It Got Worse In Time

Hassan Rouhani came to office on the promise that he would free political prisoners and those under house arrest. But that promise was still an illusion as he stepped into his second year. While the focus of his administration was on foreign policy and the isolation caused by the nuclear program, political prisoners and their families in Iran went through a hard year, 1393, when it ended on March 20^th. For them, the year had begun with cancellations of home visits during the Nowruz (new year) holidays and summons to return to prison for those who were on home-leaves. As the year drew to close, more civil and political activists were summoned to prison, regardless of whether they were on home leave or on medical leave. Political executions, which were on the rise since the year before, picked up greater momentum in the last twelve months. The year witnessed no change in the house arrest situation of the leaders of the Green Movement, other than rhetorical arguments about it.

Denial of home leaves, deprivation of medical treatment and the issuance of new sentences for prisoners whose terms ending went so far that families of political prisoners announced that conditions for prisoners had become worse since Rouhani had come to office, and were getting worse as his presidency progressed. They said the prisoners were in fact the victims of the vengeance of the ruling hardliners.

“I believe it is not difficult to create a situation next year in which not only are those who are under hour arrest see freedom but that even those who ae in prison for the events of 2009 are released as well.” These are the words of candidate Rouhani to students at Sharif Industrial University.

But as the second year of Rouhani’s presidency rolled in, his former colleague ex-president Mohammad Khatami was banned from speaking in public, was on the exit ban list and the media were banned from publishing/posting his image or anything about him. Many expressed objections to these, but nothing came from Rouhani, who owned Khatami and Rafsanjani for his accent to the presidency. The spokesperson of the judiciary pointed the finger of blame on the continued house arrests on the national security council, which is led by none other than Rouhani!

In 1393 as criminals who deformed women’s faces by throwing acid on them freely roamed the streets of Isfahan, civil activists were threatened and imprisoned. Mahdie Golroo was one of them who protested in front of the Majlis against those who threw acid at women. She was arrested last October 26 and was released after 94 days on a bail of 700 million Toman (about $2 million). Behrouz Malmousbaf is documentary film maker who was arrested because he was creating a documentary on the acid throwers. They dressed him up as a woman and gave his photos to Fars news agency as a suspect who incited acid throwers. He was ultimately released on bail. These are just a few examples of the extent and nature of human rights abuses going on in Iran.

But there is more.

House arrest conditions and restrictions for the leaders of the Green Movement became more severe, after the meeting with Alsadat Navab Safavi in the beginning of the year. In addition, Mehdi Karoubi’s health deteriorated during the year for which he underwent surgery while Mir-Hossein Mousavi was hospitalized.

In 1393, the Majlis passed a new criminal law which defined the crime of “ moharebe ” (fighting God or his representative on earth) more specifically, resulting in that those political prisoners who were executed last year did not qualify as mohareb . The last of the year saw the largest number of executions in Iran. Saman Nasim, Yunes Aghayan, Habibollah Afshari and Ali Afshari, Sirvan Nejavi and Ibrahim Shapuri were executed but officials never announced or acknowledged this. Their defense attorneys had announced that they had been moved for their executions.

Hamed Ahmadi, Kamal Molai, Jahangir and Jamshid Dehghani, Hadi Hosseini and Sedigh Mohammadi were executed on March 4 this year while their family members were horrified to see them for the last time as their prisoners were held in a cabin, hands and feet in handcuffs.

In the beginning of the special guard at Evin prison attacked cells in ward 350 resulting in Omid Behruzi’s vein being split, Akbar Amini’s head cracked, while other political prisoners were seriously physically hurt. An investigation was launched after family members of the prisoners complained to the Majlis and the president. The head of the prisons organization – Ismaili - was removed, but then appointed to head Tehran province’s judiciary! The prisoners were transferred to solitary cells and denied family visitations. They went on a strike; their family members outside were threatened and arrested. Eleven months have passed since the launching of the investigation with no progress or results announced. Mostafa Tajzadeh’s prison term came to its end but then he was sentenced again. After being released from prison, Mohammad Reza Pourshajari was arrested again, sentenced and deported to a distant prison. Arjang Davoodi’s prison sentence ended but then he was resentenced to death.

Among tragic events of the year was a mother who had a car accident after visiting her son in prison and died. Toobi Soltani, the mother of Mohsen Ghashghai was buried as an “unidentified” person.

More journalists and reporters too were added to the prison population in 1393. This is despite Rouhani’s claim to CNN that there were no journalist prisoners in Iran earlier in the year. Mashala ShamseelVaezin was summoned and interrogated, Serajedin Mirdamadi, Reyhane Tabatabai, Hossein Nooraninejad, Sajde Arabsorkhi, and Saba Azarpeyk were among journalists who were arrested. Reyhane Tabatabai went home after serving her term, Saba Azarpeyk was released on bail but Arabsorkhi is serving his term.

Journalists Mirdamdi and Nooraninejad were among those who acted on Rouhani’s call for Iranians to return to Iran after he came to office. They did but both were arrested. As did Abdol-Hossein Harati and Masoomeh Gholizadeh.

The conditions and status of Iranian-Americans in Iranian prisoners such as Saeed Abedini, Omid Kokabi, Amir Hekmati and Jason Rezaian did not change during the year.

Nasrin Sotudeh was repeatedly arrested in 1393 as was Narges Mohammadi and Mohammad Noorizad.

The year 1393 ended on March 20, 2015 while no official figures about the number of political prisoners were published or announced. Bahai prisoners continue to be held behind bars.