Tag: Evin Prison

66-year-old Cancer Patient Denied Parole

Posted on by admin-hr
Prisoners, Women
Evin Prison, Seyed Shamseddin Fazeli, Sotoodeh Fazeli, Women's Ward of Evin Prison

Human Rights Activist News Agency (HRANA) – Authorities at Evin Prison in Tehran have denied parole to Sotoodeh Fazeli, a 66-year-old political prisoner suffering from thalassemia, cancer, and a family history scarred by merciless judicial directives.

Two of Fazeli’s sons, Peyman and Pooya, are in the Albania-based camp of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran, also known as Mojahedine Khalq (MEK). When MEK was based in Iraq’s Ashraf camp, Sotoodeh attempted to visit her sons for the first time in many years, but was arrested before traveling there. “She hasn’t seen then in 18 years,” a close source told HRANA.

According to the above source, Fazeli was arrested in early 2011 by the Intelligence Ministry and spent 31 days in Evin’s Section 209 before being released on bail that spring.

According to the source, Judge Salavati tried Sotoodeh, but she was never formally sentenced. Nevertheless, on June 29, 2016, she was arrested and sent to the Evin Women’s Ward, where she learned she had been sentenced to three years in prison despite having never been convicted.

After a brief release on furlough in July of 2017, Fazeli was returned to the prison in May 2018 despite her old age and the advancement of her disease. Her recent request for conditional release has been denied.

When Fazeli’s mother late Masoome Haj Abdolrahim Khabbaz requested a meeting with her daughter in the last days of her life, her family made great efforts to facilitate the visit. But Sootodeh’s hopes to be granted a hospital visit with her ailing mother, even for a few hours and in handcuffs, was denied by the Prosecutor’s office.

While Iranian legislation, including a ruling (or fatwa) from Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, supports conditional release of prisoners over 55 years of age, requests from eligible detainees are often denied in practice.

Fazeli’s brother Seyed Shamseddin Fazeli was arrested in 1982 at the age of 20. His family learned of his execution when he was already dead, after he had spent three years in prison without ever being sentenced in court.

Fazeli, who is now retired, worked for 30 years as a school teacher.

Update: Leila Tajik Spends 13 Months in Legal Suspense in Evin’s Women’s Ward

Posted on by admin-hr
Prisoners, Women
Evin, Evin Prison, iran political prisoners, legal limbo, Leila Tajik, Women's Ward of Evin Prison

Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) – Leila Tajik has now spent more than a year in the Evin Prison Women’s Ward, waiting for Iranian courts to decide her fate.

This 45-year-old prisoner was arrested along with her ex-husband in September of last year in a joint case opened by the intelligence unit of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) charging the two with espionage. Following the arrest, she was interrogated for seven months in an IRGC outpost.

An informed source told HRANA that her ex-husband, who formerly served on the IRGC, is still detained at the outpost. “Their children, Sabah, 16, and Sahand, 19, are hurting over the breakup of their family, and are feeling additional pressures from IRGC agents.”

Tajik and her ex-spouse reportedly filed divorce papers prior to their arrest. Both have been barred from appointing a defense lawyer of their choosing.

Nationalist-Religious Activist Reza Aghakhani Denied Conditional Release

Posted on by admin-hr
Prisoners
Evin Prison, iran human rights, prisoner of conscience, Reza Aghakhani

Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA)- Despite his eligibility for conditional release for already having served a third of his sentence, authorities have said “no” to Evin Prisoner Reza Aghakhani, a nationalist-religious activist.

An informed source told HRANA, “The assistant prosecutor of the prison cited an objection from the interrogator as the reason for the negative response, despite the fact that his wife recently just had a kidney transplant and his child is dealing with a physical disability.”

Aghakhani was sentenced to three years in prison by Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court on a charge of “acting against national security.” In its processing of the case, Branch 35 of the Supreme Court did not assent the charges. They were nonetheless confirmed later in Branch 54 of Appeals Court.

Aghakhani was previously detained for 45 days in May 2013 and served a few years in prison in the eighties for his political activities. Along with some of his fellow prisoners, Aghakhani previously went on hunger strike for three days in protest of human rights violations across the country.

Narges Mohammadi Released on 3-Day Furlough

Posted on by Sara
Prisoners
Evin Prison, imprisoned human rights activists, iran political prisoners, Mohamoud Behzadirad, Narges Mohammadi, Ozra Bazargan, women political prisoners in iran, women's rights activists in iran

Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) – Deputy of the Defenders of Human Rights Center Narges Mohammadi was released on a three-day furlough on September 26, 2018. Reporting the news of her furlough to HRANA, Mohammadi’s spouse Taghi Rahmani shared that Mohammadi will need long-term medical furlough to get adequate care for her illness.

Prior to Mohammadi’s furlough release, her mother Ozra Bazargan wrote to the Prosecutor of Tehran with the request that her daughter is granted a furlough to visit her ailing father. From June 30th – July 5th of this year, Mohammadi was released from prison to get back surgery at an outside hospital. On August 6th, prison authorities prevented Mohammadi from being transferred out of Evin Prison to see a neurologist, only to approve her transfer to Imam Khomeini Hospital when she fell into critical condition one week later.

Mohammadi’s attorney Mohamoud Behzadirad previously commented on the status of his client’s case file, stating “it has been six years and four months since my client was detained, and around three years and eight months remain of her sentence. She is eligible for conditional release, but the request for that release has yet to be approved.”

In May 2016, Narges Mohammadi was sentenced by the Revolutionary Court of Tehran to sixteen years of imprisonment, ten years of which was for her role in the Step-by-Step Campaign to Abolish Death Penalty in Iran (LAGAM). The court considered her collaboration with this peaceful campaign to be an example of “gathering with intent to disrupt national security.”

According to Narges Mohammadi, her trial judge treated her with bias and hostility, openly defending the charges levied against her by officials from the Ministry of Intelligence and accusing her of trying to “warp divine law” for her demonstrations of dissent against capital punishment.

The additional six years of Narges Mohammadi’s imprisonment were issued in connection to her peaceful human rights activism, which translated in court to charges of “gathering and conspiring against national security” and “propaganda against the regime.” Her offenses included giving media interviews about human rights violations, her participation in peaceful gatherings to support the families of prisoners on death row, her contact with other human rights defenders (including Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi), her participation in peaceful protests to condemn acid attacks against women, and her 2014* meeting with Catherine Ashton.

In Autumn of 2016, Branch 36 of the Tehran Appeals Court upheld Narges Mohammadi’s prison sentence. In May 2017, her request for a retrial was reportedly rejected by Iran’s Supreme Court.

Baha’i Crackdown Intensifies with Three More Arrests in Karaj

Posted on by admin-hr
Prisoners, Religious Minorities
baha'i arrests iran, baha'is in iran, Evin Prison, Human Rights, Iran, iran human rights, religious minorities in iran

Human Rights Activist News Agency (HRANA) – Crackdowns on Iran’s Baha’i community continued this week with the arrest of three residents of the northwestern Tehran suburb of Karaj, who were transferred to Evin Prison on Sunday, September 16th and are now being held on approximately $23,000 USD (3 billion IRR) bail.

Maryam Ghaffarmanesh, Jamileh Pakrou, and Kianoush Salmanzadeh–participants in an environmental education session led by Ghaffarmanesh and hosted in the private residence of Ramin Sedighi–were arrested when intelligence agents showed up demanding their cell phones and pressing them to fill out personal information forms.

After confiscating Sedighi’s hard drive, pamphlets, and religious materials, the agents moved on to search Pakrou’s residence, a close source told HRANA.

Ghaffarmanesh, Pakrou, and Salmanzadeh were transferred to Evin Prison. Ghaffarmanesh’s family learned of her bail some 20 hours later, on a call with her from ward 209 of the prison.

The same day, HRANA reported that intelligence ministry agents had arrested and searched the homes of six Baha’i residents of the central Iranian city of Shiraz: Soudabeh Haghighat, Noora Pourmoradian, Elaheh Samizadeh, Ehsan Mahboob Rahvafa, and a married couple, Navid Bazmandegan and Bahareh Ghaderi.

Shiraz had already seen a string of Baha’i arrests one month earlier that landed a number of its residents in an intelligence ministry detention center.

On the morning of September 19th, Baha’i Yazd resident Mehran Bandi Amirabadi was released after being held in custody for 43 days without a warrant. After being tried with six other Baha’i citizens in Branch 3 of Yazd Appeals Court, located in central Iran, Amirabadi was sentenced to one and a half years in prison and one year in exile to be served in Divandareh, a remote city in Iranian Kurdistan.

Mehran Bandi Amirabadi

Iranian Baha’i citizens are systematically deprived of religious freedoms, in contravention of international treaties including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

Based on unofficial sources, more than 300,000 Baha’is live in Iran. Iran’s Constitution, however, 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.

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Now is definitely not the time to stop reading!

Author and Humorist Kiyumars Marzban Detained

Posted on by admin-hr
Cultural, Freedom of Expression, Prisoners
Evin Prison, freedom of expression, Human Rights, Iran, iran human rights, iranian filmmaker, iranian satirist, kioomars marzban, kiyumars marzban, prisoner of conscience

Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) – On August 26, 2018, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Intelligence forces arrested author and satirist Kiyumars Marzban in his home, confiscating several personal items including his mobile phone and laptop.

Last year, Marzban, 26, came back to Iran after eight years abroad to visit his ailing grandmother. While he entered the country without event, Branch 1 of the Evin Prosecutor’s Interrogation office opened up a case file and arranged for his arrest within his first year back home.

While Marzban alleges he never traveled to the U.S., a state-affiliated news site has accused him of “Networking in Iran” on contract with American partners. The same news site accuses Marzban, who also teaches art, of entering Iran with the intent to sensationalize and divide the community with his classes. As of the date of this report, no further information was available about the reasons for Marzban’s arrest.

Human Rights Watch revealed in a press release that he has not been allowed to visit his family yet.

Kiyumars Marzban began his career with filmmaking in 2005. By 2009 he had produced eight short films and left Iran to develop his portfolio in Malaysia. Shortly afterward, via Facebook, he launched the world’s premier Persian-language comedy podcast, called “Radio Sangetab” (Sangtab, the name of a village in northern Iran, is also a cooking method using hot stones). His works include “Kham Bodam Pokhte Shodam Balke Pasandideh Shodam” (I was raw, I became ripe and rather pleasant) and “Aziz Jan” (Dear darling).

Iran: UK-Based Art Philosophy Student Detained on Charges of Threatening National Security

Posted on by admin-hr
Other, Prisoners, Students
aras amiri, dual nationals, Evin Prison, Human Rights, Iran, iran human rights, political hostage, uk student evin prison, uk student jailed in iran

Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) – Aras Amiri, an Iranian citizen and 10-year resident of the UK who was released on bail for national-security-related charges in March, was summoned to Evin Prison, read her charges, and transferred to the women’s ward on September 7, 2018.

Iranian intelligence officers apprehended the Kingston University graduate student on March 14, 2018, just prior to the Iranian New Year. She had been out of custody since posting a bond of $120,000 USD (500 million IRR) bail on May 21.

A source close to Amiri confirmed the news of her recent summons, and told HRANA that she is being pursued on charges of “action against national security.” “However,” the source added, “we are still in the dark about how she responded to that charge since the case file has yet to be sent to court.”

Prior to her arrest, Amiri–who studies the philosophy of art–was working to launch joint exhibition projects between Iranian and British artists, collaborating with bodies like the British Council and a UK-based charity with satellite offices worldwide. The British Council had its own office in Tehran until February of 2009, when security agents prompted the Council to cease its in-country operations by excessively questioning the employees there.

One of Amiri’s family members previously told the media that her cultural activities have been in concert and alignment with the various branches of the Iranian Ministry of Culture. During the ten years of her residence in the UK, she had repeatedly traveled to Iran without issue.

In recent years, a number of Iranian nationals residing outside of the country have been detained and imprisoned upon returning to Iran. Abbas Edalat, an Iranian-British dual citizen and professor of Mathematics and Computer Science at Imperial College in London, was traveling to Iran for an educational workshop when he was detained and sent to Evin Prison in April 2018.

Mother of Narges Mohammadi Pleads with Prison Officials: “Give her one hour at her father’s side”

Posted on by admin-hr
Prisoners, Women
Evin Prison, iran human rights, iran prisoners of conscience, Narges Mohammadi

Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) – Currently imprisoned at Evin, civil rights activist and Vice President of Defenders of Human Rights Centre (DHRC) Narges Mohammadi is being championed by her mother, Ozra Bazargan. Worried that her daughter might never see her ailing father again, Bazargan pleads Mohammadi’s case for temporary release in a letter addressed to Tehran’s Prosecutor General.

The text of Bazargan’s letter, sourced from DHRC and translated into English by HRANA, is below:

Dear Mr. Jafari Dolatabadi, Tehran Prosecutor General,

Why won’t you agree to Narges’s furlough? How far will you take this injustice against my daughter?

We are in the fourth autumn of our family’s separation. Narges’s father, who is 85 years old, suffers from a cardiac disease and high blood pressure. We have seen Narges four times in as many as years, as our poor health prevents us from traveling to Tehran where our beloved daughter is held. The Evin Prison officials can attest to this.

Last year, Narges’s father suffered from three horrific heart attacks. Fearing she would never again see her father alive, Narges was ready to make the trip to see her him in the ICU–with guards present–for only an hour. And officials wouldn’t even grant her that.

Narges is being kept from her two children, her husband, and her father, all while looters, embezzlers, and society’s high crooks walk free, sit comfortably at home, or– if they’re in prison– enjoy perks from the Judiciary and security forces. An intolerable discrimination underlies this.

We have witnessed the temporary release of prisoners whose lives were affected by tragic events. The last of these was Abdolfatta Soltani [who was only granted furlough in the wake of his daughter’s sudden death]. I fear that my daughter will have to wait for a tragedy, too.

My daughter did not deserve a ruthless 22-year prison sentence at the age of 44. I cannot bear to think of it, let alone of the conditions she’s in: bereft of seeing her loved ones, deprived of medical care, cut off from the cures to her many ailments. I hear that my daughter struggles with aches and pains that she is keeping from us, to spare us the worry. You and your assistants, on the other hand–you know about her pain firsthand. I am told that she suffers through days without getting care. In tears–in cries–I lift my grief to heaven and I ask God for justice.

As a mother and a member of a family of activists, I am weary of the fight against oppression. I condemn this injustice and cruelty oppressing my daughter. I request that authorities consider the length of my daughter’s long sentence, and grant her this furlough. And if you still are resolute on restricting my daughter, send guards along. Give her one hour at her father’s side, so that he might find peace at the sight of his beloved daughter.
Ozra Bazargan
Narges Mohammadi’s mother

* According to her lawyer Mohamoud Behzadirad, Narges Mohammadi has served 6 years and 4 months of her prison sentence, and has 3 years, 8 months left ahead. “She is eligible for conditional release, but the request for that release has yet to be approved,” Behzadirad said.

HRANA reported August 13th, 2018 on Mohammadi’s transfer to Imam Khomeini hospital following a deterioration in her health condition, one week after prison officials had barred her from seeing a neurologist. Earlier, on June 30th, she spent almost a week away from prison while undergoing eye surgery.

Mohammadi was issued a 16-year prison sentence in 2016, 10 years of which were for her role in LAGAM (the Step-by-Step Campaign to Abolish Death Penalty in Iran). The court equated her LAGAM affiliations with “association with the aim to threaten national security.”  Mohammadi later stated that her trial judge had displayed an openly hostile attitude towards her, and seemed adamant about backing the charges against her from the Ministry of Intelligence. She also stated that the judge likened her campaigns against the death penalty as attempts to warp divine law.

The other 6 years of Mohammadi’s sentence were on charges of “assembly and collusion against national security” and “disseminating propaganda against the regime,” both in connection to her peaceful civic activities, including: interviews with the media about human rights violations, participating in peaceful assemblies before prisons, supporting the families of death row detainees, contacting fellow human rights activist and Nobel Peace Laureate Shirin Ebadi, participation in peaceful assemblies in protest of acid attacks, and meeting with Catherine Ashton (at the time the EU’s High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security policy) in 2014.

Branch 26 of Appeals Court upheld Mohammadi sentence in October 2016. In May 2017, her request for a retrial in the Supreme Court was denied.

Prisoner of Conscience Atena Daemi Rebukes Authorities, Eulogizes Executed Kurds

Posted on by admin-hr
Ethnic Minorities, Executions, Prisoners, Women
Atena Daemi, Death Penalty, ethnic minorities in iran, Evin Prison, iran executions, iran human rights, kurdish political prisoners, Loghman Moradi, Loqman Moradi, political hostages, Political Prisoners, prisoner letter, Prisoners of conscience, Zanyar Moradi

Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) – From the walls of Evin Prison, detained civil rights activist Atena Daemi has written a letter in response to the executions of Ramin Hossein Panahi, Loghman Moradi, and Zanyar Moradi, three Iranian Kurdish political prisoners who were hanged to death in secret on Saturday, September 8th.
The executions of the Moradis and Panahi drew outrcry from human rights institutions internationally. The attorneys representing them called their convictions and executions — the latter which took place without the mandatory notice to, or presence of, their lawyers — legally ambiguous under both Iranian and international law. Caught unawares, none of the families were present during their sons’ final moments, as the executions were carried out at an undisclosed location in Tehran. The Ministry of Intelligence has since issued detention threats to the family members of the deceased men.
Condemning Iranian authorities for their treatment of the three men, and extending her condolences to their families, Atena Daemi’s letter joins the many voices of outrage over the course of the young mens’ fate. Daemi, imprisoned since 2014, is serving a seven-year sentence for “propaganda against the regime,” “assembly and collusion to act against national security,” and “insulting the supreme leader [Ayatollah Khamenei] as well as the founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Khomeini.”

The text of Atena Daemi’s eulogy, translated into English by HRANA, is below:
They killed our loved ones, and claim with pride that in doing so they have administered justice.
The “justice” they refer to is not the one represented by Lady Justice holding a fair and balanced scale. It is instead a man — a man with a turban on his head [a cleric], whose forehead bears the mark of the clay which grazes his head during prayers. He is blindfolded, not as a sign of impartiality, but of blindness to the truth. In one hand is a rosary. In the other, a scale suspended by a noose.
These scales are so unbalanced that one tray is a speck in the heavens, while the other is laden with dead bodies dragging it deep into the ground. This “justice” they invoke has been neither seen nor heard in *40 years.
In this troubled time – a time of economic turbulence, poverty, and unemployment – what problem was solved by murdering these three beloved men? Has their killing soothed any of the ailments suffered by the Iranian people?
Your majesties– where is this mania taking you? By deceit and without warning, you led our loved ones to the killing fields. Even in the short lives granted them, you wouldn’t offer them peace. While they were still **hungry and thirsty, you cut their lives short. How it must have incensed you to your core to never see them falter. As you, dry-eyed, pitied them in their walk to the gallows to die for the ideals, their heads were held high, their steps steady…
How insolently you watch our loved ones draw their last breaths! It must burn you to hold them hostage from their families and brand them as terrorists, only to see them rise as steadfast symbols of democracy for the rest of us. For nine years, they showed friendship to inmates of different creeds and beliefs; they were endeared to their fellow prisoners, loved by us, and cherished by the Iranian people.
Before the start of religious months of Moharram and Safar(1) each year, you prepare yourself for mourning with a savage display. Drunk and armed with handguns, you launch into a monologue about Imam Hussein, who, lips dry from thirst, was beheaded by Yazid. What a repugnant contradiction–what abhorrent hypocrisy! You mirror Yazid’s troops, and for the past 40 years, you have tightened ropes around resolute throats, pulled the stool from beneath the feet of persistent and patient youth. You instigate sectarian war between Sunni and Shiites. Then, your pockets brimming with billions, you pretend to be mourning Hussain.
I am sure that you know your savage acts only dig you deeper into public contempt. Your path is one of self-annihilation. Today, you only dug your graves deeper. You did not kill Zanyar, Loghman, and Ramin. You have only endeared them in our hearts, inspiring the world into mourning the true martyrs of our time.
You have tarnished Iran’s standing and dignity in the world. They see us as a terrorist country for the cutthroat, blood-thirsty, and rapacious actions of a select and powerful few. How long and how far will you continue on this road? Dream on about imposing war on your people: they will rise to the challenge again and again. Stop your killing machine. Lift your lead boots from the throats of Iran and Kurdistan.
How tightly you cling to your towering throne, oblivious to the fact that you could tumble from your high horses at any moment to the miry earth below. Throughout history, many who rode high thought of themselves as invincible, only to take refuge in sewage tunnels, where they were tracked down and punished for their crimes.
Iran is a pile of live embers cloaked in a thin layer of ash. Lest your actions arouse the flames that lie beneath.
We congratulate the steadfast families of these martyrs.
Atena Daemi – Evin Prison Women Ward
September 8th, 2018
(1) Months in the Islamic lunar calendar commemorated by Shiite Muslims in mourning of Imam Hussein, the 3rd Shiite Imam, who was killed in battle against Yazid (Imam Hussain has come to symbolize the force of Good while Yazid stands for Evil).
* The Islamic Republic of Iran was founded after the Iranian Revolution approximately 40 years ago
** Zanyar and Loghman Moradi and Ramin Hossein Panahi were all reportedly on hunger strike before they were executed.

Women Prisoners of Conscience Respond to Executions of Ramin Hossein Panahi, Loghman & Zanyar Moradi

Posted on by admin-hr
Prisoners, Women
Atena Daemi, Azita Rafizadeh, Death Penalty, ethnic minorities in iran, Evin Prison, Golrokh Ibrahimi, iran executions, iran human rights, kurdish political prisoners, Loghman Moradi, Loqman Moradi, Maryam Akbari-Monfared, Narges Mohammadi, Nasrin Sotudeh, negin ghadamian, political executions, political hostages, Ramin Hossein Panahi, women political prisoners in iran, Zanyar Moradi

Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) – Political and civil rights activists detained in the Women’s Ward of Evin Prison in Tehran have released a statement in response to the execution of political prisoners Ramin Hossein Panahi, Loghman Moradi, and Zanyar Moradi.

In a letter, Narges Mohammadi, Nasrin Sotoudeh, Golrokh Ibrahim Iraee, Maryam Akbari Monfared, Atena Daemi, Azita Rafizadeh, and Negin Ghademian expressed condolences to the families of the three Iranian Kurdish prisoners, who were hung to death September 8th amid dubious legal proceedings and international protest.

Barring the families from interring their sons’ bodies themselves, authorities commandeered the remains to be buried in an undisclosed location. According to Ramin’s brother Amjad Hossein Panahi, the Ministry of Intelligence has threatened the Moradis and Panahi families with detention. To the surprise of all families involved, the executions were carried out in an undisclosed location in Tehran province.

Amnesty International, one of the human rights organizations who were aghast at the course of the young men’s case, called the executions an “outrage.” Voices of the Evin Prison Women’s Ward now join the wave of dissent against the outcome of their case.

During a visitation on Sunday, the authors of the statement, many of whom are being held as political prisoners themselves, joined the families in singing “Ode to the Bleeding Tulip” and “O Iran” to commemorate and honor the memories of Ramin Hossein-Panahi, Loghman Moradi, and Zanyar Moradi.

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

No words could contain the crushing weight of our sorrow.

These brave children of our country leave us a legacy of patience, freedom, and perseverance.

Their names are affixed to the helms of those fighting for freedom, and for those that seek it, the path has been laid by their resistance.

We wish solace for the families and cellmates of Zanyar Moradi, Loghman Moradi, and Ramin Hossein-Panahi. We wish solace for all the afflicted citizens of our land.

We bear your pain in our chests and we stand with you.

Narges Mohammadi, Nasrin Sotudeh, Golrokh Ibrahimi, Maryam Akbari Monfared, Atena Daemi, Azita Rafizadeh, and Negin Ghadamian

Women’s Ward of Evin Prison