Reactions to the violation of Human Rights in Iran
1. On Saturday the 10 August 2013, Shahram Pour-Mansouri, a high-security prisoner in Section 4 of Rajai Shahr prison in Karaj went on a hunger strike in protest against the inhumane conditions in prison and the violent behaviour of the prison authorities.
2. Six prisoners of conscience serving in section 350 of Evin prison, namely, Reza Shahabi-Zakariya, Fereydoon Seyyedi-Raad, Soroush Sabet, Saeed Haeri, Vahid-Ali Gholipoor, and Saeed Jalalifar, have gone on a hunger strike to protest the transfer of Saeed Matinpour to solitary confinement in section 240 of Evin prison.
3. For the second time in recent weeks, on the morning of Sunday 18 August, a large number of cinemagoers gathered in front of ‘House of Cinema.’ This gathering was organized to protest the closing of the entrance to the cinema building.
4. In a statement Reporters without Borders objected to the existence of arbitrary arrests in Iran.
Universities and Academics
1. Arash Mohammadi, a leftist student activist was sentenced to six months imprisonment in the Central Prison of Tabriz, following a verdict read on Sunday 21 July by the Third Branch of the Revolutionary Court of Tabriz.
2. Ali Akbar Motakan, Deputy for Administrative and Financial Affairs in the Ministry of Education, reported the authorization of a licence to create 13 same gender universities in Iran.
3. Peyman Samadi, a student, blogger and critic, is currently serving his sentence in Evin prison. Peyman Samadi, a student of Metallurgy at the University of Applied Sciences, was arrested for the first time by the intelligent services in October 2009.
Workers and vulnerable Strata of society
1. The workers of the Dam called “Darik Chay” in Salmas have not been paid their wages for the past eight months. The employer has fired and sent home about a 100 local workers in the past two months.
2. In the previous week, the head the union of Ahvaz has announced that 300 contract workers from the construction company ‘Solar’ in Ahvaz, who are supervised by this city’s waste-water council, have not received their salaries for four months.
3. In the morning of Monday 22 July, a group of Kurdistan workers gathered in front of Islamic Parliament for a third day.
4. The capital’s police chief, Sardar Hussain Sajedi Nia, announced a plan to inspect the performance of photography and film studios and said that so far 48 studios have been identified as lacking permits and were shut down.
5. The authorities have obstructed the transfer to hospital and medical treatment of Reza Shahabi Zakaria who is suffering from neck and back problems as well as from high blood pressure.
6. It has been reported that a Union representative in the factory, ‘Barak’, in the province of Rasht, in relation to the failure to pay salaries and fulfil the demands of 250 workers, statet that the workers of the unit have not received any payment since February of last year.
7. Free Union of Iranian Workers has stated that 2400 workers of ‘Profile Saveh’ and ‘Safa Navard Pipes’ did not receive any wages for four and two months respectively. Furthermore, the ‘Safa Navard Pipes’ factory, due to the failure to pay their workers, has been shut down for repairs and services until mid-August. These two factories belong to one employer.
8. A number of employees of the General Directorates of Youth and Sports in the province of Kermanshah, in a letter to secretary of Kermanshah province, demanded payments of their salaries arrears this year.
9. Mohammed Reza Najafi Manesh, a member of Khodro Vehicle Parts Association, stated that from last year until now at least 122 thousand workers in the vehicle parts industry have lost their jobs due to economic fluctuations.
The Sentences: Execution, Flogging, Amputation of the Hand, Imprisonment and Custody
1. In the last week a prisoner accused of drug trafficking was hanged in the Parsilun Prison in the city of Khorram Abad.
2. Hamidreza Farzaneh, an environmental activist, was arrested during a protest against the governor of Estahban city due negligence with respect to the burning of 2000 hectares of the Aras forest.
3. A young man named Rahman, who is accused of aiding and abetting his cousin in in the murder of an individual in a street fight, was sentenced to death by the court on the basis of qesas [the victim’s family’s legal right to demand the execution of the perpetrator].
4. Master Hasan Damirchi, an Azarbaijani civil activist was sentenced to six months imprisonment following receiving official court letter from the third branch of the Revolutionary Court of Tabriz.
Religious rights of ethnic diversity and beliefs in Iran
1. Ebrahim Firoozi, a Christian convert, was put on trial before the Revolutionary Court of the City of Robatkarim. During the trial he was informed of his charges, which included “attempting to set up a Christian website”, “Being in communication with significant individuals outside of Iran [who take issue with the Iranian government]”, “holding online church sessions” and “promoting Christian Zionism”.
2. In Esfahan, security forces barred an iftar [Ramadan fast-breaking] gathering at the house of a member of Freedom Movement of Iran.
3. In the last week 160 Sunni political prisoners in the Rajaie Shahr Prison in Karaj have gone on a two days hunger strike against the insults made against Sunnism by the mobile network provider, “Irancell.”
4. The Revolutionary Court of the Shiraz sentenced four Gonabadi Dervishes to eight years imprisonment and twelve years exile. The four Darvishes were accused on “being a member of a group opposing the system (the group of Majzooban-e Nour) with the intent of disrupting national security of the country” and “propaganda against the Islamic Republic of Iran”. Based on these charges, Saleheddin Moradi Sarvestani was sentenced to three years imprisonment and exile to the province of Hormozgan and Farzaneh Noori was given two years imprisonment as well as a three years exile to the province of Khuzestan.
5. Maryam Naghash and Zhinoos Rahimian, two women activists from religious minorities were taken to Evin prison following a summons by a prosecutor to serve their sentences. Maryam Naghash has been sentenced to 5 years imprisonment on a charge of Christian evangelism and Zhinoos Rahimian, a Baha’i citizen, has also been sentenced to one year imprisonment.
6. Yoosef Salehzadeh a Kurdish citizen, living in the city of Bookan, has been arrested and transferred to an unknown location. Until the publication of this report, there is no information available about the reason of arresting him and his location.
7. During court session on Monday the 31st July, which was held in Branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court of the city of Tehran, presided by judge Moghiseht, Firooz Hamidi, Abduljabar Hasani, Jamal Ghaderi and Borhan Asghariyan, sunni citizen were sentenced to total of 43 years imprisonment.
8. On Tuesday the 23th of July Ahmad Nasiri, a Sunni prisoner in Rajaie Shahr prison in the city of Karaj was again notified of his death sentence.
9. Tanin Torabi, who was in the third semester of her degree in English Language Translation at Imam Khomeini International University in Qazvin, was excluded from further study due to her belief in the Baha’i faith.
10. The death sentence of four Arab political prisoners in the city of Shadegan, who were earlier convicted by the Revolutionary Court of Ahwaz, was approved by the Supreme Court.
11. A total of 56 years of imprisonment of seven dervishes, including administrator of Majzooban Noor website as well as dervishes lawyers, is the main headline of a TV program named Daricheh 86. Mahtab Vahidirad has followed this topic by interviewing one of the dervishes and administrator of Majzooban Noor website’s wife.
Media and cyberspace
1. Colonel Kambiz Ismaili, the police chief of the police in the city of Kerman, has announced the identification and subsequent arrest of a website manager in this province who had began publishing songs and films on the website.
2. Although more than a month has passed since the detention of journalist, Ahmad Asgari, there has been no information on his condition.
3. In further news, according to a report on Thursday 18 July by a relative of the jailed journalist, Fariba Pajouh, Pajouh’s nervous attacks, stemming from the harsh conditions of her 124 days detention beginning in 2010, have restarted.
Other Human Rights Violations
1. Mohammad Taghi Karoubi, the son of Mr. Karoubi, has given news of the physical and psychological condition of Mehdi Karoubi following his transfer to hospital twice during the past week.
2. According to recent reports, Mohammad Nourizad, the author of ‘The Sacred Defence’, once again was summonsed to court. Mohammad Nourizad was previously a Principalist [Religious Conservative] journalist who after the 2009 elections took the side of the people and wrote letters of criticism to the Supreme Leader. He was summonsed to court on numerous occasions and has served time in prison.
3. The former student activist and honorary member of the Human Rights Commission of Lawyers, Afshin Karmian Nassab was given an exit ban and thereby barred from leaving the country.
4. The transfer to hospital of Seyyed Ahmad Hashemi, the former Director-General of Inspection of the Ministry of Interior of the government Seyyed Mohammad Khatami, has been prevented due to the fact that he refuses to accept the stated condition that he publicly repudiates the leaders of the Green Movement.
5. According to reports received on Wednesday 24 July due to the deterioration of the physical condition of Hossein Ronaghi Maleki and the withholding his medication due to the bleeding of his stomach, the authorities have resisted transferring him to hospital.
6. After 47 days of hunger strike and nearly twenty months solitary confinement concerns for the condition of Arash Sadeghi remain.
7. Reports state that the condition of five political prisoners on hunger strike in Tabriz prison has deteriorated.
8. More than 150 prison guards from Evin prison together with reinforcements sent from Ghazal Hessar prison raided ward 350 of Evin prison. Their action caused damage to prisoner’s personal belongings and even damaged the prison itself, their actions including damaging the air conditions, sockets and electrical wiring.
9. The army commander in Hamadan province, Gholamali Abu Hamzeh, said: The ‘hijab problem’ will not be solved through mere reminders. Rather, he advised that the problem of ‘bad hijab’ should be solved through methods of “force and beating.”
10. From Sunday 21 July the phone lines of political prisoners in Karun prison in Ahwaz have been cut. Prisoners who until now were permitted one three-minute long telephone call ever other day have now been prohibited from this activity.