The suspicious death of a woman poet and 3 young women journalists.!

The suspicious death of a woman poet and 3 young women journalists.! An open letter of "Effat Mahbaz" to special reporter of UN commission on human rights.
Dear " Yakin Erturk , These sudden and questionable deaths , once again brought the nightmare of the tragic chain murderings of the writers, journalists , translators and political activists in Iran in 1998 to the sight.
An open letter to honourable mademe professor " Yakin Erturk " The special reporter of UN commission on human rights about " violence against women".
efatmahabas@hotmail.com
Honourable mademe professor " Yakin Erturk",
Mademe professor " Yakin Erturk" , We have recieved news that, you as a special reporter of the UN human rights commission on " violence against women " have been invited by the government of the Islamic Republic to travel to Iran from Jan. 30th /2005 to Feb.6 / 2005 . And your intention is to meet people in order to fact finding in Iran and to report it periodical to UN commission on human rights.I would take advantage of this opportunity and bring your attention to the suspicious deaths of a woman poet and three women journalists which did occure in recent months and in order to stop these kind of happenings, I would like to demand an inquiry and need your help in this regards.
Based on the monthly human rights report in Iran ( Jan. 20, 2005 ) : " Elnaz Derakhshan The reporter of " Eftekhar" newspaper , Shiva and Shahla Shekari the reporters of "Shargh" and "Eftekhar" newspapers have been suspiciousely killed in Tehran .*1
Police in its preliminary report announced the death based on gas inhilation and or food poisoning , But the coroners office with observation of redness on the skin and body , strongly believes that they might have been suffocated. The house that the 2 other reporters namely "Shiva" and " Shahla" Shekari were, belonged to " Elnaz Drakhshan " the reporter of " Eftekhar " newspaper.

Honourable mademe, The other suspicious and sudden death is of the contemporary poet "Nazanin Nezam Shahidi" who has died suspiciousely on the evening of ( Tuesday Jan. 18, 2005) , apparently due to the brain death.While one day before to this event , she was chosen as one of the referee to the ( Karnameh ) award ceremony for "todays poetry in Iran" , and she red the statement of the referees in the Niavaran cultural gathering hall .2*

Dear Mademe " Yakin Erturk", These sudden and questionable deaths, Once again brings the nightmare of the tragic chain murdering of the writers, journalists, translators and political advocates of Iran on the year 1998 .
In the chain murdering of the year 1998 ; " Ahmad Zalzadeh", " Ahmad Tafazoli" translator and reporter of the press in Iran , "Mohammad Mokhtari" and " Mohammad Jafar Pouyandeh " writer and translator , " Parvaneh Eskandari " ( Frouhar ) " and " Dariush Frouhar " one of the leader of " Mellat Party of Iran " were killed in different ways in the hands of the Ministry of Informations agents.
Now ; Because of these suspicious deaths of journalists, Elnaz Derakhshan, Shiva Shekari, Shahla Shekari and the contemporary poet Nazanin Nezam Shahidi , The public openion inside and outside of Iran and also the human rights advocates and civil rights organizations in struggle against the " violation on women " are very worried.
............................
At the end Ms. Mahbaz on behalf of her colleagues and herself demanded mademe Erturk when meeting officials to question and ask for investigation about these suspicious deaths.
The letter was signed by Effat Mahbaz , The journalist and human rights advocate.dated 28 Jan./2005
1* - Etemad newspaper
2*- According to ISNA

Translated from the Persian site of the Gooya news
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Labours are also the target of Islamic Republic in Iran, labour rights violationcontinues!

press@Iran: Trials behind closed doors – Saqez seven 24/1/2005

BRUSSELS, 24 January 2005, ICFTU Online: The ICFTU has protested against the second trial behind closed doors in the prosecution of seven independent labour leaders for “organizing an illegal gathering”, a May Day event 2004 in Saqez (Kurd istan Province) in Iran.

It was no coincidence that the first trial against Mr. Borhan Divangar took place on 25 December at the Saqez Revolutionary Court and that the hearings, initially to be held on the same date, are being held on separate dates, says the ICFTU. This makes it more difficult for international observers to attend all the trials. Mr. Mohsen Hakimi, was put on trial on 16 January and trials against Mahmoud Salehi, Mohammad Abdipour and Jalal Hosseini have been scheduled for 1, 6 and 14 February. The case against Mr. Esmaeel Khodkam scheduled for 11 January was postponed.

The ICFTU has repeatedly tried to obtain entry visas for international observers to attend the trials, but to no avail. Instead the government of Iran has allowed the first two trials to take place, and according to information reaching the ICFTU, without regard for due process.

According to ICFTU sources Borhan Divangar was not even given the opportunity to provide a final defence statement during his trial. Moreover, the defendants claim that evidence used against them has been fabricated by the authorities.

In his letter to the Iranian President Khatami Guy Ryder renewed his call from 29 December 2004 for the government to stop the trials or at least ensure fair trials and allow international observers to monitor the proceedings. He wrote that the ICFTU was also closely monitoring other cases involving trade union rights violations in Iran. Only three weeks ago The ICFTU protested against the harassment and intimidation of elected workers representatives during a strike at the Kurdistan Textile Factory in Sanandaj. Workers managed to force the employer to a satisfactory agreement. The ICFTU has later learned that the negotiations were conducted in the presence of agents from the Intelligence Ministry.

In support of the ICFTU’s actions, John Monks, General Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation, raised the situation of workers in Iran with the European Commission as it resumed negotiations with Iran on a Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) on 12 January. He urged that the respect by Iran of relevant labour standards be taken into account in the negotiations and expressed encouragement at the Commission’s statement dated 11 January that a deepening of economic and commercial relations with Iran should be conducted in parallel with a political dialogue. The Commission was also asked to intervene with the Iranian Government in order to facilitate the issuing of entry visas to international observers for the Saqez trials.

The ICFTU said that it was concerned by the many reported incidents of Iabour unrest and repression in Iran, and pointed out that it was now 1 year ago since workers were killed during a strike in the Kerman Province in the village of Khatoonabad. The ICFTU has lodged a complaint against the government of Iran concerning violation of trade union rights with the Committee on Freedom of Association of the United Nations’ International Labour Organisation.

The ICFTU represents 148 million workers in 231 affiliated organisations in 150 countries and territories. ICFTU is also a member of Global Unions: http://www.global-unions.org

For more information, please contact the ICFTU Press Department on +32 2 224 0232 or +32 476 621 018.




International Confederation of Free Trade Unions(ICFTU)
Boulevard du Roi Albert II 5, B1, B-1210 Brussels, Belgium. For more information please contact ICFTU Press on: +32 (2) 224 0232 icftu.org

"Fariba Hedayati",Based on accusation to the " action against national security of the Islamic Republic"has been summoned to the court of revolution.

"Fariba Hedayati", Based on accusation to the " action against national security of the Islamic Republic " has been summoned to the court of revolution.- Shahrvand

Shahrvand - Khosro Shemiranie- Jan. 27- Fariba Hedayati, 31 years of age, who's husband ( Omid Abbasgholi-nezhad ) is currently in prison for the accusation of " action against national security "; In a telephon contact has told to Shahrvand that; she has been summoned to the branch # 26 of the court of revolution.
She added that; When she was leaving her two childrens in kindergarten , she learnt about a letter has been sent to her former residence address. She continued as saying; The content of the letter is a summon which was not signed by anybody.
Based on this summon , The mother of Delaram and Arezu ( The 2 kids ) has to go to the branch # 26 of the Islamic revolution court on Sunday Jan. 30th For the accusation of " action against national security of the Islamic Republic " .
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No matter of how many times you speek about "freedom" or " Liberty " , Your actions speaks louder than your words.

Site of : Mohammad ALI Abtahi ( The former executive director of the office of president Khatami and then the vise president in legal and parliamentary relation ) : About the closure of the site named " ISNA " by the US company "The planet" .
The closure of the site of "ISNA " by the American company "The Planet" could be interesting in different ways:

1- The tallest world slogan today is the free communication. The closure of a reporting site because of the reason of being Iranian is the worst way of censorship which the intelectuals in Iran and even in all third world countries are facing today. When this happens in America that it's president in his second innagural uses the word of freedom for 27 times , shows the dishonesty of his speech to the world.
2- The Iranian intellectuals and free thinkers who worked hard when the press were closed, definitely in this regard too, will stand in defense of free expression. If we will look at the free expression as a choice , we will follow the logic of those who are proud of closing the newspapers or won't take decission about it.
3-" ISNA " is an active news agency that covers more about the defense of writers, journalists, weblog writers, and people of art and culture.in this regard which ISNA has come to this problem, Is the duty of advocates of cultur and politics to see the problem of the ISNA as their own problems.
my concern is that; I reject this uncivilized act of the Planet company, and I see it as an alarm for communication between the world societies, particularly for Iranian communication society and I believe; If there will be silence towards this issue, Then there could be harsh consequences for the generation of the country motivated by internet.

RSF ( Reporters Without Border ) has issued a statement about this matter.

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>"Sahar Kheiz" Is banned to leave the country! Tehran's court of revolution rejected his protest and once again approved the banning

"Sahar Kheiz" Is banned to leave the country! Tehran's court of revolution rejected his protest and once again approved the banning.

Tehran's court of revolution denied protest of "Isa Sahar Kheiz" , The president of the " Association in Defense of Press Freedom" about him being banned to leave the country and the court once again approved the banning . According to the report by "ILNA ", Isa Sahar Kheiz attended in to the branch # 12 of the public prosecutors office and protested to the decision , which resulted to the review of the file by the branch # 15 of the Tehran's court of revolution and the deciion was reinstated.

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The members of the parliament have a plan to close "Yahoo Massenger" and "Orkut" ( "overcut") !

The members of the parliament have a plan to close "Yahoo Massenger" and "Orkut" ( "overcut") !
Tehran- " SINA" News Agency ( Persian news )- Samieh Nosrati
A few principle minded members of the 7th parliament are planning to ban the internet based program, " Orkut" ( overcut) and " Yahoo Messenger ".
A few days ago by the order of judiciary system " orkut" and "Persian blog " was banned or filtered by some of the Internet Service Providers( ISP ) which brought protest by the government of Iran .
The spokeperson for the Iranian government called the banning of the site as " braking the law " But Tehran prosecutor in defense of the deed of judiciary said that ; The judiciary by itself will close all the site's that publishes " anti religious , immoral and anti god " materials . Many of the members of parliament do not know about the reality of Yahoo Messenger .
One member from the majority faction of the Islamic Assembly Council in this regard has said: The assembly will fight with everything that is immoral.
Engineer Reza Rashidi The president of Dita company in a dialogue with SINA reporter about the closure of the overcut and Yahoo messenger web site has said : You can get or follow up the information about the closure from a 3 person committee formed of rep. from Radio and TV, rep. from Ministry of Information and rep. from Ministry of culture and Islamic Guidance because they haven't sent anything to us. The director of the public relation of Iran's Telecommunication Co. has said : The order of closure or filtering the sites are coming from the supreme councile of the cultural revolution, usually people can't give us closure order but if the order comes from parliament we will follow that.
In Iran powerful officials can do what the government can't do. Certainly the closure of the sites is the work of powerful officials.

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"Reza Ashrafpoor" , Iran's Medical Science University student, Has been sentenced to two years imprisonment and 74 lashes!

By clik on the Title the link will appear.
"Reza Ashrafpoor" , Iran's Medical Science University student, Has been sentenced to two years imprisonment and 74 lashes.Tehran- "Kar Iran" News Agency,
A student from Iran's Medical Science University , Has been sentenced to 2 years imprisonment and was condemned to 74 lashes.
Reza Ashrafpoor , Dentistry student of Iran's Medical Science University in a contact with the reporter of " ILNA ", While telling the aforementioned subject, He as well spoke about that; he has been accused of " action against national security " , " propaganda against the system " , " by creating fear in public minds " and " insulting system's officials".
It is needed to say that; This student has been summoned to the court during the student unrest on June 2003.
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" Shah Mazin Jihan" The Kurdish journalist have been sentenced to 3 years and 3 months imprisonment.

" Shah Mazin Jihan" The Kurdish journalist have been sentenced to 3 years and 3 months imprisonment.The site of " Zanan Fatehane Farda " : Shah Mazin Jihan , The journalist residing in "Mahabad" city , Was summoned to the revolutionary court at 9:30 am Monday and after one and a half hours the result of the judges sentencing became known. The court issued 3 years and ninety one days imprisonment for Shah Mazin Jihan , The woman journalist. Based on the decission she has to spend ninety one days in prison and the rest are suspended and punishable sentences .The point that must be noted is that; The prison that she has to go is the place where there are murderers and drug dealers. She has been accused of : supporting "Bezak " and the Kurdistan peoples congres , writing subjects and articles about Kurdish women situation in Iran and Radio Mesopotamia ROJ and contact with TV channel and meeting The Kurdish combatant woman Leila Zana . For support join to the campaign for Shamzin . www.dengekan.com
In recent months East of Kurdistan was witnessed many summoning and arrest .

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This is Islamic Republic of Iran , 286 000 Dollar bail for Interview with foreign Radios !

Thursday Jan. 20 / 2005
Gooya News -Persian
The latest news about the arrest of Arash Sigarchi , The editor of the " Gilan Emrooz".According to the latest news by the father of Arash Sigarchi, The judiciary of the city of Rasht, issued a bail with the amount of 200 million Tuman ( 700 Tuman is equal to 1Canadian dollar , around 286,000 dollar-IWC ), for the editor of " Gilan Emrooz " on accusation of his interview with Radio BBC and Radio Farda. Because of less support to this journalist , preparation of the amount which was issued, is impossible by the family of this journalist and infact by making the bail so high the gole of the judiciary is to keep Sigarchi in prison and keep him for a long time .

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IRAN : Journalist and weblogger arrested / IRAN

Message transféré
De?: "RSF.Internet"
Date?: Thu, 20 Jan 2005 17:54:39 +0100
À?: internet@rsf.org
Objet?: Fwd: IRAN : Journalist and weblogger arrested / IRAN : Un journaliste - weblogger arrêté


Cc:
Bcc: liste Internet, afrique nord internet, Iran, iran Internet
X-Attachments:
The Internet uner surveillance
20 January 2005 (en français à la suite)

IRAN

Journalist and weblogger arrested

Reporters Without Borders has called for the immediate release of journalist Arash Sigarchi who was arrested on 17 January 2005, after responding to a summons from the intelligence ministry in Rashat in the north of the country.

He had been updating a weblog that has been banned by the authorities, Panhjareh Eltehab (The window of Anguish), in which he had spoken out against recent arrests of cyberjournalists and bloggers.

The worldwide press freedom organisation also called on countries taking part in the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) to officially condemn these repeated breaches of freedom of expression. Iran is due to send a delegation to the next WSIS preparatory meeting in Geneva next month.

Sigarchi is the editor of the daily Gylan Emroz. A few days before his arrest he was interviewed by two foreign radio stations, the BBC World Service and Radio Farda.

He had already been imprisoned for several days, from 27 August 2004, for an article, illustrated with photographs, of a rally in Tehran by families of prisoners who were executed in 1989.

Sigarchi has for nearly three years run a political and cultural weblog www.sigarchi.com/blog, in which he mounted repeated criticism of the regime. He had condemned harassment of journalists arrested in a series of Internet cases (see: http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=12249) and in particular the mistreatment inflicted on his colleagues Shahram Rafihzadeh and Rozbeh Mir Ebrahimi. The authorities have made his blog inaccessible within Iran.

He has been held since 17 January at Lakan Prison in Rashat where he has been denied the right to see a lawyer and bail has been set at 200 million rials (around 20,000 euros). The authorities have put pressure on his mother to deny that her son has been arrested.

Nearly 20 people have been arrested over the past three months in a crackdown against the online press. Apart from Sigarchi, another weblogger, Mojtaba Saminejad, is still in prison.

At the start of January, Tehran's prosecutor-general, Said Mortazavi, ordered Internet Service Providers to block the main weblogs - Orkut, Nedstat, Blogspot, Persianblog, Blogrolling and others. Iranian Internet-users are now almost entirely cut off from the blogsphere.

The WSIS, of which the second phase will be held in Tunis in November 2005, is being organised by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) under UN auspices (See the official site: www.wsis.org) The preparatory meeting (prep com) takes place in Geneva from 17-25 February 2005.
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" Said Mortazavi " The infamous Tehran's prosecutor has banned weblog writers from leaving the country!

Wednesday 19 Jan, 2005
Gooya News Persian
"Mortazavi" The Tehran prosecutor banned all Weblog writers and those who were connected to the " file of sites " to leave the country !
As a result; all weblog writers can't leave the country and are traped inside Iran by the order of infamous Tehran prosecutor "Said Mortazavi " . Therefore the life of weblog writers are in great danger!
Gooya news: Based on the report that arrived, " Said Mortazavi " The Tehran Prosecutor of revolution , after the weblog writers were released from the dungion and their disclosure about their situation while in detention and that they have been beaten , insulted and tortured and so on .......... in an unprecedented illegal action banned all of them for leaving the country. Interesting that in his letter he as well banned some of the families of weblog writers from leaving the country.

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" Said Mortazavi " The infamous Tehran's prosecutor has banned weblog writers from leaving the country!

I, Shireen Ebadi announce to the world that ; In Iran there is "solitary confinement", and solitary confinement means there is torture.

Complete and illustrated report on press conference in the office of the " Association of Human Rights Defender" About the existance of " solitary confinement " in Iran.

I, Shireen Ebadi announce to the world that ; In Iran there is "solitary confinement", and solitary confinement means there is torture. I want them not to use the "solitary confinement" .

On the morning of Monday Jan. 17/2005 , The office of the" Association of Human Rights Defenders" with the presence of reporters , journalists, Iranian and foreign news agencies, the following personalities : Narges Mohammadi, Shiva Dolat-Abadi, Habibollah Peiman, Hashem Sabbaghian, Ezatollah Sahabi, Abdolfatah Soltani, Mohammad Sharif , Ali Afshari, Hanif Mazruie , Mohammad Seifzadeh and Shireen Ebadi, spoke on the following issues :

At the begining Narges Mohammadi spoke about the reason of this conference and explained about the following :
We believe that the Freedom of Expression and freedom of thought are the basic and the inner part of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the relation between Democracy and human rights with freedom of expression and openion is direct and bilineal.
She spoke about solitary confinement which is an inhuman torture that it's history goes back to Middle ages and the confrontation of churches with its dissidents ..........
And then she gave statistics on solitary confinement for the recent three years:
Year 2000- 60 political activists ( from political group namely; " Nehzat Azadi and Melli Mazhabi " )
Year 2002- Hundreds of students kept in solitary confinement.
Year 2003- Blog writers were kept in solitary confinement.
15 members of the " Melli Mazhabi " spent a total of 2712 days in jail which comes to 7 years and 4 months which won't be forgiven.
Then Shiva Dolatabadi , The specialist and psychologist explained about the effects of solitary confinement on mental and psychological through scientific achievments then she spoke about the situation of Dr. Habibolah Peyman who spent 225 days in solitary confinement in 1992 . Peyman spoke about the harsh moments of solitary confinement with 50 degree temperature of the cell and shortage of air and killing silence of the solitary confinement then Sabbaghian who in 1992 experienced 200 days in solitary confinement spoked about the solitary confinement during the regime of shah and 3 times in the system of the Islamic Republic of Iran and said that the solitary confinement during the Islamic Republic is worse than the
Shah's regime. Mehdi Sahabi spoke about his heart problem and pressure from the solitary confinement..... all the people present spoke about the existance of solitary confinement which is equal to torture and is illegal. Ali Afshari spoke about his 400 days experience in solitary confinement then Hanif Mazruie the 26 years old youth who has been freed from solitary confinement, He spoke about how he was beaten , insulted and was tortured and how he was been kept in solitary confinement, Then Mohammad Seif spoke about his experience in solitary confinement during the regime of shah and how he saw then Savak interrogator working as torturer in the Islamic Republic regime then Mohammadi spoke about the 400 days imprisonment of Sahabi and the arrest of weblog writters and keeping them in solitary confinement and forced confession and documenting by video and showing in national TV , all of these happening lead to that today the pioneer of peace to speak about the torture of solitary confinement. At the end Shireen Ebadi said : I , Shireen Ebadi defender of human rights announce that in Iran there is solitary confinement and this means there is torture.Statement of Association of Human Rights Defenders
With the hope for freedom of political prisoners.

Translated by IRAN WATCH CANADA
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The life of few political prisoners is in danger !

The life of few political prisoners is in danger of execution ! Poulad Homayuni
The life of few political prisoners is in danger of execution. The contact that I had with few families of political prisoners and the news that I have heared from them, The life of Alireza Karimi Khairabadi, Saeed Masuri, Alireza Hajbari, Gholam Reza Ghafuri and 3 Airline haijacker by the name of Farhang Pourmansuri, Shahram Pourmansuri and Khaled Hardani is in Danger. The prisoners that their name was announced here are going to be executed on tomarrow Wednesday. I would like to aske everyone to do anything you can to help these people. The last news is that the judiciary power of the Islamic government at present had put stop to the execution of both Pourmansuri and Khaled Hardani.All of us know that The anouncement for execution and then to have it stoped is only is going to be used for election and is a propaganda or for gaining the attention of EU . The families of these prisoners put their hope on us , lets not to be quiet , lets protest to the inhuman ruling of execution , up to now with our solidarity we were able to stop many oppressing ruling of judiciary power, This time again we can stop them.
With hello to all of you and thanks.
Poulad Homayuni
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We need to stop their execution now ! They are going to be executed on Wednesday.

Three youth from the city of "Ahwaz " Are on the treshold of execution." Ahwaz Human Rights Organization" announced that; Three youth from the city of Ahwaz on the pretext of " Action against national security " are soon going to be executed.
The family of " Khaled Khardani ", " Farhang Pourmansuri" and " Shahram Pourmansuri" in a contact with the " Ahwaz Human Rights Organization " demande for immidiate action of International societies for saving the life of these three.These three people are going to be executed in days ahead in one of the prison in the city of Karaj .

Arash Sigarchi The editor of Gilan Emrooz newspaper and member of Reporters Without Border(RSF) has been imprisoned.

" Ertebat " weekly : "Arash Sigarchi" Has been imprisoned .

" Arash Sigarchi " Editor of the " Gilan Emrooz " newspaper , today by a ruling was transfered to the " Lakan prison " in the city of Rasht. Arash as well, On Sunday was summoned to the court and the continuation of this court remanded to today ( Monday ) . He is being accused of ; Interview with " Radio Farda " and " BBC" . Arash Sigarchi at present is in Lakan prison and There is the possibility that he will spend more time in the jail.
Arash Sigarchi was born on 1978 in the city of Rasht . It's 3 years that Sigarchi is the editor of Gilan Emrooz. As well he is the member of the Association of Syndicate Journalists in Iran and member of Reporters without borders ( RSF ).

During the attack to students dormitory Ezat was killed and now his family is under threat and harrassments ?!

" Ezat Ebrahim-Nezhad' s" family have been summoned to the court.
Ezat is the graduate student who was serving his military services and during the unrest in student dormitory of the university of Tehran he was killed.
And now the branch # 3 of the revolutionary court has summoned his family to the court.
No one has been found for his murder yet .
Ebrahim Ezatnezhad's family together with their lawyer today ( Saturday Jan.15 /2005) for explanation will attend to the 3rd branch of the revolutionary court in Tehran.

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you can click to all titles and it will open the link for you , However most of the links are in Persian and IRAN WATCH CANADA by translating the news make a bridge between IRAN and you .
Thank you for your support to Iranian people's rights.

Freshteh Ghazi an independent journalist needs our support now !

Communique of 67 journalists and Human Rights advocates : We support Freshteh Ghazi !
We the Iranian journalists , advocates of human rights and freedom of expression , condemn the threat , arrest and torture of Freshteh Ghazi, An independent journalist who has been in recent months arrested together with tens of jornalists and blogger and we announce that the ongoing summon and threat on her while she is still recovering from the past arrest and torture, made us anxious about the possibility of her to be tortured and arrested again .
While codemning these actions of the Islamic Republic judiciary we demand the summon and threat towards Freshteh Ghazi and her family about the " on going investigation on her claim that she has been tortured and was forced to confess to lies" to be stoped .

Also we call all international organizations and advocates defending human rights and freedom of expression toward the continues violation of basic principle of the freedom of expression in Iran and demand for the continues investigation and observation of international organization in this regards. We support Freshteh Ghazi for her resistance towards " the file makers against independent journalists " .

Signed by 67 journalists and human rights advocates.
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Now you know , impressed and touched !?

Bloggers meet head of the judiciary power.

Yesterday , Masud Ghoreishi, Arash Naderpour, Hanif Mazrouie, Ruzbeh Mirebrahimi, Omid Memarian, Fereshteh Ghazi, Mahboubeh Abbas-gholizadeh and Shahram Rafizadeh together with Mr. Biglou the husband of Mrs. Ghazi , Went to meet Ayatollah Hashemi Shahroudi and explained all the oppression that went on them to the judge of judges.The follow up for investigation of imprisoned bloggers are very important.
Shahram Rafizadeh spoke about insecurity of himself and his family, Omid Memarian explained about physical contacts and questions about unlawful relationship, Fereshteh Ghazi spoke about being beaten and insulted and emphasized on her nose been broken and being forced to confess on unlawful relationship with reformists, Hanif Mazruei spoke about the prison where he was kept was a secret location and it's name was not listed in the prison list and that; one day they were blind folded and were handcuffed and were sitting in a car " Hays" this was after the interrogation in the month of "Ramazan " suddenly someone oppened the door of the car and threw pepper spray into the car ,Ruzbeh Mirebrahimi also spoke about the events about television programes and writting confession letters and Mahboubeh Abbas-gholizadeh spoke about her two dughters are at the age of getting married but they were asking about her relationship.
Weblog writers explained their 4 demands: clarifying their files, security of themselves and their families, legally challenging the violators, preventive measure for summoning and confrontation with their families.
According to the weblog writers;After hearing them Ayatollah Shahroudi was impressed and touched, and in an answer told them that certainly your confession in that situation is invalidand promissed he will deal with offenders and he added that; if anyone called you tell them that I told you not to go...............
The interior ministry Mr. Lary also is seriousely investigating the police forces, The minimum result of this could be that from now no one will dare to do what went to the bloggers.

Taken from the site of : http://webneveshteha.com/weblog/?id=-1723924679, Mohammad Ali Abtahi , the former vice presidents website.
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Shireen Ebadi The Iranian Noble Peace Prize winner has been summoned to Tehran's prosecutors office.

Association in Defense of Human Rights in Iran :
LIGUE POUR LA DEFENSE DES DROITS DE L’HOMME EN IRAN
Affiliée à la Fédération Internationale des Ligues des Droits de l’Homme :
Jan.12, 2005

" SHireen Ebadi " The Nobel Prize winner , Lawyer and the president of the " Association in Defense of Human Rights " Has been summoned to the Tehran's public prosecutors office of the Islamic revolution .
The branch # 14 of the Tehran's public prosecutors office of the Islamic revolution, issued a summon dated Jan.9,2005, demanded from Shireen Ebadi that within three days to attend for an investigation " for recieving explanation ".
In this paper which has arrived today to the law office of Shireen Ebadi, there are no indication about the reason for summoning,
whether summoning her as a witness, accused or as an aware person.But despite of that, it is written that " The result for not attending would lead to arrest".
During the last year,Shireen Ebadi has been threatened to death for many many times by letter and telephone, And also has been insulted by the newspapers that are related to the network of terror and violence and several times they tried by braking the lock of her garage door to enter in her house.her complaint to judiciary, govermental and police force ended without result, And now again they are planning for intrigue and oppening new file for her.
Association in Defense of Human Rights in Iran upon recieving the news has informed the international organizations in defense of human rights, ......... about Shireen Ebadi's situation.
......................................................
Abdolkarim Lahiji
president of the Association in Defense of Human Rights in Iran
and vise president of the International Federation of the Association of Human Rights
LDDHI B.P. 2-75624 Paris cedex 13 - E.Mail : lddhi@wanadoo.fr
Tel : (00331) 40 94 14 50 - Fax : (00331) 46 31 21 60

" Shamsolvaezin " refused to attend in public prosecutors office.

News in brief:
" Shamsolvaezin " refused to attend in public prosecutor's office.
"Mashullah Shamsolvaezin " The spoksperson for the " Association in Defense of Press Freedom " Has been summoned to the branch number one investigation for public prosecution of government employees.
He has told to " ISNA " , Up to now he recieved six summons with the same text like publishing lies and disturbing public minds .

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New years eve with political prisoners

Continuation.......
New years eve with political prisoners.
Interview by "Khosro Shemiranie" - Shahrvand weekly publication

Narges Mohammadi , the wife of Taghi Rahmani :
We celeberated last year's Iranian new year beside the tall stone wall of Evin prison .We tried to celebrate this day as close as possible to our dears. Q- Tell us about Mr. Rahmani's recent situation? My husband is 43 years old, and spent 14 years or 1/3 of his age in prison, this is after the stablishment of the Islamic Republic, on and off from 1981 to present .most of the time he was kept in special prisons and solitary confinement , His crime was writing , thinking and expressing his thought which is close to Dr. Ali Shariati thoughts . Q- How is his situation today and as well your family ? We are not in good situation, since the last time he was arrested we live in ambiguity, we do not know until when and in what condition should he stay in prison. up to now two times; once 130 million Tuman( close to 200000 Canadian Dollar ) and the other time 50 MillionTuman ( close to 70000 dollar) bail for his release was paid, but they didn't release him.Today he is in section 2 -A of the prison which is completely disconnected with the outside world and even the prison management saying that; they are unaware of his whereabout.

Mohammad Bagher Batebi the father of Ahmad Batebi:
Happy new year to everyone, and I wish freedom for all Iranian particularly political prisoners.These days Ahmad is still passing his prison term.the prison term that I do not know what is it's bases and all my effort resulted without answer, Q- How is Ahmad's physical and mental state? Well he is in prison and thank god his physical and mental state is not bad, Although he had severe pain for quiet a long time , we tried to get him out of jail for treatment but without success.

Majid Kamaliha, The brother of Saeed Kamaliha:
My brother Saeed Kamaliha was arrested 5 years ago, summer of 1999 during the student uprising in Tehran University , Until today I do not know of his crime or even what is he accused of ? He is an expert in Radiology, At that time he was sentenced to 6 years prison term and was condemned to 75 lashes, and now he is in Evin prison, He spent his first 6-7 months in a harsh solitary confinement, So far only one time he was able to come and we saw him.

IRAN WATCH CANADA used the LINK of MIhan Magazin since all these prisoners picture came together.
To be continued...

IRAN WATCH CANADA
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Regime continues it's repression, Social unrest will creat "Tsunami" , which will hit the regime with surprise.

January 06, 2005
Iran: Journalists Receive Death Threats After Testifying
Presidential Commission Heard Their Testimony of Torture During Detention
(New York January 6, 2004) After testifying to a presidential
commission about their torture during detention, a group of Iranian journalists have received death threats from judicial officials under Tehran chief prosecutor Saeed Mortazavi, Human Rights Watch said today.
Human Rights Watch is extremely concerned about the safety of journalists, whose testimony to a presidential commission, tasked with investigating mistreatment of detainees, provided detailed information on their torture and mistreatment while they were detained, without being charged, by secret squads operating under the authority of the judiciary.
“We want the Iranian government to know that the world is watching what happens to these young journalists. The Iranian government is responsible for their safety,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “The Iranian authorities should be protecting citizens who testify before presidential commissions instead of sending them death threats.”

On December 25, Hanif Mazroi, Massoud Ghoreishi, Fereshteh Ghazi, Arash Naderpour, and Mahbobeh Abasgholizadeh—all of whom are journalists detained by the government—testified about their detention before the presidential commission. Fereshteh Ghazi provided details of her treatment by interrogators, including severe beatings that resulted in a broken nose during one interrogation session. The detainees were kept under lengthy solitary confinement in a secret detention center and were repeatedly subjected to psychological and physical torture.
On January 1 two other former detainees, Omid Memarian and Ruzbeh Mir Ebrahimi, also appeared in front of the commission. In their testimonies, as made public by commission member Mohammad Ali Abtahi, they confirmed details of their torture.
Since their appearances before the commission, Saeed Mortazavi, chief prosecutor of Tehran, has threatened each of these former detainees with lengthy prison sentences and harm to their family members, as punishment for their testimony. Mortazavi continues to issue numerous subpoenas for the journalists without specifying charges. His operatives also harass the journalists by phone on a daily basis.
On January 3, Mortazavi held a press conference denying any mistreatment of detainees and threatening to prosecute the former detainees for “allegations against security forces and prison officials that are politically motivated.”
The journalists’ testimonies exposed Mortazavi’s role in authorizing their torture to extract confessions and in compelling them to appear on television to deny their mistreatment while under detention.
“The brave testimony of these young journalists has reaffirmed evidence of Mortazavi’s leading role in the torture of detainees,” said Whitson. “It’s high time for the Iranian government to investigate Mortazavi’s abuses and bring him to justice.”
Saeed Mortazavi has spearheaded the judiciary’s attack on press freedoms since the current crackdown began in 2000. He is responsible for the closure of numerous newspapers, as well as the arrests and prosecution of journalists, which is detailed in the recent Human Right Watch report on Iran, “Like the Dead in their Coffins.”

Title is from IRAN WATCH CANADA
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New years eve with political prisoners

New years eve with political prisoners

Interview by :" Khosro Shemiranie" - Shahrvand weekly publication

Homa Zarafshan , The wife of Dr. Naser Zarafshan:
I spent The last "Norouz" (Iranian new year ) together with my children beside the wall of Evin prison , and at this christian new year my husband is away from us, this is very hard for my children and me and naturally it is harder for my husband, I hope in this new year the situation will change and we will witness the freedom of Dr. Naser Zarafshan.
Q- How is his kidney situation ? - A few days ago a small stone has been passed from the kidney , which was obviousely with severe pain , in prison the treatment is not suitable , His sickness is another issue that makes us to demand for his immidiate release. Mr. Zarafshan has been kept in prison without any guilt and trial based on international law. he shuldent be in prison. at the end on the occasion of christian new year I would like to thank each and everyone and organizations who defended and demanded for the release of my husband particularly the world association of pen.

Parvin Bakhtiary Nejad , The wife of Reza Alijani :
Happy new year to everyone , About my husband, Reza Alijani, His situation hasn't been changed , He is still spending time in the prison with special condition , his case is still unclear, Mr. Mortazavi the Tehran's Judiciary says that; his preliminary sentence has been approved and he is now spending the legal time, while Mr. Zargar the appeal judge says that; There is no specific sentence yet. Q- When was the last time that you meet your husband ? After weeks finally yesterday for a few hours they let him to com home , The reality is that, he is been kept in a section of prison that has no communication with outside world. There is no possibility to visit him or he does not have access to phone. I hope this new year will be the year of peace and happiness, and i would like to request from all thoughtfull people and writers to help for the freedom of our husbands and childrens , to help the families of political prisoners and prisoners of conscience.I also would like to ask from all world journalists who are active in informing people not to foget that in Iran there are journalists who are in prison because of doing their profession in a responsible manner. unfortunately it seems that there is no horrizon and not an end to these prisons.

The 72 years old mother of Heshmatollah Tabarzadi :
A few days ago I visited my son, while hopping to hear his freedom, He told me that; he has been sentenced to 16 years imprisonment, how can I bring my voice to UN and tell them that my son after spending 5-6 years imprisonment with mental and physical pressure, recieved a sentence of 16 years jail term. Q- Mrs. Tabarzadi , Is this the final sentence ? They have given this to his lawyer, 16 years jail term, out of 6 years imprisonment , he spent 2 years in solitary confinement. they want to kill him, and finally they will kill him and will say that he did the suicide, or he was sick, I want my son from the world organizations........, His file is in the hand of judge Hadad , But the reality is that behind everything is the ministry of information, his sentence was given by Mr. yunesi ( the minister of information ) , the complainant is Rafsanjani, and Mr. Khatami can not do anything, in fact the ministry of information gave the sentencing which is one of Khatami's ministry. To whom i should bring my complaint , two of my sons were killed by Sadam during the war, and they are going to kill my third son. They should say , what he has done? Is he a drug dealer? did he kill anyone? they have arrested this young man because of expression, where in the world they give 16 years imprisonment for expressing once mind? .

To be continued...........

IRAN WATCH CANADA
www.moriab.blogspot.com

Chilean Dictator Pinochet is going to stand on Trial, Can this give a lesson to regime in Iran to stop human rights violation!

Tuesday Jan. 4, 2005
Students Committee in Defense of Political Prisoners : " Bina Darab Zand " has been sentenced to 3 years and 6 months jail term and with 50 lashes.

" Bina Darab Zand " a political activist, who has been accused of " Action against security " ,
" Propaganda against state " , " Membership in an illegal group " and " Causing riot " was sentenced to 3 years and 6 months jail terms plus 50 lashes.
The 50 lashes was given to him because of his activity inside the prison.
The sentence was issued on Sunday and sent to Mr. Reza Faghihi the defense lawyer for "Bina Darab Zand" . The defense lawyer said that in the sentence for his client, one of the prison in Karaj has been chosen for him to spend his prison term.
" Darab Zand " is a co-founder for the " Democratic Party of Iran " which started it's activity inside the country this year.
He has been arrested previously due to the protest and gathering of families of political prisoners in front of UN office in Tehran.

IRAN WATCH CANADA
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Regime says there are no political prisoners in Iran. This is just a tip of the iceberg!

With each prisoners pictures.
New years eve with political prisoners:
Families of nine political prisoners in " Shahrvand"
These political prisoners are : Naser Zarafshan, Heshmatollah Tabar-Zadi, Reza Alijani, Ahmad Batebi, Farzad Hamidi, Peyman Piran, Mostafa Piran and Taghi Rahmani.
Interview by Khosro Shemiranie for Toronto based "Shahrvand " Weekly.
Soon coming up .

IRAN WATCH CANADA
www.moriab.blogspot.com