Warning! Prevent quiet murders in the Islamic Republic’s prison! Another human tragedy is about to happen.

Warning! Prevent quiet murders in the Islamic Republic’s prison! Another human tragedy is about to happen.

The suspicious death of eight prisoners in the Rejaee Shahr (Gohardasht) prison is alarming for human rights defenders and political-civil rights activists. These are painful news reaching us, but the depth of the tragedy may be even deeper. The deplorable conditions of the prisons demand special attention and it is necessary to prevent these “silent deaths”. These conditions are not just specific to the prisons in Tehran; they are present in prisons in cities around the country, prisons like Karoun-e- Ahwaz Prison, Behbahan Prison, Ghezel Hessar Prison etc. Additionally, prisons like Kahrizak, and Gharchak Varamin continue to operate.

In Kahrizak, common, male prisoners, and in Gharchak Varmin , common female prisoners are facing incredibly harsh and inhuman conditions that need to be seriously investigated. To increase pressure on prisoners, The Islamic Republic, at times, transfers them to these prisons, like in 2009, when we watched the atrocities that happened in Kahrizak prison. Other example include the transfer of female political prisoners to Gharchack-e- Varamin, which was faced with widespread protests, forcing their return to Evin prison albeit, not to their previous locations but to a substandard cell.

Suspicious deaths in the prisons of the Islamic Republic increase every day. Examples are Mohammad Zalieh Naghshbandian, a Kurdish political prisoner who after suffering 21 years in prison, because of previous damages to his lungs during the Iran-Iraq War, and the unhealthy prison conditions, fell increasingly ill and, due to the negligence of prison authorities who denied him medical treatments, died last night in the Gohardasht prison.

Mansour Radpour also died on May 21, 2012 in the Gohardasht prison due to medical neglect in prison and intense psychological pressure and torture. Mohsen Dogmehchi, also died in Gohardasht prison on March 27, 2012 due to a pancreatic cancer and lack of medical care.

Hoda Saber, an activist for religious and national causes, who protested the killing of Haleh Sahabi, died in Evin Prison on June 12, 2012 of hunger strike and lack of care. According to a statement issued by 64 political prisoners in Ward #350, she was transferred to the Evin Prison Clinic under critical conditions and not only was she not helped, she was subjected to beatings and insults and was thrown out of the clinic room.

Amir Reza Mirsayafi, a weblog writer, died under suspicious circumstances in Evin Prison in 2008, due to tremendous emotional stress and lack of care.

Amir Heshmat Saran, Director of the National Union Front who had been sentenced to 16 years of prison on two separate occasions, was severely injured during an attack by the Special Guards of the Gohardasht Prison. Due to lack of care from the prison officials and injection of suspicious drugs, after three episodes of losing consciousness, he was transferred to the Rejaee Karaj Hospital and passed away in the same hospital on March 6, 2000.

A variety of diseases have become common epidemic occurrences in prisons, and are seriously threatening the lives of many prisoners who have suffered various tortures, and abuses during their detention and who have no access to medical services. Prisoners like Farrokh Vazehan, one of the prisoners following the Ashura events, who was sentenced to 15 years, is suffering from an infectious disease and has been taken to the intensive care unit once, in handcuffs. However, his health condition remains dangerous and his bail has been set at a very high level.

Maryam Akbari Monfared, is a family member of the martyrs from the decade of 80 whose three brothers and one sister were executed in those very years. She was arrested on December 31, 2009 and was sentenced to 15 years in prison and exile in the Rejaee Shahr Prison for collaborating with the Mujaheddin Khalgh Organization. She was recently transferred to the hospital by the security forces for a gall bladder surgery and was immediately transferred back to the prison without any regards for the recovery terms.

Narges Mohammadi Sokhangoo, the vice president of the Human Rights Society was arrested on May 1, 2012 to serve her six years term sentence. She is extremely ill and suffers from muscular paralysis and in her last visitation in Zanjan Prison, four female agents had to carry her on a regular chair to the visitation hall.

Behnam Ebrahimzadeh, Labor activist was arrested on June 12, 2010. He suffers from ear infection but went on a hunger strike in support of Reza Shahabi and, in spite of requests by him and his family members, the prison masters pay no attention to his conditions.

Riaz Sobhani, a Bahai Citizen with heart conditions has received an angiogram once, but is still in critical condign;

Hamed Roohnejad, a student from Beheshti University, accused of collaborating with The Iranian Royal Society, has been sentenced to ten years of actual prison terms and exiled to Zanjan Prison, in spite of suffering from an advanced form of Multiple Sclerosis and a compromised health.

Djila Karamzadeh Makvandi, one of the Laaleh Park mothers, who were arrested on December 27, 2011 to serve a two-year term, is suffering from high blood pressure and recently passed out in prison and needs special attention.

These are but a few of the prisoners in the country’s prisons, suffering, and facing various challenges on a daily basis, due to physical and psychological abuse and pressures, unsanitary and unhealthy environment, and neglect by the authorities.

The lack of basic services for prisoners in the prisons of the country, specially for political prisoners, has brought them face to face with serious issues, as if , invisible hands behind the scene are at work to eliminate political prisoners and even common prisoners. These days we are facing, not only an increasing wave of executions, but also, suspicious deaths in the country’s prisons,

The Women’s Ward of Evin Prison which holds female political prisoners, is yet another substandard prisons in the country. This prison is very cold in the winter and very hot in the summer and is in danger of crumbling any minute to the extent that a while back, during a storm in Tehran, part of its ceiling came down and put female prisoners in serious conditions. Lack of warm water and other basic amenities in this prison is one reason why most of the political prisons are grappling with multiple illnesses.

Sometimes prisoners have to go on long hunger strikes to obtain their most basic demands, putting their own lives in danger. Prisoners like Hossein Malaki Ronaghi, in objection to forced televised confessions, has gone on a huger strike multiple times and, in spite of kidney problems and stomach bleeding, and despite the recommendation by the prison’s medical staff, the security forces are not allowing his transfer to the hospital or his a medical leave for treatment.

Mohammad Sadigh Kaboodvand, a Kurdish political prisoner was arrested in June 2007 and sentenced to 11 years of prison. He is ill and, many times, he has asked to go on a leave due to his son’s cancer. He has been denied and has been on a hunger strike. He has indicated that he will stay on a hunger strike as long as they deny him the chance to visit his sick child. Arash Sadeghi, a student activist, who, after 2009 protests, has spent 30 months in prison, mostly in solitary confinement, has gone on a hunger strike in support of Hussein Ronaghi.

Reza Shahabi, a bus driver, and a member of The Labor Syndicate of The Vahed Bus Company, is yet, another prisoner whose life is threatened. At the time of arrest, he was brutally beaten by the security forces and has suffered injuries to his neck and spine and, ever since, he has lost his balance. He has frequently resorted to hunger strikes to protest a lack of attention to his conditions and almost lost his health completely when, finally, after widespread protests, locally and internationally, he was transferred to the hospital and underwent an operation.

Many more of the political prisoners are in similar conditions and if this continues, everyday, we will witness these silent murders in the prisons of the Islamic Republic.

We, the Mothers of Laaleh Park, while emphasizing our three fundamental demands, are hereby asking the human rights organizations and all the defenders of human rights, especially the family members of political prisoners, to prevent yet another tragedy in the country’s prison. We must use all the available tools to obligate the Islamic Republic to recognize the rights of prisoners; prisoners who, according to all the international conventions, have the right to live and the signatories of these conventions are bound to completely follow all its articles.

Mothers of Laaleh Park

June 6, 2012

 

http://www.madaraneparklale.org/2012/06/warning-prevent-quiet-murders-in.html 

Third Year Anniversary of Mothers of Laaleh Park

Third Year Anniversary of Mothers of Laaleh Park

It has been three years since the popular protest of the people of Iran in 2009. This was a year when the streets of Iran were filled with men and women seeking freedom and justice. People who were frustrated with years of pressure and oppression, inspired by this political movement, and impressed by the TV shows and debates, were convinced that “their votes” would have value and that they could change their conditions by participation in the elections.

After the announcement of the results, people poured onto the streets in protest but this time, it was not just the people who had voted. Many people, who had suppressed their frustrations over the years, came out to the streets in protest to such an overwhelming injustice. However, the government responded to people’s simple and peaceful protest by imprisonment, torture, bullets, and killings. These detentions and killings, once again, brought out mothers of many detainees to find out about their children by gathering outside prisons, courts, and cemeteries, and many mothers ended up grieving for their beloved children. The grieving mothers and the families of political prisoners wore black as a sign to seek justice for their murdered children, protesting the suppression, detentions, tortures, killings, and they asked for trial and punishment of those responsible for the crimes committed in prisons and on the streets.

During a meeting on June 25, 2009, as a symbolic act of protest, the Grieving Mothers announced that they were going to gather every Saturday from 7 to 8 pm in the Fountain Square of the Laaleh Park, and in other parks in Tehran, and that by holding the pictures of their sons and daughters, they would light candles and would make their voices heard by the people of the world, and that they would never stop fighting until their demands were met. Following the publication of this meeting, different groups, supporting the grieving mothers, were formed across Iran’s cities and around the world. These groups also gathered in protest every week to show sympathy with the grieving mothers.

The protest movement of the Grieving Mothers began on June 27, 2009. From that day on, a large number of the mothers and their supporters (around 90), were subjected to attacks and assaults of the security forces, and were detained. During this entire period, these individuals and their family members have been subjected to threats, harassments, summons, and beatings by the forces of oppression. Yet, every day, the bond between these mothers became stronger and they became even more determined to fight through various forms of civil activism. They held on to their demands steadfastly by gathering in front of Evin Prison and the Revolutionary Courts, gathering in various parks, showing their support for prisoners on hunger strikes, participating in memorial ceremonies of those killed, visiting and sympathizing with the families of those killed in Tehran and other cities, and protesting the executions. This protest movement gained widespread support from different political and social groups around the world and a large number of human rights activists announced their support of the grieving mothers. The support continues and, everyday, this network of justice seekers attracts more supporters. They include high profile Iranian and international human rights and peace activists, activists in the women movements, student movements, movie and theatre artists, poets and writers, and also, the world’s black-clothed women, and the Argentina’s De Mayo Square Mothers.

On the first anniversary of this protest movement, the grieving mothers changed their name to the Mothers of Laaleh Park and, defining their goals more specifically, they continued their activities, and they have not rested to this day, insisting on their demands. Mothers of Laaleh Park present themselves in the following terms:

“We are a group of mothers and family members of those individuals who were either killed or damaged during the rule of the Islamic Republic and, seeking justice, we have the following demands:

1.We demand an end to capital punishment and the killing of human beings in any shape or form.
2.We demand the immediate and unconditional release of all political and ideological prisoners.
3. We demand a public and fair trial of all the perpetrators of the crimes committed by the Islamic Republic since it’s inception.

We, the Mothers of Laaleh Park, believe that it is a crime to execute people individually or in groups in prisons, to kill and assassinate ethnic, national, religious, political, and ideological targets on the streets, to attack homes and student dormitories and work places, to kidnap, detain, and hurt individuals in order to kill human ideas, to torture, get forced confessions, rape, kill by stoning, or for vendetta. We are fighting to prevent these crimes and to elevate human condition.

As mothers, we are trying to create a safe and humane environment, away from war and bloodshed, discrimination and humiliation. That is why we are against revenge and physical elimination. But we believe that, in order to prevent crimes from happening, it is imperative that all those agents who, directly or indirectly, were perpetrators of crimes during the rule of the Islamic Republic, should be tried in a fair, public, and popular court and be held accountable for their anti-human actions and to receive punishments in accordance to their crimes, while also being rehabilitated and educated in understanding and respecting human ideas.

As mothers, we ask all those who have been victims or witnesses of these crimes over the years, to join us in asking for justice. As victims of violence and discrimination against women, we support all actions that oppose violence, seek equality and the removal of discrimination, and invite all the victims of violence to join forces with us.

In the last three years, we, the Mothers of Lealer Park, have not failed, even for a second, to pursue our demands, and have, continuously, tried to make the authorities respond to family members. We have tried to be strong allies of all those who have been hurt and who demand justice from the Islamic Republic. We have done so by participating in popular protests, sympathizing with families of those killed, writing protest letters and stories of our quest for justice, writing letters to the representatives of the human rights organization, writing letters to Ahmad Said, organizing demonstrations in various countries and bringing the protest cry of the Iranian people to the outside world, launching different campaigns for the release of other political prisoners, writing declarations and protest letters requesting the annulment of the inhuman punishments and the capital punishment, protesting against the terrible conditions of the prisons and the prisoners, protesting the indifference towards the rights of the families of those killed who need to know “why” and “how” the killings took place, and to prevent injustice and discrimination.

It has been three years since the popular uprising against the outcome of the elections; yet, the authorities have been unresponsive to the demands of the people of Iran and the three demands of the mothers. To this day, none of the individuals responsible for the bloody suppression of the children of this land have been punished. Instead, they have intensified threats and pressures on all the victims of violence and they have tried and detained a number of Mothers of Laleh Park on the charge of supporting and sympathizing with the families of political prisoners who were killed and who are in prison.

These pressures started from the very beginning of the pro-justice movement of the Mothers of Laaleh Park and continue to this day. During this time, they have harassed and abused many of them for supporting the grieving mothers throughout the 33 years of the Islamic Republic crimes. Many have gone through temporary detentions, many others have been constantly harassed by summons and threatening calls, and some have been put through unlawful and Para judicial trials and handed down heavy sentences, and, still, others were pressed to leave the country. The prison sentences of three mothers and their supporters, namely Djila Karamzadeh Makvandi, Leila Seifollahi, and Nader Ahsani, have been affirmed in the court of appeal and Zhila Karamzadeh Makvandi, in spite of illness and high blood pressure, has been detained as of December 26, 2011 to serve a two year sentence. Leila Seifollahi has been sentenced to two years actual and two years of suspended sentence, and Nader Ahsani has been sentenced to two years of actual prison. Also, actual prison sentences have been handed down to Mansoureh Behkish for four and a half years, Mehdi Ramezani for three years, Hakimeh Shekari for three years, Neda Mostaghimi for three years, and Seyed Mohammad Ebrahimi for five years. Additionally, the following individuals await the decision of the appeals court subsequent to the preliminary court ruling, Djila Mahdavian, three years of actual and two years of suspended prison terms, Maryam Najafi, six moth of suspended term, and Omolbanayn Ebrahimi, three years of suspended prison term.

In the three years, no amount of threat, scare tactics, arrest, detention, and frequent court rulings against the mothers has prevented the protest movement of Mothers of Laaleh Park. Instead, the longer the authorities have refrained from offering answers, our resolve to demand our legitimate and rightful human rights has become stronger. By taking lessons from our past experiences and to prevent history from being repeated, we reached out across the lines and together with all the families of those killed as political prisoners of the past and today, in the 33 years of the Islamic Republic crimes, and we continuously and steadfastly, insist on our three basic demands!



Mothers of Laaleh Park
June 26, 2012

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