"When we took the body of my grandfather out for the funeral ceremony, officials tried to stop the ceremony - that made the atmosphere very agitated, ... Finally they forcefully grabbed the body and took it away. Then my mother fell down and became unconscious. The doctor told us she died because of a heart attack."
Eye witnesses confirming that Sahabi was beaten by security forces including Ahmad Montazeri and Hamed Montazeri (son and grandson of Ayatollah Montazeri), and an unnamed journalist quoted by International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran. In an interview with the same radio, Hamed Montazeri said that
"I did witness a member of the forces hitting Ms. Sahabi on her upper body, and I testify that she fainted immediately after the strike. The offender hid in the crowd soon after that."
Her body was seized and buried by the authorities immediately after death, and the authorities forced the family to attend the burial during at night.
Eye witnesses have told the Daneshjoo News website that Amin Ahmadiyan, a member of the Tahkim Vahdat student organization was beaten and arrested during the memorial ceremony for Ezzatollah Sahabi, the Iranian scholar, humanitarian, pro-democracy activist, politician, and former parliament member.
Ahmadiyan is the husband of Bahareh Hedayat, the incarcerated spokesperson for Tahkim Vahdat. Hedayat has been behind bars for nearly two years. Following yesterday’s killing of Haleh Sahabi [Ezzatollah Sahabi's daughter] at her father’s funeral service, Ahmadiyan gave interviews to media outlets as an eyewitness to how Haleh Sahabi had been beaten by security and plainclothes forces.
According to reports by Mizan-e-Khabar, members of Mothers for Peace and the Mourning Mothers of Laleh Park were among the people savagely beaten during the funeral. The same report indicates that plainclothes agents brutally attacked citizens who had come to the Hojat-Ben-al-Hassan mosque to pay their respects.
Rahil Ashnagar, blogger and women’s rights activist, was arrested by security agents in Bandar-e Anzali, [Gilan Province], on Tuesday, May 31, 2011. According to a report by the website of Fair Family Law, security agents raided Rahil Ashnagar’s house and confiscated her personal belongings. She has been allowed to contact her family twice since she was detained. Rahil Ashnagar has been charged with acting against national security. Rahil Ashnagar was first transferred to Anzali Prison and then taken to Lakan Prison in Rasht where she is currently locked up with the general prison population.
Mansour Osanloo, the Tehran bus workers’ leader, was finally freed on June 2nd after nearly four years in the notorious Evin jail. He was released due to international pressures, according to the Committee for Defense of Political Prisoners website.
Mansour Osanloo was arrested on July 10, 2007 and sentenced to five years in prison. He was sentenced to an additional year in prison in August 2010 under the charge, “Propaganda against the regime”. He has been arrested numerous times in the past decade, each time enduring much physical and psychological torture including spending long periods of time in solitary confinement.
Habibollah Latifi, a young Kurdish Iranian, is in imminent danger of execution. Latifi is a student of engineering at Azad University. He was arrested in October 2007 in Sanandaj, the capital of Kordistan province, and has spent more than three and half years in prison. Politically active at his university, he too was convicted of moharebeh. The regime claims he was a member of an armed opposition group – a charge he and his family vehemently deny. His conviction followed a trial behind closed doors with no lawyer present to defend him. The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran reports that the only evidence presented against Mr. Latifi was a confession obtained under torture, which he later renounced. He has been sentenced to death and could be executed at any time. Read more.
The first branch of the Saqez Revolutionary Court sentenced Mamousta Sediq Hassani to 14 years of prison. His lawyer Khalil Bahramian said, “Mamoustan Hassani who was arrested in Saqez some time before was sentenced to 14 years of prison on charges of cooperating with a dissident group and hiding guns”. “We have appealed the sentence and it has been referred to the Kurdistan court of review”, he added. (Mukrian News Agency – Jun. 1, 2011)
The security forces have arrested Fatameh Karamad, member of the Islamic Student Association of Azad University. Previously, Mohsen Barzavan, another member of the Association, had been arrested. There have been no reports as to their charges.
RAHAN: The security forces detained Soleimanpour with a warrant and confiscated his computer and notes after searching his house. They also confiscated his store’s computer the following day. He had previously been sentenced to one year of suspended imprisonment and 35 lashes for his cultural activities.
Rasoul Bodaghi, Hashem Khastar, Mohammad Davari, Abdollah Momeni, Abdolreza Ghanbari and Nabiollah Bastan are all teachers who are currently serving their sentences in prison.
On Tuesday, May 31, 2011, security forces raided Behnam Irani’s house in Karaj and arrested him. Behnam Irani is a Christian priest. During the arrest, security forces assaulted and insulted Behnam Irani in front of his wife and two young children and placed him in handcuffs before taking him away. Previously, Behnam Irani had been summoned to report to Rajai-Shahr Prison in Karaj within twenty days in order to begin serving his one year sentence. It is not clear why this Christian priest was beaten and arrested before his deadline was reached. According to a report by Rahsa News, judicial authorities have informed Behnam Irani that after he spends one year in prison, his five year suspended sentence will begin. Behnam Irani is a Christian priest who was initially arrested in 2006 and sentenced to a five-year suspended prison term. Four years later, in 2010, he was detained again and released after posting a bail approximately equivalent to $9,500. Subsequently, Behnam Irani was sentenced to a year in prison, but this sentence was reduced by two months as a result of an objection filed by his attorney.
Rahman Boozari, a journalist and translator, was arrested Sunday morning on May 29, 2011, after being summoned to the court in Evin Prison. Since he was detained, Rahman Boozari has not contacted his family. According to a report by Saham News, on Saturday, May 28, 2011, security forces raided Rahman Boozari’s house and after searching the house, confiscated his laptop. Rahman Boozari is a journalist who has worked for Hammihan, Kargozaran and a few other reformist newspapers. Recently, he has been the editor of Andisheh at Shargh Newspaper and has been translating philosophy books.
Sina Mehdinia, a student at Babol Noshirvani University of Technology, has been sentenced by Babol’s Revolutionary Court to six months in prison. According to a report by Daneshjoo News, local sources have stated that last March, police forces summoned Sina Mehdinia to serve his prison term. However, since his sentence was preliminary and had not been formally communicated to him, his attorney’s appeal was granted. Currently, Sina Mehdinia’s case is pending a decision by the appeals court. Sina Mehdinia was arrested during Ashura protests organized by Babol’s Green Movement in 2009. After spending eleven days in solitary confinement, he was released on bail approximately equivalent to $30,000.
Reza Sefri is held in solitary confinement in the Isfahan Dastgerd Prison and his family has not been informed of his condition. According to the Human Rights House of Iran, his charges include organizing Quran meetings and ignoring the suggestions and pressures by the security forces.
The security forces who entered his house insulted him and his wife. He had followed up on the conditions of detained teachers in Isfahan and had assisted their families. He has been deprived of the basic rights of a prisoner and has not been able to contact his family.
Houshang Fananian, a Baha’i resident of Amol was sentenced to four and a half years of prison on charges of being a member of anti-government groups and organizations, propagating against the government and insulting the leader.
This 48 year old resident of Amol was arrested on March 13, 2011 by agents of the Sari Intelligence Agency in his place of work and was transferred to the Sari Kachouyi Prison. He was sentenced to 3 years of prison for membership in anti-government groups and organizations, one year of prison for propagating against the government in favor of these groups and six months of prison for insulting the leader. (Student Committee in Defense of Political Prisoners – May 24, 2011)
According to reports from Qom, Seyed Mohammad Salehi and Hossein Goudarzi who are members of the Moussavi’s Clerical Staff in Qom were sentenced to three years of prison each on charges of acting against national security and publishing lies. They were tried in the Special Clerical Court for making a documentary called, ‘By the Name of Kahrizak’.
According to this report, these two seminary students were arrested in March along with a large number of CD’s and were released after about two weeks on a 50 million toman (about 50,000 dollar) bail. (Tahavole Sabz website– Jun. 6, 2011)
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