Three Amir Kabir University Students Taken our of Solitary Confinement After Four Months Imprisonment

Ahmad Ghasaban, Ehsan Mansouri and Majid Tavakoli, three Amir Kabir University Students who had been in solitary confinement in Section 209 of the Evin Prison for the past four months were taken to the general ward for political prisoners on Tuesday October 9th 2007.

All three students were able to call their families Monday night and inform them that they would be transferred to a general ward on Tuesday.

Mr. Ghasaban, Mr. Mansouri and Mr. Tavakoli were arrested in May of 2007 after the publication of certain articles in the Amir Kabir Student Paper, which insulted Islam and the Leader of the Revolution. Above named students were falsely accused of publishing these articles.

Ahmad Gassaban, is the director of the student publication called “Sahar” and the first student nominee to take part in elections of the central committee of the AmirKabir student Association. He was arrested on 3 May 2007 , as he had approached the courts to deliver the students complaints of their University directorate, the Official news paper Keyahn and also Raja news site.

The next day, the second nominated student for the student elections , Majid Tavakoli , had to reside in court along with his other fellow students, Majid Sheikh pour and Pouyan Mahmoudian (directorates of student publications “Rivar” and “Sarkhat”). On 22 May, security forces attacked Ehsan Mansouris’ house, and while creating fear and beating up Mr. Mansouris’ family members, fired shots, arrested and confiscated his belongings.

These students have denied having published these articles before their arrest and imprisonment, however after their arrest the interrogators were able to obtain false confessions from these students through brutal torture.

After the false confessions were obtained, Mr. Ghasaban, Mr. Mansouri and Mr. Tavakoli each wrote letters from prison setting out the torture they had been subjected to in Section 209 of the Evin Prison. The families of these students also wrote a detailed letter to the head of Judiciary confirming the torture their sons had been subjected to.

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.

Five (5) out of eight (8) imprisoned Amir Kabir University students who were released earlier, wrote letters to the Judiciary and the Parliament asking for an investigation into the torture they and their friends had been subjected to. As follow up to these letters Alireza Avayi, the head of the Prosecution Office in the Province of Tehran started an investigation into the torture of these students.

According to news published by the above named three students, they have been able to visit with Mr. Avayi in Section 209 of the Evin Prison. This is the first visit of its kind, since until now only the head of Prison has entered and visited Section 209. Further, to this day no parliament member has been allowed to enter Section 209.

Although the arrest warrants for students and political activists in Iran are approved by Judge Hassan Haddad (Hassan Zareh Dahnavei) students are hopeful that the visit of Mr. Avayi with prisoners in Section 209 may lead to higher accountability of interrogators in Section 209.

Section 209 of the Evin Prison is under the direct control of Mostafa Karimi, who is one of the directors in the Ministry of Intelligence. Mr. Karimi has not answered any questions regarding the behavior of interrogators and the use of torture in Section 209 and has not been held accountable.

Mr. Karimi’s office was used to obtain televised confessions from Haleh Esfandiyari and Kian Tajbakhsh (two Iranian /American academics who were arrested and charged with trying to start a velvet revolution.)