You Have no Right to Talk

While no one in the Islamic Republic judiciary is willing to take responsibility for the mass arrests following the June 12 coup, authorities from the judiciary are putting pressure on families of detainees to prevent them from conducting interviews and talking about their loved ones.  Several of the families emphasized to Rooz that “judge Haddad, who is in charge of the detainee cases related to the post election crises, has threatened the families that if they spoke to anyone about their detainees, they would not be given any news about their loved ones and their detentions would be lengthened.”

Judge Haddad heads Branch 26 of the Revolutionary Court in Tehran and has presided over the cases of many political activists, journalists and students in recent years.

More Pressure on Hajjarian

A day after it was announced that Saeed Hajjarian’s family was not willing to accept the release conditions set by Saeed Mortezavi for the release of this member of the Participation Front, Saeed Hajjarian’s son, Mohsen Hajjarian, was arrested at his father’s house.  According to those close to Saeed Hajjarian, Mohsen’s arrest was intended to exert more pressure on his father.  One person close to Hajjarian told Rooz, “We expected to see Mr. Hajjarian’s release this week due to his specific medical condition, but unfortunately what took place was the arrest of his son.” 

Ordered and Excused

The family of Abbas Mirza Aboutalebi, head of the Reformist Front and Mir-Hossein Mousavi’s campaign director in Tehran have no information of Aboutalebi’s whereabouts either.  They have not yet been told who has arrested the vice president of the Unity (“Hambastegi”) Party or where he is being held.

The wife of this political activist told Rooz, “When the officers came, my mother was at our house.  We were all shocked that they were arresting the children and soldiers of the revolution.  My mother asked the officer why they were arresting someone who had spent thirty of his best years for the regime?  The officers responded that they were ordered to do so and said they were excused.” 

Tajik at Evin’s Ward #209

Abdolreza Tajik, a journalist who has written for most of the reformist newspapers, has been behind bars since June 14.  This journalist’s sister, Parvin Tajik, told Rooz that his brother is held at Evin Prison’s Ward #209, adding, “Since his arrest, my brother had two short telephone conversations with us earlier on, asking us both times not to be worried.  In response to our questions about his conditions, interrogations, etc., he remained silent and then the call was abruptly disconnected.”

Noting that her brother has not called in two weeks, Mrs. Tajik said that she was extremely worried about the journalist’s condition, adding that both of Mr. Tajik’s attorneys, Mr. Soltani and Mr. Dadkhah too had been arrested, and that he therefore remained without any defense representation.

Judge Haddad in Charge of Detainees

Blogger and women’s rights activist Kaveh Mozaffari was arrested while accompanying his mother-in-law to the hospital.  Kaveh Mozaffari’s wife, Jelveh Javaheri, told Rooz that Kaveh Mozaffari’s name is on the list of detainees taped to the Evin Prison wall, adding, “Today, I visited Mr. Sobhani, the prosecutor in Kaveh’s former case and he said that Kaveh’s case was in the hands of Judge Haddad who would make the final decision in the case.”

Noting her concerns about her husband’s condition, she said, “Our main problem is that we don’t know what the health conditions of our loved ones are like, and whether they are subjected to beatings, abuse etc.” 

Noting the pressures exerted on the families of detainees, she said, “There are 14- and 15-year-old teenagers amongst the detainees and their families are extremely worried about them.”

No News from Masoud Bastani

The family of Mahsa Amrabadi, a pregnant journalist who is behind bars along with her husband Masoud Bastani, are deeply concerned about the condition of their loves ones.  Like other families, this family too is under pressure not to speak publicly about its case.  A person close to this family told Rooz, “We know nothing about Masoud Bastani, and have had only one single short telephone conversation with Mahsa since the arrest.” 

He added, “The cases must go through the normal legal channels and the interrogations must end.  We are not given any news until the interrogations are over.”

She added, “Mahsa is held at Evin Prison’s notorious Ward #209, but we know nothing about Masoud and don’t know where he is held.” 

Zeidabadi Family’s Privacy Violated

On the other hand, Ahmad Zeidabadi’s wife, Mahdieh Mohammadi, published an open letter to the head of the country’s judiciary, arguing, “For what charge is a person who must be regarded as a member of his society’s elite kidnapped from his house, and why is no institution required to be held responsible for this?”

In this letter, Mrs. Mohammadi addressed head of judiciary Shahroudi, “A few days after Mr. Zeidabadi’s arrest, four muscular, intimidating and of course strange men came to our house and asked to enter; while only I and my children were at our house.  The intruders were unable to enter our house; but my children were shaking from fear for hours and kept asking, why can’t we feel safe in our own house?”