haft Tir square in 2006.

Mansoureh Shojaie, a member of One Million Signatures Campaign and the Women’s Cultural Center, has been arrested, but no information about her location or legal status has been released.

In addition to these cases, the following female journalists have also been imprisoned:

Badrossadat Mofidi, General Secretary of the Journalists Association, was arrested on 28 December 2009 at her home.

Nasrin Vaziri, a journalist and reporter for ILNA and other publications, was taken into custody by unknown persons on 28 December at 22:00. According to her family, there is no information about her whereabouts and her name is not on any detainee list. Her family, in an interview with the Committee of Human Rights Reporters, said that the Tehran prosecutor’s office had informed them that the office didn’t issue any order for her arrest, so she has effectively been “disappeared.”

Mahsa Hekmat, a reporter for the daily Etemad Meli, was arrested on 1 January 2010. She was visiting Ali Hekmat, a well- known journalist at his house in Saveh. The agents had apparently ordered the arrest of Ali Hekmat, but after they coordinated with their superiors, they arrested Mahsa as well.

Other women have also been jailed, some apparently based on their relationships to political and civil society activists. Two daughters of Mohammad Tavasoli, a member of the Freedom Movement (Nehzat e Azadi), Layla and Sara Tavasoli, were arrested in the last four days. Tavasoli’s daughters are not activists and they were reportedly arrested to force Tavasoli to announce the closure of the Freedom Movement.

Some of the other female political activists arrested include Azar Mansouri, the deputy of the Iran Participation Front, and student activists Niloufar Hashemi Azar, and Atefeh Nabavi and Shabnam Maddadzad.

The Campaign calls on the Islamic Republic authorities to immediately release all women’s rights activists and others who have been arbitrarily arrested.