Family Home burnt to the ground in Kerman.
Tuesday, July 22nd, 2008In the early hours of Friday July 18th the home of the Shakir Family, who are members of the Bahai’ community in Kerman, was burnt down in a suspected arson attack. Fortunately the family were away during the attack. Everything from furniture to possessions perished in the fire.
This family, like many in the Bahai community, are no strangers to harassment. In a recent event prior to that, whilst at a Bahai gathering, their friends noticed that the Shakirs car was set alight and tried to put it out with a fire extinguisher. They had also been on the receiving end of many threatening phone calls quite a while.
Posted in Baha'is, Christians, Ethnic Minorities, Jews, Kurds, Other, Sunnis | No Comments »
Two Suicides and More Political Prisoners Deported to Turkey
Sunday, March 16th, 2008
According to a report by Human Rights Activists in Iran, two young brides forced into marriage in Kurdistan set themselves on fire and died, while a Kurdish independence activist was deported to Turkey:
دو خودسوزی در کردستان و استرداد یک زندانی به ترکیه
- بر اساس آخرین گزارشات دریافتی خانم صبری جواهری 16 ساله ساکن شهر کامیاران به علت ازدواج اجباری در تاریخ 22/12/86 در شهرستان کامیاران اقدام به خودسوزی نموده بود که امروز و در بیمارستان شهرکامیاران به علت سوختگی شدید جان خود را از دست داد .
همچنین خانم ثریا زند سلیمی 18 ساله به دلیل اختلاف خانوادگی و ازدواج اجباری که در شهر سنندج در تاریخ 22/12/86 اقدام به خودسوزی نموده بود ، صبح امروز در بیمارستان مرکزی آن شهر جان خود را از دست .
- “خالق گونه ش” از زندانیان سیاسی کرد متهم به همکاری و عضویت در حزب حیات آزاد کردستان که مدتها پیش دستگیر و در زندان مرکزی ارومیه نگهداری میشد در تاریخ 21/12/86 به نقطه نامعلومی منتقل و گزارش رسیده است سرانجام از طریق مرز سرو-یوکسوکاوا به کشور ترکیه تحویل داده شده است . در طی ده روز گذشته حداقل 5 زندانی سیاسی به کشور ترکیه تحویل داده شده است.
Kurdish Teacher Faces Death in Iranian Prison
Sunday, March 16th, 2008Farzad Kamangar was arrested in Tehran in July 2006 and held in various detention centres across the country. Kamangar claims that during a period of detention in the notorious Evin Prison, officials tortured him to such an extent that he had to be taken to the prison hospital to receive medical attention. Kamangar was also tortured while in detention in the cities of Sanandaj in Kurdistan province and Kermanshah, Human Rights Watch say. Details of how he was tortured were discovered by Human Rights Watch in a secret letter sent by Kamangar from prison.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
Farzad Kamangar worked for 12 years as a teacher in the city of Kamyaran, Iran, before he was arrested and placed in detention. He also sat on the governing board of both a local environmentalist group and the local branch of the teachers association. Kamangar wrote actively for the monthly journal Royan, a publication of the Department of Education of Kamyaran. He was also a writer with a local human rights organization that documents human rights abuses in Kurdistan and other provinces, Human Rights Watch have said.
Kamangars lawyer said that the trial did not conform to Iranian legal requirements - it was closed, with no jury present. He also told Human Rights Watch that court officials ridiculed his requests that they follow mandated legal procedures.
NEAR and Human Rights Watch deplore the use of torture and call on the Iranian authorities to revoke the death sentence handed down to Farzad Kamangar.
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Please send appeals:
1. Calling on the Iranian authorities to revoke the death sentence handed down to Farzad Kamangar.
2. Insisting that Farzad Kamangar be given a legitimate trial in a public court and reminding the authorities that this is a legal requirement in Iran.
3. Urging the authorities to ensure the safety and well-being of Farzad Kamangar whilst in detention.
APPEALS TO:
Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic
His Excellency Ayatollah Sayed ‘Ali Khamenei
The Office of the Supreme Leader
Shoahada Street, Qom,
Islamic Republic of Iran
Email: info@leader.ir or istiftaa@wilayah.org
Head of the Judiciary
His Excellency
Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi
Ministry of Justice, Park-e Shahr,
Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
Please send emails via the Judiciary website – Iranjudiciary.org/feedback_en.html
Minister of Intelligence
Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejeie
Ministry of Intelligence,
Second Negarestan Street,
Pasdaran Avenue,
Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
Email: iranprobe@iranprobe.com
COPIES TO:
President
His Excellency Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
The Presidency,
Palestine Avenue,
Azerbaijan Intersection,
Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
Email: dr-ahmadinejad@president.ir
Please also send a copy of your appeal to the diplomatic representative for Iran in your country.
PLEASE ALSO SEND COPIES OF YOUR APPEALS TO:
Jonathan Travis
Programme Officer, Network for Education and Academic Rights
90 London Road,
SE1 9LN
London, UK
Fax: 0044(0) 207 021 0881
jonathan.travis@nearinternational.org‘>jonathan.travis@nearinternational.org
URGENT
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Email address: jonathan.travis@nearinternational.org‘>jonathan.travis@nearinternational.org
http://www.nearinternational.org/alerts/iran442008304
Arrest in Sanandaj
Friday, February 22nd, 2008
http://mukriannews.blogfa.com/post-140.aspx
بازداشت يكي از پيروان مكتب قرآن در سنندج
بازداشت يكي از پيروان مكتب قرآن در سنندج
موكريان نیوز
روز گذشته يكي از پيروان مكتب قرآن در سنندج به نام عبدالله فيضي توسط نيروهاي امنيتي در منزل خود بازداشت گرديد
تاكنون از اتهام ومحل نگهداري نامبرده اطلاعي در دست نيست
گفتني است در جريان بازداشت نامبرده منزل وي نيز توسط مامورين مورد بازرسي قرار گرفته است
Suspicious deaths
Thursday, January 24th, 2008The number of reports about suicides and suspicious deaths in Iranian prisons is on the rise. Many of them are young inmates who have either faced unfair treatment as students at Iranian institutions or as prisoners in custody. The case of Ebrahim Lotfallahi is a recent example of suspicious death while in an Iranian prison, which has attracted the following reaction on the part of US authorities:
Press Statement
Sean McCormack, Spokesman
Washington, DC
January 23, 2008
Death of Imprisoned Student in Iran
The United States is deeply concerned about the tragic death under suspicious circumstances of Ebrahim Lotfallahi, an Iranian student of Kurdish descent detained by the Ministry of Intelligence on January 6. We call on Iranian authorities to conduct a full investigation.The Iranian regime continues to deprive its citizens of a future free of fear, abuse, and arbitrary arrest. We urge the regime to release all individuals held without due process and a fair trial, including the three young Baha’i teachers being held in a Ministry of Intelligence detention center in Shiraz and the three Amir Kabir University students that prison authorities refuse to free despite an order issued by an Iranian judge in late December.
2008/049
Released on January 23, 2008