Request to end the Hunger Strike of Adnan Hassanpour and Hiwa boutimar

The families of Adnan Hassanpour and Abdolvahed Boutimar, two political prisoners who were recently sentenced to death by the Revolutionary Courts have requested their son’s to end their hunger strike.

In a letter addressed to their sons the family members have written “ Since the Islamic Regime Officials do not give much worth to human life, and taking into consideration the fact that other political prisoners have lost their lives while on hunger strike, we beg you to stop your strike even in the face of this unjust death sentence.”
The families of these two journalists and social activists have urged the International Community, human rights activists and organizations to voice their concern over this unjust sentence against these two activists.

It is reported that Mr. Hassanpour and Mr. Boutimar have been on a hunger strike for the past 45 days. According to their defence lawyer their physical health has deteriorated dramatically and their health and well being is in grave danger. No attention has been paid to their demands by the Regime Officials.
Last year two political prisoners Akbar Mohammadi and Valliollah Feyze Mahdavi died while on hunger strike in Iranian Prisons.

A political prisoner freed after 25 days of captivity

Farshad Ghorban pour, was released after a 50 thousand dollar bail, and under going 28 days of illegal arrest.

The “Court” had charged Mr. Ghorabanpour with causing menace to national security by working with an Internet media called “Rooz”.

Ghorbanpour has been co operating with news papers such as “Etemade Melli” Ham Mihan” and “Shahrvande Emrooz”.
He was first arrested on the 25th July 2007.

Kurdish Journalist sentenced to one year imprisonment

Aso Saleh , a Kurdish journalist has received a one year prison sentence from the first branch of Sanandaj “Revolutionary Court”.
The sentence was communicated to Mr. Salehs’ father verbally while he was warned that if his son did not turn himself in to the court in two days time, his bail would be confiscated.

Aso Saleh is a member of the writers’ guild of the Kurdish –Persian weekly “Didgah”, who had previously been arrested during the International women’s day congregation while preparing a report.
He was later released through Bail and has now escaped Iran.

There are still six known Kurdish journalists still in captivity:
- eJlal Ghavami
- Mohammd Sedigh Kaboodvand
- Adnan Hassan pour
- Hoia Boutimar
- Kaveh Javanmard
- Ako Kordnasab

Kurdish citizen from Mahabad receives 2 years jail sentence

Mozafar Ghader Reyhani , known as Hijar, received a 2 year prison sentence and is to be exiled to Marqe.
Banishment is a method used often by the Iranian regime to demoralize and weaken their opponents.

He is accused of helping an opposition group, after having already withstood six months of confinement.

A report on Political Prisoners of the Iranian Azerbaijan and Kurdistan

Mohammad Sedigh Kaboodvand
Mr. Kaboodvand director of the “Defense of Human Rights “organization of Kurdistan – who is now in prison- informed his family that his life is threatened in prison.
In this conversation he told his family that 2 prisoners with dangerous criminal records have been transferred to his cell. (This is one method used by the interrogators to force prisoners to co operate with prison officials.)
Mr. Kaboodvand has been pressured to dismantle the “Defense of Human Right “organization. He is still healing from injuries received under torture.

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Saeed Matinpour
Mr. Javanbakht has also reported that a student activist who has recently been released from jail has reported that Saeed Matinpour , journalist and a human rights activist from Azarbaijan ,has been tortured in the Intelligence Ministry Prison accused of spying. The Interrogators wanted him to make false televised confessions against himself.
Mrs. Atefeh Taheri, spouse of Mr. Matinpour, stated that her husband had told her in a couple of short telephone conversations that “he was still alive”!
Mr. Matinpour's family had not been aware of his whereabouts for a long time.
Mr. Matinpour is 32 years old and has his masters’ degree in Philosophy from Tehran University.

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Amir Abbas Banayi Kazemi
Amir Abbas Banayi Kazemi (who is a political activist currently in Tabriz Prison) has been brutally tortured in jail and as a result he has a number or broken teeth and his face is completely bruised, according to his mother who had called the Turkish language program of "radio America”.
Amir Abbas Banayi Kazemi was in the Intelligence Ministry prison in Tabriz for one month and later was transferred to section 9 of the Tabriz Prison.

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Saleh Kamrani
Saleh Kamrani, lawyer representing "Shamse Tabrizi" Newspaper and a number of political prisoners in Azarbaijan was kidnapped on August 18, 2007, by the Intelligence Ministry Officials while attending a wedding ceremony in the city of Karaj. He has recently called his wife to let her know that he is being held at Evin Prison.
Mrs. Asghari, is extremely worried and concerned about the condition of her husband in the Evin Prison.

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Jalil Ghanyloo
Jalil Ghanyloo, a political activists from Zanjan has brutally been tortured in 209 of Evin Prison and is in a terrible psychological state, according to his brothers testimony.
Alireza Javanbakht, spokeman for the Committee for the Defence of Political Prisoners in Azarbaijan has stated that Mr. Ghanyloo was first arrested simultaneously with the “International Mother Language Day” and then released after 26 days while depositing a $30,000 bail.

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Hadi Hamidi Shafigh
Hadi Hamidi Shafigh, a 23 year old student in architecture from Tabriz has recently been sentenced an extra 7 months imprisonment by the Revolutionary Court in Orumiyeh.
He had previously been charged 10 months for “participating in illegal demonstrations” but this time new charges were brought against him by the Public Prosecutor such as “possession of a CD that insult Khamenei (The Supreme Leader of the Islamic Regime) and Khomeini ( The founder of the Islamic Regime.) ”
It has been reported that two of Mr. Shafigh's fingers have been broken as a result of torture by the Intelligence Ministry Officials.

Ibrahim Gohari, released through bail

Ibrahim Gohari , member of the transport Union , who had been arrested on 9 August , in front of Mr. Osanloos’ house while protesting his arrest, was released from Evin prison through bail .
He and several others who had participated in the gathering have been charged with “threatening national security”.
Named of those who are still in solitary confinement and had been arrested with Mr. Gohari are as follow:
- Ibrahim Maddadi
- Davood Razavi
- Yaghoob Salimi
- Homayoon Jaberi
- Taher Sadeghi

Soheil Asefi is in Solitary Confinement

Soheil Asefi is a young journalist who was arrested 20 days ago after being summoned by branch 2 of Tehran's Security Public Prosecutors’ Office.
He is currently kept in solitary confinement of 209 section of the Evin Prison, and has not been allowed visits by his family.

Tehran’s Public prosecutor demands three captive students to deliver written repentance for freedom

Saeid Mortazavi , Tehran’s public prosecutor has told families of the three detained student activists ; Ehsan Mansouri, Majid Tavakoli, and Ahmad Ghassaban to write in repentance to get their freedom.

Mortzavi has also prevented the families from any meeting with the prisoners saying that their recent interview with the press is the reason.

Mr.Mansouri (Ehsan Mansouris’ father) in an interview said, he predicts the situation would deteriorate, and the detainees would under go “more pressure”. He was told by his son that if their telephone contacts stop, it would mean that the students have been put in to solitary confinement.

Adnan Hassanpour and Hiwa Boutimar on hunger strike in Sanandaj detention centre

Adnan Hassanpour, is a member of the editorial board of the confiscated weekly “Aso”, and Abdolvahed Boutimar(known as Hiwa) is an activist member of “Sabeze-chia” – a non governmental organization, and also a member of the confiscated weekly.

Both journalists have been condemned to death by the “revolutionary court” of Marivan city, and are on hunger strike.

Reports from their families indicate that the two activists have been on hunger strike for at least a month, to protest their transfer to solitary confinement in Sanandaj prison, and their death sentence.

According to their families, lawyers of the detainees have only been able to see them on 18 August for the first time.

Their physical condition has been reported to be deteriorating, and prison officials have been ignoring this intentionally.

Prison officials and offices of the “Organization of prisons” have been reluctant to pay any attention to their demands while having denied their rights see a doctor.

Families of the detainees have announced their sons’ demands to be as follow:
- To be transferred from solitary confinement to the public ward.
- Arranging to meet a high official of the Iranian Justice Ministry.
- Nullifying their death penalty.

The Iranian revolutionary court condemned Ahmad Batebi’s doctor to one year imprisonment

Dr. Hessam Firouzi has been given one year prison sentence for “impeding national security”. He has been the practitioner of a number of political prisoners namely Ahmad Batebi and Akbar Ganji.

In 2006, Mr. Firouzi had disclosed reports suggesting sever torture of Ahmad Batebi (political prisoner and student activist) while describing his physical situation. This lead to his arrest by the Intelligence Ministry.

Following his arrest he was tortured while in the 209 section, but was released through bail.
The Ministry had asked him to withdraw his comments over Bati’s deteriorating physical situation , but he had refused to do so.

Latest news over the situation of imprisoned Students

The Iranian Intelligence Ministry has prevented any contact between Ahmad Ghassaban and his family.

This has increased concern over Ghassabans situation amongst his friends and family. This was due to the fact that last week he was under tremendous pressure and torture to take part in a televised confession over things he did not act.

The Intelligence Ministry had worked to break his moral.
The interrogation team supervising Ghassabans torture had threatened to take him back to solitary confinement if he did not confess.

In a separate news, the 5 students from Amir Kabir who had been released earlier on, and had experienced torture in 209 Evin prison section, wrote a letter to 3 NGO's defending political prisoners rights, and appealed for support .They asked that the NGO's would take necessary steps to condemn Torture used on them and the remaining imprisoned students.
"We had been tortured in 209 Evin prison sections, to confess on acts we did not commit" the students had written.

Uncertainty over the where-abouts of two detained Kurdish students of Tehran University

Two student activists of Tehran University, of Kurdish origins, who were responsible for the daily news bulletin called “rouge name” have been detained by the Intelligence Ministry for the past two months.
The two are known to be “ Sabah Nasiri” and “ Hedayat Ghazali”. The families of the detainees have complained that the where-abouts of their children has been kept away from them, although the active news bulletin of Amir Kabir University has already suggested that they are being interrogated and tortured in Sanadaj detention centre of the Intelligence Ministry.

Amirkabir Students : “we have been tortured to confess“

Three detained Amirkabir students ; Majid Tavakoli, Ahmad Ghassaban, Ehsan Mansouri, have announced that while in detention by the Intelligence Ministry , they have been tortured in the known 209 section of Evin prison, to confess to things they have not committed.

In letters given to their families they have announced that they have nothing to do with printing the faked student bulletin. (The bulletin had been accused of blasphemy by the Government)
Majid Tavakoli, in his letter has written he is to be trialed in the near future on grounds of confessions forced out of him through torture.

Ahmad Ghassaban also has written that, he too had to confess to acts he did not do, under torture, referring to these confessions as illegal and unreliable in any court.
Ehsan Mansoouri , the third captive student has also written that he has told the prosecutor in the court of being tortured in 209 Evin prison. He too has denied the legitimacy of these forced confessions.

Before publishing these letters, families of the students had informed the Minister of Justice of torture in 209 Evin.

The torture of these students involved the following:
A round the clock interrogation of the victims with no food or water, informing them of faked news; “ death of a close member of family “ , creating unbearable noise at all times, insulting family members ,threatening them and their families and close relatives, beating them simultaneously by 7 torturers, mixing political prisoners with ordinary criminals and killers, keeping them in cubic cells for 48 hours in which they could just stand, lashing prisoners with thick cables and rough wires to beat the flesh out, lying the victim and treading on feet and face by 7 torturers at the same time, standing on parts of the body and sitting on the waist for a long time, dicing the students between several torturers banging them to the wall, and forbidding any visit by doctors.

Mansour Osanloos attorney: Obvious traces of beatings could be seen on my clients' face

Yousoff Molayee, representing Mansour Osanloo in his case, said that during his visit on Osanloo on Tuesday, he could see obvious narks of beatings on his face.
Osanloos’s attorney announced that his client was in good spirit, but was concerned over the delay over his eye operation.
Molayee also announced that Osanloo had been arrested while distributing a leaflet demanding an increase in salary for his fellow workers.
Mansour Osanloo is detained in the notorious Evin prison’s 209 section.