Category: Prisoners

January Protestors: 8 Months in Prison for Alireza Moeinian

Posted on by Sara
Freedom of Expression, Prisoners
Ali-Reza Moeinian, Alireza Moeinian, January Protests, january protests iran

Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) – Civil rights activist and Tabriz resident Alireza Moeinian, who was among those detained amid the January protests, has been sentenced to 8 months in prison by Judge Ahrari of Tabriz Revolutionary Court Branch 2.

Initially arrested January 1st and detained in Evin Prison’s Ward 209, Moeinian was able to go free at end of his initial interrogation sessions by providing a salary slip as a surety bond in place of cash bail, an informed source told HRANA.

Later, on April 23rd, 2018, Branch 19 of the Tabriz Prosecutors’ office summoned him to read him his charges: propaganda against the regime and participation in an illegal gathering. His bail was set at 1 billion rials (approximately $10,000 USD).

A large number of participants in recent protests referred to as the “January protests”, were detained and interrogated across the country. The protests resulted in the death of 25 individuals and the detention of around five thousand.

Of the January protests, Ministry of the Interior Rahmani Fazli said, “A number of protests took place in 100 Iranian cities; in forty of those cities, the protests turned violent.”

Tabriz is located in northwestern Iran.

Open Letter from Prisoners to UN Envoy: Death Penalty is a “Weapon of Terror”

Posted on by Sara
Executions, Prisoners
Death Penalty, death penalty in iran, iran death penalty, iran political prisoners, javaid rehman, open letter, Rajai Shahr Prison, un special rapporteur on iran

Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA)- On Wednesday, October 3, 2018, a letter was published to the attention of Javaid Rehman, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Iran. Its authors were reaching out from the walls of Rajai Shahr Prison of Karaj, on the western outskirts of Tehran, to raise the specter of rising execution numbers and public hangings that still mar the face of the country.

The full text of their letter, translated into English by HRANA, is below:

Javaid Rehman
Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran

Dear Mr. Rehman,

The death penalty is not simply a social predicament for us Iranians; it is a living nightmare. We live it and re-live it in the faces of children who witness public hangings, and in the faces of prisoners on death row. In the past few weeks alone, our fellow prisoners Mohammad Salas, Zanyar Moradi, Loghman Moradi, and Ramin Hossein Panahi were executed. Our families used to see each other during weekly visits. This time around, the visit was transformed to a day of mourning – further proof that the death penalty, a medieval legacy of human societies, is a collective punishment. With all of the shock and mental anguish that their executions put our families through, one can only imagine how the families of the victims are feeling.

[The aftereffects of] the death penalty are not the lot of political prisoners alone; every death-row prisoner feels them. The whole of society bears their cruelty.  The efforts of Special Human Rights Rapporteurs, particularly the late Asma Jilani Jahangir [Rapporteur between 2016 and 2018], who helped abolish the death penalty for drug-related offenses, are admirable. However, the widespread nature of executions calls for more drastic and concrete measures. Especially in today’s Iran, capital punishment is not simply a legal apparatus, but also a political weapon of terror used to suppress citizens expressing discontent with Iran’s economic, political, and social conditions.

We political prisoners believe that Iranian people will not be freed from this inhumane punishment without a serious international intervention. In our view, the economic and diplomatic needs of the Iranian regime are the ideal starting place for negotiations with authorities to put an end to capital punishment. We beseech you, as the Special Rapporteur, to ask the international community to make their dealings and diplomatic ties with the Iranian regime contingent on abolishing the death penalty and respecting human rights principles in Ian.

We thank you, in advance, for your efforts.

Sincerely,

1- Mohammad Amirkhizi
2- Majid Asadi
3. Payam Shakiba
4- Hassan Sadeghi
5- Arash Sadeghi
6. Abul Qassim Pulat
7- Abraham Firoozi
8- Mohammad Ali Mansouri
9- Saeed Masoori

CC: World Coalition against the Death Penalty (www.worldcoalition.org)

Activist Eghbal Ahmadpour Sentenced to Five Years in Prison

Posted on by Sara
Prisoners
iran political prisoners, Political Prisoner, political prisoners in Iran

Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA)- Urmia Revolutionary Court Branch 3 sentenced Anbi village resident Eghbal Ahmadpour to five years in prison on a charge of “acting against national security through membership in Kurdish opposition parties” on Thursday, October 4, 2018. He was denied access to a trial lawyer.

Security forces arrested Ahmadpour on September 11, 2018. According to an informed source, he was interrogated and held in solitary confinement for 12 days before being sent to Urmia Prison Ward 13, known as the youth ward.

According to registered data from 2,945 reports by the Statistics, Publications, and Achievements Division of HRAI, in the past year (from March 21, 2017, to March 18, 2018), 6883 citizens were arrested in Iran on ideological or political grounds.

Anbi village is in Urmia county.

Rajai Shahr Authorities Botch Arash Sadeghi’s Recovery from Cancer Surgery

Posted on by Sara
Prisoners
Arash Sadeghi, arash sadeghi diagnosed with cancer, Political Prisoners, Prisoner abuse

Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA)- Authorities are botching the post-op course of imprisoned civil rights activist Arash Sadeghi, who underwent surgery for bone cancer on September 12th.

While attempting to recover in Rajai Shahr prison of Karaj, Sadeghi contracted an infection on his surgical site. On September 22nd, authorities were adamant about escorting him to the hospital at noon, despite his specialist’s explicit indications that he could only give consultations in the morning.

According to a close source, authorities told Sadeghi that his specialist’s schedule had changed, which upon their arrival at the hospital proved untrue. Sadeghi’s only recourse was a general practitioner, who added 12 antibiotics to his medication regimen.

Sadeghi is currently taking only prescribed antibiotics, and will possibly be transferred to a hospital next week. En route back to Rajai Shahr from his September 22nd consultation, Security Unit Commander Maghsoud Zolfali and Prison Director Gholamreza Ziyai threatened to block his transfer.

HRANA previously reported on Sadeghi’s ongoing medical ordeal.

Barring Any New Charges, Activist Saeed Shirzad to be Released in 2020

Posted on by Sara
Prisoners
Amir Ghaziani, Ibrahim Firoozi, iran political prisoners, Prisoner abuse, Rajai Shahr Prison, Rajai Shahr Prison of Karaj, Saeed Pourheidar, Saeed Shirzad

Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) – Rajai Shahr political prisoner Saeed Shirzad will remain in prison through 2020, according to HRANA reports.

His most recent convictions stem from a prison protest that broke out last August among a group of wardmates, including Shirzad, who protested their transfer to an enhanced-security ward under the jurisdiction of Iran’s security establishment. For Shirzad and his fellow prisoners Amir Ghaziani, Saeed Pourheidar, and Ebrahim Firoozi, the protests incurred charges of “destruction of prison property,” ruled in January of 2018 in in Tehran province’s Criminal Court No. 2, Branch 116.

Rather than add prison time for the latter charge, Branch 3 of the Evin Prison Prosecutor’s Office set them a bail of 700 million IRR (approximately $7,000 USD).

In April of that same year authorities gave Shirzad more grief for the protests, issuing him an additional six-month prison term in the same court for “disturbing prison order.”

The “disturbing public order” sentence, along with the enactment of a one-year suspended sentence pursuant to a 2012 arrest, will compound Shirzad’s current five-year sentence by an additional year, slating his release for 2020.

According to HRANA reports, Shirzad’s five-year sentence was ruled on charges of “assembling and colluding against national security,” in connection to civic activities including visits to the families of political prisoners. [Though he began serving this sentence four years ago, it was not finalized until 2017].

Since his arrest in the Tabriz refinery where he worked on June 2nd, 2014, Shirzad’s prison time has been fraught with both oppression and physical pain. On July 11th, 2018, HRANA reported on prison authorities’ refusal to comply with medical orders for more specialized treatment of Shirzad’s lumbar disc disease and spastic lower back inflammation. As authorities continued to reject his requests for the recommended medical transfer — even out of Shirzad’s own pocket — his condition has deteriorated, and he now relies on a walker. HRANA also covered Shirzad’s gestures of protest against his condition and treatment in the system, including hunger strike and sewing his mouth shut.

Due to multiple postponements of his court date, he was also subject to a judicial lag of 15 months between his June 2014 arrest and September 2015 trial in Tehran Revolutionary Court Branch 15, presided by Judge Salavati. During that period he was detained without a conviction first in Evin, and then in Rajai Shahr Prison.

On April 15th, 2017 — a year and half after his already-delayed initial trial — his appeals session convened in Branch 54 of Tehran Appeals Court and ultimately ruled to uphold his 5-year prison sentence.

Shirzad’s rap sheet with authorities dates back to August 21, 2012, when he was arrested and given his one-year suspended sentence for assisting earthquake victims in Ahar, East Azerbaijan province, where he was reportedly involved in the operations of Sarand-based rescue camps. Though he was released on bail 19 days later, his more recent offenses — viewed as a kind of parole violation in the judicial system — kicked the suspended sentence into effect.

Rajai Shahr Prison, where Shirzad is currently held, is located in the northwestern Tehran suburb of Karaj.

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Court Compounds Prison Sentence of Afrin Battle Detainees

Posted on by admin-hr
Ethnic Minorities, Prisoners
Afrin Battles, Kurdish Prisoner, kurdish prisoners in iran, kurds in iran, syria kurdistan

Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA)- The 11-year prison sentences of Afrin Battle detainees Rahim Mahmoudi Azar and Mostafa Ghader Zeinab were compounded Sunday, September 30th by an additional one-year prison term each, ruled in Branch 103 of the General Court of Urmia, on a charge of “crossing the border illegally.”
Both men were fighting among the ranks of a Kurdish military group in Afrin, Syrian Kurdistan earlier this year when they were wounded and extradited to Iran. A close source told HRANA that starting March 8, 2018, they were interrogated for five weeks straight, first for a week at Evin Detention Center and then for a month in Urmia’s Intelligence Office.
In July, Branch 3 of Urmia Revolutionary Court in northwestern Iran sentenced each of them to 11 years in prison for their opposition-group connections, which in court translated to charges of “membership in anti-regime groups,” “collusion and conspiracy,” and “propaganda against the regime.” The sentence was later upheld in appeals court.
A source close to both men previously told HRANA that Zeinab and Azar sustained their injuries during a Turkish offensive on Afrin. It was at the hospital in Aleppo, he said, that their legal troubles began to unfold: “Upon realizing their nationalities, Syrian authorities handed them over to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).”
Both men have been denied the right to appoint lawyers of their choice and attended their court session with a public defender.
Azar is currently detained in Urmia. Zeinab is free on bail.

Tyranny in Rajai Shahr Prison

Posted on by Sara
Prisoners
abbas yousodi, Abbas Yusodi, Ali Ahmadi, Behrouz Hosseini, Hamza Darvish, Majid Khoshdasht, Prisoner abuse, Rajai Shahr Prison, Rajai-Shahr, Rajai-Shahr prisons

Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) – Rajai Shahr prisoner Majid Khoshdasht received a beating today, October 3rd from Warden Hassan Kord, punishment for having complained about two prison personnel who assaulted him earlier this morning.

An informed source told HRANA that Khoshdasht was returning to Ward 1 from the prison shop when he was accosted by prison personnel Khanjani and Borzouie, who dealt injuries to his head, eyes, and ears.

Khoshdasht reached out to his warden Hassan Kord, who rather than addressing the violent episode “beat him and returned him to the ward,” a close source said, adding “although he is in bad shape, with injuries to his head and face, and severe injuries to his eye and ear, he has yet to receive medical attention.”

Unprovoked attacks by Rajai Shahr personnel — and Hassan Kord in particular — are not without precedent, and one prisoner told HRANA that seven had occurred in the past month. The physical and psychological pressures of Ward 1’s mobster-and-crony social order have driven prisoners there to hunger strike or suicide, according to HRANA reports: on September 12th of this year, Ali Ahmadi, held in Ward 1, committed suicide to escape incessant harassment from prisoners doing Kord’s bidding; on July 9th, an assault by Rajai Shahr personnel left broke prisoner Behrouz Hosseini’s left wrist and right tibia. Along with fellow prisoner Abbas Yousodi, Hossein had already been beaten in May of last year by Rajai Shahr’s internal manager. Goaded by prisoners, the manager reportedly doubled down on his attack, severely injuring Hosseini and Yousodi.

Rajai Shahr authorities roughed up Sunni prisoner Hamza Darvish this past May, aggressively intimidating him from speaking critically of those in charge. At the time of being accosted, Darvish was in handcuffs and shackles, mid-transfer to a medical examiner who was to treat him for health issues incurred during an extended hunger strike.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has sloganeered against civil rights repressions, publishing a Civil Rights Charter and verbally pushing for the comprehensive implementation of its provisions. Article 64 of the charter reads, “anyone arrested, convicted, or imprisoned is entitled to their civil rights, including proper nutrition, clothing, health and medical care, educational and cultural services, religious worship and practices.” Thus far, though, Rouhani’s rhetoric has yet to materialize into concrete initiatives.

Zahedan Appeals Court Ups Prison Sentence into Capital Punishment

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Executions, Prisoners
Abdolhamid Mirbaluchzehi, Alireza Bampouri, Death Penalty, death penalty in iran, iran death penalty, Javid Dehghan, Mahmud Kalkali, Omid Imani

Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) – Zahedan Appeals Court has increased the 15-year prison sentence of Ward-4 Zahedan prisoner Abdolhamid Mirbaluchzehi to the death penalty. The final appeals verdict also upheld the capital punishment sentence of his co-defendant Javid Dehghan.

Both were initially tried in Branch 1 of Zahedan Revolutionary Court on charges of acting against national security and Moharebeh [enmity against God] in connection to an armed attack on police.

According to a close source, the fifteen-year prison sentences of co-defendants Mahmoud Kalkali, Omid Imani, and Alireza Bampouri — who did not request an appeal — were finalized “long ago.”

The charges of all defendants were reportedly prepared after their torture in a Ministry of Intelligence detention center in Zahedan, where according to a source they were “stripped naked, flogged,[…] disparaged and humiliated.”

Three Hundred Gachsaran Prisoners Break into Protest

Posted on by Sara
Prisoners
Gachsaran, hunger strike prisoner, iran human rights, protests

Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) – Around 300 prisoners in Gachsaran, in the southwestern province of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer Ahmad, have launched protests and gone on hunger strike in opposition to patterns of injustice plaguing the quality of life in their region.

In phone calls to loved ones, several prisoners expressed discontent with the Gachsaran prosecutor’s unseemly behavior towards their families, the living conditions with which their families were faced, and authorities’ discriminatory treatment of prisoners, including their refusal to grant furlough to those who are eligible.

A source with two family members in the prison told HRANA that protestors were expressing their frustration and despair in very different ways. “During the protests, one prisoner, Hamed Pirayesh, cut his own ear and was subsequently transferred to solitary confinement. Today, another prisoner attempted suicide. Mir Mohammad Miri, an imprisoned political activist from Deyl village in Gachsaran county, is on his third day of hunger strike to protest the rejection of his furlough request.”

Miri was arrested July 21, 2018, to serve his sentence of lashings and two years in prison on charges of “insulting the supreme leader” and “propaganda against the regime.” The Gachsaran Revolutionary Court issued his verdict, which Branch 3 of the Appeals Court later upheld the sentence.

Iranian Authorities Execute Three Prisoners, Slate Four More for Gallows

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Executions, Prisoners, Women
Changiz Irani, child executions, Death Penalty, hassan hajilou, iran executions, juvenile executions, Juvenile Offenders, juvenile offenders in iran, Mousa Nomani, salman khan alilou, Salman Khan Alilu, Zeinab Sekaanvand, zeinab sekanvand

Human Rights Activist News Agency (HRANA) – State-run news agencies in Iran have yet to confirm the executions of three prisoners this morning, October 2nd, in Urmia: Salman Khan Alilou, Hassan Hajilou, and Zeinab Sekaanvand. Sekaanvand was executed for a crime she had allegedly committed as a minor.

Yesterday, Amnesty International released a statement expressing concern about Sekaanvand’s transfer to a solitary confinement cell, the protocol for prisoners whose death sentence is imminent. “The authorities must immediately quash Zeinab Sekaanvand’s conviction and grant her a fair retrial without recourse to the death penalty, and in accordance with principles of juvenile justice,” the statement read.

Sekaanvand, born June 22, 1994, was 17 when she was detained March 1, 2012, on accusations of killing her husband. Branch 2 of Urmia Criminal Court issued her a death sentence, which was confirmed in Branch 8 of the Supreme Court. Married in March of 2009 at the age of 15, Sekaanvand reportedly endured physical violence at the hands of her husband.

Having spent two years in Khoy Prison since her initial arrest, Sekaanvand was transferred to the Women’s Ward of Urmia prison after being issued the death sentence. Prison authorities would later approve her marriage to a fellow Urmia prisoner. She delivered a stillborn baby on Friday, October 1, [2016].

Yesterday, HRANA reported on the transfer of at least four prisoners — all of whom were reportedly charged with first-degree murder — to solitary cells in various detention centers across Urmia in preparation for their executions.

The same day, two more prisoners — Mousa Nomani from Ward 3-4 and Changiz Irani from the Psychotherapy Ward — were granted execution stays of one month and fifteen days, respectively, to attempt to obtain pardon from the families of their victims, which would exempt them from capital punishment.

According to Amnesty International’s annual report, Iran ranks first in the world in executions per capita. An annual report published by the Center of Statistics at Human Rights Activists in Iran (HRAI) states that more than 60% of executions in Iran are not reported by the state or the Judiciary. These executions are referred to as “secret executions.”

According to registered data from 2,945 reports by the Statistics, Publications, and Achievements Division of HRAI, in the past year (from March 21, 2017, to March 18, 2018) at least 322 citizens were executed and 236 others were sentenced to death in Iran. Among these were the executions of four juvenile offenders and 23 public hangings.