GVF — Iran’s Supreme Court has approved a death sentence for Gholamreza Khosravi Savadjani, a human rights group reported on Monday.

Pen International - PEN International’s Writers in Prison Committee is seriously concerned for the welfare of literary translator Mohammad Soleimani Nia, who has started a hunger strike in protest at his detention. Soleimani Nia has been held without charge since 10 January 2012, and is said to be in a fragile condition. PEN fears that he is held in violation of Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Iran is a signatory, and calls for his immediate and unconditional release.

Europe News - Ayatollah Mohammad Taghi Mesbah-Yazdi is a religious advisor to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran. His theological ideas have been influential in the formation of Iranian state policy.

Majzooban Noor - On Monday afternoon incarcerated blogger, Hossein Ronaghi Maleki was taken to hospital outside of prison in dire health.

The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran - 74-year-old political prisoner and former mayor of Tehran Mohammad Tavassoli continues to be held in prison despite his deteriorating physical condition and posting bail, said Mehdi Nourbakhsh in an interview with the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran.

Majzooban Noor - The already poor healthcare system in Evin prison deteriorated during the Norooz holidays. Contagious Flu was prevalent among the prisoners and treatment was not provided.

The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran - Imprisoned journalist Ehsan Houshmand, who suffers from serious ear pain as a result of beatings he received during his interrogation, is currently being threatened with his wife’s arrest if he publicizes information about his case and condition, his wife told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran in an interview.

The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran - Following news of the disappearance of journalist Massoud Lavasani last week, his father told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, “Something terrible happened to my son, but he doesn’t want to say anything out of fear for his family’s security. I am really sorry to live in Iran under these circumstances. I have lived my life and have no fear, but because I am worried for my son, I cannot say anything. Only let everyone know that we are under tight control and we are not safe.”

International Campaign for Human Rights In Iran - Mohammad Davari, former editor-in-chief of Saham News website, has developed acute psychological illness in prison and is in critical condition, his brother Bijan Davari told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran in an interview. “Mohammad is not well at all. Besides psychological problems, he has chest pains and his teeth have gone bad,” he said.

International Campaign for Human Rights - A member of the Nationalist-Religious group and member of the editorial board of Iran-e Farda monthly, Saeed Madani, who was arrested by security forces on 7 January 2012, remains in solitary confinement. He has only been allowed to contact his family once since his detention began, his wife Mansoureh Ettefagh told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran.

Radio Zamaneh - In a message written for the Iranian New Year, Kurdish political prisoner Reza Sharifi Bukani reminds the public that hundreds of political prisoners will spend Norooz away from their families in “the dark cells” of the Islamic Republic.

Freedom Messenger - Status report of the last two political prisoner by the group of “Human Rights and Democracy in Iran”

The Internation Campaign for Human Rights in Iran - Iranian Delegate Responds Angrily Without Addressing Report’s Content

Ahmed Shaheed, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Iran, presented his annual report today before the Human Rights Council in Geneva. Countries both in favor of and against the report, as well as Iran’s representative, asked questions and expressed their opinions about its contents, the Council’s future plans, and the Rapporteur’s mandate. One of the dramatic points of the meeting occurred when the head of Iran’s Human Rights Council, Mohammad Javad Larijani, displayed anger and used language that compelled the chair of the meeting to interrupt him.

Radio Zamaneh - Akbar Falahzadeh describes the deteriorating situation for workers in the Islamic Republic with ever-rising inflation, the decline of the manufacturing sector and mismanagement of the economy.

New York Times - United Nations investigator of Iran’s human rights record castigated its government for what he called evidence of “a striking pattern of violations of fundamental human rights guaranteed under international law.” A 36-page report by the investigator, Ahmed Shaheed, a special rapporteur for the Human Rights Council, catalogued numerous examples, including violations of due process in the courts, illegal detentions, extensive accusations of torture of prisoners, and maltreatment of dissidents, minorities, journalists and women. The report praised Iran for omitting stoning as a form of capital punishment in its new penal code, but it faulted the country for its large number of executions, mostly in drug cases, which increased to at least 670 cases last year from 100 in 2003.

It also criticized a bill under consideration in Parliament that would allow men to enter into temporary marriages without the knowledge or permission of their wives. Iran had previously objected to the appointment of a special investigator of its rights record and said the inquiry reflected what it called “Western espionage agencies, Zionist elements and terrorist groups.” It has not permitted Mr. Shaheed to visit the country, which he acknowledged in the report, saying the restriction required that he fulfill his mandate “on the basis of voluminous information collected from a variety of independent and reliable sources.”

By Rick Gladstone

 

Radio Zamaneh - Shirin Ebadi, the Iranian Nobel peace laureate, says the jailed members of Iran’s Human Rights Defenders Centre are being intimidated and pressured into making coerced confessions against their organization.

The Human Rights Defenders Centre of Iran was an NGO established by a group of Iranian lawyers to concentrate on human rights cases in their country. The members of the organization, which is now banned in Iran, have been targeted with fierce persecution over the past three years, especially after the controversial presidential elections of 2009.

Today it was announced that Abdolfattah Soltani, a prominent member of the Human Rights Defenders Centre, has been sentenced to 18 years in prison and a 20-year ban from practising law.

Shirin Ebadi, one of the founders of the centre who is now based outside of Iran, reports: “Abdolfattah Soltani and many other collaborators with the Human Rights Defenders Centre have been pressed one-by-one by the interrogators, in interrogation sessions that have always been private [without the presence of a lawyer], to testify against our organization and myself.”

Ebadi adds that the jailed defenders centre members are being pressured to state that because the centre worked many human rights cases pro bono, then it was actually receiving cash payments from foreign embassies.

The Nobel Peace laureate also reports the interrogators have told his colleagues that if they agree to do a recorded interview saying the Nobel Peace prize was awarded to Ebadi for political reasons to pursue regime change in Iran, they will be allowed to leave the country.

Ebadi also indicates that the jailed lawyers have refused to comply with the wishes of their interrogators.

Abdolfattah Soltani has reportedly told Ebadi that if he refuses to do as his jailors wish, then a fate like that of Nasrin Sotoudeh awaits him.

Sotoudeh, another human rights lawyer linked to the Human Rights Defenders Centre, has been jailed since 2010 and sentenced to six years in prison and a 10-year ban from practicing law.

Nargess Mohammadi, Abdolreza Tajik and Mohammad Seifzadeh have also been persecuted for their connection with the Human Rights Defenders Centre.

 

Amnesty International - Iranian journalist Rahman Ghahremanpour was arrested on 1 June 2011 . The legal basis for his arrest is unclear, and he was arrested without a warrant. He is believed be held in Tehran’s Evin Prison since his arrest , placing him at risk of torture or other ill-treatment.

Rahman Ghahremanpour, 35, was arrested by officials believed to be from the Ministry of Intelligence on 1 June 2011. A news agency close to the government, Mashreq News, reported on 2 July 2011 that someone with the initials “R. Gh.” was arrested on charges of espionage. While the agency did not use his full name, details given in the article indicate that they were referring to Rahman Ghahremanpour.

 

Freedom Messenger - Fatemeh Alvandi, the mother of political prisoner Mehdi Mahmoudian who is detained in Rajayi Shahr Prison in Karaj requested that the condition of political prisoners be seen to in a letter to the head of the Prison Organization Gholam-Hossein Ismaili.

She cited this letter in an interview and said, “In early February, they called me from prison and said that they had gone to Mehdi’s cell but he was not inside. My son was not returned to his cell until one day before my visit in prison. During this time, I constantly went to the court but I did not get any answers and they told me that there were no problems”.

“When I went to visit Mehdi, he said if he could see me in person, he would show me his body that was bruised and battered from being beaten. One soldier had held his throat and three others severely beat him while he was being transferred from Rajayi Shahr Prison to Evin. He was beaten so badly, that he passed out”, she added.

According to Mrs. Alvandi, in her visit, Mr. Mahmoudian said that when he regained his conscience, he saw doctors and nurses tending to him.

“The head of prison and the medical examiner witnessed this scene, but did nothing”, Mrs. Alvandi said adding that her son also received a blow to the head…

Mehdi Mahmoudian is a member of the Cooperation Front and had disclosed events at the Kahrizak Detention Center [which later led to its closure].

He was arrested on September 16, 2011 and was detained in Evin Prison. Mehdi was later transferred to Rajayi Shahr Prison…

Mr. Mahmoudian has been sentenced to five years of prison on the charge of assembling and conspiring against the government. He wrote a letter from prison to Khamenei about the condition of prisoners in Rajayi Shahr and continuous rapes going on in this prison. (Radio BBC)

The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran - On Eve of  Bar Association’s Independence Anniversary, Legal Profession Under Assault