Nr : 15 News bulletin of the Iranian Progressive Youth 01-11-2010

Iranian Rights Group Says Secret Executions IncreasingSource: Radio Free Europe, Radio LibertyOctober 28, 2010

Student Protests Shortage Of Gasoline By Riding DonkeySource: Persian LetterOctober 28, 2010

‘Cutting theHand is a source of great Honor for us

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Patogh!Our monthly event: Debate & Discussion, Art & MusicPage 7

The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran (ICHRI) says the number of unannounced

executions at the Vakilabad prison in the eastern Iranian city of Mashhad has increased, RFE/RL’s Radio Farda reports.The U.S.-based organization said in a statement on October 26 there are more than 600 inmates on death row at Mashhad. ICHRI Executive Director Hadi Ghaemi told Radio Farda on October 26 that a large number of executions have been carried out secretly in Mashhad in recent months. He added that the executions are carried out summarily and without notifying the prisoners’ families or lawyers.

Ghaemi said that according to Iranian law, after a death sentence is confirmed by the Supreme Court the convicted person’s lawyers and family must be informed. He added that when a court ruling is sent to the Office for the Enforcement of Sentences, the prisoner’s family should be informed of the time of the execution in order to visit the prisoner and even attend the execution. But Ghaemi claimed such proce-dures are often not followed by prison officials at Mashhad’s Vakilabad prison. “The officials only contact the family the day after the execution to tell them to come to the jail in order to pay the cost of the rope [with which the prisoner was hanged] and to receive the body,” he said.

Ghaemi added that the ICHRI has received credible reports about the secret executions from within the prison. “One of the people who talked about the executions was Ahmad Ghabel, who was rearrested after publishing those reports,” Ghaemi said. A religious scholar, Ghabel was first arrested in December on his way to the funeral of senior dissident cleric Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri. He spent six months in jail in Vakilabad before being released on bail, then was rearrested last month in Mashhad. Ghabel’s wife told Radio Farda then that her husband had said one of the reasons for his detention was his statements about the executions at the prison.

An Iranian student has protested against what is being described as a shortage of gasoline by riding a donkey to his university in northern Iran.

Several opposition websites, including “The Green Movement of Iran” video blog, posted the video of the student from Azad University in Chalous. He was reportedly detained by the university’s security body over his protest.

Cracking down re-morselessly, Tehran shows its true faceSource: Reporters without bordersOctober 28, 2010

Lifetime deprava-tion for an athlete and the head of vet-eran’s weightlifting teamSource: Street JournalistOctober 28, 2010

Developments in the past two weeks confirm that the Ira-

nian government is continuing its relentless crackdown on the media. A journalist was arrested for the second time in a year and courts imposed or upheld jail sen-tences on two women journalists whose journalist husbands are al-ready in prison.

Two of these developments took place on 22 October, just two days after Reporters Without Borders released its annual press freedom index, in which Iran was ranked 175th out of 178 countries.One was a raid by intelligence ministry officials on the home of Mohammad Reza Moghisseh, the editor of Biste Saleha and a con-tributor to various other pro-re-form media, who was taken away to an unknown location.A member of a committee that has been monitoring arrests and human rights violations since the disputed June 2009 presidential election, Moghisseh was previ-ously arrested on 14 October 2009 and spent 150 days in soli-tary confinement in Tehran’s Evin prison. Sentenced to six years in prison by a Tehran revolutionary court, he was released on bail on 1 March pending the outcome of his appeal.

The other development on 22 Oc-tober was a Tehran appeal court decision to uphold the sentence of one year in prison followed by a 30-year ban on working as a jour-nalist which a Tehran revolution-ary court imposed earlier this year

Mir Rasool Raisi, Head of Delegation to Iran’s Weight-

lifting Team, and Hossein Khoda-dadi, a veteran weightlifting cham-pion, have been banned from all sport activities for life. Mr. Kho-dadadi appeared on the platform beside an Israeli weight champion during the Poland competitions.Jalal Yahya-Zadeh, head of Physi-cal Education Committee for Youth Committee announced this news and and added: “The fact that an Iranian weightlifting veter-an has competed against an Israeli during the worldwide competi-tions and has stood beside him during the distribution of medal is unjustifiable.” He added: “Un-fortunately, those who suppos-edly had the primary responsibil-ity in this regard did not see any problem in this matter, however did not see it fit to be distributed within the public, which itself is an obvious mistake on their end.”Mr. Yahia-zadeh pointed to Mir Rasool Raisi’s remarks on pub-lication of news and pictures of Iranian and Israeli athletes beside one another. Mr Raisi has stressed the accompanying members of the Iranian expeditionary team had destroyed all CDs and photos and did not expect happening of such matter.Physical Education and Youth Committee has stated the Cultural Commissioners have been in-formed and the president has also been warned of such matter.Mr. Yahia-zadeh has recommend-ed to the safeguard organization of the Physical Education Com-mittee to prevent such matters from happening.

on blogger and reporter Jila Bani Yaghoob. She had been notified of the revolutionary court’s sen-tence on 8 June.

Yaghoob and her husband, Baha-man Ahamadi Amoee, were ar-rested on 20 June 2009 along with around 20 other journalists during the demonstrations that followed the presidential election held eight days earlier. She was released on 24 August 2009 but her husband remained in detention and was given a five-year jail sentence.Yaghoob’s “We are journalists” blog was a winner in the “Report-ers Without Borders Freedom of Expression” category in this year’s international “Best of the Blogs” competition that Deutsche Welle organized in Berlin from 13 to 15 April.

The other woman journalist, Mahssa Amrabadi, was sentenced to a year in prison by a Tehran revolutionary court on 14 Octo-ber. Arrested on 14 June 2009, two days after the presidential election, she was released on 22 August 2009 on bail of 200 mil-lion toman (165,000 euros).Her journalist husband, Masoud Bastani of the daily Farhikht-eghan, is in Rajaishahr prison. Arrested on 4 July 2009, he was tried along many other journalists in the Stalinist-style mass trials that the government began organizing in Tehran in August 2009. A revo-lutionary court sentenced him to six years in prison on 1 November 2009.

Journalist Hider Karimi of Sina, a weekly that has been closed since December 2009, was meanwhile released on 21 October on bail of 220 million toman (151,000 eu-ros) after four months in prison. He was arrested on 9 June when intelligence ministry officials in plain clothes raided his home in the northwestern city of Khoy.

The sentence of ‘Cutting the Hand’ is a source of great Honor for usSource: RAHANAOctober 27, 2010

The First Deputy of the Judi-ciary, in regards to the sen-

tence of amputation in the case of the thief in Yazd, said: ” This sen-tence was carried out in accord-ance to the Laws of God as well as the Laws of the Land and it will be carried out in the future if seen fit in accordance to the law.According to news sources, Ebra-him Raeesi in a sideline of meet-ings with the chiefs of police, in regards to the amputation sen-tence recently carried out against a thief in Yazd said: ” All penalties

permissible under the law will be carried out, however the individ-ual punishments may vary in ac-cordance to the case at hand and its prosecution.He added: ” If the sentence is handed down by the presiding judge, then the sentence must be carried out, the amputation pen-alty has existed before and is not of recent times.First Deputy of the Judiciary stat-ing that the amputation penalty is in accordance with the Laws of God, said: “This Law of God is

of great honor for us” and added, “Penalty for theft is determined in accordance to the case law and the facts that are proven to the presiding judge.

Discrimination against ethniccommunities and religious minorities in Iran Source: Street JournalistOctober 25, 2010

The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH)

and the Iranian League for the De-fence of Human Rights (LDDHI) make public today a report on dis-crimination against ethnic com-munities and religious minorities in Iran. The report, entitled “The Hidden Face of Iran”, highlights an unknown aspect of Iran: the severe discrimination faced by ethnic communities and religious minorities in every domain/area.“Iran is a real mosaic: the coun-try has many minorities – Az-eris, Kurds, Arabs and Baluchis, among others constitute the pop-ulation of entire provinces of the country, although there are no of-ficial statistics on the composition of the population; such a subject is taboo for the authorities,”said Karim Lahidji, vice-President of FIDH and President of LDDHI. “Religious minorities also face discrimination in addition to be-ing victims of persecution such as through arbitrary detention, extra-judicial executions, destruction of

cemeteries and holy plac-es,” he added. These per-secutions not only target the Baha’is, a religious mi-nority not recognised by the Iranian Constitution, but also target Christians, Sunni Muslims and Sufis and oth-ers.It is through repression and terror that the Iranian regime responds to peaceful calls to put an end to attacks on minority rights: it reacts with violence, arbitrary arrests, torture, unfair trials and even ex-ecutions.FIDH and LDDHI present in their report concrete recommendations to the attention of the Iranian au-thorities that include a major re-form of the Constitution and Ira-nian legislation both of which are deeply discriminatory. They also recommend the adoption of con-crete measures particularly in the areas of education, employment, access to public services and housing, in order to put an end to the persisting discrimination

against ethnic communities and religious minorities. In addition, the Iranian authorities should fully implement the recommendations that have been addressed under the Universal Periodic Review of the United Nations and by the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.While the UN General Assembly, which should adopt a resolution on the situation of human rights in Iran, is currently at session in New York, FIDH and LDDHI call upon the international community to ensure that the issue of ethnic communities and religious mi-norities in Iran is an integral part of this resolution. Furthermore, our organisations reiterate their call that this resolution include – at last – a monitoring mechanism on the situation of human rights in Iran.

A leading member of “Bus Workers’ Syndicate” still incarceratedSource: Street JournalistOctober 27, 2010

In Iran, Renewed Efforts To Keep University Students In CheckSource: Radio Free Europe, Radio LibertyOctober 18, 2010

Reza Shahabi Treasurer and board member of the Syn-

dicate of Workers of Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company who was arrested on June 12th of this year is still incarcerated, and his release still undetermined. Although a bond of 60 million Tomans has been posted for him by his family, he has not been freed yet.Mrs. Robabeh Rezaie, the spouse of Mr. Shahabi, in conversation with “Mardomak” while empha-sizing his undetermined status mentioned that the charge against him is “contacts with foreigners.” Mr. Shahabi’s interrogator has told Mrs. Rezaie that he has not cooperated with his interrogator and the judicial system and until and unless he does so he won’t be released. According to her, attor-neys in the case after four months of incarceration, still have no ac-cess to any files on their client, and have no knowledge of any details in the charges.Back on October 10 of 2010, “revolutionary court” had deter-mined that by posting a 60 million Tomans bond this labour activist would be freed. Mrs. Rezaie says that the amount was prepared and given to authorities. They had promised he would be released on 12th of October. While the family waited for his release until 1:30 AM in front of the Evin Pris-on, they were told that he will not be released. There were rumors of increased bond, but we haven’t officially been notified.

Reza Shahabi a Law major and a graduate of “Payam Nor” univer-sity, was supporting the expelled workers from the Bus Compa-ny by providing them with le-gal counsel. This labour activist himself was suspended from Bus Company back in 2005 due to his labour activism. He continued his education, obtaining his high school diploma and then embark-ing on his legal studies.According to Mrs. Rezaie during the five years that Mr. Shahabi was suspended from working at Bus Company family’s income and his studies were supported by temporary jobs, mechanical and other wise, and financially the family had experienced very diffi-cult times.The 37 years old Treasurer of the Syndicate of Workers of Tehran Bus Company has an 11 year old daughter, and a 12 years old son. Mrs. Rezaie says that during all these years she was very aware of his capacity as a social activ-ist, and that he taking on “a very hard and dangerous task and re-sponsibility.” Yet she emphasizes that since he was not engaged in any illegal or improper activity, and was only defending workers’ rights, she never prevented him from his activities, and even now fully confident she declares that he has not committed any crime to be incarcerated for.Mrs. Rezaie demands from law enforcement authorities to expe-dite this labour activist’s case, be-cause “enduring this indetermina-tion is very arduous.”Reza Shahabi was arrested at Bus Co. building on June 12 2010. Before taking him to Evin Pris-on security agents took him to his house and after searching his house, confiscated his computer.

Former university professor Saba Vasefi and student ac-

tivist Salman Sima are casualties of the Iranian state’s campaign to purge universities of dissent-ing voices. In the aftermath of the country’s contentious presiden-tial election in June 2009, Vasefi, a professor of literature at Shahid University, was fired. The reason: politically interpreting literary texts and fomenting “moral corruption” among students.

Sima has found himself jailed twice and most recently saw an appellate court uphold a six-year prison sentence against him. The two exemplify the pressure that has come to bear on universities in relation to the prominent role played by students in mass pro-tests over President Mahmud Ah-madinejad’s reelection.

The tactics used to keep univer-sities in check have transformed over the months. In the initial days of the protests, pro-government forces reacted violently. The dorm of Tehran University was one of the first targets, with five students reportedly killed and many in-jured. Students were among those killed in street protests and at least three are reported to have died af-ter being tortured at the Kahrizak detention center outside the Ira-nian capital.

The next stage involved the sen-tencing of dozens of students to lengthy jail terms or their banish-ment from future education. To-day, the country’s institutes of higher learning are working under heightened scrutiny, with a heavy police presence keeping a close

eye on students and professors alike.

Toeing The Line

Saeed Peivandi, a Paris-based uni-versity professor and an expert on Iranian youth and education, says the Iranian establishment sees stu-dents as a body that must be con-trolled.

“Today, students make about 5 percent of the Iranian population. In many cities, they make up about 12 to 13 percent of the popula-tion,” Peivandi says. “Therefore, the public opinion of the students is considered an important social, cultural, and political weight in Iran’s society.” The university has demonstrated that it will not be silenced. The authorities are employing var-ious means of offsetting students’ political weight. In some cases, in-stitutions have come under pres-sure to toe the regime’s ideologi-cal line, as evidenced by Science and Education Minister Kamran Daneshjou’s declaration in August that those who do not should be destroyed.

In other cases, the curriculums of universities have been altered to make them more “Islamic” and university boards and staffs over-hauled to favor members commit-ted to the principle of the Velayat Faghih, or the rule of the supreme leader.

Vasefi and Sima say the methods have largely succeeded in silenc-ing students and in their cases led them to seek exile abroad.

Vasefi, who now lives in Sydney, says the authorities seek to turn learning institutions into “seminar-ies.”

“A number of students were killed [in the postelection crackdown]. Many were injured. I know a stu-

dent who was injured by a bullet and he’s paralyzed,” Vasefi says. “Many have been forced to leave the country; many are in jail. All of this provides a picture of the number of dissidents and critics at universities. Clearly [the authori-ties] can’t [tolerate] all these oppo-sition members.”

Student Activities Banned

Ashkan Zahabian, a student activ-ist in northern Iran, says that uni-versities’ disciplinary committees used to deal with students vocally critical of the regime. Now, he says, that task is increasingly the domain of the Intelligence Min-istry and other security organs. Zahabian also says the authorities have banned the activities of vari-ous student groups, including cul-tural societies.

One student activist, who was banned from studies for two terms and sent into internal exile to a small city, says on condition of an-onymity that intelligence authori-ties have threatened him and his family to make him stop his politi-cal activities. He says other activ-ists are facing similar harassment.

A student activist from Tehran’s Polytechnic University, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, says authorities have successfully blocked all possibilities of activism at universities.

“Any place that could be used for group activities by critics is being attacked under different excuses by the university management and others,” he says, adding that holding discussions or open fo-rums at his university is “unthink-able.”

Leave The Door Open

Paris-based professor Peivandi says there’s been unprecedented pressure on professors considered

not to be in line with the Iranian establishment.

“For example, the classes of the professors who are in a way op-posed to the state policies are be-ing controlled,” Peivandi says. “In some cases, their classes have been recorded by Basijis and later [some of them ] have been sum-moned because of some of their comments.”

Peivandi says scientific staff at uni-versities are being chosen based not on their academic merits but on their ideological stances. Pro-fessors have reported being in-terrogated by security officials upon returning from academic trips; some say they’ve been told to leave the doors to their offices open at all times.

The risk, Peivandi warns, is that the interference will hinder profes-sors’ research and lead to a brain drain that will undermine the country as a whole.

‘University Is Still Alive’

Activists say that while they ex-pect the repression to continue, a simmering desire for change is not going to go away.

Activist Sima, who is currently seeking asylum in Turkey, likens the student movement to an ail-ing patient, but one which he says will recover.

“The university has demonstrated that it will not be silenced,” Sima says. “For 30 years it has come under all kind of repression, yet there’s a sentence that all [stu-dents] say: ‘The university is still alive.’ Let me ask: If it were not alive, if the student movement were dead, then why is there so much pressure, and arrests, and threats?”

While universities appear calm

and free of protests on the surface, student activists say that criticism of the establishment is still being discussed and new ideas are still being aired privately -- in gather-ings and online.

Antigovernment graffiti serves as evidence that “underground ac-tivities” continue, according to one activist, and the distribution of leaflets and opposition statements remains widespread.Another predicts that universities will continue to be a “nightmare” for a regime well aware of their “enormous potential” to push for change.

Call for dialogue Towards forming an independent and decentralized organiza-tion of Iranian youth and students abroadSource: Iranian Progressive YouthOctober 1st-3rd, 2010

From the 1st till the 3rd of Oc-tober different groups of Irani-

an students gathered at the Freie Universitat Berlin to discuss issues pertaining to Iran’s democratic movement and its suppression by the Islamic Republic. Participants were from various European countries and the conference also welcomed a number of individu-als from outside the Continent. The conference style structure consisted of numerous important panels devoted to various pivotal

themes and topics. Panel speakers presented thought provoking pa-pers and engaged in insightful and useful question and answer ses-sions. Panels were all held in Per-sian except for a special interna-tional panel which was in English and involved non-Iranian student organizations.

The Persian speaking panels, dis-cussions and debates dealt with the following themes:1. 1. The difficulties of the cur-

rent s i t -ua -

tion; requirements and prospects for transition.2. The necessity to form an independent, decentralized or-ganization of Iranian youth and students abroad.3. Revisiting activism of youth networks abroad, particular-ly in the past year (achievements, shortcomings and possibilities for a more widespread self-organiza-tion of these networks.4. A glance at the internation-al experiences regarding the or-ganization of youth and students (with emphasis on experiences of the self-organized international groups).5. Alternative models for independent, decentralized or-ganization of youth and students abroad (with emphasis on organ-

Iranian Progressive Youthwww.iranpy.net

contact@iranpy.net

Patogh!Our monthly event: Debate & Discussion, Art & Music

When:Saturday, Nov 13, 20103:30 PM – 10:30 PM

Where:Cultural Center Mezrab ( Art Cage )Domselaerstraat 120Amsterdam, 1093,Netherlands

The theme for this evening is:perspectives of civil society in IranIntroduction by: Sohrab Razzaghi, professor of political science, human rights activist.

language: PersianMusic group “Radif” will performance in cultural section.Start: 15:30Discussion: 16:00-18:00 (Be on time! Or you will miss a part of the discussion.)Dinner: 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

Music, song and …: 19:00 (do not forget to bring your musical instruments! Confirm your attendance at the Facebook event

izing from below: how and why).The English speaking panel was moderated by Omid Tofighian and included Sölvi Karlsson, spokesperson for the European Students’ Union, Pedram Shahr-yar, spokesperson for Internation-al ATTAC network, Aura Iustina Pana, spokesperson for National Alliance of Student Organizations in Romania (ANOSR) and Pouya Alagheband who shared his ex-periences of working with Iranian refugees in Turkey in conjunction with various support institutions. The presentations, discussions and debates dealt with the follow-ing themes:

1. What value does an inter-national panel discussion have for a conference on human rights and social justice in Iran? 2. The results of contempo-rary Iranian human rights and so-cial justice activities in contrast to the success of Iranian activities in other fields? 3. The reasons behind the success of non-Iranian activists and how Iranian groups can ben-efit from them. 4. Creating new approaches to different issues as a result of col-laborations.5. International techniques, methods, structures, strategies.

6. Support for victims of the Iranian regime inside and outside the country.

The inclusion of an international panel inspired dynamic new an-gles and possibilities for Iranian activists abroad. It became more obvious that the central issues concerning Iranians were also glo-bal concerns. By highlighting par-ticular abuses and problems cre-ated by the Iranian government the Iranian youth and student movement can attract internation-al movements and organizations concerned with the same prob-lems on a global scale.