Saturday, November 21, 2009

Latest Reports on Prisoners (November 20th): Arrests Continue

HRA Prisoners’ Rights Unit

• 6 Allameh University students activists were arrested

• Amir Ali-Soltan was arrested

• 2 Shiraz University female students were arrested



• Hadi Abed-Khoda was arrested

• Latest on Payman Aref and Masood Bastani

• Exile to Kerman Prison likely for Hassan Tarlani

• Masood Bastani tried without his lawyer present

6 Allameh University Students Activists Detained

6 student activists from Allameh Tabatabi University were arrested at a coffee shop yesterday afternoon. The students’ names are as follows

1-Alireza Mousavi, Faculty of Philosophy

2-Ahmad Mir-Taheri, Faculty of Economics

3-Alireza Zargar, Faculty of Economics

4-Hamid Ghahvehchian, Master’s of Legal Studies

5-Amir Kazempoor, Faculty of Economics

6-Yasser Masoumi, Faculty of Economics

Amir Ali-Soltan Arrested

Amir Ali-Soltan an active member of Mir Hossein Mousavi’s campaign headquarters was arrested yesterday by agents from the Intelligence Ministry. There is no information on his current whereabouts.

2 Shiraz University female students were arrested

Two Shiraz University students, Neda Eskandari (political sciences) and Khadijeh Ghahremani (Agriculture) were arrested by agents from the Intelligence Ministry after they went to University’s disciplinary committee to follow up on their cases. Both students were previously suspended for two semesters from the university. There is no information on their status or current whereabouts.

Hadi Abed-Khoda Arrested

Hadi Abed-Khoda, a former political prisoner from the 1980s, was arrested by agents from the Intelligence Ministry in Rasht. Abed-Khoda, who is 50 years old, suffers from a spinal cord cut. He was recently sentenced to 2 years in prison by the 2nd branch of the Revolutionary Court in Rasht for supporting a political organization. Abed-Khoda was arrested on November 8th, 2009, when agents raided his home and took him to Rasht’s central prison to serve his sentence.

Latest on Payman Aref

Payman Aref, the suspended University student, was among the group of activists arrested after the June presidential election. Aref was held in solitary confinement for 75 days and is currently detained in ward 350 of Evin prison. Paymen is serving the prison term for a previous conviction that was handed to him during a student protest against Hashem Aghajari’s death penalty ruling, Aref’s mother said. She added:” AfterPayman went on hunger strike to protest his detention conditions, the Tehran Prosecutor, Jafari Dolat-Abadi, met with him and agreed to grant a prison leave. Unfortunately, influence exercised by agencies outside the Judiciary, has blocked my son’s prison leave”.

Exile to Kerman Prison likely for Hassan Tarlani

Nasrin Sotoodeh, the defense attorney for Hassan Tarlani, was told by judge Rahimi at 31st branch of the Supreme Court that the 10 year prison sentence of her client will most probably be upheld. Intelligence officials in ward 209 of Evin had previously said that Tarlani’s 10 years sentence is in retaliation for his choice of lawyer.

During his first trial,Hossein Tarlani who is a human rights activist, was sentenced to 10 years in prison by judge Mohseni at the 22nd branch of the Revolutionary Court because some of his family members belonged the MKO.

Masood Bastani Tried without His Lawyer Present

The defense lawyer for Masood Bastani, journalist and political activist, says that his client has been sentenced without his presence. Mohammad Sharif who represents Bastani has appealed the ruling. Regarding the latest developments in Bastani’s case, Sharif said: “Prior to his arrest, my client had signed papers assigning me as his defense lawyer. After he was arrested, I went to the Revolutionary Tribunal repeatedly but was unable to get any information on which investigative court was handling his case. Subsequently, the case was sent to court and Bastani appeared before the judge without a lawyer. I went back to court after the trial to register my mandate, but was told that since the first trial had concluded they would not register my mandate”. Sharif is hoping to go on the record as the defense lawyer and obtain the case file before the appeal hearing.

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