Yesterday morning, the third trial for Heshmatollah Tabarzadi, secretary-general for the National Democratic Front of Iran and spokesperson for the Unity Council for Democracy and Human Rights in Iran, was held in branch 26 of the Revolutionary Court, headed by judge Pir-Abbasi.

Jahangir Mahmoudi, Mohammad-Ali Dadkhah, and Giti Pourfazel represented Tabarzadi during the trial. Tabarzadi’s brother and child were also present in the court room.

At the start of the trial, his lawyers protested the violation of article 168 of the constitution and called his arrest illegal. This is while two months ago, the judge had accepted the illegality of the arrest.

Article 168 of the constitution states that “political and press offenses will be tried openly and in the presence of a jury, in courts of justice. The manner of the selection of the jury, its powers, and the definition of political offenses, will be determined by law in accordance with the Islamic criteria.”

The charges of “insult to the Leadership”, “acting against state security”, “conspiring to commit crimes”, and “conspiring to destroy public property” were read by the judge to Heshmatollah Tabarzadi.

Shiva Nazar Ahari’s lawyer, Mohammad Sharif, has expressed concern about his client’s upcoming trial considering the heavy charge of moharebeh (enmity with God) in her case. “Shiva Nazar Ahari’s case is being reviewed in the same branch that reviewed Badrolssadat Mofidi’s case. I believe the ruling in Ms. Mofidi’s case to be illegal and therefore am seriously concerned about the court’s potential ruling, considering the fact that my client’s initial charge is moharebeh,” he told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran.

Aug 24, 2010
In the years following the Islamic Revolution in Iran the country went through such tumult that human rights violations gradually became the foremost concern for international organizations. The tortures and executions that took place in the eighties were only the beginning of such violations.  These violations were exacerbated during the presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and reached a climax in the aftermath of public protests to the tenth presidential election. During this suppressive period, hundreds of students, women’s right activists, workers, human rights activists, and politicians were arrested and imprisoned. All of these groups were condemned to heavy sentences and many people had to go through long prison terms and flee the country.

Physical torture is a long-lasting human rights violation inflicted on political prisoners in Iran. The media tends to focus on conditions in the Tehran prisons, so it is common that acts of torture go unnoticed in other provinces where it is more violent and severe, such as is the case with prisons in the Kurdistan province of Iran.

This report describes the inhuman treatment inflicted on social activist Ahmad Bab by interrogators of the Ministry of Intelligence. Ahamd Bab, a resident of Marivan (a city in the province of Kurdistan) spent 195 days in detention and was subjected to the most severe forms of physical and psychological torture. Ahmad Bab is currently released from prison. His case is now open before branch 1 of the Marivan Revolutionary Court with judge Lotfi. So far, one court session was held with the presence of his lawyer Bahram Khalilian. His second court date is scheduled for August 21, 2010.

RAHANA: While Mohammad Sadigh Kaboudvand is in poor physical condition, his family has reported that he may have suffered a brain stroke.

The following is a statement by Kaboudvand’s family, published in Rava News:

Based on the latest information on Kaboudvand’s condition, we believe that he has suffered a brain stroke for the 3^rd time.

Although the Prison Clinic has stated that he lost his consciousness due to fluctuations in his blood pressure, his dizziness, headache, speech impairment, movement problems, and vision impairment are indicative of a brain stroke.

He is in immediate need of medical attention by a neurologist and has only been visited by a General Practioner. He has currently been prescribed 3 medications for his blood pressure.

According to the latest information, Kaboudvand is in critical condition and is suffering from dizziness, headache, sensory disorders, vision and speech impairments, and the danger of another brain stroke.

The whereabouts of prominent Iranian human rights activist and journalist arrested last month are still unclear, RFE/RL’s Radio Farda reports.

Parvin Tajik, the sister of activist Abdolreza Tajik, told Radio Farda on July 7 that her brother was arrested on June 12 after being summoned to Tehran’s Intelligence Ministry Office.

Parvin Tajik said the family has not heard from her brother since then, saying they have not even had a “phone call.”

“When I eventually managed to meet with Tehran’s prosecutor, he strangely enough claimed to be ignorant of my brother’s whereabouts,” Parvin Tajik said.

She added that the prosecutor asked her when and why Abdolreza Tajik was arrested.

“The prosecutor is the only legal authority who can issue arrest warrants,” Parvin Tajik noted. “His ignorance [about the case] shows that my brother’s arrest was against the law and can therefore be considered an abduction.”

She said it also shows that her brother’s life is in danger.

Mohammad Seddigh Kaboudvand, the founder and president of the Kurdistan Human Rights Defense Organization, has been sentenced to ten years imprisonment for his human rights activities, articles and the founding of his non-governmental organization. He is now serving the fourth year of his prison sentence on a final verdict that cannot be appealed. In this fourth year of Kaboudvand’s incarceration, we have spoken with his daughter, Tonia. Speaking to Rooz, Tonia, who is a university student, shares her dissatisfaction with the indifference of human rights activists and defenders toward her father’s situation. She says, “Human rights activists and defenders have been silent about my father’s situation and have over time forgotten about it.”

The interview appears below.

RAHANA- The current threat came after two recent letters that Ayatollah Hossein Kazemeini Boroujerdi had written in Evin were published outside this prison. In these letters, he had criticized country’s current situation and called on “separation of religion and state”.

Reports received by RAHANA indicate no information about the probable location to which this imprisoned cleric may be exiled.

Parvaneh Osanloo: “Because of agents’ assaults my daughter-in-law Suffered Miscarriage.”

According to reports received by “Human Rights and Democracy activists of Iran Roya Samadi, daughter-in-law of Mansour Osanloo, president of the board of directors of the Syndicate of Workers of Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company, was kidnapped and savagely tortured by three agents of Intelligence Ministry.

On Wednesday 2^nd of Tir (June 23, 2010) Ms. Samadi, while going home from work around 5:30PM, was attacked by three men as soon as she got off the metro train in Karaj. The agents grabbed her by hair and while pulling her by her hair were kicking and punching her. All of this in broad day light in front of all other shocked commuters. Ms. Samadi while crying for help kept repeating that she’s Mr. Osanloo’s daughter-in-law. The agents put a tape over her mouth as to silence her pleas, and kidnapped her to an undisclosed location.

RAHANA- On Wednesday June 23rd, 2010 at around 5:30pm Zoya Samadi, Mansour Osanloo’s (Head of the Syndicate of Workers of  Tehran & Suburbs Bus Company) daughter in law was leaving work to go home.  Samadi was brutally accosted by agents from the Ministry of Intelligence at the Tarasht metro station when she stepped out of the metro momentarily in order to allow other passengers to leave the metro.