Iran's Political Prisoners: A Wake-up Call

Roozonline:

The famous investigative journalist Akbar Ganji is said to be dying. He has been urgently transferred from his cell in Evin to a hospital in Tehran. On July 16 it was the 36th day of his hunger strike as a protest not just against his own and his fellow-prisoners’ illegal detention, but also against the undemocratic Islamic Republic and its unelected Supreme Leader-for-Life, a harsh dictator with absolute power.

Ganji’s hunger strike is a scream for the world’s attention for the persistent violations of the most fundamental human rights in his country. And for the fate of the vast number of political prisoners in Iran. Let us help Ganji by shedding a bit of light on the identity and fate of some of them.

In this first article I would like to go to a prison called “Rajai’i Shahr” in Karaj, not far from Tehran. It is the place where political prisoners who are seen as a nuisance, are stowed away. Going to Karaj is a severe punishment. Once in there one stops to be a human being. One gets out of sight. Even by the human rights activists and the press. In Rajai’i Shahr political prisoners have to share cells with dangerous criminals like murderers, rapists and drug addicts who don’t hesitate to attack their cell mates. They have nothing to lose : many of them are condemned to death anyway. Murders or “unexplained deaths” are a regular “happening” in RS.

I am going to mention some of the Karaj political prisoners. READ MORE

1. Arzhang Davoudi, engineer, teacher and poet, about 49 years old. Arrested (abducted) in 2003 and condemned in 2005 by a Revolutionary Court to 15 years in jail, exile to a harsh climate, 5 years suspension of his civil rights and 70 lashes of the whip. His crime? He assisted a Canadian reporter who made a documentary on Mrs Zahra Kazemi, the equally Canadian photographer who was beaten to death during interrogations in Evin prison. Since his incarceration Davoudi has had to endure horrific torture and threats during many nightly interrogations. At the time of his arrest he was brutally beaten up and was kept in solitary confinement for about 100 days. The reasons given for his conviction are criticizing the Islamic regime and accusing it of human rights violations as well as sexually abusing the female political prisoners. At the beginning he was also accused of being a spy and a member of an unspecified “dark organization”. Davoudi had to be hospitalised with broken bones and still suffers from eye and ear damage. He was taken to the court room in chains. His court case was conducted behind closed doors without a jury and he was never allowed to see his file. Arzhang Davoudi, together with six other political prisoners in Rajai’i Shahr, started a hunger strike at the end of January 2005 in protest against their confinement in the ‘dangerous criminals’ section of the prison. Reports have indeed surfaced that the political prisoners have been faced with assault and intimidation from murderers and other dangerous criminals. This happened at least four times. Davoudi put his bad experiences to paper but these memoirs were recently confiscated by security forces : another source, another small insight lost for the outside world and a possible additional charge for Arzhang.

2. Bina Darabzand, political activist, about 46 years old, arrested when demonstrating for the release of political prisoners in front of the UN building in Tehran in August 2004. He had to endure solitary confinement for about 2 months. Darabzand’s case was investigated by Bench 26 of the Revolutionary Court. Judge Haddad sentenced him to 3,5 years in prison, 5 years suspension of his civil rights and 50 lashes. The accusations : participating in unlawful protests, giving interviews to foreign radio stations and cooperating with other critics of the Islamic He also went on hunger strike in January / February 2005 in protest against the confinement of political prisoners in the ‘dangerous criminals’ section of the Rajai’i Shahr.3. Mehrdad Lohrasebi (Lohrasbi), a peddling book seller in front of Tehran University, arrested on the 13th of July 1999 for his participation in the student demonstrations of that month. He was originally condemned to death by the Revolutionary Court in Tehran, which sentence was commuted to 15 years imprisonment and later reduced to 10 years. Lohrasebi is said to have been most brutally tortured. After many years in Evin he is now in Rajai’i Shahr prison and is apparently in bad health, physically and psychologically. He needs immediate help.

4. Amir Saran, political activist, member of the “National Unity Front”, imprisoned since 2003 (with interruptions). Was severely beaten during Students Day (7 December) 2002 (see photos on the Internet). Has often voiced his opinions in the press, lately in June 2005, when he joined other political prisoners in calling for another hunger strike in protest against the illegal presidential elections. He is sentenced to 8 years in prison.

There are several more political detainees in the Rajai’i Shahr prison, like the MKO members Hojjat Zamani (who got three times the death penalty), Valiollah Feyz Mahdavi, Ja’afar Eghdami and others. They are suffering the same inhuman treatment as the human rights activists.

Putting the spotlight on the Karaj prison by no means implies that conditions in Evin and other Iranian detention centres are much better. Akbar Ganji and for example also Amir Abbas Fakhravar are vocal witnesses of Iran’s pitiless prison regime.

Why are our newspapers so silent? Why do they ignore the unspeakable suffering of countless human beings in Iranian dungeons while reporting abundantly on the nuclear issue?