Police Brutally Attacks Political Prisoners at Evin

Dozens Beaten; Personal Belongings Smashed

Reports from Iran indicate that on Thursday around 100 security agents and riot police, accompanied by IRGC and Intelligence Ministry personnel, entered the notorious Evin Prison, and its Section 350, where political prisoners are held, to conduct “a search.”

The security agents used extreme violence when prisoners objected to the irregular search, with the police smashing TV sets, equipment and personal belongings of the prisoners, and beating dozens of detainees who were later placed in solitary confinement at Section 240.

The Fascist-type search of political prisoners’ cells, beating the detainees and smashing their personal belongings in this day and age is outrageous. Reporters Without Borders, among other human rights organizations, has condemned the police brutality. To read their report, please click here.

File photo: Evin Prison, Tehran. (roxanasaberi.com)

Rafsanjani Warns Iranian Politicians of Bringing Internal Divisions into Open

Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the former president and an elder statesman of Iranian politics, today called on country’s politicians to approach the difficulties facing the country through prudence, wisdom and use of expertise and avoiding self-centered promotion. Rafsanjani, making the comments to Shia seminaries in the holy city of Qum, added that the leaders should not let their internal divisions and their mismanagement of the issues facing the country strengthen the enemies’ hands. (Aftab News, 24 October)

Rafsanjani was referring to the growing and bitter infighting between President Ahmadinejad and Judiciary Chief Sadegh Larijani over the president’s request to visit the notorious Evin prison in Tehran and Larijani’s refusal to issue permit to a sitting president to visit the country’s main prison.

In an unusually sarcastic and harsh criticism of the president, Larijani wrote in an open letter, widely published in all major media today, that Ahmadinejad was acting “like a king who has confiscated people’s properties only to accuse the people of not respecting his property rights.” He also accused the president of putting himself above the country’s constitution and the separation of powers and again denied him permission to visit Evin.

Ahmadinejad had earlier called the refusal by the judiciary to let him visit the prison an “unconstitutional” act and denial of fundamental rights of any citizens, including those of the country’s sitting president.

Faezeh Hashemi Arrested

Taken to Evin Prison

Iranian authorities took Faezeh Hashemi, a former member of Majlis and daughter of Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, to prison Saturday on charges of “spreading anti-state propaganda.”

Ms. Hashemi was convicted in January and sentenced to six-month jail for an interview she gave to an opposition news website in which she criticized human rights violations in Iran. She was taken to the notorious Evin prison at 11:00 p.m. on Saturday.

Faezeh represented Tehran in Majlis between 1996 and 2000 and founded the popular women’s magazine Zan. Her father is one of the founders of the Islamic Republic and has served two terms as Iran’s president. 

File Courtesy Photo: Faeze Hashemi. (Radio Farda)

Baghi’s Condition Alarming

Reporters Without Borders today issued an alarm on the health of Emadoldin Baghi, the Iranian journalist and human rights activist. Baghi suffered double heart attacks at Evin prison on 26 December and was transferred to the emergency room at Qamar Bani Hachem hospital. He was returned to the prison yesterday.

“The conditions in which Baghi is being held are unacceptable,” said Reporters Without Borders. “He has been in solitary confinement ever since he was first taken to Evin, as if imprisonment was not already enough punishment. As his state of health has worsened steadily during the past two months, it is inconceivable that he should be expected to convalesce in prison.”

Saleh Nikbakht, Baghi’s lawyer, said the deterioration in Baghi's health was mainly due to the appalling conditions in the prison and to the harassment to which he has been subjected during interrogation sessions. “Emadoldin Baghi will not survive another heart attack,” he said.

Amnesty International Condemns Wave of Executions

Amnesty International today expressed alarm at the new wave of executions in Iran. Since the beginning of 2007, Iran has executed 250 people.

On Wednesday alone, nine people were executed in Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison, including a woman and a child offender. On the same day three others were executed in Shiraz.

Last week, two Kurdish rebels were hanged in Sanandaj.

Ghorbanpour Freed on Bail

Farshad Ghorbanpour, a journalist working for Roozonline and other reformist publications, was freed today after posting a bail. Ghorbanpour was arrested on 31 July and was transferred to the notorious Section 209 at Evin prison. He was one of the eleven journalists and cyber-dissidents being held at Evin.

Ghorbanpour had been arrested for "spreading lies against the system" and "giving news to websites outside the country." Reporters Without Borders has been actively seeking the release of Ghorbanpour and other detained journalists. (Please see the 2 August entry in this blog: “Iranian Journalists Under assault.”)

Shargh is Gone!

Shargh, one of Iran’s leading reformist papers, was closed down today. The government announced that the reason for the ban was “the publication of an interview with an anti-revolutionary and homosexual woman” (ISNA). The government was apparently alluding to an interview with Saghi Gharhraman, an Iranian-Canadian poet, which appeared under the title of “Womanly Talk” [Zaban-e Zananeh] in the paper’s literature section on 4 August (13 Mordad).

This is the second time that Ahmadinejad’s government is closing Shargh. The paper was banned last September after publishing a cartoon regarded by the government as personally insulting Ahmadinejad. The ban was rescinded in March. This time, it appears that Shargh is gone forever.

Shargh publisher Mohammad Reza Rahmanian told Jahan News that “today is the day that Shargh died.” Iranian journalists and reformist papers have been under assault by the government. Currently, 11 journalists and cyber-dissidents are detained in the notorious Security Section 209 at Tehran’s Evin prison. The closing of Shargh is the latest move in government's all-out war against free press in Iran.

Iranian Journalists Under Assault

The government arrested another journalist on Tuesday, Farshad Ghorbanpour. He was transferred to the notorious Security Section 209 at Evin prison. Reporters Without Borders reports the number of journalist and cyber-dissidents currently detained in Iran has risen to 11. Ghorbanpour worked for several publications including Roozonline.

Also on Tuesday, Emadoldin Baghi was sentenced to three years in prison. Baghi, 45, was released from prison in February 2004 after serving a three-year sentence. On leaving the prison, Mr. Baghi set up an organization to defend the rights of prisoners of conscious. He was banned from leaving the country and has been summoned for questioning by the ministry of intelligence on numerous occasions. He is now sentenced to another three years in prison.

Reporters Without Borders reports that Baghi’s wife and his daughter were also given three-year suspended prison sentences and five years of probation for taking part in a series of human rights workshops in Dubai in 2004. The charges were meeting and colluding with the aim of disrupting national security.

Along with Ghorbanpour, the government also arrested Masoud Bastani who was later released after questioning. Bastani was sentenced to six months in prison in 2003, 70 lashes and a five-year ban as a journalist. He was again imprisoned in 2005 after reporting on a demonstration for the release of Akbar Ganji.

Reporters Without Borders reports that another Roozonline journalist, Soheil Asefi, has also received a summons to appear before a court after prosecutor’s agents searched him home, taking personal documents and the hard disk of his computer.

On the same day, the government confirmed that two Kurdish journalists, Adnan Hassanpour and Abdolvahed “Hiva” Botimar, had been sentenced to death. A revolutionary court in Marivan, Kurdistan had charged them as “mahareb,” or enemies of God.

Reporters Without Borders is circulating a petition for the release of the two journalists sentenced to death.

News from Iran

The government clampdown on dissent and its decision to ration gasoline dominated the coverage in the Iranian media. In the past few weeks the Iranian government has started a massive crack down on pro-reform press, student organizations, labor unions, former high-level government officials, Iranian-American personalities visiting the country, and the restive public. On the economy front, President Ahmadinejad rejected a proposal to allow drivers who reached their limit to purchase more fuel at a higher price. The authorities also arrested over 80 people for damaging gas stations during protests against fuel rationing. A former oil minister confirmed published reports that Iran’s oil production is rapidly depleting due to lack of foreign investment. Iran can loose all its oil export revenues by 2014 if no new investment were available to expand the oil production.

Crackdown on Dissent
· On 2 July, the government closed down the pro-reform daily Ham-Mihan and suspended the activities of the independent news agency ILNA.
· On 10 July, the government ordered the final closure of ILNA.
· On 5 July, the police special forces stormed the top-ranked Polytechnic University and arrested 11 student leaders. The student leaders have been transferred to the notorious Evin Prison.
· On 10 July, Masour Osanloo, a labor union leader, was kidnapped near his house. It is widely believed that the plain-cloth men who picked him up were the agents of the Ministry of Intelligence.
· In the past month, four Iranian-Americans personalities visiting the country have been charged with promoting velvet revolution in Iran and three of them are kept at Evin Prison.
· In May, the government arrested Hossein Mossavian, the country’s former nuclear negotiator and a close ally of former president Hashemi Rafsanjani. Mossavian has since been accused of espionage.
· On 9 July, the Intelligence Ministry announced the arrest of 20 people who allegedly were part of a spy network.
· On 27 June, authorities arrested 80 people on the charge of damaging gas stations during protests against fuel rationing.

In December, the people will elect the 8th Majlis (Iranian parliament). In June 2009, the people will elect the 10th president of the Islamic Republic. Ahmadinejad and fundamentalist groups want to hold on power in Majlis and Ahmadinejad himself wants to be reelected as president. The pro-reform press, the student leaders and union activist, the former high-level officials in Rafsanjani and Khatami administrations, including the Three Ayatollahs (Rafsanjani, Khatami and Karubi), the Iranian-American pro-reform personalities and anyone protesting against the government is now viewed as enemy. To get reelected and to keep Majlis in his camp, Ahmadinejad needs to defeat the alliance formed by the pro-reform movement. The five months left to the parliamentary elections may well prove the most challenging period for proponents of reform and democracy in Iran.

Other Domestic Storylines
· President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad decided against a proposal to allow motorists to purchase more gasoline than their rations at free market price; Ahmadinejad said doing so would push up the country’s inflation rate to unaccepted levels; he said setting a free market price for gas under the present circumstances is a “killer poison” for the country's economy; the gasoline ration of about one gallon per day per car went into effect earlier in the month; a number of officials, including the Minister of Energy, had previously said that the drivers who reached their limit would be able to purchase more fuel at a higher price.
· Iranian authorities announced the arrest of 80 persons on the charge of damaging gas stations and looting shops during protests against fuel rationing.
· Four trucks smuggling gasoline our of Iran crashed into each other and caught fire in southeastern country, killing 13 people; the trucks crashed near the Pakistan border; fuel smuggling from Iran to neighboring countries is common because the country has one of the lowest fuel prices in the region.
· Iran’s former oil minister Akbar Torkan said Iran produces four million bpd of crude oil, but without new investment, five percent of this production capacity will be gone every year; Torkan was confirming published reports that Iran was in danger of loosing its oil exports by 2014 if no new foreign investment were attracted to work in the country’s oil fields; US sanctions prohibit American and foreign companies to invest in Iranian oil and gas industry.
· A man convicted of adultery was stoned to death in Aghchekand, 124 miles west of Tehran; the spokesman for the judiciary did not elaborate on how the stoning was carried out; The execution came two weeks after the Iranian officials had delayed carrying out the sentence against Jafar Kiani and after the head of the Judiciary had said that the sentence will not be carried out; Kiani’s female companion, Mokarrameh Ebrahimi, who also was sentenced to death by stoning is still in prison.

The Nuclear Program
· IAEA Chief Mohammad ElBaradei said Iran has slowed down the expansion of its nuclear enrichment capabilities at Natanz ; Hamid Reza Haji Babaei, a member of the National Security Committee of Majlis (Iranian parliament), denied reports that Iran had slowed down the pace of its nuclear activities at Natanz facility; Haji Babaei said Iran had not agreed with anyone to reduce its uranium enrichment activities; he added that uranium enrichment was regarded as the red line for Iran and that all previous nuclear activities are still continuing and at the same pace.
· Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran’s ambassador to IAEA, said that Iran expects that the new round of talks between EU foreign policy chief and Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator will lead to conclusive results; Soltanieh welcomed EU “new trend” in favoring negotiations on Iran’s nuclear standoff.
· President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad rejected any talks of uranium enrichment suspension as part of an agreement with EU to head off a showdown with the West over the country’s nuclear program.
· An IAEA delegation, headed by the agency’s deputy chief, arrived in Tehran.

Regional Storylines
· The leader of an Al Qaida in Iraq warned Iran in a new audiotape to stop supporting the Shia in Iraq; Al Qaida warned Iran would face a ''severe war'' if it continued its support of the Shia.
· Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said that the five Iranians diplomats detained by US forces in Iraq complained about poor conditions during their meeting with Iranian ambassador to Iraq; Hosseini said the detainees have access to minimum facilities and were under psychological pressure by their US captors; Ambassador Hassan Kazemi Qumi and three other Iranian diplomats had a five-hour meeting with the detainees for the first time since their arrest.
· Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini denied published reports that Iran had played a big role in Hamas's seizure of Gaza from Palestinian security forces.
· Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said the three islands of Greater Tunb, Lesser Tunb and Abu-Musa are an inseparable and eternal part of the soil of the Islamic Republic of Iran; Hosseini criticized the statement issued at the conclusion of the Gulf Cooperation Council in Riyadh backing UAE’s claims on the three islands.