news : BRITISH AHWAZI FRIENDSHIP SOCIETY- Ahwazi Arab Political Prisoner Released in Iran

news : BRITISH AHWAZI FRIENDSHIP SOCIETY: "Leading Ahwazi Arab intellectual Yossef Azizi-Banitorouf was released today (28 June) after being held in prison for two months.

Azizi-Banitorouf was arrested on 25 April after giving a radio interview criticising the regime for killing unarmed protestors in demonstrations in Ahwaz City and other cities and towns in Khuzestan. Recent reports suggested that he become ill after weeks of interrogation and harsh treatment by his captors. It is not known whether he will face trial as the Iranian security services have not announced any charges against him."

Reuters AlertNet - U.S. demands release of Iranian journalist

Reuters AlertNet - U.S. demands release of Iranian journalist

Reuters AlertNet - IRAN: Gruesome sentence upheld by Supreme Court

Reuters AlertNet - IRAN: Gruesome sentence upheld by Supreme Court: "TEHRAN, 29 June (IRIN) - An Iranian court has sentenced a man to have his eyes surgically gouged out for a crime he committed 12 years ago, according to a report in the Iranian daily newspaper Etemaad. Amnesty International (AI) has condemned the sentence passed on the man known only as Vahid"

IRAN: EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT DISCUSSES PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS

IRAN: EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT DISCUSSES PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS: "Brussels, 29 June (AKI) �On the intiative of the European Green Party, European parliamentarians and representatives of Iranian civil society, a conference began on Wednesday morning at the European parliament in Brussels to discuss the results of the recent presidential elections in Iran, which saw the election of ultra-conservative Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as Iran's new president. Divided into four round tables, were poets, writers, human rights activits, judges, journalists and researchers, addressing the issue of Iran and its future relations with the European Union. "

gooya news :: english : Resolution of the conference: "Iran after the elections": Help to liberate Ganji and Zarafshan!

gooya news :: english : Resolution of the conference: "Iran after the elections": Help to liberate Ganji and Zarafshan!: "Resolution of the conference: 'Iran after the elections': Help to liberate Ganji and Zarafshan!
We, the participants of this conference, call on the members of the European parliament, the European council and commission, to use all their influence in order to obtain the liberation of the political prisoners of Iran, and particular of Nasser Zarafshan and Akbar Ganji.
29-06-2005"

Iranian court stays execution of young woman, orders flogging

Iranian court stays execution of young woman, orders flogging

Lawyer of Iranian imprisoned journalist says not permitted to visit his client

Lawyer of Iranian imprisoned journalist says not permitted to visit his client

Independent- UK: Iranian court orders man to be blinded

News

Imprisoned Journalist Fears for Safety As Guards Move In a Violent Criminal - June 24, 2005 - The New York Sun - NY Newspaper

Imprisoned Journalist Fears for Safety As Guards Move In a Violent Criminal - June 24, 2005 - The New York Sun - NY Newspaper: "June 24, 2005


WASHINGTON - On the eve of a presidential runoff election, Iranian authorities are cracking down on one of the country's leading dissidents.
According to an interview with the wife of journalist Akbar Ganji, the dissident leader is in physical danger now that guards have placed a violent criminal in the sector of Evin prison where he is being detained."

OMCT - - Iran: Arbitrary detention and hunger strike of Mr. Akbar Ganji

OMCT - - EN: "URGENT APPEAL THE OBSERVATORY

IRN 001 / 0004 / 030.5
New information
Arbitrary detention / Hunger strike
Iran
June 24, 2005


The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), requests your urgent intervention in the following situation in Iran.


New information:

The Observatory has been informed by the Iranian League for the Defense of Human Rights (Ligue pour la d�fense des droits de l�Homme en Iran - LDDHI) that Mr. Akbar Ganji, a prominent journalist and human rights defender who has been imprisoned for more than five years in Tehran�s Evin prison, started a new hunger strike.

According to the information received, on June 14, 2005, a week after Mr. Akbar Ganji was temporarily released on May 30, 2005, so that he may receive medical treatment, his house was searched on order of Mr. Mortazavi, Prosecutor of Tehran, in order to arrest him. On the following day, on June 15, 2005, Mr. Akbar Ganji presented himself to jail. On June 16, 2005, he started a hunger strike and he is currently held in solitary confinement.

Moreover, his lawyer, Mrs. Shirin Ebadi, 2003 Nobel Peace Prize and Secretary General of the Defenders of Human Rights Centre, was not authorised to visit him on June 21, 2005, and she expressed her worry regarding Mr. Ganji�s health and life."

CNN.com - Iran tightens Web control - Jun 23, 2005

CNN.com - Iran tightens Web control - Jun 23, 2005

Press Gazette - Journalism matters. Every week.

Press Gazette - Journalism matters. Every week.: "Iran's judiciary has returned prominent dissident journalist Akbar Ganji to jail after a short period of leave on medical grounds. 'I will resume my hunger strike,' Ganji told reporters as he entered Tehran's Evin prison. 'All political prisoners must be freed.'
He was jailed in 2001 for linking some senior figures in Iran to killings of political dissidents in the 1990s. www.iranmedia.com"

Reporters sans frontires - Call to both second-round candidates to make urgent press freedom reforms and prisoner releases

Reporters sans fronti�res - Iran: "Reporters Without Borders has called on the two second-round candidates in Iran's presidential poll to, if elected, make urgent and essential press freedom reforms and release five journalists and three webloggers still in jail.
'Freedom of expression cannot be guaranteed in this country as long as imprisoning journalists is a systematic practice. That is why the future president must reform the press so as to decriminalise press offences and guarantee free expression without discrimination by language, religion or political opinion', said the organisation. "

Kurdish Info - Refugees go on hunger strike in Van

Kurdish Info - Refugees go on hunger strike in Van: "The Kurdish refugees of Iranian stock who had passed from Iran to Iraq and then into Turkey in 2001 have gone on a hunger strike, for they have not been sent to a third country though they were granted right of asylum by the United Nations (UN)."

Iran News - Zarafshan case under review

Iran News - Zarafshan case under review

Iran’s Internet Censorship Among Strictest In the World,

Internet Filtering in Iran documents the degree and extent to which the Iranian government controls the information environment in which its citizens live, including websites, blogs, email, and online discussion forums.
Drawing from technical interrogation, extensive legal and political analysis, and interviews with Iranians, ONI’s analysis finds that Iran’s Internet filtering system is one of the world’s most substantial censorship regimes. Iran has adopted this extensive filtering regime at a time of extraordinary growth in Internet usage among its citizens, as well as a tremendous increase in the number of its citizens who write online in Farsi. ONI’s research shows that Iran is among several countries in the Middle East that focuses its censorship efforts on expression through local language, like Farsi. Iran is also one of a growing number of countries, particularly in the Middle East region, that rely upon commercial software developed by for-profit United States companies to carry out its filtering regime.

Internet writers, journalists in war zones, writers in exile top concerns at International PEN World Congress

IFEX ::

IFEX :: Four dailies banned

IFEX :: Four dailies banned

Swedish writers's letter to Zarafshan's and Ganji's families

To Mrs. Homa Zarafshan, Mrs. Masumeh Shafii and all family members of political prisoners protesting in front of Evin prison in Tehran!Today is more then ten days since your protest outside the prison started and almost two weeks since Naser Zarafshan (member of Iran’s writers association) started his hunger strike suffering from a kidney condition. Journalist Akbar Ganji together with other political prisoners is also on hunger strike protesting against none human-worthy conditions of prison.
Mr. Zarafshan has been in prison since year 2000 for allegedly unveiling government secrets. He was sentenced to five years in prison and 70 lashes. He was attorney of families of the intellectuals and writers who were murdered during ‘serial murders case’ by government’s secret agents.
Although we can not be at your side outside the walls of Evin we want to take your hands in ours, send you our greetings and raise our voice to demand unconditional freedom for Naser Zarafshan, Akbar Ganji and all political prisoners in Iran and an end to violation of human rights.

Sincerely,
Hanna Hallgren Writer
Etienne Glaser Actor, Director
Agneta Klingspor Writer and member of Swedish writers union
Petter Larsson Journalist
Agneta Pleijel Writer
Boel Unnserstad Trasnlator and member of Swedish writers union
Aimée Delblan Trasnlator and member of Swedish writers union and Swedish Pen

Scoop: Net, Exile Writers, War Zones Journos Top Concens

Scoop: Net, Exile Writers, War Zones Journos Top Concens: "letter to Iranian authorities urging the immediate release of writer and lawyer Nasser Zarafshan, who is reported to be near death as the result of a hunger strike in prison."

Reporters sans frontires - Iran Call for three banned dailies to reopen

Reporters sans fronti�res - Iran

Iran press: Jailed journalists' lawyers concerned over clients' conditions

Iran press: Jailed journalists' lawyers concerned over clients' conditions

Iran still stoning women, says Nobel Laureate. 20/06/2005. ABC News Online

Iran still stoning women, says Nobel Laureate. 20/06/2005. ABC News Online

Iran News - Lawyers banned from meeting Ganji, Zarafshan

©2004 AP

Archived Picture - Nobel peace laureate Shirin Ebadi said she and another lawyer, Yousef Molaei, were banned from meeting their clients, Nasser Zarafshan and Akbar Ganji, in Evin Prison.
Iran News - Lawyers banned from meeting Ganji, Zarafshan

Iran News - Iran's Judiciary detaining violators

Iran News - Iran's Judiciary detaining violators

IRAN: FAMILIES OF POLITICAL PRISONERS CONTINUE PROTESTS

IRAN: FAMILIES OF POLITICAL PRISONERS CONTINUE PROTESTS: "family members of political prisoners in front of the notorious Evin prison"

Police beat and arrest families of Akbar Ganji and Nasser Zarafshan

Police beat and arrest families of Akbar Ganji and Nasser Zarafshan

Reporters sans frontires - After eight years of Mohammad Khatami, next president urged to promote press freedom

Reporters sans fronti�res - Iran

IFEX ::DISSIDENTS SILENCED IN LEAD-UP TO ELECTIONS

IFEX ::

Iran: Jailed Dissidents Denied Medical Care

Iran: Jailed Dissidents Denied Medical Care

International News Article | Reuters.com Police disperse protesters outside Tehran prison

International News Article | Reuters.com

Iran: Jailed Dissidents Denied Medical Care (Human Rights Watch, 14-6-2005)

Iran: Jailed Dissidents Denied Medical Care (Human Rights Watch, 14-6-2005): " Akbar Ganji, Nasser Zarafshan, Reza Alijani, Taqi Rahmani and Hoda Saber have been imprisoned solely because of their political views and peaceful activities, the organizations said. The authorities should release them immediately and unconditionally. "

Iran: Zarafshan's health conditions deteriorating in prison

Iran: Zarafshan's health conditions deteriorating in prison

Iran Focus-News - Special Wire - Iran security forces arrest protesters outside Evin Prison

Iran Focus-News - Special Wire - Iran security forces arrest protesters outside Evin Prison

Letter to Secretary-General of United Nations

June 8, 2005
To: Kofi Annan, Secretary-General of United Nations
Re.: Hunger strike of political prisoners in Iran


IHRAG (Iranian Human Rights Activist Groups in EU and North America) is a non-profit network formed in the fall of 2001 by the independent Iranian associations based in Europe and North America. IHRAG activities are based on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as well as UN’s Human rights conventions.

On May30, 2005, political prisoners Bina Darab-Zand, Arjang Davoodi, Hojjat Zamani, and Amir Heshmat Saran, have started a hunger strike, to protest the inhumane conditions governing prisons in Iran, as well as the deterioration of their physical conditions caused by prolong imprisonment. One day later, four more political prisoners, Mohammad Lohrasbi, Khaled Hardani, Vali Feiz-Mahdavi, and Omid Abbasgholi-Nejad have joined the hunger strike. Nine more have threatened to join as well, and it is expected that more and more to do so.

Nasser Zarafshan, attorney for families of the victims of political murders, commonly known as serial murders, started his hunger strike yesterday.

Other political prisoners, Reza Amini, Hemet Hassan Azarpour, Abdollah Mohammadi, Mojtaba Samii-Nejad, and Akbar Ganji, had gone on hunger strike in the past three weeks.

Additionally in the realm of widespread, planned and systematic violations of human rights by Islamic Republic of Iran, in the past two months we have witnessed the following violations:

1) 15 execution; 2) 28 convictions to death sentence; 3) Conviction of one woman to stoning; 4) 2 convictions of decapitation; 5) 11 deaths and 6 injuries due to shootings by security forces; 6) Interrogation, arrest, prosecution, imprisonment, forced exile,… of 54 student activists, 72 journalists, and 65 political, cultural, and labor activists; and 7) 654 other arrests.

Your Excellency,

We, Iranian Human Rights Activist Groups in EU and North America, would like to call your attention to the deplorable conditions of these political prisoners, and urge you to use your good offices to exert pressure on the rulers of the Islamic Republic of Iran to free theses prisoners, whose demands for their rights are in complete accordance with all internationally accepted norms and standards of human rights.

Sincerely,
Iranian Human Rights Activist Groups in EU and North America (IHRAG)

E-mail: IHRNENA@gmail.com
Phone: 1 - 514 – 365 9212 (Canada) or 46 -704-124-500 (Sweden)
Address: BOX 5047, 165 10 Hässelby, Sweden

Iran News - "Iran's Ganji resumes hunger strike in jail"

Iran News - "Iran's Ganji resumes hunger strike in jail"

Hundreds of Women Protest Sex Discrimination in Iran - New York Times

Hundreds of Women Protest Sex Discrimination in Iran - New York Times: "TEHRAN, June 12 - Hundreds of women staged an unauthorized demonstration in Tehran today, protesting sex discrimination under Iran's Islamic leadership just days before the June 17 presidential elections.
The protest was the first public display of dissent by women since the 1979 revolution, when the new regime enforced obligatory veiling. 'We are women, we are the children of this land, but we have no rights,' they chanted. More than 250 marched outside Tehran University, and about 200 others demonstrated two blocks away after hundreds of riot police swarmed in and barred them from joining the main protest.
There were reports that the police clubbed several women, though there were no hospital reports of injuries. Demonstrators said they saw some women being detained and dragged away by officers. But the situation appeared to stabilize, and after about an hour of demonstrating, the women disbanded without further incident.
'We will continue such protests because it shows that women are aware of their rights,' said Roohi Afzal, 52, a translator who was at the protest. 'It seems that our presence today really hurts the government, that it has deployed so many forces. Maybe it will react and respond to our demands.' "

Iran: Clerical Leaders Foreclose Free Elections (Human Rights Watch, 12-6-2005)

Iran: Clerical Leaders Foreclose Free Elections (Human Rights Watch, 12-6-2005): " These elections are neither free nor fair. Iranians cannot vote for candidates who represent alternative viewpoints from those of the ruling elite.

Joe Stork, deputy director of Human Rights Watch�s Middle East & North Africa Division"

U.S. Newswire : Releases : "U.S. Helsinki Commission Members Denounce Iran's Human..."

U.S. Newswire : Releases : "U.S. Helsinki Commission Members Denounce Iran's Human...": "WASHINGTON, June 10 /U.S. newswire/ -- The human rights situation in Iran is deteriorating, and the United States and its European allies need to develop a joint strategy to pressure Tehran to improve its record. That was the key point made yesterday in what will be the first in a series of hearings held by the U.S. Helsinki Commission to examine rogue regimes and their impact on the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) region.
'Virtually every fundamental freedom is trampled by the mullahs in Tehran,' said Senator Sam Brownback (R-Kan.), chairman of the U.S. Helsinki Commission. 'In the absence of any meaningful accountability, the Government of Iran's "

IRAN: WOMEN TO STAGE SIT-IN PROTEST

IRAN: WOMEN TO STAGE SIT-IN PROTEST

Naser Zarafshan's illimited Hunger Strike

"For information and action.
Iranian Human Rights Activists Groups in EU and North America (IHRAG)
E-mail : IHRNENA@gmail.com
Phone: 1 - 514 365 9212 (Canada) or 46 -704 124 500 (Sweden)
Address: BOX 5047, 165 10 Hasselby, Sweden


Naser Zarafshan's illimited Hunger Strike


Started on june 7, 2005
His demand is : To have acces to medical care

Human Rights News from Iran
http://ihrgint.blogspot.com"

Iran: Judiciary Tries to Jail Dissident Again (Human Rights Watch, 9-6-2005)

Iran: Judiciary Tries to Jail Dissident Again (Human Rights Watch, 9-6-2005): " The Judiciary's decision to extend Akbar Ganji's medical leave apparently carries little weight. Chief Prosecutor Saeed Mortazavi has shown once again that he is calling the shots in the Judiciary and is willing to go to any lengths to silence his critics.

Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch"

Iranian Dissident Goes Missing After Tehran Warrant - June 9, 2005 - The New York Sun - NY Newspaper

Iranian Dissident Goes Missing After Tehran Warrant - June 9, 2005 - The New York Sun - NY Newspaper

WAN - Press Freedom World Review

WAN - Press Freedom World Review: "Conservative forces in Iran continue to exert measures to stifle the country�s fledgling, yet vocal, independent press, and the pressure appears to have worsened in the past six months. Cyber dissidents and �bloggers� have emerged to fill the void left by the closure of traditional media outlets. Many of them are now aggressively under attack by the authorities. Mojtaba Lotfi is currently serving a prison sentence in the southern city of Qom for articles he posted on the Internet. Yosef Azizi Banitrouf, a prominent reformist journalist and author of over twenty publications, was arrested in April during a press conference hosted by a local human rights organisation.
There are currently 12 journalists and cyber-dissidents in jail in Iran, which remains the Middle East�s biggest prison for journalists. The horrifying revelations of the torture and sexual abuse endured by Canadian photojournalist Zahra Kazemi, who died while in custody in June of last year, have further discredited Iran�s already lamentable press freedom record."

Hunger strike: Political Prisoners Statement

Political Prisoners Statement

We, the political prisoners, are going to start a hunger strike on June 10th.
Our reasons and demands:
In protest of the exhibited, conditioned and undemocratic presidential elections in the Islamic Republic of Iran.
In protest of humanrights violations by the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Freedom of expression and publication of one's opinion.
An unrestricted and unconditioned release of all the political and idiological prisoners.
We invite every freedom-lover, specially the students, to protest against this exhibited elections and show support for the political prisoners hungerstrike, by holding the Persian 3 coloured flag and flowers with the colours of the flag (green, white and red).

And once again we invite every persian to participate in this urban protest by boycotting the elections, by their civil disobedients, by working less and by participating in peaceful protest meetings.

We suggest to make June 17th (=election day) the "National hunger strike" day.
We request all members of independent press and media to support this movement from June 10th until July 9th.

Undersigned,
the political prisoners:
Ahmad Batebi
Hojjat Bakhtiari
Mostafa Joukar
Behrouz Javid Tehrani
Dr. Farzad Hamidi
Amir Heshmat Saran
Heshmatollah Tabarzadi
Omid Abbasgholinezhad
Amir Abbas Fakhravar
Saied Kamali
Fattah Madani
Akbar Mohammadi
Manouchehr Mohammadi
Shahram Hasanjani
Also a group of political prisoners who are in Rajaee Shahr of Karaj prison, who have already started their hunger strike since May 30th:
Bina Darabzand
Arzhang Davoodi
Amir Saran
Mehrdad Lohrasbi
Valiollah Feyzmahdavi
Khaled Hardani

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Jailed Iranian writer 'missing'

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Jailed Iranian writer 'missing'

Ten IFEX members issue joint appeal calling for journalist Akbar Ganji's release

IFEX ::

Iranian Writers Awarded Hellman/Hammett Grants (Human Rights Watch, June 6, 2005)

Iranian Writers Awarded Hellman/Hammett Grants (Human Rights Watch, June 6, 2005)

U.S. Newswire : Releases : "Rare Video Footage of Public Hanging in Iran &..."

U.S. Newswire : Releases : "Rare Video Footage of Public Hanging in Iran &..."

Iran Focus-News - Iran (General) - Iran's Nobel laureate Ebadi says she won't be voting

Iran Focus-News - Iran (General) - Iran's Nobel laureate Ebadi says she won't be voting

A group of Iranian women stage protest in front of presidential office

A group of Iranian women stage protest in front of presidential office

RADIO FREE EUROPE/ RADIO LIBERTY:Temporarily Freed Iranian Journalist Calls For The Release Of All Political Prisoners

Iran's most prominent investigative journalist, Akbar Ganji, has been temporarily released from jail for medical treatment. He had gone on a hunger strike to protest the official refusal to grant him medical leave. Upon his release, Ganji called for the immediate release of all political prisoners. He was jailed in 2001 on several charges, including insulting Iran's leaders. Ganji is best known for his investigations into the killings of intellectuals. He suggested in his articles that several senior Iranian officials -- including current presidential candidate Ali-Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani -- were involved in the killings.

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