THIS PAGE IS DEDICATED TO PRISONERS OF IRAN
Iran has been a country of political prisoners for a long time from the time of Shah's dictatorship to the dictatorships of Khomeini and now Khamenei. This regime has always been very brutal toward political prisoners, from the 1988 executions of political prisoners in Iran to the 2009 abuse, torture and killings of political prisoners in Kahrizak and Evin. The number of prisoners has increased very rapidly since the 2009 presidential election. I am proud that we have so many intellectuals, human right activists, reformists, thinkers, and journalists inside and outside Iran. Because of censorships and brutality of the regime, writing the complete list of prisoners is an impossible task. The Guardian has done an outstanding job in collecting and publishing a list of 1259 of missing in Iran (see Iran's dead and detained) as of January 8, 2010. You can download the list into a spreadsheet. It would be nice if we could keep the list updated. We should create a page for each of the prisoners on Wikipedia or other sites. I will update and add to the following list regularly.
THE FOLLOWING ARE A FEW OF SO MANY BRAVE POLITICAL PRISONERS IN IRAN.
Dr Mohammad Maleki, former chancellor of Tehran University was released on recognizance after spending 191 days in Tehran’s Evin Prison. Dr. Maleki who is 78 and a cancer patient was arrested on August 22, 2009 and held for 191 despite before being finally released tonight. Dr. Maleki spent the Nowruz with the family of other prisoners near Evin.
Hossein Ronaghi-Maleki Jailed Iranian blogger requires immediate surgery, denied prison leave. Take Action.
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I start with Abbas Amir Entezam who has been in Islamic Republic's prison the longest.
Abbas Amir Entezam born January 2, 1933 is the longest held prisoners of Iran. Entezam was the spokesman and Deputy Prime Minister in the Interim Cabinet of Mehdi Bazargan in 1979. In 1981 he was sentenced to life imprisonment on charges of spying for the U.S. He has always denied all the allegations that have been put against him in his trial and asks for a retrial. According to Entezam’s website, he currently is on medical leave. You can find a pdf copy of his memoirs (An Sooye Eteham) on his website.
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Nasrin Sotoudeh (born in 1963) is a leading human rights lawyer who represented imprisoned opposition activists and politicians as well as juveniles facing death penalty. Her clients have included noted journalist Isa Saharkhiz and Heshmat Tabarzadi. Sotoudeh was arrested in September 4, 2010 on charges of threatening the national security. In January 2011, Iranian authorities sentenced Sotoudeh to 11 years in prison in addition to barring her from practicing law and from leaving the country for 20 years. PEN American Center announced Nasrin Sotoudeh as the recipient of its 2011 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award .Watch her speech (in Farsi with English subtitle). Amnesty International has call Action for her release.
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Mohammad Seifzadeh is a prominent human rights lawyer and founding member of the Defenders of Human Rights Centre (DHRC). On October 29, 2010, Seifzadeh had been sentenced to 9 years imprisonment and to a 10 years ban to practice as lawyer on charges of “acting against national security” through founding the DHRC, and “propaganda against the regime” through interviews with foreign media. He had appealed his sentence. Following a receny visit by his son, which lasted about two minutes, his son declared that his father was not in good health, had lost weight, and was limping. His lawyer was however not allowed to visit him.
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Ghasem Sholeh-Saadi, lawyer and university professor, was arrested on 3 April 2011. In 2002, Ghasem Sholeh Saadi wrote a strongly worded open letter to Ayatollah Khamanei, the Supreme Leader, questioning his religious qualification to become the leader and voicing other criticism. He was then arrested and spent 36 days in detention. The Islamic Revolution Court tried him on charges of “insulting the authorities, propaganda against the system and publishing lies with intent to cause anxiety to public opinion” and sentenced him to 1.5 years imprisonment in June 2006. The sentence was upheld in April 2007. His latest detention is likely to be related to that sentence. Sholeh Saadi is a former Member of Parliament of two terms. He was prevented from standing as a presidential candidate in 2009.
Shahrbanou Amani, a former MP of the 5th and 6th Parliament and a reformist, was arrested on February 13, 2011. Both during and after her time in Parliamentl, Amani was a staunch supporter of women’s rights. She had criticized the "Family Support Bill," which sought to ease restrictions on the practice of polygamy by men. She was an MP representing the people of Urumieh, and prior to her arrest she worked at the State Welfare Organization. Amani was also an advocate and supporter of the One Million Signatures Campaign and its aims. Shahrbanoo Amani, the representative of the fifth and sixth parliament was released from prison on a $150 thousand USD bail. Amani was arrested following the February 14th opposition protests in Iran.
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Dr Mohammad Maleki, former chancellor of Tehran University was released on recognizance after spending 191 days in Tehran’s Evin Prison. Dr. Maleki who is 78 and a cancer patient was arrested on August 22, 2009 and held for 191 despite before being finally released tonight. Dr. Maleki spent the Nowruz with the family of other prisoners near Evin.
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Haleh Sahabi was arrested in 2009 during a demonstration in front of the parliament that was protesting the inauguration of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who was announced winner of the presidential race amidst allegations of vote fraud.
Haleh Sahabi was charged with “propaganda against the regime by [her] repeated presence at illegal gatherings and disturbing public order.” She was sentenced to two years in prison and a monetary fine. She began serving her sentence three months ago, after it was confirmed by the appellate court.
Ezatollah Sahabi, who was reportedly operated on yesterday and may be at death’s door, was a member of the Revolutionary Council after the 1979 Revolution and part of the Iran’s first post-Revolution government. He has also served as an MP in the Islamic Republic parliament. Tehran’s prosecutor has refused to allow detained Iranian activist Haleh Sahabi to visit her father in hospital.
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| Dr. Maleki at Haleh Sahabi's House |
Ezatollah Sahabi has served time as a political prisoner both before and after the Revolution in Iran.
Update: Ezatollah Sahabi passed away on May 31 2011. Haleh Sahabi died on June 1, 2011 at her father's funeral. During the funeral, Haeleh Sahabi reportedly got into an argument with several members of the Basij militia. 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.
God bless them. They are both free now.
Update: Ezatollah Sahabi passed away on May 31 2011. Haleh Sahabi died on June 1, 2011 at her father's funeral. During the funeral, Haeleh Sahabi reportedly got into an argument with several members of the Basij militia. 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.
God bless them. They are both free now.
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Hossein is charged with “Membership in the Iran Proxy internet group”, “Propaganda against the regime”, and “Insulting the Supreme Leader and the President”. In December 2010, one year after his arrest, a 15-year prison sentence issued earlier for the blogger was finalized by the Islamic Republic Appeals Court. Reporters Without Borders said that this is the heaviest sentence for a blogger to date after the 19 and a half year sentence given to another blogger, Hossein Derakhshan. In February 2011, the HRANA group reported that the Ministry of Intelligence ordered the removal of Hossein’s infected kidney, even though the Evin prison doctors have said that a laser operation on his kidney would allow for it to function again without removal.
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Iranian journalist, Ahmad Zeidabadi won the 2011 UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize. He is also the winner of World Association of Newspapers' Golden Pen of Freedom Award for 2010. Announcing the UNESCO decision, jury president Diana Senghor said: “ The final choice of Ahmad Zeidabadi pays a tribute to his exceptional courage, resistance and commitment to freedom of expression, democracy, human rights, tolerance, and humanity. Beyond him, also the Prize will award the numerous Iranian journalists who are currently jailed.” Zeidabadi is currently serving a six-year jail sentence following Iran’s presidential election in 2009.
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‘Were the individuals who beat me in the basements of Evin Prison brought before the [prison] disciplinary committee?’ Shahidi to prison officials who threatened her with punishment if she continued her hunger strike in October 2009.
Shahidi suffers from a heart condition, for which she requires regular medication.
SIGN THE PETITION FOR THE RELEASE OF HENGAMEH SHAHIDI
Emad Baghi is a human rights activist, a journalist, prisoners' rights advocate, a philosopher and a writer. He is the founder and head of the Committee for the Defense of Prisoners' Rights and the Society of Right to Life Guardians in Iran, and the author of twenty books, six of which have been banned in Iran. Baghi was imprisoned in connection with his exposé writings on the Chain murders of Iran, which occurred in Autumn 1998, and imprisoned again in late 2007 for another year on charges of "acting against national security." Baghi was among the numerous journalists and reformists detained by the government of Iran on 28 December 2009 in the wake of violent crackdowns on Ashura protests. Emad was released, and once again rearrested on 5 December 2010.
Baghi is suffering from "exacerbation of his respiratory disease". On the first day of Nowruz (Persian New Year) on the 20th March, 2011, Emad had been moved to hospital due to another heart attack. After a few hours in hospital that night, he was transferred to his solitary confinement.
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Baghi is suffering from "exacerbation of his respiratory disease". On the first day of Nowruz (Persian New Year) on the 20th March, 2011, Emad had been moved to hospital due to another heart attack. After a few hours in hospital that night, he was transferred to his solitary confinement.
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Shiva Nazar Ahari (born 1984) is a human rights activist and a founding member of the Committee of Human Rights Reporters. She has been jailed several times. The last time was 14 June 2009 and she was held in Evin prison until September 23, 2009 when she was released on an equivalent of a $200,000 bail. On December 21, 2009 she was arrested once again along with several other activists who were on their way to the city of Qom to attend the funeral of Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri. After 266 days in prison, she was released on September 12, 2010 on a bail of five billion Iranian rials roughly equivalent to over $ 500,000.
On Sunday, March 13 2011, it was announced that Shiva Nazar Ahari was the 2011 recipient of the Theodor Haecker prize for "courageous internet reporting on human rights violations".
Shiva wrote a letter to her father in prison: "You Taught Me to Not Break, Father". What it here (English subtitle).
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Mansour Osanloo is a leading trade union activist in Iran where he has been imprisoned several times from 2005 to 2008. Osanloo is currently held in Evin Prison, serving a five-year prison sentence. He is a founding member of the Syndicate of Workers of Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company, an independent union that has been campaigning vigorously for workers’ rights.
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Bahareh Hedayat, student activist has been sentenced to 9 1/2 years imprisonment for propaganda against the regime through interviews with foreign media, insulting the leader and the president. A group of Iranian activists now campaigning for her release have distributed a petition, and to call more attention to her situation, they have launched a facebook page.
In a video message from Hedayat released in 2010 (in Persian with English subtitles) she speaks about the pressures faced by Iranian student activists.
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Milad Asadi has been detained without charge in Evin Prison, Tehran, since 1 December 2009. Amnesty International has call for URGENT ACTION for his release. He is at risk of torture or other ill-treatment.
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Shabnam and Farzad Madadzadeh were arrested on February 21, 2008 and were sentenced to five years in prison in Rajaei Shahr Prison. When Judge Mogheisi asked Shabnam Madadzadeh to explain the tortures, the student activist stated that in addition to 71 days in solitary confinement, she was beaten and physically tortured with cable wires. Judge Mogheisi replied, “How can you consider those acts of torture?” Since Shabnam and Farzad’s arrest, their family has been under a great deal of psychological pressure. Abdolallah Madadzadeh, Shabnam’s father, has lost the vision in one of his eyes and his wife is being treated for severe heart problems.
Read Shabnam's moving letter from prison.
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Taghi Rahmani was arrested on February 10, 2011. He has spent more than 14 years of his life in prison of Islamic Republic of Iran. He was arrested in 1982 and sentenced to 3 years. He was arrested again in 1987 for his writings on reforming the religion and sentenced to 11 years in prison. After his release, he founded the monthly Iran Farda and the weekly Omid Zanjan, publishing extensive studies on religious modernism. He was once again arrested in 2000 and released on bail in 2002. He was later detained in 2003 and held in prison for 22 months. Following the elections, he was arrested for a few days. Rahmani won the Human Rights Watch Hellman-Hammet award in 2005.
Rahmani’s wife Nargess Mohammadi, who is the deputy head of Human Rights Defenders Centre, was also arrested in 2010 but was released on bail due to health complications. Some Articles sorted by author Taghi Rahmani.
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Isa Saharkhiz (born in 1953) is a political figure, journalist and former head of the press department at the Iranian Ministry of Culture and Education during former President Khatami's administration. On June 20, 2009, Saharkhiz was arrested in northern Iran. Saharkhiz was sentenced to 3 years in jail, is prohibited from leaving the country for one year, and he is also barred from involvement with the press or engaging in any political activities for 5 years. Saharkhiz said: “I will not ask for an appeal in this show trial.”
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Arjang Davoudi, a vocal activist, has been in prison since 2003. He was sentenced to 15 years of prison; and 74 lashes for having dared to spoken to a Canadian journalist, who worked on a documentary (Forbidden Iran) about the death of Zahra Kazemi. Arjang has not been silent in prison: he secretly wrote a book about savage tortures he endured and there is also a video clip he has made from Evin prison, speaking in English, to the world community, reiterating his hopes and struggles for Iran (video is posted in 2008). He protested to the recent execution of the innocent Kurd prisoners with a poem. He also raised a warning flag when Ali Saremi's death sentence after over two decades of imprisonment was upheld.
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Ayatollah Boroujerdi is a cleric who advocates the separation of religion and government and has been imprisoned several times by the Iranian government. Boroujerdi and many of his followers were arrested in Tehran on October 8, 2006, following a clash between police and hundreds of his followers. According to Amnesty International "poor prison conditions, and torture and ill-treatment, have reportedly led to a deterioration in Ayatollah Boroujerdi’s medical conditions. Watch his speech before his arrest.
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Abdollah Momeni was arrested during protests after the election in June 2009 and later sentenced to eight years in prison for his presence at post-election gatherings and activities against national security. According to witness statements, Momeni is subject to abusive treatment in prison. he was awarded for the 2009 by Homo Homini Award.
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Heshmat Tabarzadi, an activist has been arrested for his political activities, most recently in December 28, 2009. In October 2010, the regime sentenced him to nine more years in jail and 74 lashes. Following the December 7, 2009 Student Day protests in Iran, Tabarzadi published an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal. On the evening of December 27, the day of the 2009 Ashura protests, Tabarzadi was interviewed on Voice of America Persian. (I was watching his interview with Jamshid Chalangi inVOA). He was arrested the next day!)
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Ali Asghar Mahmoudian was detained along with his wife at their house on December 2009 and transferred to Ward 209 of Evin Prison. Mahmoudian has been in prison limbo for 15 months. He is currently in Ward 350 of Evin Prison without a trial. He had been a political prisoner during the eighties.
His wife Nahid Malek-Mohammadi, has been sentenced to 5.5 years in prison.
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Babak Dashab was arrested during the Ashura protests on December 27 2009. He had been previously sentenced to six years in prison which has now been reduced to five years following appeal. He is currently being held in ward 350 of Evin prison. Dashab’s wife has urged officials to release her husband even for a short period of time, in order to alleviate some of the pain endured by their child who has not seen Dashab since his arrest.******************
Amir Abotalebi was arrested in December 28, 2009 of last year and was held in temporary detention for 6 months has returned to Evin Prison to serve his 4 year prison sentence. He had spent 77 days in solitary confinement and his 4 year sentence has been upheld by the appeals court.
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Seyyed Mostafa Tajzadeh (born 1956), reformist politician, was arrested right after June 12, 2009 Iran’s Presidential election. Tajzadeh served as the Political Vice Minister of the Ministry of Interior of Iran in the government of Mohammad Khatami. The first Iranian elections for the City and Village Councils of Iran happened under Tajzadeh.
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| The couple together in hospital and prison! |
Fakhrossadat Mohtashamipour, wife of veteran reformist politician Mostafa Tajzadeh, has been hospitalised days after going on hunger strike and losing consciousness in Evin prison. According to opposition website Kaleme, imprisoned women’s rights activist Fakhrossadat Mohtashamipour was transferred to hospital after going on strike to protest the authorities’ ongoing refusal to allow her to meet with her imprisoned husband Mostafa Tajzadeh.
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Mahsa Amrabadi, reformist journalist, along with her husband and journalist Masoud Bastani, were arrested after the disputed presidential election of June 2009. Bastani was later imprisoned for six years He has been denied all visitation rights and sick leave for medical treatments.
Amrabadi spent two and half months in solitary confinement until eventually she was released on $2,000 bail. In October 2010, Amrabadi was accused of activities against regime establishment and was sentenced to another year in jail. Amrabadi was arrested again on March 1st, 2011 and was taken to a ward in Evin prison. She spent 16 days in solitary confinement there. She was released on March 16th on bail and is awaiting a trial while her other charges are still under review. Amrabadi (born 1984) began her higher education in 2003 in journalism at Arak University. Ms Amr-Abadi started working as a journalist at the weekly magazine “Neday-e Eslahat” (Voice of Reform) in Arak, where she met Masoud Bastani, the Editor-in-chief of the magazine. They got married in 2006.
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| Masoud Bastani |
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Parvin Javadzadeh Parvin Javadzadeh (born 1989), a blogger born was arrested on December 27, 2009 (during the Ashura protests). She sentenced to 8 years in prison for “Moharebeh” (enmity against God), sentence was reduced to 26 months on appeal in August 2010.
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Abdolreza Tajik, Journalist and human rights activist has been sentenced to six years in prison. Following the rigged 2009 presidential election, Tajik was arrested three times. The third time, he was imprisoned on 12 June 2010 and was released on a bail worth more than $483,000 on 22 December 2010.
Tajik’s sister Parvin has already been sentenced to a year and a half in prison for “acting against the establishment and creating anxiety for public opinion” for her interview with the BBC’s Persian service. Tajik won 2010 press freedom prize.
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| GOD BLESS YOU |
Mohsen Dogmechi, a merchant at Tehran’s bazaar was arrested on September 7, 2009 and initially incarcerated in Evin prison then transferred to Rajai Shahr prison. He lost his life on March 28, 2011 due to negligence and lack of medical care in both Evin and Rajai Shahr prisons.
He received a sentence of ten years imprisonment in Rajai Shahr prison. His charges were: providing financial aid to families of political prisoners, and visiting his daughters in Camp Ashraf.
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Laleh Hassanpour, a human rights and a women’s rights activist, was arrested on March 16, 2010 by Sepah (IRGC) Intelligence agents and taken to ward 2A (solitary confinement) of Evin prison (IRGC-run ward). She was released on bail on June 2, 2010. According to HRANA, Hassanpour was under intense pressure during her incarceration to give false televised confessions. After receiving a written court summons order on April 17th, 2011, Laleh Hassanpour went to Evin prison on April 23rd for the execution of her five year prison sentence.
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Sarah Mahboubi a Baha'i college student deprived of an education, was arrested on April 9, 2011 for the second time in a year and transferred to the detention center located at the Intelligence Agency in Sari.
Additionally, according to the Center to Defend Familes of those Slain and Detained in Iran, last month, Akbar’s brother Hossein Amini, age 27-28, was confirmed dead under strange circumstances citing a “heart attack” by prison authorities at Evin prison, although he had no history of any physical health conditions or diseases.
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Akbar Amini, the heroic protester who climbed atop of a crane holding a poster of Green Movement martyrs during demonstrations on February 14th, 2011, was transferred from Ward 209 to Ward 350 at Evin prison after almost two months in jail. According to Kaleme, his new cell mates stated that on the day of the demonstration, Akbar had also held a picture of himself so that if in the event that security forces threw him off the crane, people would still be able to identify him.
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Sima Didar, an Azeri journalist and civil rights activist, was arrested in Tabriz on Saturday 16th April 2011, presumably to enforce the six-month jail sentence she received last year.
Didar was also detained in June 2009 following the arrest of her husband Alirza Farshi, and released more than a month later after posting bail. In a secret trial, the Tabriz Revolutionary Court sentenced her, along with her husband, to six months imprisonment. She also barred from graduate school in 2010.
Sima Didar is a graduate of Tehran University where she was the editor-in-chief of a literary publication named "Yaşmaq." She was also a writer for the local Journal "Mehr Binab".******************
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Badrosadat Mofidi | Ali Ashfari | Javid Houtan Kian |
Kaveh Ghasemi Kermanshahi | Mohammad Reza Hassanpour | |
Mohammad Oliaiyfard | FREE OUR PRISONERS! | Nader Karimi Jouni |
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TO BE CONTINUED!
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