Tag: Evin

Lakan Prison Officials Turn off Air Conditioning in Women’s Ward and Cut Inmates’ Quarantines Short

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Environment, Prisoners, Women
COVID, covid-19, Evin, Evin Prison, Lakan, Lakan prison, Prison conditions, Quarantine, Rasht

Following the transfer of 9 new female prisoners to the quarantine ward of Lakan Prison in Rasht, 15 residents of the quarantine ward were transferred to the public ward before the end of their quarantine period.

According to HRANA, the news agency of Human Rights Activists, air conditioning in the women’s ward was also turned off for at least 8 hours during the day. The lack of air conditioning, coupled with steadily rising summer temperatures have created conditions under which it is nearly impossible for the inmates to wear masks.

According to an informed source, after protesting, prisoners were told that they would be sent directly to public wards without quarantine, even if other new entrances arrived.

It is worth mentioning that civil activist Athena Daemi, who was deported from Evin Prison to Lakan on March 17, 2010, was kept in quarantine for 23 days.

Sydney Pen Association Demands Immediate Release of Reza Khandan Mahabadi, Baktash Abtin and Keyvan Bazhan from Evin Prison

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Freedom of Expression, Prisoners
Baktash Abtin, Ebrahim Raisi, Evin, Evin Prison, Keyvan Bazhan, Mark Isaac, medical neglect, medical negligence, Reza Khandan Mahabadi, Sydney Pen Association, Tehran, Writers' Association of Iran

On Sunday, June 20, the Sydney Pen Association in Australia issued a statement in light of Ebrahim Ra’isi’s election as next President of the Islamic Republic.

According to HRANA, the news agency of Human Rights Activists, quoting the Writers’ Association of Iran, the statement calls for the immediate release of Reza Khandan Mahabadi, Baktash Abtin and Keyvan Bazhan, currently being held in Evin prison for their writings critical of the State. All three authors are members of the Writers’ Association of Iran, and each has published several books on Iranian history, sociology, and literature.

“The three authors need medical attention and authorities have not taken any of them to hospital,” the statement says.

In April, Baktash Abtin’s lawyer announced that his client had contracted COVID but had not received the necessary treatment. Reza Khandan Mahabadi suffers from osteoarthritis of the neck and Keyvan Bazhan has a thyroid disease. Penn Sydney was recently informed by inmates that another wave of coronavirus has spread to Evin Prison, further endangering the lives of its inmates.

The writers were first sentenced to imprisonment when now-president-elect Ebrahim Ra’isi was head of the judiciary on charges of propaganda against the Islamic Republic and acting against national security. They were also accused of attending the graves of disgruntled poets and writers and critics of the regime.

The prosecution cited the publication of a book on the history of the Writers’ Association of Iran, an institution that has criticized Iran’s past and present governments for decades, and the defendants were sentenced to a total of 18 years in prison by the Revolutionary Court of Tehran.

In January 2019, an appeals court in Tehran reduced the sentence to a total of 15 years and six months in prison. Baktash Abtin and Reza Khandan Mahabadi were sentenced to six years in prison each, and Keyvan Bazhan was sentenced to three years and six months.

Abtin, Khandan Mahabadi and Bazhan were arrested on October 26 of last year, after attending the Judgment Enforcement Unit of the Evin Court, and  were transferred to the infamous Evin Prison to serve out their sentences.

The statement cites a joint text by Reza Khandan Mahabadi, Baktash Abtin and Keyvan Bajan, which was issued from inside the prison on June 6, 2021.

Below is an excerpt from their text:

 

We are addressing all writers and libertarians who have made “freedom of expression everywhere and for all” the focus of their human endeavors. This is the demand that the historical-global movement for freedom of expression has practically and always pursued. The Writers’ Association of Iran, of which we are three members, has been active as part of this movement for more than half a century; A movement that must be enhanced by its power and volume; Because apart from the daily threat of freedom of expression by the ruling powers, many people in the world are completely deprived of it; Including writers and people of Iran. We are currently in prison, and according to the sentence, we have to endure a total of 13 and a half years in prison because we are writers who oppose censorship and demand freedom of expression without exception. We are not the first prisoners and oppressed of this movement and we will not be the last until “freedom of expression everywhere and for everyone” is achieved.

 

Reza Khandan Mahabadi, Baktash Abtin, Keyvan Bazhan

 

Bektash Abtin concluded in his story to Sydney Pen Association president Mark Isaac,  “Freedom is never given to anyone on a gold tray; it comes at a high price. In a country like Iran, death very easily finds intellectuals, libertarians and those who fight for freedom of expression. We are not worried about the trial and the prison and its difficulties, because we have made our decision.”

Political Prisoner Narges Adibi Denied Medical Leave from Evin Prison

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Freedom of Expression, Prisoners, Women
Adibi, Evin, Evin Prison, Judge Babaei, Judge Mashallah Ahmadzadeh, Mashallah Ahmadzadeh, Narges Adibi, Political prisoner Narges Adibi, Women's Ward of Evin Prison

Political prisoner Narges Adibi has been denied medical leave from Evin Prison despite having numerous medical problems.

According to HRANA, the news agency of Human Rights Activists, Ms. Adibi suffers from bronchitis, asthma, and severe joint pain.

Branch 26 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court, presided over by Judge Mashallah Ahmadzadeh, sentenced Adibi to 8 years in prison on charges of conspiracy, insulting the leadership, insulting the founder of the Islamic Republic, and propaganda against the regime.

Branch 54 of the Tehran Court of Appeals, presided over by Judge Babaei, reduced the sentence to 3 years and 6 months in May of last year.

58-year-old Narges Adibi is the daughter of Hussein and mother of two children. She was arrested in July of last year and transferred to Evin Prison to serve out her sentence, where she has been held since.

 

Ahmad Reza Jalali’s Lawyer Expresses Concern About His Condition in Evin Prison

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Environment, Executions, Prisoners
Ahmad Reza Jalali, Evin, Evin Prison, Helaleh Mousavian, moharebeh, Reza Jalali, Tehran, University of Tehran, ward 209, Ward 209 of Evin Prison

Ahmad Reza Jalali’s lawyer, Helaleh Mousavian, has expressed concern about her client’s condition in Evin Prison. According to HRANA, the news agency of Human Rights Activists, Reza Jalali is a university professor and dual citizen of Iran and Sweden currently on death row.

The professor, who traveled to Iran in May 2016 at the invitation of the University of Tehran, was arrested by security forces on charges of “moharebeh through espionage for Israel”. Moharebeh, loosely translated as “waging war against God”, is a pillar of Sharia Law that is typically applied to those suspected of connection to any acts against the state.

Mr. Jalali was sentenced to death for espionage, and the sentence was upheld by the Supreme Court in December 2017.

Ahmad Reza Jalali worked at the Center for Natural Disasters after graduating from medical school in Iran. He immigrated to Sweden in 2009 to continue his studies and earned a doctorate. He completed his postdoctoral in Disaster Medicine at the University of Piedmont in Italy, and later, settled in Sweden with his wife and two children.

According to a HRANA report published in November 2020, Ahmad Reza Jalali was transferred to solitary confinement for a week to be prepared for execution. In December of that year, Ms. Mousavian was informed that her client’s death sentence was put on hold and he was transferred to ward 209 of Evin prison.

“Fortunately, Mr. Jalali was transferred to a public ward in April, but so far, despite all the efforts, his death sentence has not changed,” Mousavian said. “I am very worried about my client, especially now that the presidential election is over and the result is out. Despite my repeated expressions of concern, no effective action has been taken by the country of dual citizenship and the European Union.”

Political Prisoner Abdul Rasoul Mortazavi Sentenced to 2 Additional Years

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Freedom of Expression, Prisoners
Abdul Rasoul Mortazavi, Ayatollah Khamenei, Evin, Evin Prison, Hashem Khastar, Karaj, Khamenei, Mohammad Hossein Sepehri, Mohammad Nourizad, Mortazavi, Rajai Shahr Prison, Rajai Shahr prison in Karaj, Tehran

Political prisoner Abdul Rasoul Mortazavi was sentenced by Branch 26 of the Revolutionary Court of Tehran to two additional years in prison in a new case recently opened against him.

According to HRANA, the news agency of Human Rights Activists, the new charges against Mortazavi include “propaganda against the regime” and “disturbing public order”.

Mortazavi, who lost his leg during the Iraq-Iran war, was transferred from Evin Prison in Tehran to Rajai Shahr Prison in Karaj in early April. During the move, prison authorities took his prosthetic leg and did not return it.

Under the pretext of finally giving back his leg, officials then transferred Mortazavi to solitary confinement in Rajai Shahr on April 20th, where he is currently being held. He has been denied requests for sick leave and denied the right to make phone calls while in solitary confinement. His leg has still not been returned.

In mid-August 2019, Abdol Rasoul Mortazavi and 13 civil society activists published an open letter and requested the resignation of Ayatollah Khamenei. He was subsequently sentenced to 26 years in prison, from which 11 years are enforceable.

Mohammad Nourizad, Hashem Khastar, Mohammad Hossein Sepehri and several other signatories to the statement are also currently serving prison sentences.

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Eight Azerbaijani Turk Activists End Hunger Strike in Ardabil and Evin Prisons After Officials Promise to Meet Their Demands

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Ethnic Minorities, Freedom of Expression, Prisoners
Abbas Lesani, Ali Vaseghi, Ardabil, ardabil prison, Azerbaijani Turk activist, Azerbaijani Turk activists in Iran, Behnam Sheikhi, Evin, Evin Prison, Hunger Strike, Kianoosh Aslani, Mehrdad Sheikhi, Reza Vaseghi, separation of prisoners based on crime, Siamak Mirzaei, Yousef Kari

On June 14, eight Azerbaijani Turk activists ended their hunger strike in Ardabil and Evin Prisons after the authorities’ favorable promise that their demands would be met.

According to HRANA, the news agency of Human Rights Activists, on Saturday, June 13, Abbas Lesani went on a hunger strike to protest the non-observance of the principle of separation of prisoners based on crime and the punitive transfer of political prisoners to wards with prisoners of violent crimes.
Seven other prisoners had gone on hunger strikes in support of Lesani’s endeavor.
The prisoners involved were Abbas Lesani, Yousef Kari, Mehrdad Sheikhi, Ali Vaseghi, Reza Vaseghi, Siamak Mirzaei, Behnam Sheikhi, and Kianoosh Aslani.

Labor Activist Maziar Seyednejad Transferred to IRGC Detention Center in Evin Prison

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Labor and Guilds, Prisoners
Activist arrested, Activist imprisoned, Evin, Evin Prison, irgc, Khuzestan province, Labor activist, Maziar Seyednejad, Ministry of Intelligence, Seyednejad, solitary confinement, Ward 209 of Evin Prison

On Monday, June 7, labor activist Maziar Seyednejad was arrested by security forces at his private home in Tehran.

According to HRANA, the news agency of Human Rights Activists, Seyednejad is currently being held in solitary confinement in the Ministry of Intelligence Detention Center in Ward 209 of Evin Prison.

Recently, the labor activist’s 3 year sentence was confirmed by the Court of Appeals in the Khuzestan Province.

Seyednejad has not, as of yet, been allowed access to a lawyer.

It is Time that Iran be Held Accountable 

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Other
Evin, Execution, HRANA, Human Rights, Iran, prisoners

HRANA – Last month the world turned its attention to Iran for its seemingly arbitrary transfer of a detained British-Australian academic. Kylie Moore-Gilbert, who was detained in September 2018 and is serving a ten-year sentence, was moved from the notorious Evin Prison to an unspecified location. When Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) released the report, nearly every major media publication across the globe once again jumped to denounce her detention. Widespread speculation as to Moore-Gilbert’s whereabouts ensued. 

As a human rights professional who focuses on Iran, it was gratifying to see such a swift and appropriate response. However, what about the countless grave and horrific human rights violations that happen every day in this country? Violations that are so numerous that they have become seemingly rote. 

In the week following Moore-Gilbert’s transfer, peaceful protestors outside Iran’s Ministry of Petroleum were violently attacked by Regime Security Forces. In the month of October, at least 130 Iranians were arrested for activities related to their political or ideological beliefs; 83 of which involved the detention of individuals participating in peaceful gatherings related to the ongoing Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict. 

Iran carried out 19 hangings in the month of October alone, sentencing an additional 8 to that same fate throughout the month.

At least 12 members of the Baháʼí religious minority were barred from entering university based solely on their religious beliefs. One man received 80 lashes for converting to Christianity; a thief was sentenced to having his hand amputated.

Iranian courts tried more than 70 political cases which resulted in convictions that totaled 295 years in prison and 2,590 lashes.  A cleric was summoned to court for suggesting there was no problem with women riding a bicycle, an activity for which all women in the country are banned. Two women, sentenced to 33 months each for writing a letter requesting the resignation of the Supreme Leader, were summoned by authorities to begin serving their time. A teacher was sentenced to 45 lashes for drawing a cartoon.

This list is by no means exhaustive. 

These violations are not a secret. HRANA, the very source that initially reported on Moore-Gilbert’s move, reported and continues to report on the numerous human rights violations happening daily in Iran against Iranians, as well as dual and foreign nationals. There remains little to no response.

Detained British-Australian academic Kylie Moore-Gilbert

Why is this? 

I do not have the answer to that question, but I do know the differences these cases bear. The violations listed above are against Iranian citizens; Moore-Gilbert is a foreigner. Her case is, therefore, more appealing to the press it garners a more widespread response – and outcry. 

 

I’m reminded of a quote from Howard Bakerville, a young American who famously became a martyr of Iran’s Constitutional Revolution; he once said, “The only difference between me and these people is my place of birth, and that is not a big difference.” Today I fear there are times, unacceptably so, that this is the difference between life and death, between respect for rights and deprivation thereof. Will the world only shine the light on Iran when a Westerner is tangled in its web? Under international human rights law, States have a duty to respect, protect, and fulfill the rights of those within their jurisdiction. It’s time that Iran be held accountable to its own citizens just as it is to those dual and foreign nationals that find themselves trapped within the confines of a state where deprivation of fundamental human rights continues to be the norm. 

Moore-Gilbert has since been returned to Evin Prison. Her return, much like her move, was documented extensively. The reason for her move remains unknown.

 

Skylar Thompson

Skylar Thompson is a Senior Advocacy Coordinator with Human Rights Activists in Iran (HRAI). For inquiries please contact email: [email protected]

 

A Daily Overview of Human Rights Violations in Iran for December 28, 2018

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Other
aKBAR gHOLIZADEH, Amir Sattari, azerbaijani turkic ethnic minority rights activist, Evin, Firefighter, Hendijan, Isfahan, Javad Ahmadi Yaekaneli, Mohammad Saber Malek Reisi, Olduz Ghasemi, polluted water, Reza Jafarlou, Seyed Mohammad Mohammadi, Shir Ahmad Shirani, Zahedan Prison, Zahra Abbasi

The following is an overview of human rights violations in Iran on December 28th, 2018 based on the information compiled and verified by Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA).

(1) Zahra Abbasi, a 16-year-old pregnant girl, self-immolated and died in Dishmok city in Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Province. Five other women have self-immolated in Dishmok in the current year.

(2) During the last few days, 24 residents of Hendijan have been transferred to hospital for drinking contaminated water. They have been diagnosed with dysentery.

(3) Two Azerbaijani Turkic rights activists, Reza Jafarlou and Akbar Gholizadeh, who had been arrested on December 10th and detained in Urmia prison were released on bail. Three other activists, Oldouz Ghasemi, Amir Sattari, and Javad Ahmadi Yaekaneli were summoned to the Revolutionary Court in Naqadeh.

(4) Mohammad Saber Malek Reisi and Shir Ahmad Shirani, two political prisoners of Ardabil prison, who were returned to the prison after 12 days of interrogation, have been transferred to quarantine. They also have been barred from having visitors or phone calls.

(5) Seyed Mohammad Mohammadi, a political prisoner in the Evin prison, has served 14 months of his 2-year sentence. He was accused of ‘propaganda against the state’, ‘insulting the Supreme Leader’, and ‘insulting the authorities’.

(6) More than 40 students of an elementary school in Babol have been poisoned. Students with food poisoning symptoms have been hospitalized for treatment. The cause of the poisoning is unknown.

(7) Zahedan prisoners suffer from lack of access to adequate medical and mental health care, mistreatment by prisoners’ staff, malnutrition, quarantined when they complained about their situation, etc.

(8) Six firefighters were injured during an incident in Jey Industrial Zone in the central district of Isfahan

(9) Three protests and strikes have been organized on December 28, 2018. Nishabur public service workers, Farmers of Isfahan province, and staff of Islamic Azad University Meybod branch, requested their demands in separate protests.

Kept Apart for 9 Years: a Mother Wishes her Daughter “Happy Birthday” from Evin Prison

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Prisoners, Women
Evin, Evin Prison, Maryam Akbari Monafred, Maryam Akbari-Monfared, open letter, Prisoner abuse, Women's Ward of Evin Prison

Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) – Evin political prisoner Maryam Akbari Monfared wished her daughter a happy 13th birthday in letter she wrote from behind bars, where she has spent every one of her daughter’s birthdays for the past nine years.

Monfared, along with fellow prisoners of conscience Golrokh Ebrahimi Iraee and Atena Daemi, was recently punished with a three-week ban on family visits per verbal orders from the director of the Evin Prison Women’s Ward. All three were told they were being disciplined for protesting authorities’ attempts to unlawfully interrogate them this past September.

The full letter of Monafred’s letter to her daughter, translated into English by HRANA, is below:

In the middle of a cold, rainy December night, they tore you from my arms. You were only three and a half years old, and you had your arms locked around my neck. You were in a deep, angelic sleep.

Nine years have passed since then. All these years, I have celebrated your birthday in the prison visiting room. All my cellmates have shared in my joy. Every year, I prepared for your birthday days ahead of time, as best I could. I have watched you grow from the other side of the visiting room glass, and I drew lines on the concrete for every year that you grew.

While I was in prison you started school, and then you were no longer a little girl. And now, this year, you’re turning 13. We spoke about our wishes a week ago on the phone: you asked me whether you could come for a visit the following week, on your birthday. “Why wouldn’t you?!” I replied. “Of course you can!” Little did I know that our rare joys were being watched with malice from afar.

Before you arrived Wednesday, the Ward Director Ms. Abdolhamidi told me I’d been banned from visits for three weeks. When you came, you jumped into my arms and told me, ‘Mom, it’s my birthday next week! I’ll come to visit you and it will just be you and me.’”

It was more than I could bear to tell you that our visit next week would be canceled. My heart burned with anger and loathing for [the authorities], who would rob even the smile off your face. Flames of rage are still burning inside me.

Tomorrow is your birthday. I’ve been talking to my friends about it all day. I close my eyes and travel back in time to Iran Hospital, October 8th, 2005.

It is 6 a.m., and I am sitting in the hospital lobby. It is 10 days past your due date, but looking back now, it seems you were stalling your arrival in this world, that you foresaw that you would be targeted by the storms of life. But finally, you came, and your very first cries at 12 p.m. brought a smile to my face. I still feel your beautiful face and your first cry, and sense the sweet feeling of taking you into my arms for the first time.

I opened my eyes and there you were, a beautiful doll in a pistachio-green blanket with snowflakes on it. The delight of breastfeeding you, the joy of when you first opened your eyes; the first steps you took towards a beautiful life and future, and the music of your first word.

My dear Nazanin: I was not with you on your 13th birthday. I know that by now you understand why we’re apart. I know that you’ve suffered a lot these past nine years. Yet, we have promised each other to smile until smiles light the faces of all of Iran’s children. We promised each other to cherish our brief visits, for all of the times that we miss being together. We have pledged together to vanquish a monster.

My dear Sara: our future is bright. I hope for the daybreak whose first morning rays will be freedom, when I will tousle your hair and embrace you without the pain and the stress of knowing our visit could end the next moment. Let us laugh until daybreak […]

Maryam Akbari Monfared
October 6, 2018
Evin Prison Women’s Ward

****
Maryam Akbari Monfared was arrested December 2009 during protests following Iran’s contentious election cycle of that year. In June 2010, Judge Salavati of Revolutionary Court Branch 15 sentenced her to 15 years in prison on the charge of “moharebeh” (enmity against God), on the premise that she was a member of the People’s Mujahedin of Iran (MEK). Monfared denied the charge.

Two of Monfared’s brothers were executed in 1981 and 1984 for membership in the MEK after being convicted in revolutionary courts. A younger brother and sister were also executed in 1988 as part of a mass execution of political prisoners.