Author: admin-hr

Heydar Ghorbani Sentenced to 11 Years in Prison

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Labor and Guilds, Prisoners
Activist imprisoned, Ghorbani, Heydar Ghorbani, Kamyaran, Kurdistan Province

Labor activist Heydar Ghorbani was sentenced to 11 years in prison by the Second Branch of the Revolutionary Court of Shahriar County.

According to HRANA, the news agency of Human Rights Activists, quoting The Free Union of Iranian Workers, Ghorbani is from Kamyaran in Kurdistan Province.

Ghorbani is a construction worker and a member of the Free Trade Union of Iran.

According to the report, the labor activist was sentenced on charges of “membership in a group or population or a branch of a population formed within the country to disrupt the security of the country” and “propaganda against the Islamic Republic”.

 

HRANA Recap: This Week’s Protests in Iran

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Environment, Freedom of Expression, Labor and Guilds, Students
ahvaz, Ahvaz city, Ali Dabeh Hovaizeh, Azad University, Caspian Financial Institution, Imam Khomeini hospital, iran protests, Isfahan, Izeh Teacher Protest, Khuzestan, Khuzestan Steel Company, Mahshahr, Mahshahr Petrochemical, National Iranian Drilling Camp, Pardis, Persian Gulf Holding, Protest recap, Protests in Iran, Rudbar, Salman, Shiraz, Teacher protests, Teacher's protest

According to HRANA, the news agency of Human Rights Activists, a number of protests took place in different parts of the country this week. Below is a quick recap and footage from the demonstrations.

 

Saturday, May 29

 

On Saturday, May 29, A group of farmers in Ahvaz city held a rally in front of the Khuzestan governor’s building near the Salman water supply canal to protest water shortages. Teachers of Green Result-Letter rallied in front of the Ministry of Education building in Tehran. Staff of Imam Khomeini Hospital in Karaj gathered after receiving inaccurate salary payments in the hospital area. Izeh preschool teachers rallied in the city’s education building and protested uncertainty over their employment status. Persian Gulf Holding staff protested in front of the gate of the special Mahshahr site. Protestors called on their demands to be addressed.

 

Farmers in Ahvaz city and rural areas:

 

 

Teachers of Green Result-Letter:

 

 

Staff of Imam Khomeini Hospital:

 

 

Izeh preschool teachers:

 

 

Workers from the Persian Gulf Holding:

 

 

Sunday, May 30

 

On June 30, farmers from different villages of Ahvaz city held a rally for the second consecutive day in front of the Khuzestan governor’s building. Retirees of Khuzestan Steel Company held rallies in several cities including Tehran, Ahvaz, Isfahan, and Rudbar in front of their cities’ Civil Servants Pension Fund buildings. A group of teachers and staff of non-profit schools from different cities gathered in front of the Islamic Consultative Assembly building in Tehran, in front of the Education Department in Isfahan. Several professors at Azad University in Ahvaz, Shiraz, and Isfahan rallied in front of the campus buildings of their towns. Several fired workers of Mahshahr Petroleum Products Distribution Company gathered in front of the entrance of the oil depot of this city. Bankrupted investors in Caspian Financial Institution rallied in front of the Judiciary building in Tehran. Villagers of Bloband from the Kharqan section of Zarandieh city in Markazi Province held rallies as well.

 

Farmers from different villages of Ahvaz:

 

 

Retirees of Khuzestan Steel Company:

 

 

Tehran

 

 

Khuzestan province

 

 

Teachers and staff of non-profit schools in Tehran and Isfahan:

 

 

Azad University Protesters:

 

Ahvaz

 

Shiraz

 

 

Isfahan

 

 

 

Fired workers of Mahshahr Petroleum Products Distribution:

 

 

Bankrupted investors in Caspian Financial Institution:

 

 

Monday, May 31

 

Several employees of the Persian Gulf Holding Oil protested in front of Mahshahr Petrochemical Site 4. A group of teachers rallied in front of the Islamic Consultative Assembly building in Tehran. Service staff of the National Iranian Drilling Camp protested in Ahvaz. Staff of Imam Hospital Khomeini protested in Karaj. A group of temporarily employed staff of Mahshahr Petrochemical Special Zone and Bandar Imam held rallies.

 

Employees of the Persian Gulf Holding Oil:

 

 

Temporary employees of Mahshahr Petrochemical:

 

Service staff of the National Iranian Drilling Camp in Ahvaz:

 

Staff at Imam Khomeini Hospital in Karaj:

 

 

Tuesday, June 1

 

A group of Haft Tappeh Sugar Cane workers protested in front of the management office complex. A group of landowners in the new city of Pardis gathered in front of the Judiciary building, several of whom lost money to the Mehr View Housing project in Tabriz, at the project’s site.  Masjed-e-Soleiman ranchers who lost their livestock to sewage water pollution of Masjed Soleiman Petrochemical protested the devastating oversight.  A group of bus drivers in the bus terminal of Shiraz held protest rallies and called on their demands to be addressed.

 

Landowners in the new city of Pardis:

 

 

Masjed-e-Soleiman ranchers:

 

 

Mehr View Housing project:

 

 

Bus drivers in Shiraz:

 

 

Wednesday, June 2

 

Workers of Haft Tappeh Sugar Cane gathered in front of the complex’s management building for the second day in a row and protested. A group of Ahwaz Water and Wastewater personnel rallied in front of the company’s building.

 

Workers of Haft Tappeh Sugar Cane (Day 2) :

 

 

Thursday, June 3

 

Workers of Haft Tappeh Sugarcane Cane, who say they have not yet received their salaries for the past two months, rallied for the third day in a row in the company’s yard. Police responded violently to the demonstration. In Tehran, BRT bus drivers  rallied to call on their demands to be addressed.

 

Workers of Haft Tappeh Sugar Cane (Day 3):

 

 

 

 Political Prisoner Soheil Arabi Faced with New Charges

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Freedom of Expression, Prisoners
Arabi, Evin Prison, Greater Tehran Penitentiary, Greater Tehran Prison, Karaj, prisoner of conscience, Rajai Shahr Prison, Shahr-e-Shahri, Soheil Arabi, Tehran

On May 31, Soheil Arabi, a prisoner of conscience in Rajai Shahr Prison in Karaj, was taken to a virtual arraignment hearing on new charges.

According to HRANA, the news agency of Human Rights Activists, Branch 3 of the Evin Prosecutor’s Office held the hearing and charged Arabi with “propaganda activities against the regime and disturbing the public opinion”.

Mr. Arabi was accused of creating reports on the poor condition of the Greater Tehran Penitentiary, criticizing the conduct of prison authorities, especially the prison’s assistant prosecutor, going on a hunger strike to support political prisoners deprived of  medical treatment, and writing statements in support of the nationwide protests of November 2019.

Arabi was punitively transferred from the Greater Tehran Prison to Rajai Shahr Prison in Karaj last September. He was then summoned and acquitted by Branch 8 of the Shahr-e-Shahri Prosecutor’s Office for another lawsuit in December.

Soheil Arabi has been imprisoned since November 2013 and has been deprived of leaves of absence throughout his entire imprisonment.

Mohammad Turkmani Punitively Transferred to the Ward of Prisoners Accused of Violent Crimes in Greater Tehran Prison

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Prisoners
Greater Tehran Penitentiary, Greater Tehran Prison, Hossein Hashemi, Mohammad Turkmani, Turkmani

On June 1, political prisoner Mohammad Turkmani was punitively transferred to section 4 of the Greater Tehran Prison. Turkmani is currently being held alongside prisoners accused of violent crimes.

According to HRANA, the news agency of Human Rights Activists, the transfer was made in violation of the principle of separation of prisoners based on crime.

Turkmani has been serving a five-year sentence in the Greater Tehran Prison since February of this year.

In 2019, the political prisoner was sentenced by Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court of Tehran, presided over by Judge Salavati, to seven years and six months in prison on charges of insulting the founder of the Islamic Republic, insulting the leadership, propaganda against the regime, and blasphemy.

The applicable sentence was reduced to five years in prison by the court of appeals.

The principle of separating prisoners accused of violent crimes is not without precedent; Hossein Hashemi, another political prisoner who was punitively transferred to section 4, was violently beaten by cellmates on June 2.

Detained Citizen Dies in Buchan Prison After Prison Officials Refuse to Send Him to Hospital

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Prisoners
Karimi, Lack of medical care in prison, medical negligence, Nasser Karimi, prison conditions in iran

Nasser Karimi, a citizen detained in Buchan city, died due to medical negligence on June 1 after being transferred to the city prison.

According to HRANA, the news agency of Human Rights Activists, quoting Kurdpa, Nasser Karimi was the son of Qader and a resident of Nowbar village in Buchan County of West Azerbaijan Province.

He was arrested on May 1 by the police of Criminal Investigation on financial charges.

The report quoted an informed source saying that “Mr. Karimi was in critical condition after being transferred to Buchan Prison, but prison officials refused to send him to a health center or hospital outside the prison.”

The source added, “Buchanan prison officials said the cause of death was cardiac arrest and that the body was transferred to Urmia forensic medicine for autopsy.”

Karimi’s body has not been delivered to his family yet.

 

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Death Sentence Issued in Ilam

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Executions, Prisoners
Darreh Shahr, Delavar al-Qasi-mehr, Ilam, Ilam province

According to HRANA, the news agency of Human Rights Activists, quoting Rokna News, Ilam province police commander Delavar al-Qasi-mehr announced the issuance of a sentence for a defendant in Darreh Shahr in Ilam Province.

The commander said that this man, who is accused of killing several of his relatives, a conscripted soldier, and a law enforcement officer in 2020, was sentenced to death three times over by the First Branch of the Criminal Court of Ilam Province.

Arjang Davoodi Transferred to Rajai Shahr Prison in Karaj in Eighteenth Year of Imprisonment

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Freedom of Expression, Prisoners
Arjang Davoodi, Davoodi, Greater Tehran Penitentiary, Greater Tehran Prison, Karaj, Rajai Shahr Prison, Rajai Shahr prison in Karaj, Sistan and Baluchestan, Zabol, Zahedan Prison

Last week, 69-year-old political prisoner Arjang Davoodi was transferred from Zahedan Prison in Sistan and Baluchestan Province to the Greater Tehran Penitentiary and then to Rajai Shahr Prison in Karaj.

According to HRANA, the news agency of Human Rights Activists, in 2016  Mr. Davoodi was transferred to Zabol and then Zahedan Prisons in Sistan and Baluchestan Province to serve his sentence in exile.

Davoodi is currently serving his 18th year in prison.

HRANA Recap: Recent Hunger Strikes in Iranian Prisons

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Freedom of Expression, Prisoners
Abolfazl Ghasali, Evin Prison, Farzad Samani, Greater Tehran Prison, Hossein Hashemi, Hunger Strike, Iraj Hatami, irgc, Khalid Pirzadeh, prison hunger strike, Rajai Shahr Prison, Tehran, tehran prison, Urmia prison

Khalid Pirzadeh on a hunger strike in the Greater Tehran Prison

 

On May 31, political prisoner Khaled Pirzadeh went on a hunger strike for the second time this year in the Greater Tehran Prison.

According to HRANA, the news agency of Human Rights Activists, Pirzadeh has been denied visitations and leave in the 25 months since his imprisonment.

Earlier this year, Pirzadeh went on a hunger strike following the failure of authorities to fulfill their promise to agree to parole. Pirzadeh ended his hunger strike in March after authorities promised that his demands would be met.

In May of 2019, the political prisoner was sentenced by Branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court of Tehran, headed by Judge Mohammad Moghiseh, to 5 years in prison, and an additional 2 years for “insulting the leadership”.  According to Article 134 of the Islamic Penal Code, of the 7 total years, 5 can be enforced on Pirzadeh on the charge of “conspiracy and collusion”.

Khaled Pirzadeh underwent foot surgery in August 2020. His legs and spine were severely damaged during detention and required further surgery and physiotherapy. He was also barred from being hospitalized in December 2020 despite having a heart problem.

 

 

Iraj Hatami on a hunger strike in protest of continued imprisonment in Rajai Shahr Prison 

 

On May 30, Iraj Hatami, currently being held in Rajai Shahr Prison in Karaj, went on a hunger strike to protest his continued imprisonment and the fact that previous time served in detention has not been counted towards his 10 year sentence.

According to HRANA, the news agency of Human Rights Activists,  Hatami was arrested by security forces in October 2010 and sentenced to 10 years in prison on charges of “collaborating with a hostile US government”.

Before his arrest, Hatami worked for the Ministry of Defense and spent two years and three months in military detention. Had this time been counted by prison officials, Hatami’s 10 year sentence would have ended last year. Mr. Hatami suffers from diabetes and high blood pressure.

 

 

Farzad Samani on a hunger strike in the IRGC Intelligence Detention Center in Urmia

 

Farzad Samani, a student detained in one of the IRGC intelligence detention centers in Urmia, went on a hunger strike on May 30.

According to HRANA, the news agency of Human Rights Activists, quoting Kurdpa, Samani has been on a hunger strike to protest pressure from the IRGC’s intelligence services and the extension of his and Sakar Eini’s imprisonment for the sixth consecutive time.

The undergraduate student was arrested in his dormitory at Kharazmi University in Karaj in December 2020, and was later transferred to the IRGC Intelligence Detention Center in Urmia.

So far, no information is available on the charges against Samani and Eini.

 

 

Hossein Hashemi on a hunger strike in Tehran Prison after his punitive transfer

 

On Tuesday, June 1, political prisoner Hossein Hashemi went on a hunger strike in the Greater Tehran Prison.

According to HRANA, the news agency of Human Rights Activists,  Hashemi is one of the detainees from the November 2019 nationwide protests.

Per the report, Hashemi was taken from the ward under the pretext of going to interrogation, but was then transferred to the 4th section of the Greater Tehran Prison, which holds prisoners accused of violent crimes.

It is said that Mr. Hashemi’s transfer took place following a verbal argument with Eliassi, the supervising prosecutor of the Evin court. Eliassi had previously threatened to move Hussein Hashemi to a place where he would regret his actions.

 

 

Abolfazl Ghasali went on a hunger strike in Evin prison in Tehran

Tehran resident Abolfazl Ghasali, currently serving out a sentence in Evin Prison, has been on a hunger strike since May 27.

According to HRANA, the news agency of Human Rights Activists, Ghasali demands to be granted leave of absence during the COVID-19 outbreak, release on parole due to family’s financial problems, and a retrial.

Ghasali has had several nosebleeds since the day he started the hunger strike. The prisoner is also said to have suffered heart and lung problems during his detention due to poor nutrition and poor prison conditions. He also went on a hunger strike in December last year to protest the failure to address his needs.

In 2018, Branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court of Tehran, presided by Judge Mohammad Moghiseh, sentenced Ghasali to a total of 7 years in prison on charges of “Gathering and colluding and disturbing public order with the intention of committing a crime against national security”, and “insulting the Supreme Leader”.

3 years and 6 months of imprisonment are enforceable under Article 134 of the Islamic Penal Code.

 

Baha’i Citizens Vahid Dana and Saeed Abedi Released on Bail

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Prisoners, Religious Minorities
Baha'i arrests in Iran, Baha'i persecution, Bahai, Saeed Abedi, Vahid Dana

On June 1, Baha’i Citizens Vahid Dana and Saeed Abedi were released from Adelabad Prison.

According to HRANA, the news agency of Human Rights Activists, Baha’i citizens Vahid Dana and Saeed Abedi have been temporarily released on bail from Adelabad Prison in Shiraz.

Per the report, the two citizens were arrested by IRGC intelligence agents on April 28 and had been in detention up until yesterday’s release.

HRANA Recap: Recent Sentences and Summons in Iran

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Freedom of Expression, Other, Prisoners, Religious Minorities
Abdul Samad Ijbari, Afsaneh Yadegar Ardestani, Baha'i citizens, baha'i citizens arrested, Ehsanullah Yadegar Ardestani, Elham Karampisheh, Khabat Mafakheri, Khuzestan province, Maziar Seyednejad, Mona Mehrabi

Khabat Mafakheri sentenced to 4 years in prison by the Revolutionary Court of Sanandaj

 

Khabat Mafakheri, a citizen of Sanandaj in Kurdistan Province, was recently sentenced to 4 years suspended imprisonment by the Revolutionary Court of Sanandaj.

According to HRANA, the news agency of Human Rights Activists (HRA), quoting Kurdpa, Mafakheri was arrested in early August 2020 and released on bail in mid-December of that year. According to the report, Mafakheri was notified of the verdict in the past few days and was charged with collaborating with one of the opposition parties.

 

 

Four Baha’is sentenced to a total of 12 years in prison

 

Branch 36 of the Tehran Court of Appeals upheld the convictions of Baha’i citizens Mona Mehrabi, Elham Karampisheh, Afsaneh Yadegar Ardestani, and Ehsanullah Yadegar Ardestani. The four citizens were previously sentenced by Branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court of Tehran to 3 years in prison each.

 

 

 

Court of Appeals upholds 3 year sentence for Maziar Seyednejad

 

According to HRANA, the news agency of Human Rights Activists, Branch 16 of the Court of Appeals of Khuzestan Province upheld the conviction of a labor activist Maziar Seyednejad. Seyednejad had previously been sentenced to three years in prison on charges related to his membership in an opposition group.

 

 

 

Citizen sentenced to 99 lashes and exile for extramarital affair

 

According to HRANA, the news agency of Human Rights Activists, quoting Aftab News, the case of a citizen who was sentenced to 99 lashes and two years of exile in an area with a brutal climate for having an extramarital affair has been referred to a court of equal rank in Tehran.

The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights explicitly prohibits the use of degrading and inhumane punishment such as flogging.

 

Sunni cleric summoned and interrogated by Zabul City intelligence forces

 

According to HRANA, the news agency of Human Rights Activists, quoting the Baloch Activists Campaign, on May 29, Sunni cleric Abdul Samad Ijbari, the director of the Quran Education School in Hassanabad village of Zabul province, was summoned to the Zabul city intelligence office in Sistan and Baluchestan province and was interrogated.

The report states that the Sunni cleric was summoned following the presence of Mohammad Othman Qalandarzahi at the Hassanabad Mosque. The reason for the summons and the accusations against Ijbari are not yet known.