Bereaved Relatives Appeal To UN’s Iran Human Rights Expert
Parts of Masih Alinejad’s interview with Mr. Ahmed Shaheed with partial English transcription by Tourang Birani.
Masih: “Hello Mr. Shahid. I have studied your report and as a reporter who has interviewed the families of the slain in the past two years, I believe that real reporters were those who were sending out information from inside Iran; people like Parvin Fahimi, the mother of Sohrab Arabi who was killed on June 15, 2009 during a peaceful demonstration. She was the first woman who transmitted the news about the killing of her son from inside Iran. I would like to ask your permission to call her so that she can ask the first question from you as a real reporter.
Parvin Fahimi: “I am the mother of Sohrab Arabi, one of the people killed in the aftermath of the presidential election in Iran in June 2009. My son along with many other children of this land participated in a peaceful civil protest. They were killed by the Basij and Revolutionary Guards forces.
After many inquiries, I was finally able to receive the body of my son after 26 days! I would like to ask regime officials what crime did my son commit to deserve being killed? and why is it that Mr. Larijani who is the head of judiciary in Iran claims that only one person was killed in the aftermath of the presidential election? And the president, Mr. Ahmadinejad says that only a few were killed and they were from the Basij and security forces!
But the pictures, films and documents printed all point to the fact that our youngsters were being murdered. Why does the judiciary refrain from holding a public hearing? and why do they always stop us from mourning the death of our children? Dear Mr. Ahmad Shahid, my expectations are that you pay closer attention to those who died after the election. And when you come to Tehran, please pay a visit to us and the families of the dead.
When our voices do not get anywhere in our own country, we are forced to take refuge with the United Nations and shout about seeking justice for our children. This is to prevent the repeat of this type of irresponsible actions both in Iran and in other places around the world; and no injustice is done against innocent people. Mr. Shahid, I have promised to forgive my son’s blood if all political prisoners and Mr. Mousavi, Mrs. Rahnavard and Mr. Karoubi are freed.
I shall let God to carry out justice for the crimes committed against me and my son. I wish peace for all people around the world.
Ahmad Shahid: “I thank you very much for the opportunity to hear a question directly from Tehran. Yes if I get to travel to Tehran, I would be very interested to meet with families of those who lost their lives after the June 2009 election. I would like to find out more about their condition in Iran.
Of course there are other people I would like to meet as well but I would definitely want to meet with the families of those who lost their lives after the presidential election in 2009. Regarding the other part of her question, I must say that yes there are problems and challenges regarding Iran’s judiciary. My report has also pointed out that there are many issues with Iran’s judiciary.
Iran must act transparently regarding this matter. My report is not a complete document. This report is only a sample of issues of concern. This report is not all encompassing. The report is a tool to force Iran to open the doors to the United Nations so we can do more investigation regarding the human rights situation in Iran.
So my response to her is yes I would very much like to meet the families of those who lost their lives and to hear first hand information from these families. Their worries are also my worries.
Masih: “I would like you to hear the second question from another family member of someone who was killed after the presidential election”
Second Witness: “Hello, I am very happy that finally at least one person is willing to listen to our stories. I am the spouse of Ali Hassanpour who was killed on June 15, 2009. They did not return the body of my husband for 105 days! I would like to ask you now that we cannot meet you in Tehran, is it possible that we could talk to you on the phone directly so that we can present to you all the documents we have? These are documents that have been certified by judges in my own country. They have testified that my husband has been shot by a gun belonging to the Basij. Is it possible for us to make a trip to the U.N. to meet you in person; can you guarantee our safety; or is there another way for us to present our documents to you?
Ahmad Shahid: “My response to her is yes. There are ways for her to present details of her situation to me using email, skype and other means. But what I cannot guarantee is her safety because I am outside the country and of course we are in a situation where most regime officials are threatening, harassing, intimidating and in some instances injuring those who spread the news. These are problems. But there are ways to contact me. But I would be happy to create the avenues for these families to contact me.
They can contact me through email. My offices are in Geneva and New York. It’s correct that I will not have the opportunity to travel to Iran in the near future. But I am very interested to gather more information to do more research and to shine a light on the truth. I will report to the council and when I report to them they might decide to do more investigations on certain subjects.
That’s their choice. I must say that I am very open to the idea of families of the slain to travel to Europe. I would be happy to meet them in Geneva or any other country. But I really cannot guarantee their safety. Unfortunately none of the special rapporteurs are able to guarantee that.
They cannot protect people of Iran inside their own country. We can take their information anonymously. Also it would be great to get the coroner’s office reports. I need such documents to include in my report and to give to member countries of the U.N.
Iran denies UN report on increasing human rights violations
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Iran’s deputy ambassador to the UN, Eshagh al-Habib, on Thursday denied allegations in a recent UN report that human rights violations in Iran are on the rise. Al-Habib criticized the report for being poorly sourced, non-neutral and simply untrue. The report cited an increase in persecutions among political activists and journalists, detention conditions for opposition leaders and their wives, the torture and mistreatment of detainees, the significant administration of the death penalty to people under 18 years of age and “exorbitant bail requirements” for human rights defenders and religious practitioners. However, UN Special Rapporteur on Iran Ahmed Shaheed, the author of the report, stated that he was encouraged by Iran’s willingness to cooperate with him and that Iran “needs to be seen in a better light.” He further focused on the need to maintain dialogue with Iran’s political leaders in order to improve conditions in the country. The US issued a statement on Tuesday denouncing Iran’s “‘intensified’ campaign of abuse” : “Under international law and its own constitution, Iran has committed to protect and defend the rights of its people, but officials continue to stifle all forms of dissent, persecute religious and ethnic minorities, harass and intimidate human rights defenders, and engage in the torture of detainees.”
Iran has been heavily criticized for its alleged human rights abuses. Jailed Iranian journalist Isa Saharkhiz in July urged Shaheed to investigate prison conditions in Iran. In May, rights groups decried [JURIST report] Iran’s persecution of lawyers. In January, the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran [official website] claimed that Iran is on an “execution binge” , killing one prisoner every eight hours. In January, prominent Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh was sentenced to 11 years in prison. Sotoudeh was found guilty of “acting against national security” and “making propaganda against the system” for which she will serve five and one years, respectively. She was the lawyer for Arash Rahmanipour, who was arrested for his role in the post-election protests on charges of moharebeh, or being an enemy of God. Rahmanipour was executed in January 2010. Also in January, Iranian chief prosecutor Abbas Jafari-Dolatabadi delivered a speech at Tehran University indicating that he would prosecute opposition leaders for political unrest that took place after the country’s 2009 presidential election.
via JURIST – Paper Chase: Iran denies UN report on increasing human rights violations.
UN Human Rights Expert Delivers Interim Report
Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran Ahmed Shaheed
19 October 2011 –
There were also reports of capital punishment in juvenile cases, and the use of the death penalty for cases that do not meet the level of serious crimes by international standards, he said.
“In some cases, elements of Iran’s penal code and legal practices amount to contravention of those international laws it acceded to,” said Mr. Shaheed.
He said Iran’s record seems to have gained particular attention because of the country’s “lack of substantive cooperation with the UN human rights system and because of the existence of frequent reports of suppression of those self-correcting mechanisms that deprive Iranians from freely seeking redress or reform within the parameters of their human rights.”
The “self-correction mechanisms” that are suppressed include free and fair elections, denial of freedom of expression and assembly, allegations of depravation of the right to education, harassment and intimidation of religious and ethnic minorities, human rights defenders and civil society and religious actors.
He urged Iranian authorities to provide adequate medical access to the well-known cleric Ayatollah Kazemeini-Boroujerdi, and to consider his immediate release.
He also called upon Tehran to consider releasing all individuals listed in his report, including political leaders Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, who consider themselves detainees of the Government, human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh, student and women’s rights activist Bahareh Hedayat, student activist Abdollah Momeni, and Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani.
He also urged Iran to cooperate with him as he carries out his mandate. “In the absence of this, however, my course of action will be to continue to obtain information through interaction with Iranians both in the region and in other parts of the world, as well as with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and other parts of the UN system.”
Mr. Shaheed said he had been informed of the arrests and prosecution of at least 42 lawyers for their attempts to provide legal counsel. Charges brought against the majority of them include acting against national security; participating in illegal gatherings; insulting the Supreme Leader; and spreading propaganda against the regime.
He took notice of the positive steps taken by the Iranian authorities, including the Government’s recent decision to release between 60 and 100 prisoners, many of whom had been arrested as a result of their participation in events related to the 2009 presidential elections.
via UN
Iran's Human Rights Violators
On 12 April and 10 October, the EU imposed sanctions on Iranian officials responsible for grave human rights abuses. This represents a further expression of the EU’s serious concern about the human rights situation in Iran. All have perpetrated violations as serious as torture and applying the death penalty on vague charges and without fair trial. A total of 61 individuals are now subject to EU asset freezes and have been denied entry to the EU.
The names of those listed and the reasons for their listing have been published in the EU’s Official Journal of 12 October and 12 April.
On 10 October, the Foreign Affairs Council of the EU announced the latest measures in a statement, that expressed the EU’s deep concern that “the human rights situation in Iran continues to deteriorate”, called for a moratorium on the use of the death penalty and deplored the “widespread repression of Iranian citizens.
Mahmoud Abbaszadeh-Meshkini
Interior Ministry’s political director
Alireza Akbarshahi
Commander of Tehran Police
Seyyed Alireza Avaee
President of Tehran Judiciary
Jaber Baneshi
Prosecutor of Shiraz
Seyyed Hasan Firuzabadi
Chief of Staff of Iran’s Joint Armed Forces
Mostafa Barzegar Ganji
Prosecutor-General of Qom
Mohammadreza Habibi
Deputy Prosecutor of Isfahan
Mohammad Hejazi
Head of IRGC’s Sarollah Crops in Tehran
Nabiollah Heydari
Head of Iran Airport Police Authority
Yadollah Javani
IRGC Political Bureau Chief
Masoud Jazayeri
Deputy Chief of Staff of Iran’s Joint Armed Forces, in charge of cultural affairs
Mohammad Saleh Jokar
Commander of Student Basij Forces
Behrouz Kamalian
Head of the IRGC-linked ‘Ashiyaneh’ cyber group
Mousa Khalilollahi
Prosecutor of Tabriz
Sadeq Mahsouli
Former Minister of Interior until August 2009
Mojtaba Maleki
Prosecutor of Kermanshah
Mehrdad Omidi
Head of the Computer Crimes Unit of the Iranian Police
Mahmoud Salarkia
Deputy to the Prosecutor General of Tehran for Prison Affairs
Hossein Tala
Governor General of Tehran Province until September 2010
Morteza Tamaddon
Governor General of Tehran Province, head of Tehran Provincial Public Security Council
Hossein Zebhi
Deputy to the Prosecutor General of Iran
Mohammad Kazem Bahrami
Head of the judiciary branch of the armed forces
Seyyed Morteza Bakhtiari
Minister of Justice, former Isfahan governor general and director of the State Prisons Organization until June 2004
Seyyed Mohammad Hosseini
Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance since September 2009
Heydar Moslehi
Minister of Intelligence
Mohammadbagher Bagheri
Vice-chairman of the judiciary administration of South Khorasan province, in charge of crime prevention
Aziz Hajmohammadi
Former judge at the first chamber of the Evin Court, and now judge at branch 71 of the Tehran Provincial Criminal Court
Hojjatollah Souri
Head of Evin Prison
Hassan Akharian
Keeper of Ward 1 of Radjaishahr prison, Karadj
Sanctions from EU include 3 Iranian ministers
LUXEMBOURG — Three Iranian government ministers are on a list of 29 people targeted by new European Union sanctions, diplomatic sources told AFP on Monday.
The present ministers for intelligence (secret services), justice and culture are joined by a former interior minister as well as regional governors, prosecutors and prison directors, the sources added.
The sanctions will take effect on Tuesday when they are published in the EU’s legal log, the Official Journal.
EU foreign ministers signed off the Iranian travel bans and asset freezes, alongside other sanctions on Belarus in Luxembourg on Monday.
They follow a previous wave of restrictive measures in March against 32 Iranians, as well as plans to hit the Commercial Bank of Syria, targeted by a US assets freeze in August, according to diplomats.
Heydar Moslehi, intelligence minister, is responsible for the infamous Evin prison’s torture ward, section 209.
Moslehi stands accused of ordering arbitrary detentions and persecution of opposition figures.
Culture Minister Mohammad Hosseini is held responsible for press censorship as well as the arrests of journalists and artists, the same sources said.
Justice Minister Seyyed Morteza Bakhtiair is said to have harassed prominent Iranians living abroad.
Former interior minister Sadeq Mahsouli and the head of the Iranian police computer crimes squad are also on the list, for investigations into opposition figures using the Internet.
In Belarus, where President Alexander Lukashenko has thrown hundreds of opponents behind bars, four of 16 people blacklisted are believed to be involved in a court case against the head of a top human rights group, Ales Beliatsky, that has sparked global outrage and calls for his release.
The 27-nation bloc last month banned the delivery to Syria’s central bank of bank-notes and coins produced in the EU in a seventh round of sanctions designed to step up economic pressure on President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
The last round also included a ban on European firms making new investments in Syria’s oil industry, biting further at Assad’s regime after an earlier ban on imports of Syrian crude to Europe.
Europe buys 95 percent of Syria’s oil exports, providing the regime with one third of its hard currency earnings.
The sanctions against Syria come on the heels of growing irritation against Russia and China in the EU and the United States, for their veto of a UN resolution against the Syrian regime’s unrelenting crackdown on protests.
via AFP: Three Iranian ministers target of EU sanctions: diplomats.
Keeping Iran’s Heart Beating – Amnesty International
Women in Iran are often portrayed as victims – helplessly unable to stand up and claim their own rights. The truth, however, is that Iranian women are at the very heart of the human rights movement, and are some of the most courageous and effective human rights campaigners in Iran. Keeping Iran’s heart beating – stories of women’s rights activists is an exhibition which celebrates Iranian women’s rights defenders. It showcases the women, and the men, who stand up for women’s rights in Iran on a daily basis and seeks to tell their story. This exhibition, which is partly funded by TCD Community Initiative Fund, has been put together by members of the Amnesty Iran group in Ireland with support of Amnesty International. Following its launch the exhibition will be travelling around Ireland and Europe, and will be available for group, schools or local communities to host. If you would like more information on this, please contact the Iran Group (irangroup@amnesty.ie)
Human Rights Watch – Issues Regarding IRI
Submitted by Human Rights Watch to the UN Human Rights Committee on the occasion of its Pre-Sessional Review of Iran
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Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad addresses the United Nations General Assembly in New York on September 22, 2011.© 2011 Reuters
This memorandum provides an overview of Human Rights Watch’s main concerns with respect to the human rights crisis in Iran, submitted to the United Nations Human Rights Committee (“the Committee”) in advance of its pre-sessional review of Iran in 2011. We hope it will inform the Committee’s preparation for its review of the Iranian government’s compliance with its obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (“the Covenant”).
It has been 17 years since Iran last submitted its State Report to the Committee. During this time, the government has engaged in systematic violations of the Covenant, including extensive restrictions on the rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly, and association, and the widespread use torture, ill-treatment, and unfair trials of political detainees. The number of executions, including those of juvenile offenders, has steadily risen in recent years. The government intensified its targeting of human rights defenders following the disputed presidential election of June 2009. Pressures on civil society groups have increased sharply during President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s administration, and Iran continues to discriminate against religious, ethnic, and other minorities both in law and practice.
Iransubmitted its latest report to the Committee a few months after the June 2009 presidential election and the ensuing violent crackdown against largely peaceful demonstrators and opposition activists. Violence initiated by security forces, including the basij militia affiliated with official security forces, led to the killings of dozens of demonstrators. Authorities arbitrarily arrested and detained thousands of demonstrators and opposition figures in the months after the election. Several detainees died at Kahrizak detention facility in Tehran after being subjected to torture and ill-treatment. Public street protests all but ceased by early 2010 as a consequence of the government’s crackdown, but resumed in February and March 2011 when thousands of demonstrators took to the streets to show their support for pro-democracy protests in neighboring countries and protest the arrest and detention of opposition leaders. The authorities’ violent response led to at least three deaths and hundreds of arrests. The Ministry of Interior continues to refuse to issue permits for peaceful rallies and demonstrations.
As in years past, the government, including the judiciary, has failed to hold accountable officials responsible for committing serious human rights violations. There have been no comprehensive or transparent investigations into government repression, including the killings of demonstrators and custodial deaths of detainees. Although several security personnel were tried in closed military courts for the deaths of detainees at Kahrizak, no high-level authority has yet been charged, let alone convicted, for these crimes. At the same time, the judiciary prosecuted hundreds of demonstrators, civil society activists, and members of opposition parties, some of whom were paraded on national television during several show trials on vague national security-related charges (including “propaganda against the regime”), and sentenced many to lengthy prison terms and, in some cases, to death.
Notwithstanding the numerous and serious abuses committed by state officials, Iran’s State Report does not begin to adequately address allegations concerning violation of core civil and political rights under the Covenant. There are frequently references to legal provisions in Iran’s Constitution and criminal and civil codes but no discussion of how the authorities are implementing or complying with these provisions. Rulings that may or may not address the specific issue in question are simply listed. And the portions of the report that address specific articles of the Covenant contain glaring omissions and inaccuracies, such as providing no information on Iran’s abusive revolutionary courts, which seriously distorts the current situation of human rights in the country.
Among the most serious problems with Iran’s 2009 State Report are the following:
- The report devotes little attention to the death penalty under Article 6 (right to life), even though Iran is believed to have executed 388 people in 2008, and is second only to China in the number of executions carried out annually;
- The section on torture and ill-treatment (Article 7) recounts provisions in Iranian law that prohibit the use of torture and references several cases where government officials were apparently convicted of torture, but nowhere addressing credible reports regarding the authorities’ systematic use of torture in Iran’s detention facilities;
- The section on Iran’s compliance with the prohibition on arbitrary arrest and detention (Article 9) provides some references to rulings presumably related to convictions of government officials who violated these rights, but it contains no discussion of arbitrary arrest and incommunicado detention carried out by Iran’s security and intelligence forces;
- There is significant discussion on the treatment of detainees and prisoners (Article 10), but it largely describes the systems and programs that ostensibly have been put into place. The report does not address serious problems incurred by detainees and prisoners, particularly those accused of national security-related crimes or convicted by revolutionary courts;
- The section on due process and fair trials (Article 14) fails to provide any relevant information regarding the workings of the revolutionary courts, where the state prosecutes most political dissidents and commits systematic and gross violations of the right to a fair trial;
- The report’s discussion of the right to freedom of expression (Article 19) does not address the government’s severe restrictions on peaceful dissent by using both criminal law and repressive practices;
- Regarding the rights to peaceful assembly and freedom of association (Articles 21 and 22), the report fails to acknowledge the ways in which the government systematically prevents civil society organizations – including student, women’s, labor, journalist, legal, and human rights groups – from meeting or conducting their activities.
In short, the Committee’s concluding observations with regard to Iran’s report 17 years ago unfortunately remain equally applicable today: Iran’s report provides “virtually no information about factors and difficulties impeding the application of the Covenant.”
Interview with Ali Hasan-Pour’s wife
Scene: In the Behesht-e-Zahra Cemerery in Tehran, where Mrs Hasan-pour’s husband Ali is buried, having been killed by the Iranian regime.
Mrs. Hasan-Pour: I was approached by a security agent who asked me if this was block #44. I responded: “How may I help you sir?”
Agent: “We have received information about someone holding Ahya (1) ceremonies at this location!”
That made me extremely angry. I got up to go… Imagine me, a woman…alone…at Ali’s gravesite, at 11 o’clock at night…saying prayers…holding a private Ahya ceremony.
Irate and disturbed, I asked the man: “You can’t even leave us alone in the graveyard?!”
Agent: “You are holding a ceremony for Mr. Hasan-Pour.”
Me: “No absolutely not, but assuming that it was for him; is that against the law? Is it a sin, to hold Ahya or cite Ashura prayers at his gravesite??”
There was a huge crowd swarming Behesht Zahra cemetery that night. You couldn’t find an empty spot anywhere. My children and I were part of the crowd.
“So, you have only found me to harass in this huge crowd??” I asked him.
Agent: “No, but the Security police has notified us that you have displayed Mr. Hasan Pour’s photo in the back of your car, as a propaganda picture.
Me: Hello! For god’s sake, his picture has been in the back of my car for TWO years now!
Host: Mrs. Hasan-Pour, how did they respond to you?
Mrs. Hasan-Pour: Well, in the end, they gave me a back-handed apology and said I could go back and sit with my husband… But I continued: “This is Ahya night and the cemetery is open all night. I am going to sit here by his site, till tomorrow morning… You know, it is in fact YOU and your people who have dragged me here. I had no reason for visiting Behesht Zahra up until my husband’s death. But now, my days and nights are spent here! YOU have brought us here!”
My child is trying to persuade me to just get up and leave. I tell her, NO, I must try to at least figure out what in the world do they want from me! We can’t even sit at his gravesite, in peace!! (strained voice)
Host: Mrs. Hasan-Pour even Mr. Larijani has stated recently that only one person was killed during post-election protests and by American and Israeli elements. Such a claim by the Head of Judiciary, coupled with the authorities’ mistreatment of victims’ families, makes you wonder about…
Mrs. Hasan-Pour – Yes, if you recall, Mr. Larijani had previously made similar remarks as to Neda being the only protester who was killed and by British operatives! I had said in response: “Well then, tell us, who killed Ali, who killed Shohrab, who killed Maryam, Ramin, Mostafa, Mohammad Mokhtari? My own husband was killed on day 1 of the protests. I know very well that no amount of pursuing his case is going to return him to life, but I wonder just how much longer is the violence going to carry on?!
When that man who blindly and without a moment of hesitation pulled the trigger and opened fire at my husband on that day of 25 Khordad (June 15th)…if he was arrested; if he was tried in court at that time, then on Ashura Day, Mostafa Karim-Baigi would not have been killed, Shabnam Sohrabi would not have been run over by a truck. On 25 Bahman (Feb 14th), Mohammad Mokhtari wouldn’t get killed… I am fed up. I feel saddened for our youth who are getting killed, as many as 4 or 5 every day, and there is no one to answer for their deaths!
They have orphaned my children. They have turned our lives into a grave yard [broken voice] to what end … until when … for how long are they going to carry on their actions?
Long pause…
They have offered me a Dieh. I don’t want it. What is that going to solve for me? Believe me … I’m sick…for days now; I haven’t been able to eat, I don’t know if I’m coming or going, I don’t know what to do… I took 20 pills yesterday – believe it or not – just to be able to stand up. [crying] They have destroyed us. They have destroyed me. Enshallah, god will do….[crying]…I only hope for, what they have put us through, to happen to them! I pray to god that one day they watch their…slowly die before their eyes without being able to do anything about it…
I swear on Ali’s soul that I don’t live even for a moment. I exist only on the hope for the day when we can have our day in court. The day when ALL the perpetrators of such crimes can be dragged to court, to answer, to answer: Why? What were the people guilty of? What was their sin??
Source:
Sorkh-e-Sabz
http://sorkhesabz.com/
Video clip
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(1) In Shia Islam, 19th, 21st, and 23rd of Ramadan are considered precious nights of Qadr (the time when holly Quran was bestowed on Prophet Mohammad) and Moslems observe these nights by holding special ceremonies on ‘Ahya night’ (Shab-e-Ahya), such as praying, reciting supplications (Du’a), staying awake at night and praying till dawn.
Round-up of Sanctions imposed on Iran
Please note that the One Million Voices Campaign for Iran exclusively demands sanctions for human rights abuses. However, this is a useful summary.
Details of trade, economic and individual sanctions imposed on Iran in recent years by the United States, the United Nations and the European Union in response to both unwillingness to abide by agreements on nuclear development and more recently, human rights abuses.
* U.S. SANCTIONS:
– Initial sanctions imposed after Iranian students stormed the U.S. embassy and took diplomats hostage in 1979. Iranian products cannot be imported into the United States apart from small gifts, information materials, foodstuffs and some carpets.
– In 1995, President Bill Clinton issued executive orders preventing U.S. companies from investing in Iranian oil and gas and trading with Iran. Tehran has looked for other customers.
– The same year, Congress passed a law requiring the U.S. government to impose sanctions on foreign firms investing more than $20 million a year in Iran’s energy sector. It was extended for five years in September 2006. No foreign firms have yet been penalised, although many have curtailed operations in Iran.
– In October 2007, Washington imposed sanctions on three Iranian banks and branded the Revolutionary Guards a proliferator of weapons of mass destruction. The Treasury has since added numerous other Iranian banks to its blacklist.
– The Treasury has identified about 20 petroleum and petrochemical companies as being under Iranian government control, an action that put them off-limits to U.S. businesses under the trade embargo.
– Congress approved tough new unilateral sanctions on June 24, 2010 aimed at squeezing Iran’s energy and banking sectors, which could also hurt companies from other countries doing business with Tehran.
– The 2010 law imposes penalties on firms that supply Iran with refined petroleum products worth more than $5 million over 12 months. Firms can be banned from the U.S. financial system or denied U.S. contracts. It also effectively deprives foreign banks of access to the U.S. financial system if they do business with Iranian banks or the Revolutionary Guards.
– In February 2011, Bank Refah was sanctioned for facilitating the purchase of millions of dollars worth of missiles and tanks by Iran’s Defence Ministry.
– In May, the U.S. blacklisted its 21st Iranian state bank, the Bank of Industry and Mine, as a proliferator of weapons of mass destruction for handling transactions on behalf of two previously sanctioned institutions, Bank Mellat and Europaeisch-Iranische Handelsbank.
– It also announced new sanctions on Venezuela’s state oil company PDVSA and six other smaller oil and shipping firms for engaging in trade with Iran in violation of the U.S. ban, prompting fury and warnings from Hugo Chavez’s government.
– On June 11, it announced new sanctions applicable to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the Basij Resistance Force, Iran’s Law Enforcement Forces and its commander, Ismail Ahmadi Moghadam. The sanctions freeze any of the targets’ assets under U.S. jurisdiction and bar U.S. persons and institutions from dealing with them.
– U.S. sanctions against Iran can be found on the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control website: here and here
* EU SANCTIONS:
– The EU has imposed visa bans on senior officials such as Revolutionary Guards chief Mohammad Ali Jafari, former Defence Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar and former atomic energy chief Gholamreza Aghazadeh, and on nuclear and ballistic experts.
– Britain announced last October it was freezing business ties with Bank Mellat and Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL), both of which have previously faced sanctions from the United States.
– New EU measures approved on July 26, 2010, said European airports would bar cargo flights to or from Iran except those in which limited amounts of cargo were carried on passenger planes.
– On Aug. 12, 2010 the EU toughened its sanctions against Tehran, including banning the creation of joint ventures with enterprises in Iran that are engaged in the oil and natural gas industries and any subsidiary or affiliate under their control.
– Member states must prohibit the provision of insurance and re-insurance to the government of Iran. The sale, purchase, brokerage or assistance with the issuance of public or public-guaranteed bonds by the Iranian government, central bank or Iranian banks is banned.
– The import and export of arms and equipment that could contribute to uranium enrichment or have a “dual use” is banned.
– The sanctions forbid the sale and supply or transfer of energy equipment and technology used by Iran for refining, liquefying natural gas, exploration and production. The EU expects the effects of the sanctions to increase over time as existing parts wear out.
– The transfer of funds over 40,000 euros will require prior authorisation from the member state concerned. Sums of more than 10,000 euros not related to foodstuffs or healthcare and medical equipment will require notification.
– For the full EU sanctions decision click: (here? uri=OJ:L:2010:281:0001:0077:EN:PDF)
– In May 2011, EU foreign ministers significantly extended its sanctions and agreed to add more than 100 new entities to a list of companies and people affected by sanctions including those owned or controlled by the IRISL. Among the shipping companies targeted by the EU were Safiran Payam Darya Shipping Lines, which it said took over IRISL’s bulk services and routes and used vessels previously owned by IRISL.
– EU diplomats said the May 23 sanctions list included German-based EIH bank, which specialises in business in Iran.
* U.N. SANCTIONS:
– The Security Council has imposed four sets of sanctions on Iran, in December 2006, March 2007, March 2008 and June 2010.
– The first covered sensitive nuclear materials and froze the assets of Iranian individuals and companies linked with the nuclear programme. It gave Iran 60 days to suspend uranium enrichment, a deadline ignored by Iran.
– The second included new arms and financial sanctions. It extended an asset freeze to 28 more groups, companies and individuals engaged in or supporting sensitive nuclear work or the development of ballistic missiles, including the state-run Bank Sepah and firms controlled by the Revolutionary Guards.
– The third increased travel and financial curbs on individuals and companies. It expanded a partial ban on trade in items with both civilian and military uses to cover sales of all such technology to Iran, and added 13 individuals and 12 companies to the list of those suspected of aiding Iran’s nuclear and missile programmes. In September 2008, the Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution again ordering Iran to halt enrichment. Iran again disregarded the order.
– A Security Council resolution passed on June 9, 2010, called for measures against new Iranian banks abroad if a connection to the nuclear or missile programmes was suspected, as well as vigilance over transactions with any Iranian bank, including the central bank.
– It expanded a U.N. arms embargo against Tehran and blacklisted three firms controlled by Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines and 15 belonging to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The resolution called for setting up a cargo inspection regime similar to one in place for North Korea.
– Annexed to the draft resolution was a list of 40 companies to be added to an existing U.N. blacklist of firms.
Reuters (Writing by David Cutler, London Editorial Reference Unit; editing by Mark Heinrich)
26 prisoners call for special investigation into abuses
In a letter to a committee charged with protecting citizen rights and freedoms, 26 political prisoners from different prisons in the country have described some of the horrors faced by inmates, calling for an investigation into the prevailing human rights violations perpetrated by the Revolutionary Guard and Iran’s Intelligence Ministry.
According to opposition website Kaleme, the list of signatories to the letter include some of Iran’s most prominent dissident figures such as former senior diplomat Mohsen Aminzadeh, reformist party leader Mohsen Mirdamadi, Abdollah Ramezanzadeh, Behzad Nabavi, Feizollah Arabsorkhi and journalist Keyvan samimi.
In a letter to the chairman of the “Central Board for the Sound Implementation of the Law regarding the Respect for Contingent Freedoms and Protecting Citizen Rights,” political inmates held in the notorious and Rajaei Shahr prisons as well as detention centres in Khuzestan province highlighted some of the worst human rights abuses perpetrated against them by the Revolutionary Guards and Iran’s Intelligence.
“As signatories to this letter of complaint, we have been tortured. One of the most common tortures has been our solitary confinement in very small cells. A measure that’s considered by the country’s most senior officials as torture, and [even] prison guards concur that weeks of solitary confinement cause accused severe physical and mental disorders for the accused [inmates].”
The letters goes on to add: “We signatories of this complain would like to express our strong protestation and grievance against officials appointed by the Revolutionary Guards, the Intelligence Ministry and the Police Forces to pursue and interrogate us, as well as Tehran’s former Chief Prosecutor and other relevant officials under whose supervision and orders these actions have taken place in accordance with the code of criminal procedure. We expect ِyour Excellency to take appropriate action based on the numerous reports that have been published with regards to the repeated anti-religious and illegal actions of the individuals mentioned here.”
The inmates stress the human rights violations mentioned in their letter represent a “portion” of the illegal conduct of Iranian authorities. “What’s been cited here does not reveal the depth of the tragic actions carried out against those accused and tried following the 2009 presidential election,” they added.
One of the complaints mentioned in the letter is related to the great wave of arrest of reformist figures which began in the days—and sometimes even hours—after and the announcement of the results of the 2009 presidential race which led to massive protests across the country. “Contrary to Article 1 of the citizen rights law … the arrests that followed the 2009 presidential election were carried out without clear and transparent judicial orders, and mass arrests took place with a single warrant and as part of one whole directive, lacking the signature [of an official] or the name of the accused, or at times [the arrest warrants] containing the names of tens of individuals.”
The imprisoned activists also say that “in some cases,” their arrest warrants were issued before the election and the subsequent protests that erupted and were based on the opinions and political leanings of certain members of the IRGC and the intelligence apparatus, which reflected their desire to settle political scores with rivals in the reformist camp, more than anything else. “Unfortunately, most of the arrests were accompanied with violence, insults, and humiliation, while some of the accused were severely beaten up while being detained,” the letter added.
The reformists in captivity also criticised their conviction, which were based on suspicion, rather than any solid evidence or in accordance with any legal procedure. “In many cases, the indictment contained non-legal and ambiguous terms and the principle that the accused is innocent [unless proven guilty] was violated.”
The prisoners argued “the sentences handed down were at the same level as that of political articles by segments of the press against political rivals,” while describing the “court, judge and the indictment as tools at the hands of military, intelligence and security agents for imprisoning political activists and maintaining the status quo.”
During the various stages of their legal cases including interrogations, incarceration, indictment, “almost all of the signatories of the letter” maintain they were deprived of legal representation and access to law books, pen and paper, despite the fact that several laws explicitly state the right of detainees to acquire the attorneys of their choosing. “The defendants’ access to a lawyers was typically just minutes before the court hearing, and usually in the presence of the judge or a third person chosen by the interrogators and sometimes the trials took place without the presence of an attorney in the courtroom. In some instances, interrogators forced the defendants to deprive themselves of the right to choose a solicitor. In certain cases, the defendants were told by the office of the court administration that having a lawyer would cause nothing but trouble and would increase their sentences and that it would be better for them to avoid having a lawyer.”
One of the ways judicial authorities would prevent legal assistance to defendants, say the prisoners, was to keep lawyers in the dark with regards to the contents of the indictment.
“Without exception, all of the signatories to this letter have been met with the immoral and un-Islamic treatment by prison guards,” write the inmates. “Psychological and physical torture, disgraceful verbal insults towards us, our families and our loved ones, as well as falsely and repeatedly accusing us, during most interrogations, of having illegitimate relations.”
The political prisoners believe that the prison authorities’ resort to such inhumane practices is a systematic way of exerting psychological pressure and forcing the defendant into cooperation.
As stated in their letter, another violation of prisoner rights has been their continued “temporary detention” without taking into account the age, the severity of the charges, as well as the defendant’s health and reputation, which is violation of the procedures specified by the law. Many of the families of those arrested in the past two years, have been kept in the dark about the details of their loved-ones’ detention.
Another complaints put forth by the inmates is the use of blindfolds in the arrest, displacement and interrogation of prisoners detained during the election aftermath. The activists state they had to remain blindfolded, even when they were allowed to enjoy fresh for brief periods of time. “For months, some of us, as well as many other post-election prisoners were deprived of setting eyes on any environment other than our own solitary cell for months.”
“Apparently, using blindfolds served different purposes such as concealing the identity of interrogators, the agents, as well as humiliating and infuriating the defendants. What’s surprising is that this illegal procedure is common even in the periphery of the courtroom!”
The letter added, “Concomitant with almost all the arrests and interrogations were the insults and demeaning ways … the interrogators used verbal insults against us, our families, dear ones and those we respect, including the leaders of the opposition movement Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mahdi Karroubi, while using the most profane and hideous terms on a regular basis to belittle and weaken the morale and feelings of the defendants.”
The Green Movement activists maintain, “The concealment of the interrogator’s identity provides him with the possibility to use any physical and verbal ferocity on the defendant with the assurance that his identity will remain anonymous.”
The destruction and confiscation of personal possessions of prisoners at work or at home constitutes another violation of Iranian law, say the prisoners. “Inspecting personal documents, photos, family videos, as well as confiscating family photos and albums, personal items and documents belonging to other members of the defendant’s family, documents related to a person who’s not linked with the case,” are other instances where the rights of political inmates have been infringed upon.
In addition, most of the interrogators charged with handling the defendants’ cases, have been “young, inexperienced and radical,” the prisoners write, while describing their “immoral, inhumane and un-Islamic” treatment as “systematic” and “common practice” within prison walls.
The letter, which has also been forwarded to the head of the Iranian parliament’s Article 90 Commission, accuses the interrogators of delving into private lives of prisoners and gathering information on the most intimate details of their daily lives in an attempt to intimidate inmates and to use the information as a bargaining chip in forcing them to make false confessions.
Interrogators are also accused of “distorting” the writings of defendants and at times forcing them to sign blank sheets, later to be filled in by interrogators in the presence of judiciary and security officials who would later orchestrate the highly politicized post-election show-trials.
The “unlimited” power and authority of the Intelligence Ministry and the IRGC over the Iranian judiciary, is also among the points raised by the political prisoners who have signed the letter of complaint. The defendants accuse the two bodies of having an important role in organising the actual indictment text.
In the end, the prisoners call for a fact-finding mission to be set up in order to investigate the widespread violations of the rights of those arrested following the 2009 presidential election and to make the outcome of such an investigation available for the Iranian public.
The signatories to the letter are:
Mohsen Aminzadeh, Mohsen Mirdamadi, Bahman Ahmadi-Amooei, Abdollah Momeni, Milad Asadi, Abdollah Ramezanzadeh, Emad Bahavar, Mostafa Tajzadeh, Mojtaba Tehrani, Ali Jamali, Mohammad Hossein Khourbak, Mohammad Davari, Amir Khosro Dalir-Sani, Keyvan Samimi, Esmail Sahabeh, Mohammad Farid Taheri Qazvini, Feizollah Arabsorkhi, Behzad Nabavi, Abolfazl Ghadyani, Majid Dori, Zia Nabavi, Mahdi Karimian Eghbal, Mohammad Reza Moghiseh, Ali Malihi, Mohammad Javad Mozaffar, Hasan Asadi Zeidabadi.
