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Iranians for Human Rights and Democracy

"We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence of the good people." Martin Luther King,Jr.

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I am another Iranian striving for Human Rights and Democracy. read and sign the petition Please support the IRANIAN WOMENS' ONE MILLION SIGNATURES CAMPAIGNto change the discriminatory laws against women in Iran.

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Final Two Women Activisits Freed, Happy New Year

The final two women activists were freed. Mahboubeh Abbasgholi-zadeh had to pay ~$250,000
and Shadi Sadr had to pay ~$200,000 for bail. The women had to spend 10 days in solidary confinement during their time at Evin Prison.

read here
http://news.gooya.com/politics/archives/2007/03/058235.php

I was hearing how an Iranian stand up comic was jailed for his material twice. I was thinking well, in Iran comidians go to jail, teachers go to jail, writers go to jail, journalists go to jail, politicians go to jail, women go to jail, doctors, laywers, students, engineers,...... all ordinary citizens go to jail just for trying to do their jobs.

The question for the Islamic Republic is , who the hell doesn't go to jail in the country they run? These tyrannts want an entire country to stop and people to only sit around, give them their money and do their bidding.

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Sunday, March 18, 2007

Another translation from Womens Rights Activists Experience in Iran's Evin Jail

I am translating another passage from an account of the Women's Activist's experiences from Evin Jail. 33 Women were arrested on March 4th, 2007, after a few nights in jail 31 were freed. Shadi Sadr and Mahboobeh AbbasGholi-zadeh remain in solitary confinement. They were arrested for a peaceful demonstration for their support for Women's rights.

http://www.elnaz.blogfa.com/

Those that love do not have a fear of death and prison.

I finally talked to the last set of girls that got freed in the middle of the night. I had said that at these times my tears fall easily, that is why I waited until sunday so that I can control my tears a little. But that didn't happen. I had created a ridiculous scene when I was talking to Jelveh with tears. When I spoke with the rest of the girls I felt better and yesterday when I went to see them, we laughed a lot at all the mischief we caused for the jailers and interregators.

I think handling 33 people in Evin prison's 209 division was very difficult for them, since the jailers were completely confused and didn't know what to do with these energetic girls bursting with life. With singing songs and chanting slogans, with complaining and simultaneous beatings on the jail doors.

Imagine all these mischievous girls, after going through the toughest and most detailed body searches, where you even have to take off your undergarments and surrender your shoelaces, how they had smuggled in cigarrettes, matches and pens in the jail! When the jailers saw how some of the gang were smoking in their cells, they were about to have heart attacks and they couldn't understand how they had snuck the items in. The girls had the jail walls bursting with their written slogans on the doors and walls of the jail cells and the bathrooms.

Some ot the kids were explaining how in front of the vulgar and confrontational interrogators, they lifed their blindfolds and looked at their faces. Nothing is worse for some of the interrogators than the prisoners seeing their hideous faces and the interrogators were seething with frustration. In response to the charge of participating in illegal demonstrations, the girls stuck to law 27 of the constitution hard and the interrogators at a loss for a response, would bring up other irrelavant matters.

Some of the girls brought their blindfolds home with them as a souvenir from the 209 division. In those few days they broke the moral of Evin and in my opinion nothing is better than this. A devasted and defeated Evin.

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Thursday, March 15, 2007

Shirin Ebadi issues Complaints in regards to Arrested Women's rights activists

According to Roozonline, Shirin Ebadi issued a complaint in regards to an incident of police brutality towards the women's rights demonstrators as well as two complaints in regards to unauthorized home searches of two individuals home's that did not part-take in the demonstration on last March 4th, 2007.

http://www.roozonline.com/archives/2007/03/003195.php

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Monday, March 12, 2007

Please sign petition demanding the Release of Shadi Sadr and Mahboubeh Abbasgholi-zadeh

please sign

http://herlandmag.info/news/07,03,12,03,24,44/index.php

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Sunday, March 11, 2007

Shadi Sadr and Mahboobeh AbbasGholi-Zadeh will not be freed any time soon


According to http://meydaan.org/news.aspx?nid=256
Shadi Sadr and Mahboobeh Abbasgholi-Zadeh have been placed under an official "temporary detainment". Their files have been sent to the court for review. This probably means that they are awaiting to be charged.

I can't understand how the women demonstrators are being accused of disrupting the peace and order in public when the government dicsiplinary forces are the ones cursing with vulgar language and beating stray individuals in public. The disciplinary forces should be the ones charged with disruptive (and savage) behavior. A police badge is not a blank check for acting like an animal.
FREE SHADI SADR and MAHBOUBEH ABBASGHOLI-ZADEH NOW.

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Saturday, March 10, 2007

Translation of Aroosak Kooki's witness testimony of Iranian Women's Demonstration

The police tell the pedestrians:" These dirty women want to remove their veils. They are all whores, none of them have husbands. They want to propagate corruption and vulgarity" and with this he continues to beat a middle-aged woman.

I am translating an eye witness account of the March 8th Demonstration in Tehran:

http://elnaz.blogfa.com/post-274.aspx

The Mellat Station is Obstructed
Since the early hours of he morning the streets that connect to the Parliament are under the tightest security. The metro stations of Baharestan and Mellat are closed and a number of teachers have been taken into custody the night before.

1:30 pm
I get in front of the Parliament, amidst a ring of remaining teachers from the two thousand educators demonstration that morning. They say that the disciplinary forces broke the leg of one of the women teachers and yet the demonstrators were not willing to leave the northern gate area of the parliament. The treatment of the disciplinary agents to the teachers, which are 90% women, was very insulting and disrespectful. Their seargent warns the teachers in a vulgar tone:" At 2 o'clock a group of feminisists who don't believe in the rights of teachers, but believe in giving all rights to women, want to come here and gather. Go before you get arrested along with them."

On the other hand the seargent warns me and some of the others in our group, that since we are not teachers that we should leave. Our group still had not increased in number yet, we say that we have come to make appointments with parliament members. He says that appointments are given in front of the eastern gate, he also adds that he knows why we have come here! We have no choice, we start moving towards the eastern gate while the number of disciplinary forces increases at the northern gate. They send a large number of agents inside the parliament as well, which I am not sure why.

2:00 pm
Slowly the number of the crowd increased and further up the Baharestan metro station a gathering has assembled since, the route to the northern gate of parliament is completely blocked. A number of the women teachers join us. We get ready to take out our signs when the disciplinary forces attack us.

We aren't a few number by any means, 500 to 700 people. Considering the recent arrests it is a very good turnout. However the issue is that the number of security, information and disciplinary forces is much more.

The plain clothes forces are everywhere. They are either taking pictures or are reporting identifications with walkie-talkies. The disciplianary forces are savagely beating the people as usual. They shove a few people in the street gutters. They arrest a few others and they confiscate cameras.

The forces do not grant permission to the people coming from the metro station to enter the street and they shove the people back into the station. I get my fair share, I am shoved into the station and instructed to get lost. I object saying that i just got out of the metro and am going my own way. He tells me "get lost before I take your purse and smack you on the head with it!"

I see Shahla Entesari in the crowd. She is standing on a platform, tired and broken. Her complexion is darker and with a stiffled voice she is pleading to the disciplinary forces to not be confrontational and to not hit anyone. They forces increase their kickings and beatings with their batons.

I run towards Shahla and yell her name. Someone kicks my back and curses. To reach to Shahla I am willing to take a beating and I continue a route against the crowd's movement. Before I can get to her an agent takes her away and I lose her.

2:45 pm
The disciplinary forces follow the crowd to Baharestan square, which is now more than 1000 people, with batons, kicks and curses. A group take refuge from the violence of the police in a "passage". The "Passage" does not have any routes, the "pasage" refugees are arrested with violence. White vans are waiting by the side of the streets, they fill up with detainess and leave, to where, it is unknown.

The crowd is disperesed. A group above the square, a group underneath the statue and a group below the square. News arrives that there is a group standing in front of the parliament as well. I see Khashayar Dihemi, Babak Ahmadi, Abodllah Momeni, Firhoozeh Mohajer, Minoo Mortazi Langroodi and Fatemeh Govarai. Minoo and Fatemeh had just got released from jail last night, I hug them and kiss them. The police have really beaten them. Minoo Mortazi can't walk right, she constantly calls my name" take the kids, take my sons, take my daughters."

I walk with Firoozeh to see how many people and who has been arrested. We go next to one of the vans that had a few people with the excuse that we want to buy bus tickets. We crane our necks inside the van. We don't recognize any of them. They have brought the women police again with a new yellow-clad force.

They have the intention of creating fear and terror. The confrontations and dispersions continue. They beat and they arrest, the vans fill up and leave. The police tell the pedestrians" These dirty women want to remove their veils. They are all whores, none of them have husbands. They want to propagate corruption and vulgarity" and with this he continues to beat a middle-aged woman.

3:30 pm
Suspicious motorcyclists, suspicious people. We have circled the square so many times we turned into signs ourselves. I want to go back to the Baharestan Metro station, Firoozeh won't let me. I tell her believe me I will go home. She doesn't let me. She forces me to get in a car. The crowd has dispersed, but an atmosphere of restlessness is still in the air. The people are bustling. Something is in the air with the likeness of an event.

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Wednesday, March 07, 2007

Only 3 Women's Demonstrators remain in Evin Prison

All the women except for Shadi Sadr, Gila Bani Yaghoub and Mahboobeh Abbasgholi-Zadeh, have been freed.

Read the following

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Teachers arrested

According to Rooz online news the following were amongst 20 others arrested for participating in a demonstration for a teacher's union. At approximately 11pm Tehran time, they were apprehended and taken to an unknown location:

1. Ali Akbar Baghani
2. Mahmood Beheshti Langroodi
3. Alireza Hashemi
4. Mohammad Davari
5. Ali Poorsoleiman

Rooz online article

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Tuesday, March 06, 2007

Women Activists on Hunger Strike, 8 Activists Freed, Demonstrations in Universities

Students Demonstrating in Tehran University, Photo taken from Gooya News website
http://news.gooya.com/politics/archives/2007/03/057898.php

According to Gooya news, 8 of the Women Activists that were arrested on Sunday were freed.
Their names are as follows: Parastoo Dokouhaki, Sara Laghai, Saghi Laghai, Nilofar Golkar, Parastoo Sarmandi, Nahid Entesari, Farideh Entesari and Sara Imanian.

Meanwhile the remaining Women held in Evin prison have gone on hunger strike. Two apparant reasons for the hunger strike are for the heavy bail money that has been set as well as the women demanding that all of the younger girls be freed.
http://http://1384.g00ya.com/politics/archives/2007/03/057893.php

Meanwhile according to Gooya news, approximatly 250 students have demonstrated in Tehran University, demanding the freedom of Women Activists. Signs with slogans such as " Human rights is Womens' rights" and "Free our Friends" were being held. Of the Women's activists, 6 were students: Sara Laghai, Nilofar Golkar, Zeynab Peyghambarzadeh, Azadeh Farghani, Nooshin Ahmadi Khorasani and Nasrin Afzali.

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Monday, March 05, 2007

Update on Women Activists arrests

Families of the women activists came to the gates of Evin Prison and were asking for the wherabouts of their families. According to this piece by www.meydaan.com, after unsuccessfully trying to get rid of the detainees families, prison officials said the detaines were being held in prison section 209. The Evin prison officials claimed that this division was under the "intelligence service" control and that they did not have any jurisdiction or authority over section 209.

My questions are, how can they be put in specialized prison divisions when they havn't even been formally charged with a crime? How many independant and separate police forces are there in Iran and which one ordered the arrests in the first place?

The full article and photos of the gathering of family members outside of Evin can be seen at the link below:
http://www.meydaan.com/English/news.aspx?nid=205

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Sunday, March 04, 2007

Women Activists Arrested in Iran

According to Gooya news and the Associated Press, women Activists that were standing in solidarity with fellow collegues that were standing trial for organizing an "unauthorized" demonstration in June 2006, were arrested. According to AP the following women were standing trial:

Nushin Ahmadi Khorasani,
Parvin Ardalan,
Shahla Entesari,
Susan Tahmasebi
Fariba Davudi Mohajer

I don't know if the source is correct, but according to Advar news the following women were arrested:

Asieh Amini, Gila Bani-Yaghoub, Mahboobeh Abbas-gholizadeh, Mahboobeh Hosseinzadeh,
Sara Loghmani, Zara Omjediyan, Maryam Hosseinkhah, Jelveh Javaheri, Nilofar Golkar, Parastoo Dokoohaki, Zeynab Peghambarzadeh, Maryam Mirza, Saghar Laghai, Khadejjeh Moghaddam, Saghi Laghai, Nahid Keshavarz, Mahnaz Mohammadi, Nasrin Afzali, Talaat Taghinia, Fakhri Shadfar, Maryam Shadfar, Elnaz Ansari, Fatemeh Gavaheri, Azadeh Farghani, Somayyeh Farid, Minoo Martazi, Sara Imanian, Nahid Jaafari, Soosan Tahmasebi, Parvin Ardalan, Nooshin Ahmadi Khorasani, Shahla Entesari, Shadi Sadr, Marzieh Matazi Landgroodi and Fatemeh Govarai.

Gooya news states that the security police slammed Nahid Jaafari's head into the bus and as a result smashed her teeth.

http://1384.g00ya.com/politics/archives/2007/03/057825.php

To sign a petition demanding their release please go to the following link:
http://www.meydaan.com/English/petition.aspx?cid=52&pid=11

For photos of these brave women's rights activists go to the link below:
http://www.khosoof.com/archive/355.php

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