Nr : 09 News bulletin of the Iranian Progressive Youth 15-05-2010

Tehran’s Prosecutor: Six death sentences issued, 217 imprison-ments confi rmed Source: RAHANAMay 15, 2010

Farzad Kamang-ar and four other political prisoners executed Page 5

Fear of Tehran haunts Iranian refugees in Turkey

Page 2

Tehran’s Prosecutor: 217 pris-on sentences have been con-

firmed, six death sentences have been issued, and Mousavi’s sup-port of the five executed is con-sidered a crime.RAHANA -Tehran’s prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi referred to the recent protests against the ex-ecutions of Farzad Kamangar, Shi-rin Alam Hooli, Mehdi Eslamian, Farhad Vakili, and Ali Heydarian as “an atmosphere of arrogance by the world media.” He added that the statements made by Mir Hossein Mousavi are considered crimes. “His support of these in-dividuals is a new crime and this matter will be looked into when the day of sentencing arrives for the opposition.”In an interview with Fars News, Dolatabadi stated that ten death sentences were issued against in-dividuals arrested after the elec-tion, particularly on Ashura. He added that the death sentences for Ahmad Daneshpour Moghadam, Mohsen Daneshpour Moghadam, and Alireza Ghanbari was con-firmed by the Appeals Court. The three prisoners have filed an am-nesty appeal. Dolatabadi added, “Three other individuals, Mote-hareh Bahrami Haghighi, Rey-hane Haj Ebrahim Dabagh, and Hadi Ghaemi were sentenced to death by the lower court, but their sentences were reduced to impris-onment in the appeals court.”Tehran’s prosecutor stated that

Arsalan Abadi and Mohammad Amin Valian have been acquitted from the crime of Mohareb (ene-my of God) and added, “The sen-tences for the 217 people arrested after the election is final. The ap-peals have been looked at and the sentences are now final.”Jafari Dolatabadi stated, “We cur-rently have three confirmed death sentences for Mohammad Ali Saremi, Jafar Kazemi, and Moha-mad Ali Haj Aghai.” He added that the three prisoners are supporters of the opposition. Tehran’s pros-ecutor stated, “The prosecutor charged ten individuals with the crime of being a Mohareb in con-nection with the events of Ashura. Of these ten, Arsalan Abadi and Mohammad Amin Valian were acquitted of their charges. The charges associated with three in-dividuals were confirmed, the charges associated with three oth-ers were reduced, and the charges associated with the final two indi-viduals have not been addressed as we await their trail.”In reference to Mir Hossein Mousavi’s threat to confront the judiciary system in the future, Dolatabadi stated, “If he has not been arrested yet, it is not due to our inability, lack of intention, neglect or because we agree with them, but rather because the tim-ing is currently not right.” He add-ed, “When the time is right, much like a fruit that has ripened, action shall be taken.”

Bodies will not be delivered for burial to their familiesSource: Street JournalistMay 14, 2010

Hrana News – Families of pris-oners executed on May 9th

that have been staying in Tehran to receive the bodies of their loved ones returned to their hometowns while intelligence office refused to deliver the bodies to them. They were told by officials that the place of burial will be announced in 10 days. According to Hrana new reporters, intelligence office refused to deliver bodies of Farzad Kamangar, Shirin Alamhooie, Me-hdi Islamian, Ali Heydarian and Farhad Vakili while in the recent day’s families by taking conserva-tive route tried to calm the situa-tion down to make officials deliver bodies of their loved ones to them. Intelligence office had previously announced that delivering bodies of 5 executed political prisoners will be a guarantee of peace and especially in Kurdistan. However, not only this office refused to de-liver the bodies, but by summon-ing and arresting family members of executed prisoners threatened them to not hold funeral ceremo-nies or participate in any rallies in Kurdistan. Following the threaten-ing behavior of intelligence office, mother and sister of Shirin Alam-hooie were arrested on Tuesday morning. They were released on bail shortly after. There were at-tempts to arrest entire Kamangar family. Also, Ali Heydarian’s broth-er was summoned and threatened by Sanandaj intelligence office.

Fear of Tehran haunts Iranian refugees in TurkeySource: Yahoo NewsMay 14, 2010

NEVSEHIR, Turkey (AFP) – Tortured in jails and

threatened with death, Beh-zad, Siyavash and Ali have, like hundreds of dissident Iranians, found refuge in Turkey, but peace of mind is still eluding them as fear of Tehran’s agents remains a daily torment.While fellow opposition activists are preparing to hold protests in Iran at the anniversary of Presi-dent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s disputed re-election on June 12, 2009, Behzad (not his real name) leads a secluded life in a shabby flat in Nevsehir, central Turkey.“The tortures that I went through and those that I witnessed -- an animal would not do that to an-other animal,” said the young man. His only fault, he said, was to have participated in a student protest challenging the election results last year.Showing pictures of his back scarred by bruises after a four-month stint in prison, Behzad lists the horrors to which he was subjected: beating, sexual abuse, forced insomnia, cold water dousing and the terror of standing blindfolded in what turned out to be a mock execu-tion.“After a while, I would have confessed anything, I could not stand it anymore,” he said. “They wanted confessions about my father, that he had ties with America and Israel ... And they forced me to say so.”The confessions secured his freedom. Several weeks later, Behzad sneaked into neighbour-ing Turkey, crossing the moun-tainous border on horseback, in the company of smugglers, like many Iranian exiles.

According to the UN High Commis-sioner for Refugees (UNHCR), some 4,000 Iranian asy-lum seekers and refugees -- political dissidents but also converts to Christian-ity, homosexuals and followers of the mi-nority Bahai faith -- are registered in Turkey, their main exit route.The applicants’ numbers since last year’s presidential polls -- standing at 1,828 between July and March -- does not represent a significant increase. But their profile has changed, according to the UNHCR.“Many of the newcomers are journalists, academics and/or perceived by the regime to be supporting the opposition,” said Metin Corabatir, the organisa-tion’s spokesman in Turkey.Stuck in Nevsehir, one of the 32 Turkish cities accommodating asylum seekers, Behzad is wait-ing for the UN to decide his fate and arrange a Western country to accept him.Handicapped with a stiff leg -- the result of a blow from a police truncheon during a demonstra-tion -- and suffering psychologi-cal problems, he lives in pov-erty.But his main problem is the fear.“Here, I am afraid of everything: the police, Iranian agents and all Iranians here -- I fear they will make reports on me. Sometimes I am even scared to go out,” he said.For him, the presence of Irani-an agents pursuing dissidents is beyond doubt: in late Novem-ber, he recounted, an Iranian

refugee arrived in Nevsehir and disappeared the following day, leaving behind only unpacked suitcases.Behzad’s friend, Siyavash, also speaks of a strong sense of in-security as he shows burns from electric shock on his thighs after several months in an Iranian jail.“One night, about midnight, three drunk men tried to break the door of my building, shout-ing. Fortunately, my Turkish neighbours downstairs inter-vened,” he said.Facing the death sentence for al-leged blasphemy, Ali managed to flee to Turkey in September, before he was convicted. Eager to speak out on what he was forced to keep silent in Iran, the young dissident says he has al-ready been threatened.Following a meeting with a jour-nalist, “I was stopped by three Iranians on a deserted street at midnight. They held a knife to my throat and told me it was my last interview,” he recounted. Questioned by AFP, local po-lice said they advised Iranian refugees against speaking to the media to avoid the risk of repris-als.

AFP/File – An Iranian refugee Siavash stands on a terrace during an interview in Kayseri, on May 4. Tortured in … by Nicolas Cheviron Nicolas Cheviron – Fri May 14, 12:03 pm ET

Farzad Kamangar’s Family Under House ArrestSource: HRANAMay 14, 2010

Hunger Strike at the University of KurdistanSource: Daneshjoo NewsMay 12, 2010

HRANA Reports on General Strike in KurdistanSource: HRANAMay 13, 2010

HRA News Agency- It was reported on May 13, 2010 that intelligence and security forces, by using intimida-

tion and threats, have put the Kamangar family under house arrest after they returned home to Kamyaran from Tehran.The Kamangar family returned home after the judiciary sys-tem’s refusal to release the bodies of the five executed pris-oners.Security forces have cut off the phone to Kamangar’s house and threatened that any phone communication by the fam-ily will result in their arrest.Yesterday, security forces attempted to arrest all members of the Kamangar family upon their arrival to Evin prison. People intervened to prevent the arrests.

HRA News Agency- Follow-ing the call from Kurdish or-

ganizations, civil institutions, po-litical activists, and various parties to hold a general strike throughout Kurdish-populated areas, a gen-eral strike was widely held, even though the Kurdish territories were heavily militarized by regime forces.According to HRANA reporters, the strike was at its highest level in the city of Sanandaj which was completely shut down. A signifi-cant percentage of shops as well as peddlers did not open for busi-ness in objec-tion to the May 9th executions.Shopkeepers on Ferdowsi, 6th-Bahman, Gozar, and Na-maki streets closed their doors in a coor-dinated fashion.A clash was re-ported between citizens and security forces

in the village of Nosood. Bullets were fired into the air to disperse the people.Reports from Marivan, Bukan, Di-vandareh, Mahabad, Oshnooyeh, and several other cities indicate that there have been large num-bers of participants on strike.It has also been reported that large numbers of people from vari-ous cities visited the residences of the executed prisoners in the Sanandaj and Kamyaran to show their sympathy and support.According to Daneshjoo News,

on May 12, 2010, students at the University of Kurdistan went on hunger strike to protest the in-human execution of Farzad Ka-mangar, Shirin Alam Hooli, Farhad Vakili, Mehdi Eslamian, and Ali Heydarian. To demonstrate their protest, the students left their un-eaten lunch in the cafeteria or out-side the school building.After the executions on May 9, 2010, there has been a heavier presence of security forces at the University of Kurdistan. A number of activists have been confronted with phone calls by anonymous forces who have threatened them with arrest.

IRAN: Cannes 2010: Imprisoned filmmaker Jafar Panahi is honored at film festival [Corrected]Source: Los Angeles TimesMay 13, 2010

Amid the glitter and gaiety of the 63rd Cannes Film

Festival opening, one of the nine chairs for jury members remained empty. International-ly acclaimed Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi, slated to serve as a jury member at the festival, couldn’t attend because he was being held in Tehran’s Evin prison. In March 2010, plain-clothes security officials raided Panahi’s Tehran home and ar-rested him along with his wife, daughter and 15 house guests. Though Iranian authorities shortly released the others, they held on to Panahi, accusing him of “making a film against the regime following the post-elec-tion events,” according to the French daily Le Figaro.Despite this, the prosecutor’s of-fice in Tehran argues that Pana-hi’s imprisonment has no politi-cal motive. “The arrest of Jafar Panahi is not because he is an artist or for political reason[s],” prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolata-badi told the Iranian Students News Agency. “He is accused of some crimes and was arrest-ed with another person follow-ing an order by a judge,” report-ed BBC News.Authorities had previously ar-rested Panahi, a supporter of the protest movement that emerged after last year’s disputed presi-

dential elections held in June, for participating in a memorial service for Neda Agha-Soltan, the young woman killed in July 2009 allegedly at the hands of a pro-government militiaman. Upon Panahi’s release, they prohibited him from traveling outside Iran, effectively block-ing his scheduled participation in the 2010 Berlin Film Festival.On the vanguard of the Iranian neorealist-film movement, Pan-ahi films explore the sensitive social dimensions of life in his country, garnering international popularity. His ties to Cannes extend back to 1995, when his first feature film, “White Bal-loon,” won the Caméra d’Or at Cannes. The movie examines the relationship between an Ira-nian family and an Afghan ref-ugee during the Persian New Year. In 2003, Panahi won the jury award in the Un Certain Re-gard category, which spotlight-ed rising filmmakers, for “Crim-son Gold,” a socially charged movie about class differences in Iran. The government has strict-ly banned the movie, which has been screened in more than 40 other countries. There were outcries over Panahi’s detain-ment from the film industry as well as human rights groups and diplomats. Hollywood heavy-hitters including Martin Scors-ese, Robert Redford, Francis Ford Coppola, Robert De Niro and Steven Spielberg led a pe-tition for Panahi’s release last month. Amnesty International recently condemned the Ira-nian government for Panahi’s prolonged detainment without trial. French Foreign Minister

Bernard Kouchner and Culture Minister Frédéric Mitterrand is-sued a joint statement. “We call for his immediate release and urge the Tehran authorities to respect the fundamental right of Iranians to freedom of expres-sion and creativity,” it said, as reported by Reuters. Presiding over the jury at Cannes, director Tim Burton also supported Pan-ahi’s release and spoke about the significance of free speech to the art of filmmaking. Asked at a news conference wheth-er “Panahi should be released, Burton replied, “Yes, of course. All of us are for freedom of ex-pression. We fight for that every day and in our lives.” In honor of Panahi, the 2010 Montreal World Film Festival will screen several films from the director’s oeuvre, includ-ing his most recent, “Offside,” the 2006 film about Iranian girls who must dress as boys to watch a football match, as the regime strictly prohibits women from entering sports stadiums. [Corrected: A previous version mistakenly called the movie, “Outside.”] Panahi is not the only Iranian filmmaker in jail. In January 2010, fellow director Mohammad Ali Shirzadi was ar-rested outside his home in Te-hran. Similar to the raid faced by Panahi, Shirzadi’s compu-ter, personal notebook and other belongings were confis-cated. Shirzadi’s family believes his arrest could be connected to an interview he filmed be-tween human-rights advocate Emadeddin Baghi and the late Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montaz-eri two years ago.

Farzad Kamangar and four other political prisoners executed at Evin prison todaySource: Committee of Human Rights Reporters May 9, 2010

A French lecturer charged with spying in Iran after last June’s disputed election will be allowed to leave the country onSunday, says her lawyer.Source: BBC NewsMay 15, 2010

Farzad Kamangar and four other political prisoners executed at Evin prison today Committee of Human Rights Reporters - Farzad Kamangar, Ali Heydarian, Farhad Vakili, Shirin Alam Hooli and Mehdi Isla-

mian were executed this morning, Sunday May 9, 2010. According to Fars News Agency, as announced by Tehran’s Prosecutor General, the [Iranian citizens] were executed at dawn today. Minutes after the an-nouncement was made, Farzad Kamangar’s lawyer Khalil Bahra-mian stated that he has no information regarding the executions and he will be visiting the Prosecutor’s office today to receive more information. Farzad Kamangar was a Kurdish teacher ar-rested in 2007. During his months of incarceration, he was ex-posed to extreme mental and physical torture which he describes in a letter. He was sentenced to death in February 2008. In a letter written to the head of the judiciary on February 4, 2010, Kamangar requested a retrial. Mehdi Islamian was arrested on May 4, 2009 and spent six months in solitary confinement. His brother has also been executed. Shirin Alam Hooli was arrested May 2008 in Tehran and sentenced to death in November 2009. Ali Heydarian, Farhad Vakili, and Farzad Kamangar were impris-oned since 2006/2007.

Clotilde Reiss was sentenced to 10 years in jail at a hear-

ing on Saturday, but this was commuted to a fine of $285,000 (£190,000), said her lawyer. The 25-year-old was accused of espionage and e-mailing photo-graphs of anti-government pro-tests. The French foreign min-istry said it was “awaiting her return without delay”. She has been staying at the French embassy in the capital Tehran since she was bailed six weeks after her arrest in July last year. France frees IranianMs Reiss had been on a six-month teach-ing and research assignment in the central city of Isfahan. Her lawyer, Mohammad Ali Mahdavi, said he had paid the fine on her behalf and would collect her passport from the

authorities on Sunday. The BBC’s Hugh Schofield in the French capital says that with France at the forefront of efforts to pun-ish Iran for its nuclear pro-gramme, there has been suspi-cion Ms Reiss was being held to put pressure on Paris. Last week, France freed an Iranian engineer whom it detained for allegedly export-ing electronic parts illegally to sell to Iran’s military. The US had wanted to extradite Majid Kakavand, but a French

court rejected the request last week and he was allowed re-turn home.

Clotilde Reiss had teaching in the city of Isfahan

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Mahdieh Golroo Writes Letter in memory of executed prisoner Shirin Alam HooliSource: RAHANAMay 12, 2010

You were with us and now you are gone without us;

like the scent of a flower. Where did you go?We spent Saturday night with-out Shirin. It was the most bitter moment of our imprisonment. It was a dark and dreadful night. Every second seemed to last forever for us who longed to see Shirin again.The telephone line in the wom-en’s ward was disconnected from Saturday afternoon, which only added to the distress. We were all together in a room that belonged only to us. Shirin liked it like that. She had suffered more than us and liked the se-clusion, but she was the first to leave this room. That night, even those who had been de-tained in Evin prison for a long period of time, recalled their memories of the people who suddenly vanished in the dark of night to reach the eternal light of freedom. We spent our time talking about the bitter memo-ries of those whose comrades were sent to the gallows. We admired the resistance of these women who tolerated the pres-sures of their friends’ deaths to bring about better days for the next generations.Alas, the circle of injustice con-tinues, and it was not long be-fore our patience was called to task when Shirin was abruptly

IMPRISONED RIGHT TO EDUCATION COUNCIL MEMBER MAHDIEH GOLROO. MAHDIEH GOLROO, AN IMPRISONED MEMBER OF THE RIGHT TO EDUCATION COUNCIL, HAS WRITTEN A LETTER IN MEMORY OF HER CELLMATE ExECUTED POLITICAL PRISONER SHIRIN ALAM HOOLI.

separated from us without hav-ing time to say goodbye; as if the noose was calling her name, hoping to see a glimmer of fear in her eagle eyes. But I know well that Shirin’s courage was ridiculing that stark Evin night and the harshness of the noose.What a futile dream. The circle of injustice continues to test our level of patience with the abrupt separation of Shirin from us. It was as if the gallow’s rope was calling her name and hoped to see a glimpse of fear in her ea-gle eyes. But we know well that her bravery had made a mock-ery of that night in Evin and the noose.Every second that passed was hard. We were waiting to hear about Shirin. When they took her away, they used the excuse that her father’s name was writ-ten incorrectly in their records. It did not cross our minds that that moment would be the last we would see her. Shirin’s en-thusiasm for life and progress and the effort she put into her studies resembled someone who had just entered prison and was about to be released soon.Oh, what a night it was. The pris-oner count on Sunday morning felt like a heavy burden on our shoulders. By then, we were sure that, once again, the life of a fighter and a lioness from the land of Kurdistan, whose resist-

ance defied the mountains, was lost to the noose. It was hard to believe.We heard on the two o’clock news that Shirin had been ex-ecuted and thus will never re-turn. Even though we had heard the news of execution before in memoirs and in the writings of history, we felt the bitterness of Shirin’s loss in every cell of our body.That night was the culmination of all the nights in our lives. We hoped for something that prisoners of twenty years ago yearned for: an end to injustice so that the future generation will not have to go through this.Four days have passed since the tragedy. A black scarf that sig-nifies the colour of our mourn-ing lies on her bed. I sleep on the prison cell’s floor. My cell-mates insist that I sleep on Shi-rin’s bed. But I cannot take the place of pottery teacher; she is irreplaceable.