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Victims and Witnesses

Documents in this collection

» I want to scream the pain that all detained human beings share

Author: Abolfazl “Puya” Jahandar
Published: August 21, 2008
Type: Letter

Abolfazl Jahandar, a student activist and former member of the Alameh University Islamic Association,was in charge of the news website Pouya. He is currently serving a three-year sentence on charges such as “insulting authorities”, “publicity against the regime.” Based on information provided by his mother, his treatment in prison has led to injuries of several vertebra.


» A Letter From a Juvenile Inmate on Death Row

Author: Mohammad Fadaei/Translated by Iran Human Rights Voice
Published: June 6, 2008
Type: Letter


» An Indictment Against My Own Conscience

Author: Ladan Boroumand
Published: April 18, 2008
Type: Newspaper article


» To Object to My [Detention] Condition I Have No Choice But to Bind My Lips together

Author: Babak Dadbakhsh
Published: January 15, 2008
Type: Letter

ُSource : Human Rights Activists in Iran / ABF translation


» A Protest Letter Against Ill Treatment in Ward 8 Of The Evin Prison

Author: Majid Tavakoli
Published: November 23, 2007
Type: Letter


» To Torture A Prisoner Is to Torture Humanity: A Letter From Farzad Kamangar, A Political Prisoner

Author: Farzad Kamangarّ
Published: November 23, 2007
Type: Letter


» AN APPEAL TO THE AUTHORITIES BY MOTHERS OF DETAINEES ACCUSED AS "HOOLIGANS"

Author: Mothers of defendants accused of "hooliganism"/ABF translation
Published: July 23, 2007
Type: Letter


» State Violence Against Homosexuals in Iran : Interview With Two Victims

Author: Arsham Parsi/English translation ABF
Published: July 21, 2007
Type: Web article


» ALL WOMEN ARE VICTIMS, NOT JUST THOSE IN PRISON

Author: Mahboubeh Hosseinzadeh/translation Sussan Tahmasebi
Published: April 11, 2007
Type: Web article

Mahboubeh Hosseinzadeh was arrested along with her fellow women rights activist Nahid Keshavarz, on April 2, 2007, while collecting signatures for the One-Million Signature Campaign Demanding Changes to Iran’s Discriminatory Laws. They both were charged with "acting against national security and propaganda against the regime" These two prominent activists were released on April 15th, after posting a 200 million rial bail with the revolutionary court [around 25 thousand U.S. dollars]. The present text is Hosseinzadeh's testimony about her detention and other women detainees's cases. change for Equality


» BAHÁ'Í SCHOOLCHILDREN IN IRAN INCREASINGLY HARASSED AND ABUSED BY SCHOOL AUTHORITIES

Author: Ms. Bani Dugal
Published: April 5, 2007
Type: Press Release

NEW YORK – Bahá'í students in primary and secondary schools throughout Iran are increasingly being harassed, vilified, and held up to abuse, accordingto recent reports from inside the country. During a 30-day period from mid-January to mid-February, some 150 incidents of insults, mistreatment, and even physical violence by school authorities against Bahá'í students were reported as occurring in at least 10 Iranian cities.


» IRAN STEPS UP SECRET MONITORING OF BAHÁ’ÍS

Published: November 2, 2006
Type: Communique

In an ominous move, Iran’s Ministry of Interior has ordered officials throughout the country to step up the surveillance of Iranian Bahá'ís, focusing in particular on their community activities.


» BEING A POLITICAL PRISONER IN THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN

Author: Roya Toloui
Published: January 27, 2006
Type: Report

Dr Roya Toloui, an Iranian-Kurdish women's rights activist, and the editor of a banned publication was arrested in August 2005, following the demonstrations that took place in several cities in the Iranian Kurdestan in reaction against the torture and murder, by the Islamic Republic security forces, of Shavaneh Ghaderi (a young pro-democracy militant who had peacefully advocated the boycott of June's presidential election). Ms. Toloui spent 66 days in prison. After being coerced to confess against herself, she was set free and fled the country. In an interview with Radio Farda (Maryam Ahmadi), she briefly talked about what happened to her in prison and concluded : "My main point to the powers of the world is that our issue is not limited to atomic energy. Violation of human rights is the biggest problem in Iran. If Iran ('s case) is really going to the Security Council, it must be for violation of human rights. Couldn't the Security Council put these people under pressure so that our nation can have the right to a free election and choose its desired government? Or could it not help us have a democratic government? Is the value of the human rights less than the issue of atomic energy? If we have a democratic government which protects human rights, then our nuclear energy would not be a problem."


» "They'll Kill Me"– A Gay Iranian Torture Victim Speaks

Author: Interview by: Doug Ireland
Published: September 20, 2005
Type: Web article


» OPEN LETTER TO THE HEAD OF THE JUDICIARY

Author: َAli Afshari
Published: August 17, 2005
Type: Letter

The present text is an excerpt from Ali Afshari's open letter to the Head of the Islamic Republic's Judiciary, Ayatollah Shahrudi. Ali Afshari, a Student Union Leader and pro-democracy advocate, was arrested in December 2000 for a speech he delivered at the Amir Kabir University (Tehran) regarding Iran's political impasse. He was charged with "propaganda against the regime", "agitating public opinion", and " insulting the Leader". In this letter Mr. Afshari describes the torture he was subjected to and the confession he was violently forced to make. The content of this letter was first aired by the BBC Persian on Wednesday, 17 August 2005.


» Good Night Comrade, 1988 Mass Execution of Political Prisoners in Racht

Author: Ahmad Musavi
Published: March 1, 2004
Type: Book chapter


» I Cannot Forgive

Author: Majid Naficy
Published: October 31, 2002
Type: Web article


» MY PEN CRIES OUT TO THE WORLD: IS THERE A FREEDOM LOVER IN THE WORLD WHO WILL HEED MY CALL FOR HELP?

Author: Manouchehr Mohammadi
Published: June 2002
Type: Letter

Excerpts of Mr. Manuchehr Mohammadi's letter to the European Union. Translated in English by About Iran. Manuchehr Mohammadi, a pro-democracy imprisoned student, addressed a letter to the European Union, asking the world's freedom loving people to save him from the ongoing cruelties committed against him by the Islamic Republic regime . Manouchehr Mohammadi had tried to organize an independent Student Union.


» LETTER TO THE HEAD OF THE JUDICIARY

Author: Ahmad Batebi
Published: March 23, 2000
Type: Letter

Ahmad Batebi is a student arrested during the students uprising of 1999 in Tehran. He was photographed while lifting a bloody T-shirt of one of his fellow students. The photograph was published on the cover of the Economist. He was arrested, tried and sentenced to death. A world wide campaign in his favor led to the commutation of his sentence to 13 years imprisonment. He wrote the present letter to report on his conditions of detention.


» KHAVARAN ROSE GARDEN, THE STORY OF A MASS GRAVE

Author: M. Raha
Published: 1997
Type: Report

This piece is a report documenting the persistent efforts of the families of mass execution victims to keep the memory of their loved ones alive. It was published in the magazine "Noghteh", 6, 1996.


» WOULD THERE BE ANOTHER VISIT?

Author: Mahin Esmati
Published: 1997
Type: Journal article

In the summer of 1997, "Noghteh," an Iranian political magazine, published by political refugees in Paris, released an issue entitled "Prison and torture in Iran." This article series is the recollection of what the relatives of the political prisoners went through during the last months of 1988, when the regime engaged in a systematic killings of political opponents previously sentenced to prison terms.


» IN IRAN, THEY EVEN TORTURE CHILDREN

Author: Helmut Szimkus
Published: July 11, 1994
Type: Newspaper article

The present text is the testimony of Helmut Szimkus, a German engineer who was detained in Evin prison by the Islamic Republic's authorities for over five years and was released on July 1st, 1994 as a result of the German government's intervention. Back in Germany, he was interviewed by Andreas Gutzeit and Josef Hufelschulte for Focus, the German news magazine, Number 28, dated 11 July 1994. He talked about the conditions of detention in the Iranian prison, and the torture of detainees, including children. He called for an international court to try the Iranian government.


» 1988 Mass Execution of Political Prisoners in Mashhad, A Testimony

Author: Reza Fani/Monireh Baradaran/ABF English translation
Published: June 5, 2008
Type: Interview

An interview with Reza Fani Yazdi, who was a prisoner in Mashhad in 1988…. “Just a few days after they had taken out the third group of our guys for execution, they called the names of another 23 of us and transferred us from Ward 2 to the quarantine. They, then, took the rest to Ward 1. The assistant prosecutor who had run into one of the guys in the corridor had told him offhandedly that they were going to be the next group. “The next time the Commission comes to Mashhad, it’s gonna send you guys off to hell as well.” These are the exact words that Haji Valipur, a young clerical student and the acting assistant prosecutor for the political prisoners’ ward, expressed to our friends.”


» 1988 Mass Execution of Political Prisoners in Hamedan, A Testimony

Author: Hadi Aminian/Bidaran/ABF translation
Published: June 5, 2008


» LETTER FROM TWO PRISONERS TO THE RRESIDENT OF THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC

Author: Morteza Karbassi Zadeheh Esfahani, and Sadr-el-Deeneh Moshkati
Published: January 13, 1981
Type: Letter


» YOU EXECUTED AN INNOCENT MAN!

Author: The family of Captain Monir Taheri
Published: February 25, 1979
Type: Letter

On August 19th, 1978, Islamist militants set on fire the Rex, a movie theater in Abadan. The flames and fire fighters' ineptitude caused the death of scores of people. At that time, public rumors pointed to the Shah's political police's responsibility in the arson. The tragedy was a determining factor in the escalation of public anger against the monarchy. On February 23rd, 1979, less than two weeks after the victory of the revolutionary movement, Captain Monir Taheri, a police officer, was arrested, charged for the arson (among other counts) and executed 48 hours later. Later investigations proved that religious figures linked to the revolutionary movement were part of the conspiracy and no officials of the former regime had been involved in the arson. The document presented here is an open letter by Mr. Taheri's family, in which they deny the veracity of the charges brought against him. It was published in the daily Ayadegan.


 
 

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