Author: admin-hr

Activist issued prison sentence for visiting families of dead protestors

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Freedom of Expression
Human Rights, Iran, iran human rights, iran protests, vahid bashiri

Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) – Vahid Bashiri, a civil rights activist and resident of the city of Hamadan in Iran’s west, was sentenced to one year of suspended imprisonment on a charge of “propaganda against the regime” for meeting with the families of protestors killed during widespread rallies in January in Iran.

Bashiri was summoned to the Revolutionary Court of Tuyserkan in July 2018 and sentenced on August 26th, 2018. In accordance with Iranian law, since 20 days have passed since the sentence has been issued without Bashiri filing for an appeal, the sentence has now been finalized. Tuyserkan is a city in Hamedan Province.

An informed source told HRANA that Bashiri’s charge stems from his visits with the families of those who participated in protests that took place across Iran in January 2018.

“The accusation attributed to Bashiri is “propaganda against the regime” through visiting and expressing compassion for those killed in the January protests in Tuyserkan,” the source said.

On July 27, HRANA reported that Bashiri had been summoned to the Revolutionary court of Tuyserkan to answer for the charge.

Earlier, a source close to Bashiri confirmed the report of his summons and told HRANA that “this charge was due to him visiting with the families of those killed during the January protest in Tuyserkan. This is due to the fact that the Tuyserkani civil activist had simply met with the families of the dead to express his sympathies and offer condolences.”

A large number of individuals were detained and interrogated during the January protests across the country. The protests, and the subsequent violent response by Iranian security forces, saw the deaths of 25 people and the arrests of over 5,000 people. The Islamic Republic of Iran’s broadcasting service reported that six individuals died as a result of the January protests in Tuyserkan.

Expulsion of Baha’i University Student Nikan Shaydan

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Religious Minorities, Students
baha'i students in iran, Human Rights, Iran, iran human rights, nikan shaydan, religious minorities in iran

Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) – Just shy of obtaining his associate’s degree in industrial mold making, Baha’i student Nikan Shaydan Shidi has been expelled from Tehran Technical University for refusing to denounce his faith.

An informed source told HRANA that Shidi was unceremoniously summoned at the end of his third term and asked, given his professed religion, “why he had registered at the university at all.”

“He was told that the university was no place for Baha’is and that the three terms he had spent there was three terms too many. They told him to change his professed religion at the registrar’s office if he wanted to carry on with his studies.”

According to the source, when Shaydan Shidi refused to do so, the security office summoned his father, but the two were unable to gain ground in negotiations with university officials. “No matter how hard [they] tried–writing letters to the education office of the university and visiting the dean–the university wouldn’t give him the necessary credentials to take his final exams. In the end, he was expelled.”

While Iranian Baha’is are routinely banned from pursuing higher education, some manage to surpass initial barriers to enrollment, only to be thwarted before culminating their degree. On September 15th, HRANA reported on the expulsion of Baha’i architectural design student Shaqayeq Zabihi Amrii from Rassam Private University of Karaj.

Baha’i students are often prevented from enrolling in college altogether during the processing of their results on the nationally-competitive college entrance exam known as “Concours.” Over the past few weeks, more than 51 Baha’i students were stopped short of applying to universities, purportedly due to “deficiencies” in their admissions files. In its close coverage of these most recent cases, HRANA published specimens of the documentation used to block these Baha’i student files from further processing.

In direct violation of the law, Baha’is are prevented from pursuing degrees or employment in government offices, per under-the-table directives from the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution. Every year, a new cohort of Baha’is is barred in this way from the university enrollment process.

Since the 1979 revolution, the office of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Iran has repeatedly protested the Iranian government’s animosity towards its Baha’i population, particular in preventing these citizens from furthering their studies. According to the Rapporteur, such directives demonstrate a blatant disregard of multiple international treaties.

Iranian Baha’i citizens are systematically deprived of religious freedoms, while according to Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, everyone is entitled to freedom of religion and belief, and the right to adopt and manifest the religion of their choice, be it individually, in groups, in public, or in private.

Based on unofficial sources, more than 300,000 Baha’is live in Iran. However, Iran’s Constitution only recognizes Islam, Christianity, Judaism, and Zoroastrianism, and does not acknowledge the Baha’i faith as an official religion. Consequently, the rights of Baha’is are systematically violated in Iran.

Mohammad Habibi’s Case Enters Appellate Stage: a Review of the Stakes

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Freedom of Expression, Labor and Guilds, Prisoners
great tehran penitentiary, Human Rights, Iran, iran human rights, mohammad habibi, prisoner of conscience, teacher union

Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA)- The case of imprisoned teacher Mohammad Habibi—which recently inspired more than 1400 civil and union activists to write to Iran’s Supreme leader demanding that he receive medical treatment—will be reviewed in Branch 36 of the Tehran Appeals Court, presided by Judge Seyed Ahmad Zargar. Habibi’s attorney Hossein Taj told a correspondent from the state-run news agency IRNA on Monday, September 17th that a date for the hearing has yet to be set.

If all goes according to Taj’s hopes, Branch 36 will at best exonerate him, and at worst put him behind bars for seven and a half years. The precarity lies with Article 134 of the Islamic Penal Code, which in theory protects defendants from serving the sum of multiple sentences, but is not applied consistently in practice.

Cumulatively, Habibi’s charges would carry a sentence of ten years: seven and a half years for “National-Security Related Crimes”, 18 months for “Propaganda Against the Regime”, and another 18 months for “Disrupting Public Order.” In addition to prison terms, he was dealt a two-year ban from political and civic activities, a two-year travel ban, and 74 lashings.

Under Article 134, Habibi’s sentence, if upheld, would put him behind bars for a maximum of seven and a half years, i.e. the heaviest one of his three sentences. But Taj, his attorney, remains on guard: the Article 134 rights of imprisoned teacher Esmaeil Abdi, who is also on Taj’s client list, have not been honored: “…Abdi was sentenced to six years’ imprisonment, which by Article 134 should have been five,” Taj explained.

Taj elaborated that Abdi has also been denied both medical care and conditional release from prison, a privilege for which he became eligible after serving half of his sentence. “We have re-submitted my client’s conditional release request, and it is under review,” the lawyer said.

A former teacher of mathematics and Teachers’ Union General Secretary, Abdi has been in prison since November 2016 on charges of “Propaganda Against the Regime” and “Collusion Against National Security.” Habibi, a union activist and member of the Teachers’ Union Association Board of Directors in Tehran province, was arrested amid May 2018 rallies that were staged in observance of a national teachers’ holiday.

Habibi’s case–particularly his own compromised medical condition–recently drew the support of teacher organizations abroad. In a letter addressed to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the French trade unions SFDT, SGT, FSO, Solidaires, and UNSA held the Supreme Leader accountable for Habibi’s fate, and called his imprisonment a violation of both human rights and the fundamental freedoms of syndicates.

“Prison authorities continue to refuse him the medical treatment he sorely needs. Without proper care, his condition is at risk of rapid decline,” their letter reads. “We mean to impress upon you that as the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, you are responsible for the life and health of Mohammad Habibi.”

On the one occasion Habibi’s medical leave was granted, according to HRANA reports, he was released from Great Tehran Penitentiary to a hospital that dismissed him without treatment. He was then transferred to Evin Prison on Monday, September 3, 2018, and has remained there since.

According to a letter from his HR office, Mohammad Habibi is no longer receiving his salary.

Appeals Court Fines Poet and Filmmaker in Connection with 2016 Instagram Post

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Cultural, Freedom of Expression
Bektash Abtin, freedom of expression, Freedom of Speech, iran human rights, iranian filmmaker, iranian poet

Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) – Bektash Abtin, a poet, filmmaker, and former board member of the Iranian Writers Guild, was fined $1,200 USD (5 million IRR) on a charge of “propaganda against the regime” for a photo he posted on Instagram in 2016.

The above order is an appeal of his June sentencing, in Branch 2 of the Revolutionary Court of Karaj, to three months of forced labor in the State Welfare Office in addition to the 5 million IRR fine.

When police raided a memorial service at Imamzadeh Saleh shrine in Karaj in November 2016, Abtin snapped a photo of his comrade’s injuries and published it to Instagram. The service was intended to commemorate writers Mohammad Mokhtari and Mohammad Jafar Pouyandeh, victims of serial murders in December 1998 that were suspected to be the work of Iranian government operatives.

Security forces stormed the memorial service, which quickly devolved into a violent clash. In attempts to protect 75-year-old civilian Fatemeh Sarhadizadeh from harm, Mazdak Zarafshan sustained severe injuries to his face. Abtin, Zarafshan, and a number of fellow attendees–including Mohammad Mehdipour, Naser Zarafshan, and Reza Akvaniyan–were subsequently taken into custody.

(subphoto text: image of Mazdak Zarafshan after he was beaten by the security forces. Baktash Abtin published this image on his Instagram account.)

After his release, Abtin published photographic evidence of Zarafshan’s injuries to his social media account, inciting Karaj prosecutors to accuse him of “propaganda against the regime” and open up a case file against him.

This is not the first entry on Abtin’s rap sheet. Pursuant to a lawsuit from fellow writer and Writer’s Guild board member Reza Khandan Mahabadi, Abtin was previously charged with “propaganda against the regime” and “publishing an illegal journal”. At the time of Mahabadi’s accusations against him, security forces stormed both of their homes and confiscated their personal property.

In 2015, Abtin was interrogated for three consecutive days by intelligence officers, who reportedly drilled him about his films, his membership in the Iranian Writers Guild, and his participation in the 2009 post-election protests.

Bektash Abtin, born in 1974, is a poet and documentary filmmaker who in 2014 was elected along with four other colleagues to the board of the Iranian Writers Guild. He previously served as secretary of the Guild for one term and as officer of the Guild’s Managing Committee for two terms. In the 2018 Guild elections, he was elected as one of the group’s financial auditors. A number of his documentaries have been screened at international festivals, including “13 October 1937,” a documentary about Iranian musician and orchestra conductor Loris Cheknavarian; “Ansor,” a documentary about censorship; and “Homayun Khorram,” a documentary about the famed Iranian musician of that name. He has also published a number of poetry books, including “When My Foot Was Clubbed It Wrote ‘Let’s Go Back,”; “My Lashes Have Stitched My Eyes Shut”; “Sledgehammer”; “A Lonely Birth Certificate”; and “The Ancestor of my Inner Ape.”

University of Tehran Student Soha Mortezaei Sentenced to Six Years’ Imprisonment

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Freedom of Expression, Prisoners, Students
Human Rights, Iran, iran human rights, iran protests, January Protests, soha mortezaei, student

Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) – Graduate student in humanities and Secretary of Tehran University Central Student Union Soha Mortezaei– who was among those arrested amid the 2018 “January protests”– has been sentenced to six years’ imprisonment and a two-year ban on membership in political parties, groups, and gatherings by Branch 26 of the Revolutionary Court of Tehran, presided by Judge Ahmadzadeh.

Mortezaei’s name figured in HRANA’s January 6, 2018 report on citizens apprehended during the aforementioned protests, which gained countrywide momentum and were met with considerable violence form authorities. She was detained for her inquiries into the status and wellbeing of detained fellow students who had participated along with her in the demonstrations.

Mortezaei had a previous run-in with authorities, in a wave of arrests that took place in January of 2015. She was arrested along with Amirkabir and Allameh Tabatabai University student activists Zahra Khandan, Fershteh Tusi, and Parastou Biranvand. One month later, she was released.

The January Protests led to large number of arrests and interrogations across the country. While the protests began on December 29, 2017 in the city of Mashhad, the unrest quickly spread to other cities. Thousands were detained and at least 25 died in skirmishes between protesters and security forces.

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Five More Baha’i Citizens Arrested in Shiraz

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Religious Minorities
baha'i in iran, Human Rights, Iran, iran human rights, religious minorities in iran

Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) – Authorities associated with Iran’s intelligence ministry arrested five Baha’i citizens this weekend – September 15th and 16th – in the central Iranian city of Shiraz.

The first three Baha’i citizens – Elaheh Samizadeh, and married couple Navid Bazmandegan and Bahareh Ghaderi – were arrested and taken to an undisclosed location on Saturday. On Sunday morning, Baha’i citizens Ehsan Mahboob Rahvafa and Noora Pourmoradian were arrested and taken to a detention center run by the city’s intelligence department.

Bazmandegan was arrested at 6 p.m. while teaching a psychology class, a credible source told HRANA. According to the source, while Bazmandegan was being interrogated in different room, authorities filmed the students, taking their identification cards, computers, flash drives, mobile phones, and the passwords to their mobile devices. All those present were asked to sign a document they were prohibited from reading in its entirety, and told to clear the area within 10 minutes.

Bazmandegan was subsequently escorted to his home, where authorities conducted a search and seized his personal belongings. His wife Bahare was also arrested and transferred to an undisclosed location.

Last month, HRANA reported on the arrest of a number of Baha’i Shiraz residents who were taken to the same detention center.

Baha’is are Iran’s largest non-Muslim minority and are systematically persecuted by the government.

An Imprisoned Student Digs in his Heels as More than 50 Baha’i College Applicants are Denied September Enrollment

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Prisoners, Religious Minorities, Students
baha'is in iran, Bahai Students, iran human rights, Religious Minorities, Vahed Kholousi

Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) – Four more Baha’i youth anticipating results from their national university entrance exam have received notifications of “deficiency” on their application dossiers, deflating their hopes for enrollment this year. But for one of these four–Rajai Shahr prisoner and human rights activist Vahed Kholousi–this rejection has come to symbolize a tradition of resistance.

Kholousi doggedly reapplies to the entrance exam every year from prison, in continued protest of having been denied higher educational opportunity for 15 consecutive test rounds.

It was Kholousi’s peaceful reclamation of Baha’i educational rights that originally brought him into authorities’ crosshairs, resulting in a five-year prison sentence on charges of “gathering and collusion with intent to commit crimes against national security,” “membership and activity in the Baha’i community and its widespread propaganda,” and “membership and activity in the Right to Education Committee.”

The above ruling from his June 2011 trial, held in Branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court, was presided by Judge Moghiseh and later upheld in an appeals court. Pursuant to the sentence, he was summoned to Branch 3 of Evin Prison court that August, arrested there the same day, detained for 21 days in Ward 2A of Evin Prison (jurisdiction of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)), and finally exiled to Rajai Shahr Prison, where he has since remained.

Kholousi is contesting a larger anti-Baha’i discrimination policy administered by the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution, by which the e-dossiers of himself, Sahar Mohebpour from Shiraz (ranked # 7000, studying English Literature), Seyed Koosha Hashemi from Shiraz (ranked #6295), and Saba Fazli from Karaj have recently been flagged “deficiency on file,” bringing to 51 the number of Iranian Baha’is being denied college-enrollment eligibility despite successfully passing the national admissions test, according to HRANA cumulative reports.

HRANA previously revealed the identities of 47 Baha’i applicants who were met by the flag “deficiency on file” when checking their test results online:

1. Farhoud Bashi, from Tehran, 2. Sahba Imani, 3.Arman Golzar, 4. Nariman Movafaghi Eiveli from Sari, 5. Faran Talaei Khalajabadi, 6. Sina Talei Joshaghani, 7. Mahsa Sotoudeh, 8. Nima Amini, 9. Hanan Hashemi Dahaj, 10. Hasti Maleki, 11. Aria Ehsani, 12. Tina Hamidi Fard from Tehran (ranked #15000), 13. Rozhan Khooniki (ranked #9477), 14. Foroozan Noordel from Tabriz, 15.Parsa Sheikh Zavareh, 16.Hoda Hedayati, 17.Arian Baghaei Amrei from Sari, 18.Vafa Nobakht from Sari, 19.Adib Rahmani from Sari (ranked #960, studying Mathematics), 20.Parviz Rahmani, 21.Kiana Rastak, 22.Negar Iqani from Shiraz, 23.Hooman Zarei Kadavi, 24.Arsham Hashemi, 25.Nabil Bashi Ardestani, 26. Tara Bahamin, 27.Bita Charkh Zarrin, 28.Nona Ghadiri, 29.Sayeh Aghaei from Tabriz, 30.Pegah Siroosian, 31.Sadaf Misaghi Seysan of Tehran, 32. Parham Mokhtari from Saravan ranked # 397, studying mathematics; 33. Basir Zeinali Baghini from Bandar Abbas ranked # 1506; 34.Yahya Mousavi Tangrizi from Karaj, 35.Anita Rastegar, 36.Shamim Idelkhani, of Ardebil, ranked #139; 37.Farnia Iliyazadeh of Tehran, studying Mathematics; 38.Parmida Hosseinpooli Mamaqani, ranked #4500, studying Mathematics; 39.Sarvin Azarshab of Tehran, studying business,ranked #19000; 40.Parand Misaghi; 41.Shahrzad Tirgar; 42.Melina Ghavaminik, from Tehran, studying mathematics, ranked #10545, 43.Tarannum Mu’tamedi Broujerdi from Shahin Shahr of Isfahan, 44.Faran Abbaspouli Mamaghani from Tehran, 45.Sahand Ghaemifrom Shahin Shahr of Isfahan, 46.Vahid Sadeghi Seysan, 47.Shaghayegh Ghassemi

Ahvaz Resident Hassan Heydari Released on Bail

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Ethnic Minorities
ahvaz, hassan heydari, iran human rights

Human Rights Activist News Agency (HRANA) – On Monday, September 17, 2018, Hassan Heydari, a resident of Ahvaz (southwestern Iran) was released on 3 billion rials (approximately $23,000 USD) bail and awaits trial.
Heydari was arrested by Ahvaz Intelligence agents in August of this year. Local eyewitnesses attested that the agents beat him severely at the time of his arrest.
Hassan Heydari, a married, 25-year old poet originally from Koot Abdullah in Ahvaz, is an active participant in private poetry readings.

Innocent Man Dies After Police Beating

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Prisoners
Hojat Eghtesadi, Human Rights, Iran, iran human rights, prison death, prison violence, prisoner death

Human Rights Activist News Agency (HRANA) – On September 11th, Hojat Eghtesadi died after being beaten by police, who contend that his cause of death was a heart attack.

Eghtesadi, a native of the city of Malekan in East Azerbaijan Province (northwestern Iran), had been admitted to Bonab county’s Imam Khomeini hospital for self-inflicted wounds. Upon his discharge, he was experiencing the side effects of intravenous tranquilizers when he crossed paths with the guards on duty.

“On his way out of the hospital, he got into an altercation with hospital security. The police were called, and he was arrested and taken to Bonab county police station,” said a source close to Eghtesadi’s family. “I don’t know what happened there that led to the beating, but it cost him his life.”

The police asked Eghtesadi’s family to come recover his body from the police station the following day, alleging he had died of a heart attack. At the sight of his body, his family said they noted copious bruising that was distinct from his self-inflicted wounds.

Iranian detention centers require round-the-clock supervision, yet deaths of those taken into custody are common. Detainee deaths are rarely followed up by judicial investigation, third-party inquiries, or measures to hold perpetrators accountable.

Blackballed Baha’is: 40 and Counting

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Religious Minorities, Students
Bahai Students, bbaha'is in iran, Human Rights, Iran, iran human rights, Religious Minorities, right to education

Human Rights Activists News Agency (HHRANA) – HRANA has so far confirmed the names of at least 40 Baha’i Iranian citizens who have been denied the opportunity to enroll in university despite successfully placing on the competitive national admissions test.

HRANA has confirmed that the candidate files of Nima Amini, Hanan Hashemi Dehaj, Hasti Maleki, Aria Ehsani, Tina Hamidi Fard from Tehran (ranked #15000 on the national exam) and Rozhan Khooniki (ranked #9477) have all been flagged “deficiency on file” on the National Organization for Educational Testing website. HRANA previously reported the names of 34 other students singled out by the same system.

The “deficiency on file” flag is one known method of the wider anti-Baha’i discrimination politics administered by Iran’s Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution. An informed source confirmed to HRANA that the flag is a go-to excuse to prevent Baha’i students from entering institutes of higher education.