Arbitrary arrests/ fear of torture or ill-treatment/ possible prisoners of conscience

PUBLIC AI Index: MDE 13/147/2007

13 December 2007

UA 331/07

Arbitrary arrests/ fear of torture or ill-treatment/ possible prisoners of conscience

IRAN

Between 20 and 30 students (male and female) associated with the student group Students for Freedom and Equality (Daneshjouyan-e Azadi Khah va Beraber Talab), including:

Rosa 'Essa'ie, (f) member of Iran's Armenian minority, student at Tehran's Amir Kabir University

Mehdi Geraylou (m), student at Tehran University

Anousheh Azadfar (f), student at Tehran University

Ilnaz Jamshidi (f), student at Free University of Central Tehran

Rouzbeh Safshekan (m), student at Tehran University

Nasim Soltan-Beigi (m), student at 'Allameh Tabatabai University

Yaser Pir Hayati (m), student at Shahed University

Younes Mir Hosseini (m), student at Shiraz University

Milad Moini (m), student at Mazandaran University

Between 20 and 30 students, including those named above, are being detained without charge mostly in Tehran but also other cities, following scores of demonstrations and mass student sit-ins linked to Iran's national University Students' Day, 7 December. They may be prisoners of conscience, detained solely for exercising their right to freedom of expression and association, and it is feared that they could be tortured or otherwise ill-treated in detention.

Dozens of students have been detained over the last six weeks, following protests against the replacement of scores of professors and other actions apparently intended to further limit of freedom of expression on university campuses, including the banning of a number of student publications, and suspensions and expulsions of students from their places of higher education. Activists from the students' groups, the Office for Strengthening Unity (Daftar-e Tahkim-e Vahdat) and Students For Freedom and Equality (Daneshjouyan-e Azadi Khah va Beraber Talab) were said to be among those who took part in these demonstrations.

According to a report from news agency Agence France Presse (AFP) on 11 December, a spokesperson for Iran's judiciary stated that it continues to hold up to 24 students, including some arrested in previous months; the Persian-language website: http://takravi1.blogfa.com/ features 28 names. Most of those detained in Tehran are said to be held in sections 209 and 240 of Evin Prison and others in a state intelligence unit called Daftar-e Paygiri (Follow-up Office).

The recent student demonstrations - often involving hundreds of students - took place in Shahroud, east of Tehran; at Mazandaran University in Babolsar in the north of the country; and in Shiraz, in the south. One student in custody, Yaser Pir Hayati, is known to be a student at Tehran's Shahed University, an establishment solely for the children of Iranians killed during the Iran-Iraq war (1980-1988). On 12 December, family members of those still detained gathered outside Evin prison and outside Iran's parliament building to protest against the incommunicado detention of their relatives.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION Student groups have been at the forefront of demands for greater human rights in Iran in recent years. Since the election of President Ahmadinejad in 2005, there have been increasing restrictions on civil society in Iran. In April 2007, Minister of Intelligence Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejeie publicly accused student activists and campaigners for the rights of women in Iran of being part of an "enemy conspiracy".

RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible, in Persian, English, Arabic or your own language:

- calling on the authorities to release all students detained in recent weeks if they are prisoners of conscience, held solely on account of the peaceful exercise of their rights, and for any others to be tried promptly and fairly, in accordance with international fair trial standards, on recognisably criminal charges or else released;

- seeking details of any charges brought against those in detention;

- seeking assurances that none of those arrested is subject to torture or other ill treatment;

- calling on the authorities to ensure that these detainees have unfettered access to relatives, legal representation, and any medical attention they may require;

- reminding the authorities that confessions extracted under duress are prohibited by Article 38 of the constitution of Iran, which says that "All forms of torture for the purpose of extracting confession or acquiring information are forbidden," and that Iran is a state party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), of which Article 7 states that "No one shall be subjected to cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment.".

APPEALS TO: (Time difference = GMT + 3.5 hrs / BST + 2.5 hrs):

Leader of the Islamic Republic

His Excellency Ayatollah Sayed 'Ali Khamenei

The Office of the Supreme Leader, Islamic Republic Street - Shahid Keshvar Doust Street

Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran

Email: info@leader.ir

[Salutation: Your Excellency]

Head of the Judiciary

Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi

Howzeh Riyasat-e Qoveh Qazaiyeh / Office of the Head of the Judiciary

Pasteur St., Vali Asr Ave., south of Serah-e Jomhouri, Tehran 1316814737, Islamic Republic of Iran

Email: info@dadgostary-tehran.ir (In the subject line write: FAO Ayatollah Shahroudi)

[Salutation: Your Excellency]

Minister of Intelligence

Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejeie

Ministry of Intelligence, Second Negarestan Street, Pasdaran Avenue, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran

[Salutation: Your Excellency]

PLEASE SEND COPIES OF YOUR APPEALS TO: His Excellency Mr Rasoul Movahedian, Embassy of Islamic Republic of Iran, 16 Prince's Gate, London SW7 1PT.

Fax: 020 7589 4440

Email: info@iran-embassy.org.uk

AND, IF POSSIBLE, TO THE FOLLOWING:

President

His Excellency Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

The Presidency, Palestine Avenue, Azerbaijan Intersection, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran

Email: dr-ahmadinejad@president.ir via website: www.president.ir/email

Speaker of Parliament

His Excellency Gholamali Haddad Adel

Majles-e Shoura-ye Eslami, Baharestan Square, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran

Fax: 0098 21 3355 6408

Email: hadadadel@majlis.ir (Please ask that your message be brought to the attention of the Article 90 Commission)

PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY

Iranian agents detain activists planning a protest at a university

Iran's Intelligence Ministy has detained a group of activists it described as hecklers who planned to stage an illegal gathering in Teheran University, state television reported Sunday.

Quoting a statement by the Intelligence Ministry, the TV report said the activists, who came from various cities, entered the university using fake identification cards before they were detained.

The report said intelligence officers confiscated concussion grenades, illegal books and statements as well as alcoholic beverages from the detainees.

It did not elaborate on number of detainees or say when the arrest took place. But on Tuesday, a group of leftist students said 33 students and activists including four women were detained after they staged a protest on the Teheran University campus.

Iranian Students Protest at University

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Hundreds of Iranian students angry over a crackdown on activists protested Sunday at Tehran University, the second such demonstration in less than a week, witnesses and state radio said.

One witness, Mehdi Arabshahi, said the campus protest lasted more than two hours as dozens of students chanted slogans against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's hardline administration.

"Students chanted against policies by Ahmadinejad's administration, which is imposing pressures on the universities and detaining activists," Arabshahi said.

Another witness, Abbas Kazemi, said the protesters also chanted anti-war slogans aimed at the United States and Israel.

He said students from other universities joined in the protest and broke one of the university's gates. But, Kazemi said, there were no clashes with police and no one was detained.

Tehran state-run radio confirmed in a news brief that students held a protest at Tehran University, saying the students chanted slogans against officials. It also said a group of non-students entered the university after breaking one of the gates but provided no other details. The media was not allowed to enter the university.

The university and its surrounding neighborhood was calm after the gathering and welders were repairing the broken gate.

The protests were held to mark National Day of Students, which has been celebrated since 1953 when three Iranian students were shot to death by police during a protest to a visit by the then-Vice President Richard Nixon.

State TV also announced Sunday that Iran's Intelligence Ministry had detained a group of activists it described as hecklers who planned to stage an illegal gathering at Tehran University.

Quoting a statement by the ministry, the TV report said the activists, who came from various cities, entered the university using fake identification cards before they were detained.

The report said intelligence officers confiscated concussion grenades, illegal books and alcoholic beverages from the detainees.

It did not elaborate on the number of detainees or say when the arrests took place.

But last week, a group of leftist students said 33 students and activists including four women were detained Tuesday after they staged a protest on the Tehran University campus.

Students were once the main power base of Iran's reform movement but have faced intense pressure in recent years from Ahmadinejad's hard-line government, making anti-government protests rare.

Since October, students from different universities have staged occasional protests over educational shortages, the firings of liberal teachers and dentition of activists.

About 100 students staged a rare protest in October against Ahmadinejad, calling him a "dictator" as he gave a speech at Tehran University marking the beginning of the academic year.

The president faced a similar outburst during a speech in December 2006 when students at Amir Kabir Technical University called him a dictator and burned his picture.

28 Students arrested and incarcerated in the intelligence agency's lockup

On Tuesday the 4th of December, Security police and masked intelligence agents arrested 28 students during a demonstration against the Iranian government. Some of them are detained in solitary confinement in the notorious high security lockup of 209 and some in the small lockup of the intelligence agency in central Tehran called Tracking office (Daftare Peygiri).

The names of the arrested students, which were published by the website of the student base, are as follows. From the University of Mazandaran; Milad Moeeni, Behrang Zandi, Hamed Mohammadi, Arash Pakzad, Nader Ahsani and Hassan Moarefi.

Saeed Habibi whom was a prior member of the central council of solidarity strengthening (Shoraye markaziye daftare tahkime vahdat). From the university of Tehran; Anooshe Azadfar, Behrooz Karimizade, Mehdi Gerayloo, Rouzbeh Safshekan and Rouzbehan Amiri. From the Polytechnic University; Ali Salem and Mohsen Ghamin. From the Al'ame University; Nasim Soltanbeigi and Saeed Agham-Alikhalili.

From the Shahed University; Yasser Pirhayati. From the Industrial university of Sharif; Keyvan Amiri-Alyassi. From the Central Tehran Azad University; Ilnaz Jamshidi, Mahsa Mohabi, Ali Kallayi, Amir Mehrzad, Hadi Salaari, Farshid Farhadi Ahangaran, Amir Aghayi, Milad Omrani.

The widespread arrestment of the students begun when Security forces raided the homes of a majority of the left winged students, whom were planning to initiate a demonstration on "Students Day" inside the Tehran University. Some of the students were arrested at the student day demonstration preparation meeting at the University by the Security forces. Even though it is prohibited for the security forces to enter the university, they crossed the threshold and in a very discussable and vicious attack arrested two students inside the university, and removed them from the complex.

Even in the University of Shiraz, armed security forces brutally attacked Yunes Mirhosseini, a part of the student movement, hit him all bloody and kidnapped him. No information about the whereabouts of the detainment or the conditions of the imprisonment of Mr. Mirhosseini has been specified. However one can clearly see the connection of his arrestment and the involvement in initiating the student meeting.

Besides Nasim Soltanbeigi whom called his family, and told them that he has been arrested, the families of the other students that have been arrested have separately attended the revolutionary court to gain some information about the conditions and the grounds of the arrestments of their children.

In addition to the 28 students whom was recently arrested, so have these students; Ahmad Ghassaban, Ehsan Mansouri, Majid Tavakoli, Ali Nikoonesbaty and Ali Azizi been arrested by the intelligence agency and are detained in Evin prison.

Protest the arrest of students in Iran!

According to the news received by the Communist Youth Organisation of the Worker-Communist Party of Iran today, December 2, the police forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran has raided the residences of Anoushe Azadfar and Elnaz Jamshidi, arrested them, and taken them to an unknown place. Elnaz Jamshidi’s brother, who was inquiring about his sister’s situation, was also arrested. Mehdi Garailou, Ehsan Azadfar, and Nader Ahsani have also been arrested by the police forces. Saeed Habibi, another student activist, has also disappeared and there is no information about his whereabouts. Saeed’s family has not been able to acquire any information about him. Six student activists of Mazandaran University have also been arrested and have been taken to an unknown place. Some other students have been trapped inside the University of Tehran. The police have surrounded the university in order to arrest these students: Behrouz Karimizadeh, Peyman Piran, Bijan Sabbaq, and Behzad Baqeri.

The students have been arrested because of their activities towards the University Student Day on December 7. The main focus of the protests and meetings for this year is the arrest and torture of students and political prisoners and the United States’ military threats. Every year students and other sections of society organise meetings, demonstrations and marches that usually take place around universities.

The Islamic regime in Iran attacks any protest; it intends to oppress any resistance. Despite the regime’s brutality, students are determined to make this year’s December 7 protests and meetings larger and stronger than ever.

The Communist Youth Organisation calls upon Amnesty International and all other human rights organisations and libertarians around the world to condemn the Islamic Republic of Iran for the arrest of the student activists and to demand the immediate and unconditional release of them and all political prisoners.

Libertarians of the world!

Iranian students and youth are in need of your support to resist the anti-human Islamic regime in Iran. The Islamic Republic of Iran should be pressured in every possible way; the regime should be flooded with protesting letters; it should be opposed through demonstrations. The anti-human activities of this regime should be condemned and should be pushed back.

Communist Youth Organisation

December 2, 2007

Protest the Arrest of Libertarian and Egalitarian Students in Iran

According to the news received by The Committee for the Freedom of Political Prisoners in Iran today, December 2, the police forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran raided the house of one of left-wing student activists and arrested a number of students that had gathered there for the preparation of December 7 activities. December 7 is the University Students Day in Iran. Every year alongside university students all factions of society make protests and meetings on this day and express their demands. The students had announced that this year the meetings, activities and protests would be held on December 4.

The names of some of the students that have been arrested in the raid today are as follows: Anoushe Azadfar, Mehdi Garailou, Elnaz Jamshidi, Ehsan Azadfar, Nader Ahsani, and Saeed Habibi.

The police forces of the Islamic regime have also taken position around University of Tehran in order to arrest some other student activists. According to the news that we have received Behrouz Karimizadeh, Peyman Piran, Bijan Sabbaq, and Behzad Baqeri are among the students that have been trapped inside University of Tehran. As the night approaches their arrest become more likely. According to the same news two other non-student leftist activists have also been called to the Ministry of Intelligence.

The Committee for the Freedom of Political Prisoners calls on all libertarian organizations around the world to react urgently against these arrests and put pressure on the Islamic Republic for the immediate, unconditional release of the arrested students. The Committee for the Freedom of political Prisoners demands the immediate release of these students and the formerly arrested student activists, Ahmad Qassaban, Ehsan Mansouri, and Majid Tavakkoli. The Committee also demands the immediate release of worker activists Mahmoud Salehi, Ebrahim Madadi, Mansour Asanlou and all political prisoners.

We call upon all humanitarian and libertarian organizations around the world to protest against the Islamic Republic of Iran in every possible way and to send protesting letters to condemn the attacks of the Islamic regime against the people’s movements in Iran and in support of the political prisoners.

The Committee for the Freedom of Political Prisoners in Iran
December 2, 2007

Iran_political_prisoner@yahoo.com
b.mehrabadi@gmail.com
+44 777 989 89 68

No Knowledge about the state of the being of an imprisoned student

The Family of Yasser Goli, a student from the city of Sanandaj whom
was arrested in the beginning of October in front of The Sanandaj Azad
University, still do not have any information regarding the state of
the being of their son.

According to Mr. Goli's Brother, Yasser was only allowed to make two
phone calls from prison to his family, both of them limited to only
four minutes. During this calls Yasser was not allowed to mention
anything relating to his detention. Yasser is suffering from heart
problems.

Even though Yasser Goli was arrested by the agents of the intelligence
ministry and with the orders of the mayor of Sanandaj, the court of
Sanandaj has still not officially declared on what grounds he was
arrested.

According to Yasser's brother his family has been maltreated and been
exposed to obscenities while at court. One month after the arrestment
of Yasser, his father referred to the information section of the
intelligence ministry in order to find out about Yasser's condition,
he was arrested at site and imprisoned for six days.

The court has not given permission to Mr. Saleh Nikbakht whom is
legally representing Mr. Yasser Goli, to neither investigate or to
access the files relating to his client; neither had he been allowed
meeting his client.

Mr.Yasser Goli was the preceding chairman of the Kurdish democratic
student association. According to the orders of the intelligence
agency he is deprived of any further academic education.

The torture of an educator in the prison of the intelligence agency

Farzad Kamangar, an educator and member of the teachers union in the
village of Kamyaran in the west of Iran has been tortured in the
lockup of the intelligence agency.

During the summer of 2006 Farzad Kamangar along with his friends, Ali
Heydarian and Farhad Vakili was arrested by the agents of the
intelligence agency in the city of Sanandaj. During the four initial
months the family of Mr. Kamangar was unaware of the location of his
imprisonment; later it was stated that Farzad was imprisoned in the
high security lockup 209.

In advance to those statements, human rights activists in the west of
Iran had reported that Farzad Kamangar was held in solitary
confinement in 209 security lockup and was severely exposed to both
psychological and Physical abuse. Farzad has recently described on a
letter that was smuggled out of prison, the torture he was exposed to.
He has written in that letter, that as soon as the interrogator found
out he was Kurdish he was flogged with a garden hose. He also wrote
that he was dreadfully affronted because of his beliefs, and was
intensely beaten.

Farzad Wrote, that he was tied down to a chair in a little confined
space close to the prison clinic for 24 hours. He was not permitted to
visit the lavatory nor to eat.

Farzad also wrote in his letter that following the increase of torture
and pursue in the security lockup of 209 he was exposed to, and the
harassment of his family, and the arrestment of a girl that he was
interested in, he attempted a suicide in the security lockup 209, he
threw himself down the stairs, however he did not succeed.

In security lockup 209 he was incarcerated in a very small cell where
he was not permitted to go out for fresh air, neither was he allowed
having any contact with his family via the telephone or meeting his
defending lawyer.

Furthermore he wrote that during October 2006, even when no accusation
had been made against him, he was transferred from the security lockup
of 209, to the lockup of the intelligence agency in the city of
Kermanshah and was incarcerated in solitary confinement measuring 1m x
1m x 0.6m. In this incarceration he was exposed to noise torture and
was only allowed to leave the cell only twice in order to use the
toilet. In the basement of the lockup he was tied down to a bed and he
was than flogged on the back and on the feet.

Continuously Farzad wrote that he was taken to the basement of the
lockup where he was stripped of his clothes and then raped. In protest
to this ill treatment he hit his head against the wall several times.

Declaration of Socialist students of Polytechnic University in protesting the issuance of strong decrees against Students

Ahmad Ghasaban, Majid Tavakolli and Ehsan Mansoori, three students from the Polytechnic University, after tolerating 5 months of torture and prison, have been condemned to several years of prison for criticizing the government in the regime’s court of injustice. The strong decrees issued against critical students clearly show the government will to oppress the university as part of the society. The power of universities comes from the critics of students. The despotism always fears criticism. That’s why oppressing the universities has a special place in oppressing the society by the government. Issuance of long prison decrees for active students and oppressing the student’s movement is, no doubt, part of torture, prison and oppression for the Worker’s movement activists, women and teachers.

In such conditions, unity and united struggle of students and their insistence on a radical criticizing of the government and its bases of power, is an obvious necessity. These struggles can only be fruitful only with organizing students as an independent grouping. That’s the only way for the students not to be the puppets of power factions and the victim of their conflict; that’s the only way that they can, with capitalizing on their real power, make the government retreat in face of their demands. It is obvious that a group that in face of struggle for freedom and equality, let go of its principles and stances and, opportunistically (with the excuse of lessening the pressure of the government on university and for realizing the student’s demands) bases itself on the reformists inside the government and backs their interests, is by no means eligible to lead the radical student struggles. This is a truth that has already been proven several years in the recent years of student’s struggles.

Establishing severe strangulation in the society and unrelenting oppression of social liberties has everything to do with the regime’s situation in the international aspect and threats of the World Imperialism. There is no doubt that the question of war is one of the main crises facing us. The capitalist system, in order to realize its forceful interest, in continuation of capital-made wars, does consider attacking Iran and giving the power to a puppet government. The excuse of War with Iran, like the wars before, will be regime’s accesses to nuclear weapons, improving liberal democracy or fighting terrorism. What Iranian people have so called got from the conflict between the world capitalism and political Islam is increasing poverty and wide oppression. Surely war would give us nothing but damage, poverty and misery. In these conditions, opposing any kind of foreign intervention in determining the people’s destiny, exposing the real intentions of Imperialism in attacking the country, exposing the pro-war liberals while fighting the ruling reaction, are all definite duties of militant and aware students. In this way, student’s movement linkage to other liberation movements of the society like the worker’s movement, women’s movement and teacher’s movement is a obvious necessity. The only way for emancipation of the status quo, is awareness of masses of people and their intention to change the status quo and building a human society. And we, in the way to emancipation, have nothing to lose but our chains.

Long Live Freedom and Equality

Socialist students of Polytechnic University

the report of international campaingn of polytechnic universitys to protest to verdict of the revoloutionary court

peoples struggle for obtaining more humans liberty still continues. but this fight for gaining more radical advantages goes ahead by leaders of the universitys campaigners.the imperial regim of islamic republic which is frightened and weak, by invading to campaigners all around iran,started a new period of suppressing .
in this way,the regim uses all its force ,like pain polices ,security agents ,basij organization and dependent students.
by passing no time from the new yaers of universities,
produced a new wave activity of the protester groups and their axion, and they have become more organised,so ,whith regard to analysing the situation ,the campaigners insist on for having their own independent organization.
every govermental or semi govermental organization which is delegate of the regim ,can not be the campaigners representative.
rigidity of the world imperialism and the regim which opposed to equalism and secular groups while youngsters ,labourer and women by uniting to the campaighners ,showed an alarm to the regim.workers and labourers now ,know their root of their difficultis and problems which they have to struggle for ,so they are prepared for destroying the imperialism totally.
this heavy space in universitis ,cause abuse of some internal and external groups which protect imperialism, influence of ideas which build obsticle in the protesters way ,will not be successful.so, for neutrifying ther regim activity ,and for preventing of any deviation from govermantal organization ,its necessary to form a thourou organization by uniting all the protester groups like: women ,workers ,students...
the international liberty company of polytecnic ,for supporting the other independent groups ,and for overturn the unfair verdict agains students,and protest to radical activity of the regim like : attacking to ahvaz university ,arresting yasere goli ,sabbahe nasri and hedaiat ghazali ,and invading to axions , annouce their protest all over the world

our view : the regim must overturn the verdict of student and political prisoners like mahmood salehi,mansoor osanloo ,ebrahim maddadi ,their rights(like having their own society and newspapers ) must not be infringed . the international company opposed to the verdicts of regim courts and invite all the humanright organizations worldwide to protect of political prisoners in iran.