Saturday, June 19, 2010

Labour camp at Evin

» وضع نامناسب بهداشتی -رفاهی و بیماری زندانیان

Kalameh website

زندانیان سیاسی بند ۳۵۰ وادار به کار اجباری شده اند

جمعه, ۲۸ خرداد, ۱۳۸۹چکیده : در بند 350 اوین به تازگی ساخت و سازهای ساختمانی شروع شده که به دلیل آن روزهاست زندانیان جای مناسبی برای استراحت و خواب ندارند و مجبورند در حیاط زندگی کنند. آنها برای پیشبرد کارها و سر وسامان دادن مکانی که به زور در آن نگهداری می‌شوند مجبور به بیگاری و بنایی شده اند. از چند روز گذشته زندانیان که جایی برای خواب و استراحت نداشتند، در حیاط زندان و زیر آفتاب داغ به سر بردند و غدا خوردند.

زندانیان سیاسی بند ۳۵۰ زندان اوین مجبور به بیگاری شده اند. در این بند زندان اوین که زندانیان سیاسی نگهداری می شوند، اکنون بیش از ۲۰۰ نفر از زندانیان حوادث پس از انتخابات به سر می برند.

به گزارش کلمه، در این بند به تازگی ساخت و سازهای ساختمانی شروع شده که به دلیل آن روزهاست زندانیان جای مناسبی برای استراحت و خواب ندارند و مجبورند در حیاط زندگی کنند. آنها برای پیشبرد کارهاو سر وسامان دادن مکانی که به زور در آن نگهداری می شوند مجبور به بیگاری و بنایی شده اند. از چند روز گذشته، زندانیان که جایی برای خواب و استراحت نداشتند در حیاط زندان و زیر افتاب داغ به سر بردند و غدا خوردند.

تعدادی از خانواده های زندانیان این بند در روزهای گذشته با مراجعه به دادستانی تهران نسبت به کار اجباری زندانیان شان اعتراض کرده اند. آنها اعتقاد دارند اگر این بند نیاز به تعمیرات ضروری دارد، ارتباطی به زندانی ندارد و بیش از انجام تعمیرات، زندانیان باید به مکانی دیگر منتقل شوند.

همچنین به گفته برخی از خانواده های زندانیان سیاسی، این تعمیرات ساختمانی در حالی انجام می شود که در این فصل این بند از زندان اوین که در زیر زمین قرار دارد بسیار گرم و از وسایل تهویه و خنک کننده مناسب نیز بی بهره است. موضوعی که موجب غیر قابل تحمل شدن زندگی برای زندانیان شده است.

همچنین در روزهای گذشته دوباره مساحت کمتری به زندانیان سیاسی اختصاص یافت و تعداد اتاق ها و تخت های بیشتری به زندانیان مالی این بند داده شد.

امکانات پژشکی این بند نیز بسیار نامناسب است تا جایی که وقتی یکی از زندانیان بیمار می شود روزهای زیادی طول می کشد که او را به پزشک برسانند. اکنون در این مکان زندانیان زیادی بیمارند اما از کوچکترین امکانات پژشکی و درمانی بی بهره اند. مسعود لواسانی، روزنامه نگاری که ماه هاست در این بند زندانی است، دچار حمله های عصبی شدید شده، اما مسولان زندان او را که نیاز شدیدی به روانپزشک دارد از هر گونه امکان درمانی محروم کرده اند.

محمد نوری زاد دیگر روزنامه نگار و نویسنده در بند ۳۵۰ نیز بیش از ده روز است که بیمار است و چندین بار از مسولان بند تقاضای رسیدگی به بیماریش و مراجعه به پزشک را کرده است. اما هر بار مسولان نسبت به تقاضای او بی اعتنایی می کنند. این شرایط آن قدر در این بند بحرانی شده است که بسیاری از زندانیان به دلیل دیر مراجعه کردن به پزشک بیماری شان مزمن شده است و صدای سرفه های ممتد شان در شب به گوش می رسد.

خانواده های زندانیان بند ۳۵۰ از دادستان تهران تقاضا دارند ضمن بازدید از این بند زندان اوین به وضعیت زندانیان رسیدگی کند و شرایط درمان آنها را فراهم کند. آنها همچنین از دادستان و دیگر مسولان تقاضا دارند که شرایط اولیه رفاهی را در فصل تابستان برای زندانیان این بند فراهم کنند.

هم اکنون در این بند عماد الدین باقی، محمد نوری زاد، بهمن احمدی امویی، علی بیکس، مجید دری، کیوان صمیمی، ضیا نبوی، احمد کریمی، سعید متین پور، علیرضا طاهری و بسیاری دیگر از زندانیان حوادث پس از انتخابات نگهداری می شوند

Friday, June 18, 2010

Did they silence Iran by killing its Neda (voice)?

A year ago around this time Iran was heaving in blood and battle. Among all the chaos on the streets, a young woman was killed in broad daylight in front of the world. The doctor near the scene who tried to save her was accused of being accomplice in her murder and had to flee the country and live in clandestine in exile. Her real killer though was never found as no attempt was made to find him. As if he accomplished a mission and like any other assassin vanished into the thin air and retired under the protection of those who carried out the policy of “fire to kill” peaceful demonstrators and beat up, torture, rape and mutilate them if captured.
Tomorrow is the anniversary of Neda Agha Soltan’s death. I happened to be one of the first people who received the video. The sender asked me “what on earth is this?” Bewildered and in a state of total shock I replied: “can’t be true!”
A short while later the world watched that video and followed the tragedy of Neda Agha Soltan’s murder. The killing of Neda had widespread consequences for the Iranian regime on the one hand and the Iranian opposition on the other. I had been the subject of many songs, music, articles, interviews and writings. Immediately, the brutal murder of Neda turned into the symbol, the emblem and the flag of a collective protest which was meant to be non-violent and peaceful. Millions around the world saw her on their screens over and over again and thousands of Iranians outside and inside put a mask on their faces, decorated with Neda’s beautiful portrait telling the world “I am Neda”. Songs were written in her memory, stories were written in her honour, a film was made in her honour and her family became the honour of a nation that was marching on a non-violently demanding its “vote”.
A year on, the Iranian regime, corrupt more than ever, brutal more than ever, deceitful more than ever and unpopular more than ever has tried to cover Neda’s murder in a cloud of ridiculous and unfounded stories in order to divert attention from not only her murder but the other murders that had been carried out before and those that followed; Sohrfab and Kianush and others on the streets and the Kahrizak murders.
In memory of Neda, I wrote the following piece on Iranianwomenuk blog a year ago.

“Did they silence Iran by killing its Neda (voice)?”

On the anniversary of the murder of Neda Agha Soltan let’s remind ourselves that we have come a long way since then and have to go a long way before we can reclaim our country from the course of transgression into the abyss of darkness into the road to freedom, democracy and secularism along the line with the civilised world.
Let’s remind ourselves that Neda and Sohrab and Kianush and thousands before them were not murdered in vain. They were the price Iran paid for the noble cause of freedom.


Sunday, June 28, 2009
Did they silence Iran by killing her Neda (voice)?
The chronology of a coup d'etat.

Rouhi Shafii

Until recently, I thought the age of dictators and coup d'etas in their conventional form had long gone past and the twenty first century will not witness the midnight raids on the presidential palaces, the gun shots and assassination of presidents and kings, martial law, rounding up the people in stadiums, unlawful arrests and kidnapping and finally the emergence of a new dictator in a military uniform, civil dress or turban, announcing his triumph. Until the night of the Iranian presidential elections, I strongly believed the world has moved on, we Iranians have moved on and a new era is on the horizon with a pale smile and fainted rays of hope.

It was the month of June. For some unknown reason and for the past decades, in this month major political events have taken shape in Iran; from the Khomeini uprising in 1963 to the present time. Do I have to be superstitous and expect something drastic to happen after what happened just recently in the month of June? I am talking about our presidential elections. As people were preparing to participate in large numbers and the four canadidates who were all from the inner circle of the Islamic regime were veted carefully and 'selected' to stand for elections.
Four years ago, those Iranians who were disenchanted by the eight year presidency of the reformist Mr Khatami, who promised change but was unable to fulfill his promises as his efforts were curtailed in every step, distanced from the elections and that paved the way for a phenomenon called Mr Ahmadinejad.
During Mr Ahmadinejad's presidency, two things happened: 1-Iran became the centre of world tention, attention, economic sanction and islolation by his zelous rhetoric on Iran's need for nuclear energy, denying the holocaust and undermining every international protocol. 2- Deteroition of the economy, appointment of corrupt individuals to high office who channeled billions of dollors of oil money into the uknown, rise in unemployment, rise in addiction among the youth, rise in suicide rate, prostitution and human trafficking. Censorship in the broadest form possible; books, newspapers, weblogs and websites, brandishing opponents. Detention of citizens whithout sound foundations, killing people in custody, ignoring the rights of ethnic and religous minorities and carrying the death penalty in large scale. Creating a six-layer policing system which controlled the Iranians especially women and students.
Mr Ahmadinejad's monologue of false promises and blatant lies, of his obession with the nuclear issue, of his failure to fix the economy, of his policies of suppression decent, of his self-style hallucinatory claims of being inspired by the absent Imams and in total his lack of understanding the world and the Iranian people and their modern needs, brought the people to the conclusion that they have to set foot in the scene and vote for a less fundamentalist and a more pragmatic candidate.
The scene was set. For weeks before the elections, people grouped and regrouped, political parties became active, associations and coalitions were formed. Women formed a broad coalition unprecidented in the history of the Iranian women struggles. They met up with three of the four candidates and encouraged them to include women's demands in their manifestos. Thousands of articles were published in the papers and websites, hundreds of thousands of emails were exchanged.
Students, workers, intellectuals were all but hope. A window was about to open to take the people out of darkenss. A ray of light! That was all that was. For a short period in many years Iranians inside and outside were optimistic. Hope for change was on the horizon. People's enthiusiasm channeded itself into the candidates's election campaigns. The candidates began their presidential campaigns. They appeared on variuos venues, changed their manifestos in the course of events and became more understanding and aware of Iran's modern needs. That seemed to be the beginning of the end of a four year nightmare.
For the first time in the history of the Islamic Republic's election campaigns, the wives of the candidates travelled along with their husbands and Mr Musavi's wife who is a respected personality in her own right took to the stage and became the unofficial spokes-person in the rallies. Mr Karoubi went even further and offered his headquarters to women and promised to have a woman as his vice president. The world witnessed a true face of Iran. The face of smiling, civilised men and women who talked of their hopes for the future.
In that celeberatory mood, Mr Ahmadinejad's distorted face and distorted monoloques lost colour among the urban population as people were about to drive him out of office. In rural areas he was busy to distribute money and buy votes. Apart from that he did not offer any concrete plan throughout his campaign. He did not meet up with any group or individual. In his TV discussions with other candidates he lied to the people and put unfounded accusations against his strong opponents in order to cover his hidden plot.
Under the cover of the night, in those dark corners of the hidden rooms and in those archaic minds, a different cenario was engineered, approved and sealed by the 'grand leader'! The plot had been decided upon long before the elections. Months ago, the 'leader' announced in one of his preachings that Mr Ahmadinejad should serve for another five years! So, why all the hassle and the fuss? Why in the name of God did they pull the people along only to announce what had already been decided upon?

The answer lies in the fact that they thought it wise to declare Mr Ahmadinejad president through elections in order to give him more legitimacy. They engineered the whole scenario for a coup: two hours before the poles closed the streets of Tehran were occupied by armed men, the candidates' election observers were ordered to leave, armed men entered the polling stations and carried the ballot boxes with them. Apparantly, Mr Musavi received a call after midnight on satuarday informing him that he has won and should prepare his victory speech but some time later, armed men entered his headquarters and told him that Mr Ahmadinejad was the winner!

The pages of history turned as the majority of the people were shocked first, angry and bewildered next. The hastily results outrageously deprived the people of their their democratic participation. In the course of events, the candidates refused to accept the results but the 'leader' Mr Khamenei put his approval to it even before the Guardian Council looked into the matter and confirmed them as was the norm. The 'leader' who was meant to be impartial sided openly with Mr Ahmadinejad's fraudulent election results and hastily declared him the 'winner'!
It is now a common belief that they must have been planing for such a coup for months if not years before. sometime earlier on .

It is now widely believed that Mr Khamenei and other coup leaders' aim to eradicate the concept of 'republic' and establish a Calipha style system in Iran. Not to mention that the republic never stood to its true meaning. Not to mention that people outside the regime's inner circle were never allowed to stand for presidential or Parliament elections or any other high office throughout the whole life of the Islamic Republic. A Caliph style Islamic state more fundamentalist than the Taliban in Afganistan?

Here we are at the cross road of history. One thing is for certain. Whatever the plot, it will be doomed for defeat. If not in the short term but in time it will see its own destruction. Those millions who marched on the streets the first days and thousands who have since risked their lives and marched and raised theit voices and chanted on the rooftops and those who have reported the atrocities and the brutalities of layers of armed men to the world and those who have written on the websites and blogs, will never let the coup to succeed. Let the coup kidnap our young, assasin, imprison, torture, assault, beat up our intellectuals and frighten the people by attacking them in their homes, torch their gates and entrances, use abusive language against women. Let them bring out all the evil that had been hidden away for such days.

Let them shoot Neda and many other Nedas in broad day light. The coup leaders never knew that Neda will stand tall and tell the world of the crimes that the Iranian leaders are commiting against humanity and in the name of religeon. Crimes which will eventually drag them to the International Tribunal for Human Rights, where they have to answer Neda's mother who was deprived of mourning for her daughter at her unknown grave, where they have to answer of the assault on the students in the middle of the night at their dormatories? Student! The future of the country.

These days the future is unknown. The Islamic regime which was once unbreakable is now broken into two halves if not more. The rift among its founders, veterans and the new elite is vast. The wealth of Iran is in the centre of dispute as well as the greed for power. It is now up to the defeated candidates to decide which way to go. Today, as well as tomorrow people need decisive leadership to confront the election coup. If the coup succeeds, Iran will go through a period of darkness as the evil forces have come to the surface and the religous rhetoric has lost colour. Iran's problem is not her problem alone. Once the coup succeeds it will spread to the region and the world. It is a plague which has to be contained. We as Iranians have to demand from the international community an-all-out political sanction of Ahmadinejad's government and prepare ourselves for the long cold days of a winter which will eventually end.

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Iran, a year on after the disputed presidential elections-

Statement by International coalition against Violence in Iran (ICAVI)
A year ago at this time Iranians were preparing themselves to participate in the tenth presidential elections, hoping to select from among the 4 designated candidates a person who would lead them to a life better than they had under the presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Their hopes were swiftly turned into despair and anger as the results were announced without due course and once again Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was declared the winner and endorsed by the supreme leader in matter of hours after the polls closed. Millions of people poured on the streets and the first question that came to their minds and later shaped into the biggest challenge the Islamic regime has faced since its creation was, “Where is my vote?”
The campaign “Where is my vote?”, which was peaceful and non-violent soon turned into violence as the regime’s armed wings; revolutionary guards, basiji militias, security and intelligence forces, street thugs and trained plainclothes armed men attacked demonstrators, beaten them up and in some cases killing them with live ammunition. Neda Agha –soltan a philosophy student was one of the first shot dead on a street in Tehran in front of the world cameras. She soon became the symbol of people’s campaigns. In the course of events of the past year, detaining, kidnapping, torturing and raping innocent men and women and extortion of facts and creating an atmosphere of utmost violence and terror has been utilized by the Iranian regime in order to stay in power. A year on, the number of those who have been detained and kept in various detention centers is unknown. The Iranian regime has not responded to the plight of the Iranians nor has it shown any respect for the international community which has urged Iran to stop the spiraling violence against the people.
In the past twelve months Iranians inside and outside the country have united together to say no to the rulers of Iran who have no regard for their dignity, humanity and rights as citizens. The majority of world nations and governments have supported the plight of the Iranian people.
International Coalition against Violence in Iran (ICAVI) was born to seek the non-violent path which is the wish of millions of Iranians. Iranian people demand nothing but democracy, freedom, human rights and the rule of law in correspondence with international protocols and conventions.
ICAVI condemns the spiraling violence, detention, torture, kidnapping, and ultimately execution of people on unfounded charges. ICAVI calls on the international community to support the Iranian civil society of journalists, human rights activists, writers, lawyers and those who are constantly under threat; ethnic and religious groups, women, students, workers and their families.
To mark the occasion, ICAVI has joined forces with a number of other human rights organizations for a week-long campaign through various events in London, UK.
Wednesday 16 June is dedicated to women of Iran who have played a major role in the movement for democracy, freedom, and a non-violent society.
Details can be viewed on ICAVI website:
www.icavi.org
icavi@icavi.org

London prepares to mark the anniversay of the disputed elections in Iran

LONDON NGOS UNITE TO HIGHLIGHT THE DETERIORATING HUMAN RIGHTS SITUATION IN IRAN
Unite for Iran is a week of events bringing together ARTICLE 19, Amnesty International UK, Exiled Writers Ink, Human Rights Watch, Prisoners of Conscience, One Million Signatures Campaign, the International Campaign Against Violence in Iran, and United4Iran to raise awareness about the human rights situation in Iran. The programme runs from June 10 – 18 in London.
[07/06/2010] - The current government of Iran has a horrific record of denying fundamental human and civil rights to its people. We believe that building a global mass movement will not only give strength to the people of Iran, but will also place pressure on the Iranian government to conform to international human rights and civil rights standards to which Iran is a signatory. The Events, which aim to highlight the plight of prisoners of conscience and human rights abuses in Iran, include:
- Thursday 10th and Saturday 12th June – A mobile billboard traveling around London to draw attention to Iranian prisoners of conscience (route to be announced).
- Monday 14th June – Screening of Jafar Panahi’s Film “Offside” at the Human Rights Action Centre, 17-25 New Inn Yard London EC2A 3EA.
- Wednesday 16th June – “Iranian women: heroines or victims of transgression?” an evening of music, poetry, short films, analysis and debate hosted by Exiled Writers Ink, International Coalition Against Violence in Iran and One Million Signature Campaign at the Free Word Centre, 60 Farringdon Road London EC1R 3GA.
- Friday 18th June – Prisoners of Conscience Panel, featuring Iranian journalist and writer Masih Alinejad, author and women's rights activist Rouhi Shafii and Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui Amnesty International's Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa at the Free Word Centre.
Internationally, over 60 cities worldwide will be taking part in various events on and around June 12th with the goal of bringing the world’s attention on the human and civil rights abuses in Iran, particularly as related to the cases of prisoners of conscience. For more information on London events please visit www.uniteforiran.org.uk for information on global activities please visit, http://12june.org.
- END –
Further Information:
High resolution images available upon request
Editorial notes:
For more information on the events in London, please visit www.uniteforiran.org.uk.
For more information, interviews or images please Niloufar on niloufar@u4i.org.uk