You also asked about the political trends which exist in the Iranian prisons; they include a variety with different political tendencies. Of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran, have many of its supporters and members in the notorious 209 section of Evin prison. One of them was Saiid Masoori who has been in prison for at least 3 years now. I was in the same cell with him in 2003. He was separated from his friends and kept in a different place as a tactic used by the secret police to exhaust the spirit of the prisoner.
There are other political prisoners in Evin, who are accused of spying for countries such as Israel, the US and some other western countries. They re kept in the security detention center of 209 of the 325 section of the RGC. We could also find a few other prisoners in Evin who are charged with leaking top secret information about the nuclear activities and programs of Iran. They include staff of the organizations working with the nuclear sites.These prisoners where abouts is usually kept secret from other inmates. It must be hard to imagine seeing teachers and professors in these prisons, charged and accused, for having demanded for their civil rights, workers who had sought their unpaid wages defied economic policies of this regime.
Mansour Osanloo, one of the leaders of the Independent Syndicate of Bus Drivers in Tehran, who had protested disregard of the regimes own Labor law, was imprisoned along with his colleagues, and put off work with no salary. Mahmoud Salehi, a baker, who had participated in the workers rally on the 1st of May, in Saghez, was arrested and has been in prison since, while his kidneys have stopped functioning. He should be transferred to hospital for treatment, but this has been denied.
In Iran, lawyers defending various cases have also been imprisoned. Lawyers such as, Mrs. Solatni, and Nasser Zarafshan are such examples. Mr.Zarafshan has been representing families of terror victims killed by the Intelligence Ministry .He was charged for defending his clients , imprisoned for a couple of years and then released recently. Student activists of the Polytechnic University in Tehran have been imprisoned in the security section 209 of the notorious Evin prison.We have had news that they are being brutally tortured by Hadad so called “judge”. I know this judge in person, because he was my interrogator and quite known for his infamous brutality in prison.
These students have been arrested by the Intelligence ministry and charged for offending sacred values- meaning insulting Khamenie- in their publications. Women defending equality are also in the prisons. Recently 10 activists who had participated in a protest in front of the Central Revolutionary Court were arrested and transferred to the Evins’ 209 section. They were charged for trying to overthrow the regime. They were kept in small cells and deprived of their lawyers.
We have had news that some prisoners had died of mysterious circumstances, one death cause being heart problem the other head injury , what do you have to say to the allegations accusing the Iranian authorities of being responsible of death cases in prisons?
In the past year ,2 political prisoners known as Akbar Mohammadi and Valiollah Feiz Mahdvi have died in Rajaii Shahr prison in Karaj city. Akbar Mohammadi was a student and was arrested along with his brother in the landmark student demonstration of 1999-in which the demonstration was violently suppressed and many students caught.They were both sentenced to death, but later had parole for 15 years.Akbar Mohammadi vas severely ill and needed treatment at the time. He began a hunger strike to protest against inhuman treatment towards his cell mates, and being already ill he managed to continue his protest for only 10 days. On the 10th day his health had deteriorated and was transferred to the prison clinic. In the clinic one official was quoted to have told him that “even if you suffer to death like an animal, we will do nothing for you”. Unfortunately having been rejected help, he was returned to his cell. He died later on.
Vliollah Feiz Mahdavi, also began a hunger strike in protest to his situation. His demands were; to see his lawyer, to be transferred from Rajaii Sharh Prison in order to have his case clarified. This was because he had already received a death sentence and this classified him as a political prisoner, where he was being tormented and mixed with criminal cases.
But his demands were never met by the Judiciary.Prison officials declared that they had transferred Valiollha to the hospital and he died in the hospital. They also tried to show that Valiollah had killed him self in the bathroom, an impossible task to achieve in Iranian prisons. His cell mates had denied these accusations saying that he had been on hunger strike and never had the intuition to committed suicide. It is irrefutable that the Iranian regime and its officials in prison are responsible for the death of these 2 political prisoners.
Could you please tell us your view on the recent demonstrations in Iran?
These demonstrations depict radicalism in the Iranian society, a show of defiance to all restrictions. It is a confrontation to suppression. In a town center in Mashahd, youth clashed with forces who wanted to arrest a woman for not tolerating the dress code. The Iranian society is very angry. It is frustrated of suppression and dictatorship. They are fed up of wrong policies of Ahmadinejad s government, of its role in creating crisis in the world, and also of wrong political stance taken on the nuclear issue.The sanctions are playing effect already and the Iranian people are paying the price for it.
The common factor in all protests so far have been a collective defiance towards Ahmadinejad's wrong policies. A show of frustration was displayed by Polytechnic university students, who set his photo on fire, in a protest in his presence. Today the protests are widespread and include all walks of life.
For example, the women’s movement is now engaged in a petition campaign collecting a million signatures for the equality of men and women demanding the nullification of misogynic laws in Iran.
Last year, on June 18, the women’s movement arranged a gathering in a square in Tehran, chanting for their demands. Students also joined the act. Iranian women are very courageous, they know that their wishes represent millions of un-heard voices and they would never recede from their demand. Their act was of course suppressed violently and many were sent into prisons. Even then they arranged for more protests, the last being in front of the “revolutionary” court –on 2 June 2006- accompanying their friends who were going to be trialed in the court that day.
That day they had gathered to protest the trial of their friends. This is a civic resistance.We can see civic resistance as peaceful and gentle acts of protests, which is not acceptable by the regime at all. The intelligence ministry has accused the women activists of trying to bring about a “velvet revolution”-term used to describe reformed change from within the regime. I believe it is their rights to call for their basic rights in a peaceful manner.
Are there any links between these demonstrations? Is there any radical change in line do you think? -
