Iran hangs man in Abadan
Farid Boghlani, a chain murderer in Abadan was hanged in the Karoun Prison in Ahwaz.
According to reports, Boghlani who was sentenced to 13 death sentences by the Penal Court in the province was taken to the gallows in the morning after months of anticipation. He was hanged with the presence of the families of his victims, reporters and judicial officials seeing to his case. (Fars state-run News Agency – Nov. 13, 2010)
Hand of prisoner will soon be chopped off in Mashhad
The hand of another robber will soon be chopped off in Mashhad. Prosecutor Mahmoud Zoqi and Colonel Ahad Karimi, the State Security Forces Commander in Mashhad said in separate interviews that in the near future, the amputation sentence of a thief who has committed violent crimes would be carried out in Mashhad. (Khorasan state-run Daily – Nov. 14, 2010)
Iran arrests 3 activists in Saqez
According to reports from Saqez, in the past few days, security forces arrested three Kurd activists in this town.
Haj Saied Fatahi, a 60 year old Bazaar merchant, Ali Mohammadian (Ali Khorkhoreyi), artist and Rozgar Moradi, a law student at Tabriz University were arrested.
Judicial officials in Saqez have not given any reason for the arrest of these men as yet. (Mukerian News Agency – Nov. 14, 2010)
Young protester suspiciously dies in detention
Last week, 30 year old Hamid Madmali who was arrested by the Intelligence Unit of the Revolutionary Guards Corps, suspiciously passed away in an unknown detention center. He was arrested on charges of insulting the leader in his contacts a satellite Persian network.
According to reports, Hamid Madmali who was from the town of Masjid Soleiman was arrested some time ago in his home in Tehran for having communications with a satellite Persian network and criticizing the leader and president of Iran.
RGC forces violently beat him upon his arrest and took him to an unknown location. His family’s months long pursuits for his whereabouts led to nowhere.
Finally after constant pursuits, intelligence agents buried his body in his birth place, Masjid Soleiman, under severe security measures and his brother was also threatened for filing a complaint against the relevant institution. (Human Rights activists in Iran – Nov. 14, 2010)
Iran arrests another labor activist in Saqez
On Thursday, November 11, labor activist Omar Ismail Pour, was summoned and arrested by the Revolutionary Guards Corps.
According to reports, no one knows where he was taken and what his current condition is. (Human Rights activists in Iran – Nov. 14, 2010)
Iran sentences student activist to 5 years of prison
Arash Sadeqi, an Alameh Tabatabayi University student who was banned from continuing his education was sentenced to five years of prison by a court of review. Sadeqi was a member of the Central Council of this university’s Islamic Association.
He was arrested on December 27, 2009 and spent more than a year in detention in cellblocks 2-A which is run by the Revolutionary Guards Corps and cellblock 209, run by the Intelligence Agency.
He is now free on a 500 million toman (about 500,000 dollar) bail. This is while despite being temporarily released from prison, security forces raided his home in the past few days to arrest him. His mother had a shock and heart attack as a result of the raid and passed away. (Committee of Human Rights Reporters – Nov. 13, 2010)
Another prison murdered in fight instigated by Gohardasht Prison officials
According reports, in a deadly clash in cellblock 5 in Gohardasht Prison in Karaj, prisoner Mohammad Baba Alian was murdered.
On the morning of November 14, at about 3 pm, 22 year old Mohammad Baba Alian was wounded after being stabbed in three parts of his body in a clash. His fellow inmates cried for help for about thirty minutes from behind the closed doors of cellblock 5’s hall before he was finally transferred to the infirmary. He was not immediately treated in the infirmary and no one did anything to stop his bleeding. Prison officials also refused to take him to a hospital outside of the prison and he passed away in front of other inmates without being given first aid.
Before this clash and in the past few days, Alian and his cellmate were reportedly summoned by the assistant head of prison Ali Mohammadi and Faraji, the head of the Intelligence Unit, to the Intelligence Unit and were instigated to fight with one another. They were separately told that if they murder the other prisoner, their sentences would be commuted. Despite the fact that these two prisoners had a friendly relationship with each other, threats and promises by the assistant head of prison and the head of the Intelligence Unit led to this horrific crime. (Human Rights and Democracy Activists in Iran – Nov. 15, 2010)
Iran expels student activist from medical university
Yaser Rahmani, a medical student at the Shiraz Medical Science University and the political secretary of the Islamic Association in this university was finally expelled from university after being kept in a state of limbo for one and a half years. He was expelled in a sentence by the Central Disciplinary Committee of the Ministry of Health and Hygiene…
Notably, in this time, the Protection Department of his university and security officials in the province of Fars tried to ruin the image of this student activist and member of the Office for Consolidating Unity by saying that he had given interviews and had made confessions under pressure whish he has strongly denies. (Daneshju News – Nov. 15, 2010)
15 protesters sentenced to prison for post-election protests
According to reports from Mashhad, 15 people were tried on charges of acting against national security and propagating against the government. Some of these people were arrested in 2009 and spent time in prison. They were sentenced to 3-16 years of prison. Their charges were having email communications with a number of people outside of the country. Three of them identified as Ali Ebadi, Mohammad Mirzayi and Mehdi Jalili are currently in prison and the rest are free on bail.
Notably, Ali Ebadi is a former political prisoner and has been detained in a solitary cell for more than a year.
Some of those sentenced are as follows:
Ali Ebadi, six years of prison
Mehdi Jalili, 16 years of prison
Hassan Oganji, 6 years of prison
Zohre Ebadi, wife of Hassan Oganji, three and a half years of prison
Javad Ebadi, 3 years of prison
Ahmad Mirzayi, six years of prison
Mohammad Ghobrayi, six years of prison
Salmas Parsi, three years of prison (Peik-e Iran – Nov. 15, 2010)
Iran detains 5 lawyers on security charges - report
Five lawyers have been arrested in Iran for security-related offences, a local news agency said on Sunday, the latest in a series of arrests of human rights' activists since last year's disputed presidential election.
Tehran general prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi said three of the lawyers were arrested when they returned from a trip to Turkey, the semi-official Fars news agency reported.
"Two other lawyers related to the three were also detained in Iran," the prosecutor told Fars.
"They have been detained for committing security-related offences and violating the Islamic Republic's moral standards outside Iran," he said, without elaborating on the charges.
Sara Sabaghian, Maryam Kian-Ersi and Maryam Karbasi were arrested at Tehran's International Imam Khomeini Airport on Saturday, the Sharq newspaper reported…
Judiciary chief Sadeq Larijani has warned lawyers over criticising the judicial system and on giving interviews to foreign media, the moderate Arman newspaper reported on Sunday. (Reuters - Nov 14, 2010)
Female prisoners still under pressure in Evin Prison’s methadone cellblock for giving out political statement from prison
According to reports, female political prisoners who were transferred to the methadone cellblock in Evin Prison on November 7 after phone lines in their previous cellblock were cut off are still kept under inhumane conditions. They are confined to a small space and since their transfer have been banned from going out for fresh air in the prison yard or using the cultural hall.
Female political prisoners were told that the reason behind their transfer to methadone cellblock (used for addicted prisoners) was a statement which was issued by a number of female prisoners when political prisoner Hengameh Shahidi was granted a leave from prison.
Currently, there are only 18 female prisoners in the female section in Evin Prison. Some of these prisoners are Nazila Dashti, Atefeh Nabavi, Mahdieh Golro, Farah Vazehan, Alieh Eqdam Doust, Bahareh Hedayat, Parvin Javadzadeh, Reihaneh Haj Ibrahimi and Zahra Bahrami. (Human Rights and Democracy Activists in Iran – Nov. 16, 2010)
Iran forces Ashtiani, son and lawyer to make false confession on state TV
Iranian state television has broadcast a purported statement by an Iranian woman sentenced to death by stoning for adultery in which she calls herself a 'sinner’.
The stoning sentence against the 43-year-old Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani has been put on hold and is now being reviewed by Iran's supreme court, but she still faces a possible death sentence by other means.
The outcry over the case is one of the latest thorns in Iran's relationship with the international community, as the U.S., EU and international human rights groups have urged Tehran to stay the execution.
A woman identified as Ashtiani said in the state TV report shown Monday: 'I am a sinner.' Her face was blurred and her words were voiced over in what the TV report said was a translation into Farsi from Azeri Turkish, which is spoken in parts of Iran.
The report also broadcast purported statements by two men whose faces were blurred that state TV identified as Ashtiani's son, Sajjad Qaderzadeh, and her lawyer, Houtan Kian, both of whom were arrested last month. It also aired comments from two Germans who were detained allegedly while trying to interview Ashtiani's family in October…
The broadcast of the purported statements appeared to be an attempt by Tehran to deflect international criticism of the case and focus attention instead on the West by accusing it of stirring up controversy over the case to damage the reputation of Iran's Islamic leadership. (AP – Nov. 15, 2010)
