(26 January 2012) Shirin Ebadi, the 2003 Nobel Peace Laureate, today called for a sustained international campaign for the release of three opposition leaders under house arrest for nearly a year.

“I support the call [of political prisoners] and invite all freedom-loving people across the globe to do all they can for the release of prisoners of conscience in Iran, particularly Ms. Zahra Rahnavard, Mr. Mir Hossein Mousavi, and Mr. Mehdi Karroubi,” Ebadi said in her statement released today.

Referring to the upcoming parliamentary elections, Ebadi said, “I invite all my compatriots to boycott these staged elections on 2 March to once more show the international community that the Islamic Republic of Iran lacks legitimacy.”

Ebadi’s statement was released on the heels of a similar call by 39 prominent political prisoners published on the opposition website Kaleme on 25 January 2012. The statement said, “We call upon all freedom fighting citizens across the globe to create public awareness regarding the upcoming sham and rigged parliamentary elections in February, and to continue to do everything in their power to ensure that the detained leaders of the Green Movement are released in the month of February.”

The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran fully supports Ebadi’s and the political prisoners’ call for the immediate release of Rahnavard, Mousavi, and Karroubi.

Authorities placed Mousavi, Karroubi, and Rahnavard under de facto house arrest in February 2011, after they called for a rally in solidarity with popular movements in Tunisia and Egypt. Authorities ignored their request for a rally permit. Nevertheless, thousands of people took peacefully to the streets on 14 February 2011, only to face violent repression by authorities.

Since that time, Mousavi, Karroubi, and Rahnavard have been largely held at their homes with little to no access to communication and only infrequent contact with their families. Iranian authorities have repeatedly said that Mousavi, Karroubi, and Rahnavard are not subject to formal judicial proceedings and no charges have ever been formally announced.

“After a year without indictment or trial, what is happening to Mousavi, Karroubi, and Rahnavard can no longer be called a house arrest without formal process. This is simply a kidnapping,” said Hadi Ghaemi, spokesperson for the Campaign.

Signatories to the 25 January 2012 call in alphabetical order:

Bahman Ahmadi Amouee; Hassan Asadi Zeidabadi; Javad Emam; Mohsen Amin Zadeh; Massoud Bastani; Emad Bahavar; Seyed Ali Reza Beheshti Shirazi; Seyed Mostafa Tajzadeh; Saeed Jalalifar; Ali Jamali; Amir Khoram; Babak Dashab; Mohammad Davari; Majid Dori; Amir Khosrow Dalirsani; Ali Reza Rajai; Hossein Zarini; Issa Saharkhiz; Davood Soleymani; Mohammad Seifzadeh; Ghassem Shole Saadi; Keyvan Samimi; Fereydoon Seyedizad; Jalil Taheri; Mohammad Farid Taheri Ghazvini;  Feizollah Arabsorkhi; Siamak Ghaderi; Abolfazl Ghadyani; Farshad Ghorbanpour; Saeed Matinpour; Mohsen Mohagheghi; Mehdi Mahmoudian; Mohammad Reza Motamadnia; Ali Malihi; Abdollah Momeni; Mohsen Mirdamadi; Behzad Nabavi; Zia Nabavi and; Abolfazl Abedini

(24 August 2011) The Iranian Central Bar Association should come to the aid of embattled lawyers subjected to harassment, unfounded criminal charges, or prison sentences for defending prisoners of conscience and advocating for human rights, the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran said today.

* Due to recently acquired information we  have added to these lists and updated our original data.

Podcast's Photo: Kouhyar Houdarzi, Imprisoned Human RIghts Activist

In this week’s Weekly Rights Podcast: the final verdict on the three imprisoned American hikers, Sarah Shourd, Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal has not been announced; National Press Club president Mark Hamrick condemns journalist Kouhyar Goudarzi’s disappearance and his mother’s arrest; Reza Khandan, husband of Nasrin Sotoudeh, talks about his and his family’s mistreatment when visiting his wife in prison; imprisoned journalist Issa Saharkhiz is sentenced to an additional two years in prison; university professor, lawyer and former MP Ghassem Sholeh Sadi’s physical condition worsens in prison; and Shirin Ebadi has written a new book, The Golden Cage, about three brothers in pre-revolutionary Iran.

Shirin Ebadi

In an interview with the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, lawyer, head of the Defenders of Human Rights Center, and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Shirin Ebadi harshly criticized the limitations imposed on Iranian political prisoners. She emphasized the lack of allowing prisoners furlough or in-person visits with their families, and stated that according to Iranian law, the Prosecutor, Head Warden, or any other judicial official is not authorized to arbitrarily deprive a prisoner of his or her legal rights. “Those who are in prison because of their conscience or beliefs lack even those rights extended to smugglers,” said Ebadi.

Ebadi cited several instances where political prisoners, such as journalists Bahman Ahmadi Amouee and Issa Saharkhiz, have been deprived of furlough and in-person visits with their families.

“Several political prisoners are ill and need treatment and medical care, but because they are not willing to succumb to the demands of their intelligence interrogators or to provide confessions against themselves and appear on television to announce their belief in the Islamic Republic, they are deprived of their rights,” said Ebadi.

“Unfortunately, the number of people who have fallen victim to the blind wrath of intelligence interrogators and have been treated unkindly by the Prosecutor is not small. In fact, it must be said that the rights of a prisoner is a toy in the hands of security forces and nobody inside the Judiciary cares. This is why not too long ago, the families of several political prisoners boycotted the Prosecutor and the Judiciary and said they no longer hold any hopes about the judicial system and have no more requests from it. I believe painful as this is, Iranian political prisoners and the nation must know that in Mr. Larijani’s justice shop, there is no trace of justice. Don’t look for justice there and don’t expect anything of them. In order to grant a prisoner his legal rights, they try to crush his character.”

“The Prosecutor, or Chief Warden, or any other judicial authority, cannot deprive a prisoner from his legal rights based on the authority’s personal taste and preference,” said Ebadi. “Having in-person visits under conditions stipulated in the law is a prisoner’s right. But we can see that this right is denied to some like Mr. Bahman Ahmadi Amouee. The reason for this may be that he has [committed] compounded crimes! Not only is he an honest journalist, his wife is also a truthful journalist and this is not something a regime whose Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance believes ‘Not knowing is people’s right,’ would appreciate!”

Last Saturday, 12 political prisoners signed a statement and began a hunger strike to protest the death of Haleh Sahabi and Hoda Saber, and also what they referred to as “the memory of those killed in the Green Movement.” Saber, who was on a hunger strike to protest the death of Sahabi last week, was beaten despite his heart condition and died due to lack of medical attention.

“According to law, prison authorities are responsible for the life and health of each prisoner. Unfortunately, this responsibility was not carried out in the case of Hoda Saber. According to the testimony of several of his cellmates who witnessed the event, while sick, Hoda went to the prison infirmary. Instead of being treated though, he was beaten despite having a heart condition, to the point where he got angry. The prison staff returned him from the infirmary to his cell without any treatment, while he was shouting ‘I will file a complaint against you.’ After a short while, his condition deteriorated to the point where he lost his balance and fell down. He was moved to the hospital on a stretcher with some delay, but it was too late,” Ebadi told the Campaign.

The prisoners on hunger strike are the following individuals currently inside the political prisoners Ward 350 of Evin Prison: Ghorban Behzadian Nejad (advisor for Mir Hossein Mousavi); Bahman Ahmadi Amouee (journalist); Hassan Asadi Zeidabadi (of Daftar Tahkim-e Vahdat Alumni Association’s Central Council); Abdollah Momeni (of Daftar Tahkim-e Vahdat Alumni Association’s Central Council); Emad Behavar (head of the Freedom Movement’s Youth Branch); Amir Khosrow Dalirsani (nationalist-religious activist); Abolfazl Ghadyani (of the Islamic Revolution Organization’s Mojahedin); Feyzollah Arab Sorkhi (of the Islamic Revolution Organization’s Mojahedin); Mohammad Javad Mozaffar (publisher and Deputy Chairman of the Committee for Defense of Political Prisoners in Iran); Mohammad Reza Moghisseh (journalist and member of the Mousavi/Karroubi post-election fact-finding committee); Mohammad Davari (Chief Editor of Saham News); and Mehdi Eghbal.

“The sum of elements indicate that the Iranian government does not wish to be accountable, and I must point out that, unfortunately, several other political prisoners have also died in the past. I remind you of the deaths of Mr. Manouchehr Mohammadi and Mr. Omid Reza Mirsayafi, a blogger who had only asked Mr. Khamenei whether with all the privileges he extended to the Palestinian and Lebanese youth, he could not extend the same privileges to him [as a young Iranian] who was unemployed for a while and faced financial problems. This is why he was imprisoned and some time, died in prison. Put more accurately, he died as a result of the authorities’ negligence. Let us also remember the story of a young physician, Zahra Baniyaghoub, who was arrested by the Morality Police in a park in Hamadan. It was announced two days later that she hanged herself inside the prison. I was her lawyer and the issue of suicide was not valid in her case at all. This was staged in order to cover up her murder,” said Ebadi.

“All these elements indicate that over the years, the regime has attempted to end the lives of political prisoners. I mean when a political prisoner is not willing to surrender, interview and deliver fake confessions, they try in different ways to break them and one of these ways is through physical abuse, which in some cases has led to death, as it happened in the case of Hoda Saber. “What happens in Iran is in fact systematic and not mere negligence. It is not just carried out by a few low-level prison guards, because if these were the acts of low-level guards, then at least after the first and second cases, the Islamic Republic would have ordered an investigation and punished the offenders. But we have seen that no one has been convicted. I will remind you here of the individuals who were murdered at the hands of regime executioners at Kahrizak. These indicate a systematic and organized effort to destroy political prisoners,” Ebadi concluded.

Shirin Ebadi, the 2003 Nobel Peace Laureate and Director of the Defenders of Human Rights Center, has called on Iranians to hold public rallies on the occasion of International Women’s Day, 8 March, demanding reform of constitutional laws to achieve gender equality. She described her call as the beginning of a civil rights movement and not a political demand.

In her statement, issued on 2 March 2011, she said: “March 8^th 2011 (the International Women’s Day) is a special day. On this day, besides the equal rights of women, the democratic aspirations of the Iranian people will also be demanded. We, as women though, should be vigilant, ensuring that in the midst of political upheaval and political developments, we do not forget about our long time demand for ‘equal rights.’ On this day, shoulder to shoulder with our brothers, we will come to the streets to support the popular and broad democratic demands, because achieving ‘equal rights’ is possible only if voiced in a democratic system. But, we must not allow anyone to disregard our demands under the auspices of preventing crisis or avoiding divisiveness.”

She further noted that, “Thirty-two years ago on March 8, International Women’s Day, a statement broadcast on national television, stripped women employed by the government of one of their most basic rights–the freedom to choose their own dress. Since then and incrementally the identity and the character of the Iranian woman has become the target of attacks by men who didn’t even respect the rights of their mothers. Those who viewed themselves more worthy than even their mothers, shamelessly wrote laws which valued women as half that of men. Laws that proclaimed that ‘the Dieh or the blood money of women was valued at half that of men.’ Ungrateful politicians had forgotten women’s struggle in ensuring the victory of the Revolution and through their laws they stated that ‘the testimony of two women was to be equal to the testimony of one man in court.’”

Calling on Iranian women, she said, “Dear Sisters, for years women’s demands for justice have been silenced under a variety of pretexts–on occasion with the excuse of misuse by those opposing the Revolution, other times blaming the war with Iraq, or for the preservation of national security or with the excuse of waging war against world arrogance. More painful still was the fact that not only the political elite, but many intellectuals contributed to the effort which sought to forget women. Over the past thirty-two years some fought to gain power and some fought to prove their ideology. As such, women’s demands for justice were not acknowledged in a worthy manner.”

“Those brave women who spoke of equal rights and called for equality, were met with batons and had lashings inflicted upon them by the defenders of the Regime. Some found themselves imprisoned and some were even executed. Eventually though, when someday we celebrate the liberty of humans and not just that of men, the history that our children will write will indeed be different…Iranian women are not starved for political power nor are they demanding decadence. They are simply weary of enduring more cruelty and disparagement. They are in search of justice and equality,” Ebadi concluded.

“The reason the Interior Ministry is informed [about planned demonstrations] is that the Ministry and police, which operates under the oversight of the Interior Ministry, can perform their legal duties in protecting the demonstrators, but when the Interior Ministry announces that demonstration permits are not issued and the demonstrations are illegal, in fact the Ministry itself is acting completely against the law,” she added.

“This policy of double standards is definitely against the law. The government is obligated to safeguard the security of demonstrators and if something should happen to them, the regime is responsible. Unfortunately, during the 14 February demonstrations, two people were killed. It is interesting that government-affiliated media, such as Fars News Agency, announced a few hours after one of them, Sane Jaleh, was shot dead, that ‘the cruel hypocrites,’ meaning the Mujahedin Khalgh Organization, carried out this act of terror. Now the people’s question is, since you didn’t arrest anyone, and didn’t investigate the murderer, and could not establish the murderer’s ties to any organization, how did you figure out that the murderer was a member of the MEK? In order to make their lies appear as the truth, the government publishes a fabricated Basij membership card for him. The student’s classmates distributed his photographs with Ayatollah Montazeri, and announced that he had participated in all the anti-government demonstrations. His brother told the media tearfully that his brother had never been a member of the Basij and that he opposed the government and the government had killed him…A little later, an individual close to the government, who most unfortunately is the chief editor of a newspaper, too, announced brazenly on television that Sane Jaleh was an informant for his newspaper and had gone to Ayatollah Montazeri’s office on behalf of the newspaper, so that he could leak the news,” Ebadi told the Campaign.

“The government is not acting according to its duties. More importantly, we must remember that they did not allow Jaleh’s classmates to participate in his funeral ceremony and locked them up inside the university, while anonymous strangers became the pallbearers in his funeral.  All of this indicates one thing–the 14 February murders were carried out by government forces. Now their futile attempts at desperately deflecting attention is to reduce their responsibility, but the truth shines like the sun,” Ebadi added.

“Unlike others, when I saw the play performed by members of parliament who were chanting ‘Mousavi, Karroubi, and Khatami must be executed,’ I was not surprised. For many years now, members of parliament have not been elected by the people; they are selected by the regime, as people are not allowed to vote for whomever they want. Remember, during all previous elections, the Guardian Council quickly disqualified anyone who had the smallest criticism to the government. Therefore, members of parliament are not elected by the people, but have been selected by the regime. It is only natural that those representing the regime would demand the execution of regime critics,” added the head of the Defenders of Human Rights Center.

Ebadi told the Campaign that the Iranian Judiciary has been losing its independence on a daily basis. “The Judiciary’s very last vestiges of independence and reputation have been lost with the arrival of Mr. Larijani. Today, the judges, especially those judges responsible for reviewing security crimes, have become tools in the hands of security interrogators. We have witnessed many times that security forces tell people during their interrogations that if they don’t cooperate and confess against themselves, they would be sentenced to, say, 10 years in prison, and [later] in court, the exact same sentence has been issued. An example of this is Ms. [Nasrin] Sotoudeh, who was told by her interrogators that if she didn’t cooperate, she would be kept in prison for more than 10 years, and the court sentenced her to 11 years. Or, in the case of Dr. [Ebrahim] Yazdi, who was told by his interrogators that he would not be allowed to leave the prison alive, and that if not in prison, he would be kept in a safe house until he dies. This happened, and he has been sent to a safe house on orders from the Judiciary. There are many examples of this and it shows that the Judiciary has lost its independence for a long time now,” Ebadi said.

“Normally, when a death sentence is issued, it usually takes two to three years before the sentence is carried out. No [death sentence] case has ever gone to ‘Implementation Unit’ with such speed, leading to execution.  This could be the signal the Iranian government sent its opposition and dissidents. The Iranian government is afraid that the civil protests of the people of Tunisia, Egypt, and Jordan could spread into Iran, so they decided to use these executions to issue a warning to its critics and to say that it does not intend to compromise under any circumstances, and that the people should not have any hope that they might see a day when the Iranian rulers might step aside,” Ebadi told the Campaign.
“I was shocked to hear about Zahra Bahrami’s execution, because her charges had not yet been reviewed. According to information supplied by the Prosecutor, she had two charges, one was participating in the Ashura Day protests, and the other, concealing and trafficking drugs.  After she was arrested on Ashura Day of last year [27 December 2009], a few days later agents took her to her home and searched her house, and the officers then discovered that there were concealed drugs in the house. During a television show, Ms. Bahrami was forced to confess to crimes of ‘membership in a monarchist group,’ and ‘drug trafficking,’” head of Defenders of Human Rights Center told the Campaign.

“Her lawyer stated that Bahrami had been deceived, as the interrogators had promised her that if she admitted to her crimes, they would release her.  Anyhow, this process was not normal, because when someone is arrested, if he has illegal pharaphernalia, such as drugs in his home, naturally, the first thing the house residents would do would be to destroy and remove the crime instruments. She was arrested on the street, and she was taken to prison, and later she was taken home, and if there were drugs in her home, this offered opportunities to the house residents to destroy it,” Shirin Ebadi added.

“In addition to her Iranian citizenship, Ms. Bahrami also held Dutch citizenship. The Netherands Embassy in Iran had requested to meet her, but the request was declined. Later, the Dutch Foreign Ministry requested for their lawyers to be involved in the case.  Before receiving any reply to this request, the case got on its way, and since the sentence was carried out, the Iranian government naturally didn’t allow the Dutch lawyers to interfere, and this intensifies doubts that this was a political execution.  According to diplomatic protocols, they should have allowed the Dutch Ambassador to meet with Ms. Bahrami as a Dutch citizen.  If the lawyers appointed by the Dutch government were allowed to come and see the case, many facts would have definitely come to light, and the Iranian government was not interested in clarifying those facts,” said Shirin Ebadi about the Dutch government’s efforts.

Women’s Rights Activists to Join Sit-in

Nasrin Sotoudeh

(17 December 2010) Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and Iranian lawyer Shirin Ebadi announced a sit-in in front of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva today to demand the release of her embattled colleague in Iran, Nasrin Sotoudeh. The sit-in will start on 20 December.

Sotoudeh, 47, is a prominent human rights lawyer who has been held in solitary confinement for the past 103 days and is reportedly on hunger strike. She has been bravely outspoken in defense of her clients, particularly since the disputed June 2009 presidential election.

Ebadi was joined in her announcement by Iranian women’s rights activists recently forced into exile, including: Khadijeh Moghaddam, Mansoureh Shojaee, Parvin Ardalan, Asieh Amini, Shadi Sadr, and Mahboubeh Abbasgholizadeh.

The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran expressed its support and solidarity and called on the Iranian Judiciary to immediately release Sotoudeh. The Campaign also strongly urged the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, to immediately engage Iranian officials and demand the immediate release of Sotoudeh.

“Sotoudeh’s condition is deteriorating with each passing day and her interrogators, ignoring her well-being, continue to violate the law. Since the Judiciary has unfortunately lost its independence and become a tool of intelligence and security agents, disregard for Sotoudeh’s health led to her transfer to the hospital,” Ebadi said in an interview with the Campaign.

“We, a group of women’s rights activists who have been forced abroad following the conditions after the disputed 2009 election, decided to stage this sit-in, since there is no space for any action inside Iran,” she added.

In their announcement, the group noted that Sotoudeh has been in solitary confinement for 103 days and her health is in danger due to a hunger strike. They called for her immediate release according to Iranian law that states a defendant whose investigation has been completed cannot be held for more than seven days and should be released on bail.

Security forces detained Sotoudeh on 4 September 2010 and have held her in solitary confinement under intense interrogations. She has been charged with “propaganda against the state,” and “acting against national security.” Her trial was held on 15 and 28 November but no sentence has been issued. Authorities recently added the charge of “not observing Islamic dress code” in relation to a videotaped message Sotoudeh made in 2008.

Recently, Mohammad Javad Larijani, Iran’s official in charge of human rights, claimed that Sotoudeh’s prosecution is not “due to her being a lawyer,” but because of her interviews in defense of her clients which he labeled as “propaganda against the state.”

Responding to Larijani’s statement, Ebadi told the Campaign, “Before her arrest, intelligence agents called her husband, Reza Khandan, and told him that Sotoudeh must stop representing me or else she will regret it. Sotoudeh responded to them by saying her actions are within the legal framework and she is only doing her job as a lawyer representing me under the law and will not stop her representation.”

In addition to Ebadi, Sotoudeh has represented numerous prisoners of conscience, including women’s rights activists, journalist, and students. The Campaign believes that by targeting Sotoudeh and other human rights defenders, the Iranian Judiciary aims to make it impossible for prisoners of conscience to obtain legal counsel by intimidating lawyers from taking up their cases.

“The entire human rights community in Iran is in great danger. The international community, and the High Commissioner for Human Rights in particular, must stand up for Sotoudeh today before it is too late,” said Hadi Ghaemi, the Campaign’s spokesperson.