...Kianoosh Sanjari, one of
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Freedom Concert: Expressing Support for Iranian Dissidents
http://www.sacredheartphotos.com/041508
Friday, April 11, 2008
U.S Department of State: Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2007
http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2007/100595.htm
... On January 11, former political prisoner Kianush Sanjari alleged that he was subjected to "white torture," a form of sensory deprivation, while detained at Evin Prison in late 2006. According to a 2004 HRW report, political prisoners in the country used the term to describe prolonged incommunicado solitary confinement. ...
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Make Some Noise! Students Rock for Iranian Civil Rights
http://www.hamsaweb.org/crime/20.html#3
On Monday night, eight bands rocked to raise awareness of Iranian civil rights issues at the Sacred Heart University Freedom Concert. In Iran, most rock concerts are banned and attending at underground shows can lead to fines and even public flogging. So students in Connecticut decided to use their freedom to put on a show of solidarity with their peers in Iran.
On Monday night, eight bands rocked to raise awareness of Iranian civil rights issues at the Sacred Heart University Freedom Concert. In Iran, most rock concerts are banned and attending at underground shows can lead to fines and even public flogging. So students in Connecticut decided to use their freedom to put on a show of solidarity with their peers in Iran.
Co-sponsored by dozens of campus groups of all backgrounds, including Amnesty International, the concert drew a packed crowd to the Egerton Center. In addition to the musicians, the evening featured two keynote speakers. Kianoosh Sanjari, a 25-year-old Iranian student activist received a particularly warm welcome, as it was his first speaking engagement at a US university. Jailed at age 17 for his activism, Sajari was tortured and put in solitary confinement for 111 days in Iran’s notorious Evin prison. “By bringing together students, faculty, musicians and prominent human rights activists we are
sending a strong message,” said event coordinator Jason Guberman-Pfeffer. “The daily violations of the Iranian people’s most basic freedoms by Iranian regime leaders are illegal - and we will not be accomplices, silent or otherwise, to them,”
Rock on!
+ Iran - Solidarity with Iranian dissidents, especially students
http://www.iranian.ws/iran_news/publish/article_24761.shtml
connecticut post newspaper: SHU students hold freedom concert
http://www.connpost.com/entertainment/ci_8769944
Article Last Updated: 04/01/2008 04:34:45 PM EDT
Students at Fairfield's Sacred Heart University have organized a freedom concert that will bring together musicians, prominent human rights activists and others to express solidarity with Iranian students, minorities, intellectuals and laborers.
Sanjari is one of Iran's most recognized and well-known student activists and bloggers. The now 25 year-old was first imprisoned at the age of 17 for his activism, and has spent substantial time in and out of prison under severe torture, including 111 days in solitary confinement in Iran's notorious Evin prison. A member of the Iranian Democratic Front, he fled Iran in 2007, and with the assistance of Amnesty International and other entities he was successful in receiving political asylum in Europe. Since obtaining asylum, Mr. Sanjari has continued his steadfast activism on behalf
of students, prisoners, and other victims of human rights violations in Iran. The Freedom Concert will feature live musical performances by Honest Abe and The Emancipators, Charlie "CHAZ" Cybulski, Humble Roots, ICE Brothers, Pete Greco & Buck Mulligan, Jeff Leblanc and Joe Beleznay.Tickets are $3 for general admission. To buy tickets, call the Edgerton Center box office at 371-7908 or visit www.edgertoncenter.org.
Students Organize Freedom Concert for Iran at Sacred Heart University
SACRED HEART UNIVERSITY NEWS
Contacts: Funda Alp, 203-396-8241, alpf@sacredheart.edu
John Galayda, 203-371-7751, galaydaj@sacredheart.edu
For Immediate Release
March 7, 2008
STUDENTS ORGANIZE FREEDOM CONCERT FOR IRAN AT SACRED HEART UNIVERSITY
FAIRFIELD, Conn. – Students at Sacred Heart University have organized a Freedom Concert that will bring together musicians, prominent human rights activists and others to express solidarity with Iranian students, minorities, intellectuals and laborers. The concert of words and music will take place on Monday, April 7th, at 8:00 p.m. in the Edgerton Center for the Performing Arts at Sacred Heart University. Tickets are $3 for general admission. To purchase tickets, call the Edgerton Center box office at 203-371-7908 or visit http://www.edgertoncenter.org/.
... Mr. Sanjari is one of Iran's most recognized and well-known student activists and bloggers. The now 25 year-old was first imprisoned at the age of 17 for his activism, and has spent substantial time in and out of prison under severe torture, including 111 days in solitary confinement in Iran's notorious Evin prison. A member of the Iranian Democratic Front, he fled Iran in 2007, and with the assistance of Amnesty International and other entities he was successful in receiving political asylum in Europe. Since obtaining asylum, Mr. Sanjari has continued his steadfast activism on behalf of students, prisoners, and other victims of human rights violations in Iran.
The Freedom Concert will feature live musical performances by Honest Abe and The Emancipators, Charlie “CHAZ” Cybulski, Humble Roots, ICE Brothers, Pete Greco & Buck Mulligan, Jeff Leblanc, and Joe Beleznay.
This event is sponsored by the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center, HAMSA (Hands Across the Mideast Support Alliance), Middle East Studies Program, and SHU’s Center for Catholic Thought, Ethics, and Culture, International/Multicultural Center, Campus Ministry, Departments of Government and Politics, History, and Religious Studies, International Club, Commuter Council, College Democrats, College Republicans, Mock Trial Team, Debate Society, Free Style Club, Amnesty International SHU Chapter, ONE Campaign SHU Chapter, Student Government, Project Nur @ SHU, Students in Free Enterprise, Omega Phi Kappa Multicultural Fraternity, and Kappa Kappa Psi.
# # #
About Sacred Heart UniversitySacred Heart University, the second-largest Catholic university in New England, offers more than 40 undergraduate, graduate and doctoral programs on its main campus in Fairfield, Connecticut, and satellites in Connecticut, Luxembourg and Ireland. Approximately 5,800 students attend the University’s four colleges: Arts & Sciences; Education & Health Professions; University College; and the AACSB-accredited John F. (Jack) Welch College of Business. The Princeton Review includes SHU in its “Best 366 Colleges: 2008,” U.S. News & World Report’s “America’s Best Colleges 2008” ranks SHU among the best master’s universities in the North, and Intel rates it #11 among the nation’s most “unwired” campuses. SHU fields 32 division I athletic teams, and has an award-winning program of community service. http://www.sacredheart.edu/
For additional Sacred Heart University news, please visit http://www.sacredheart.edu/pressroom.cfm
+ The Committee to Protect Bloggers is happy to again co-sponsor the Iran Freedom Concert.
+ Tharwa co-sponsors the Iran Freedom Concert
http://tharwacommunity.typepad.com/index/2008/04/tharwa-co-spons.html
+ IRAN FREEDOM CONCERT
http://www.iranfreedomconcert.com/
Contacts: Funda Alp, 203-396-8241, alpf@sacredheart.edu
John Galayda, 203-371-7751, galaydaj@sacredheart.edu
For Immediate Release
March 7, 2008
STUDENTS ORGANIZE FREEDOM CONCERT FOR IRAN AT SACRED HEART UNIVERSITY
FAIRFIELD, Conn. – Students at Sacred Heart University have organized a Freedom Concert that will bring together musicians, prominent human rights activists and others to express solidarity with Iranian students, minorities, intellectuals and laborers. The concert of words and music will take place on Monday, April 7th, at 8:00 p.m. in the Edgerton Center for the Performing Arts at Sacred Heart University. Tickets are $3 for general admission. To purchase tickets, call the Edgerton Center box office at 203-371-7908 or visit http://www.edgertoncenter.org/.
... Mr. Sanjari is one of Iran's most recognized and well-known student activists and bloggers. The now 25 year-old was first imprisoned at the age of 17 for his activism, and has spent substantial time in and out of prison under severe torture, including 111 days in solitary confinement in Iran's notorious Evin prison. A member of the Iranian Democratic Front, he fled Iran in 2007, and with the assistance of Amnesty International and other entities he was successful in receiving political asylum in Europe. Since obtaining asylum, Mr. Sanjari has continued his steadfast activism on behalf of students, prisoners, and other victims of human rights violations in Iran.
The Freedom Concert will feature live musical performances by Honest Abe and The Emancipators, Charlie “CHAZ” Cybulski, Humble Roots, ICE Brothers, Pete Greco & Buck Mulligan, Jeff Leblanc, and Joe Beleznay.
This event is sponsored by the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center, HAMSA (Hands Across the Mideast Support Alliance), Middle East Studies Program, and SHU’s Center for Catholic Thought, Ethics, and Culture, International/Multicultural Center, Campus Ministry, Departments of Government and Politics, History, and Religious Studies, International Club, Commuter Council, College Democrats, College Republicans, Mock Trial Team, Debate Society, Free Style Club, Amnesty International SHU Chapter, ONE Campaign SHU Chapter, Student Government, Project Nur @ SHU, Students in Free Enterprise, Omega Phi Kappa Multicultural Fraternity, and Kappa Kappa Psi.
# # #
About Sacred Heart UniversitySacred Heart University, the second-largest Catholic university in New England, offers more than 40 undergraduate, graduate and doctoral programs on its main campus in Fairfield, Connecticut, and satellites in Connecticut, Luxembourg and Ireland. Approximately 5,800 students attend the University’s four colleges: Arts & Sciences; Education & Health Professions; University College; and the AACSB-accredited John F. (Jack) Welch College of Business. The Princeton Review includes SHU in its “Best 366 Colleges: 2008,” U.S. News & World Report’s “America’s Best Colleges 2008” ranks SHU among the best master’s universities in the North, and Intel rates it #11 among the nation’s most “unwired” campuses. SHU fields 32 division I athletic teams, and has an award-winning program of community service. http://www.sacredheart.edu/
For additional Sacred Heart University news, please visit http://www.sacredheart.edu/pressroom.cfm
+ The Committee to Protect Bloggers is happy to again co-sponsor the Iran Freedom Concert.
+ Tharwa co-sponsors the Iran Freedom Concert
http://tharwacommunity.typepad.com/index/2008/04/tharwa-co-spons.html
+ IRAN FREEDOM CONCERT
http://www.iranfreedomconcert.com/
Amnesty International: Resistance Continues – Kianoosh Sanjari
http://www.amnesty.no/web.nsf/pages/55EFE9AAABD5738EC12573FA004BDAE4
Iran: Resistance Continues – Kianoosh Sanjari
Kristin Rødland Buick - Amnesty International, Norway
Iran violently suppresses its opposition and critics, but there are those whose struggle is still aflame.
Rain water has accumulated in front of the Parliament in Eidsvolls plass. Kianoosh Sanjari is holding a microphone in his Norwegian gloved hands, while covering himself with an umbrella next to a bench.
Little after his arrival to Norway he managed to gather Iranians with different political tendencies in front of the Parliament. Leaders of these groups do not enjoy a favorable relation with each other. But 2008 began with a wave of executions and widespread arrests of students and this has been a factor to make the stand with each other on a common cause; to express defiance over the increase of suppression in Iran.
Sanjari: The Iranian authorities regard their autocracy as an Island separate from the rest of the International community.
Tehran, a day in 2006
He does not remember how long he had been sitting in this small cell of one to two meters in dimension. It could be weeks, months or perhaps even years.
As he remembers, there was no contact with the out side world in that cell. Neither his family nor his attorney. His prison guards continuously pressured him through lies about his mothers' health or arrest of his family members or even telling him his friends have been confessing against him. Although he did not believe them but the truth is that as time passed, those prison walls, lifted all distance between the truth and what the prison guards were creating.
Sanjari: At these times it is like as if there is continuous battle between the mind and the body. Being in total solitude in a prison cell is the worst torture one could face.
In Iran, "white torture" is used to keep prisoners in total solitude (in solitary confinement). This kind of torture of course leaves no trace of torture but crushes the prisoners will and control. The victim loses his personality and would practically confess to almost anything. This torture is used in prisons, which are more special, such as the notorious Evin 209 section in Tehran, against opposition activists and critic journalists.
Open Voice
Kianoosh Sanjari is 25, but till now he has managed to be a fierce defender of Human Rights. His combat has been in courts, solitary confinements, political protests, Newspapers and foreign media and now in his blog. Recently he has been spokesperson for a group of students believing in secularism.
He is persistently writing about arrest of political activists, inhuman situation of prisons and unjust court sessions in his blog. International Humanitarian organization in defense of Human Rights around the world and Iranians worldwide are following his situation.
Ali Saki a political refugee living in Norway says Kianoosh has been for years a crucial voice of the Iranian regime.
Saki: He is brave and his activities place him under constant danger. I had asked him once to stay at home and not participate in demonstrations in support of his imprisoned friends.
Sanjari has been arrested seven times during the past eight years. The first time of his arrest he was only 17. He spent 9 months in solitary confinement.
Sanjari: They did all they could to break me down. I was interrogated 24 hours around.
Where does all the money go?
The interrogation process changed a lot when rumors appeared of the US officials financing the Democracy movement in Iran. Interrogations took a new air; Sanjari was slapped under blindfolds to make him confess to having connections with US political figures. They asked him "where does the money go to? And who are the benefactors?"
After relations between Iran and the west darkened over the nuclear controversy, Iranian officials declared the Democracy movement to be part of the threat from the West. Movement activists were accused of having direct contact with for example US officials.
A researcher in Theology in Oslo University believes that the notion of the US financing the Democracy Movement has created an atmosphere of mistrust amongst the opposition. At the moment there is an International move to financially proscribe Iran. The embargo only paves way for the black forces.
Mrs. Kari Vogt, believes Iran is like other countries such as Saudi Arabia, and hangs as much, and uses the same kind of violent methods as the others, but is especially being criticized more by the West. She believes that the West should act like Amnesty International and condemn human right violations and stop all embargoes. But in the Democracy movement there are many who believe that putting pressure on the regime is absolutely necessary.
Sanjari: Effective economic sanctions can pressure the Iranian regime to stop its nuclear venture and end arrests of dissidents, torture political prisoners and hangings. When his interrogators discovered AIs' International campaign for his release, they slapped him more.
Dangerous Escape
In March 2007, Kianoosh reached a conclusion that staying in Iran would be very dangerous for him. In January of that year he bailed out, while he was told not to interview foreign press and not to write about his court and torture during his captivity.
This time they have harassed and pressured his mother to force her son stop all activities in defense of Human Rights in Iran. Every arrest had brought a lot of pain for his mother who spent hours endeavoring to see his son.
The court had ordered Sanjari to write a negative article against a dissident cleric named Boroujerdi, or else face consequences. He had refused to accept this "order". A few days later he realized he was being watched and followed by a couple of Intelligence Ministry agents. He hid himself till dark. After saying farewell to his mother he started off towards the western boarder of Iran trying to get to Iraq. While camouflaging himself amongst a group of Kurdish laborers, he managed to pass the boarder into Iraqi territory. There in the new territory he took refuge with a dissident Kurdish group named "koumaleh", in the North of Iraq, not far from Soleimanieh.
Sanjari could not speak Kurdish, and his face would have given away his true identity. For this reason, once again, but this time in a dissident camp of Koumaleh, he was forced to bound himself to a little room. During this time he continues his revelations through his blog. Iranian outside and political activists followed up with his horrendous escape through his blogs.
His where-abouts was gradually discovered by the Iranian regime and conditions became dangerous. He then wrote a letter explaining the situation to Drewery Dyke, Iran desk of Amnesty International in London. Consequently Mr. Dyke writes a letter to the UNHCR explaining the threat of kianoosh's kidnapping or death by the Iranian sent agents. Following this and after several painful months of waiting, Kianoosh receives his political status and is then transferred to Norway on 31 October.
Friends Arrested
January; A juvenile would soon be hanged.
18 January: A student dies mysteriously in detention.
26 January: Students are forced to confess under torture
31 January: 17 people are arrested because of their Bahai faith.
These are news he receives daily in his email from organizations, activists outside Iran, and also the media.
Witnessing daily arrests of activists including his friends, it is very difficult for M. Kianoosh Sanjari, to continue his combat for Democracy from Norway.
Sanjari: But I am happy to see that the movement is alive. Our struggle for Human rights is not bound to one person; it is a popular movement with new recruits each day.
Iran: Resistance Continues – Kianoosh Sanjari
Kristin Rødland Buick - Amnesty International, Norway
Iran violently suppresses its opposition and critics, but there are those whose struggle is still aflame.Rain water has accumulated in front of the Parliament in Eidsvolls plass. Kianoosh Sanjari is holding a microphone in his Norwegian gloved hands, while covering himself with an umbrella next to a bench.
Little after his arrival to Norway he managed to gather Iranians with different political tendencies in front of the Parliament. Leaders of these groups do not enjoy a favorable relation with each other. But 2008 began with a wave of executions and widespread arrests of students and this has been a factor to make the stand with each other on a common cause; to express defiance over the increase of suppression in Iran.
Sanjari: The Iranian authorities regard their autocracy as an Island separate from the rest of the International community.
Tehran, a day in 2006
He does not remember how long he had been sitting in this small cell of one to two meters in dimension. It could be weeks, months or perhaps even years.
As he remembers, there was no contact with the out side world in that cell. Neither his family nor his attorney. His prison guards continuously pressured him through lies about his mothers' health or arrest of his family members or even telling him his friends have been confessing against him. Although he did not believe them but the truth is that as time passed, those prison walls, lifted all distance between the truth and what the prison guards were creating.
Sanjari: At these times it is like as if there is continuous battle between the mind and the body. Being in total solitude in a prison cell is the worst torture one could face.
In Iran, "white torture" is used to keep prisoners in total solitude (in solitary confinement). This kind of torture of course leaves no trace of torture but crushes the prisoners will and control. The victim loses his personality and would practically confess to almost anything. This torture is used in prisons, which are more special, such as the notorious Evin 209 section in Tehran, against opposition activists and critic journalists.
Open Voice
Kianoosh Sanjari is 25, but till now he has managed to be a fierce defender of Human Rights. His combat has been in courts, solitary confinements, political protests, Newspapers and foreign media and now in his blog. Recently he has been spokesperson for a group of students believing in secularism.
He is persistently writing about arrest of political activists, inhuman situation of prisons and unjust court sessions in his blog. International Humanitarian organization in defense of Human Rights around the world and Iranians worldwide are following his situation.
Ali Saki a political refugee living in Norway says Kianoosh has been for years a crucial voice of the Iranian regime.
Saki: He is brave and his activities place him under constant danger. I had asked him once to stay at home and not participate in demonstrations in support of his imprisoned friends.
Sanjari has been arrested seven times during the past eight years. The first time of his arrest he was only 17. He spent 9 months in solitary confinement.
Sanjari: They did all they could to break me down. I was interrogated 24 hours around.
Where does all the money go?
The interrogation process changed a lot when rumors appeared of the US officials financing the Democracy movement in Iran. Interrogations took a new air; Sanjari was slapped under blindfolds to make him confess to having connections with US political figures. They asked him "where does the money go to? And who are the benefactors?"
After relations between Iran and the west darkened over the nuclear controversy, Iranian officials declared the Democracy movement to be part of the threat from the West. Movement activists were accused of having direct contact with for example US officials.
A researcher in Theology in Oslo University believes that the notion of the US financing the Democracy Movement has created an atmosphere of mistrust amongst the opposition. At the moment there is an International move to financially proscribe Iran. The embargo only paves way for the black forces.
Mrs. Kari Vogt, believes Iran is like other countries such as Saudi Arabia, and hangs as much, and uses the same kind of violent methods as the others, but is especially being criticized more by the West. She believes that the West should act like Amnesty International and condemn human right violations and stop all embargoes. But in the Democracy movement there are many who believe that putting pressure on the regime is absolutely necessary.
Sanjari: Effective economic sanctions can pressure the Iranian regime to stop its nuclear venture and end arrests of dissidents, torture political prisoners and hangings. When his interrogators discovered AIs' International campaign for his release, they slapped him more.
Dangerous Escape
In March 2007, Kianoosh reached a conclusion that staying in Iran would be very dangerous for him. In January of that year he bailed out, while he was told not to interview foreign press and not to write about his court and torture during his captivity.
This time they have harassed and pressured his mother to force her son stop all activities in defense of Human Rights in Iran. Every arrest had brought a lot of pain for his mother who spent hours endeavoring to see his son.
The court had ordered Sanjari to write a negative article against a dissident cleric named Boroujerdi, or else face consequences. He had refused to accept this "order". A few days later he realized he was being watched and followed by a couple of Intelligence Ministry agents. He hid himself till dark. After saying farewell to his mother he started off towards the western boarder of Iran trying to get to Iraq. While camouflaging himself amongst a group of Kurdish laborers, he managed to pass the boarder into Iraqi territory. There in the new territory he took refuge with a dissident Kurdish group named "koumaleh", in the North of Iraq, not far from Soleimanieh.
Sanjari could not speak Kurdish, and his face would have given away his true identity. For this reason, once again, but this time in a dissident camp of Koumaleh, he was forced to bound himself to a little room. During this time he continues his revelations through his blog. Iranian outside and political activists followed up with his horrendous escape through his blogs.
His where-abouts was gradually discovered by the Iranian regime and conditions became dangerous. He then wrote a letter explaining the situation to Drewery Dyke, Iran desk of Amnesty International in London. Consequently Mr. Dyke writes a letter to the UNHCR explaining the threat of kianoosh's kidnapping or death by the Iranian sent agents. Following this and after several painful months of waiting, Kianoosh receives his political status and is then transferred to Norway on 31 October.
Friends Arrested
January; A juvenile would soon be hanged.
18 January: A student dies mysteriously in detention.
26 January: Students are forced to confess under torture
31 January: 17 people are arrested because of their Bahai faith.
These are news he receives daily in his email from organizations, activists outside Iran, and also the media.
Witnessing daily arrests of activists including his friends, it is very difficult for M. Kianoosh Sanjari, to continue his combat for Democracy from Norway.
Sanjari: But I am happy to see that the movement is alive. Our struggle for Human rights is not bound to one person; it is a popular movement with new recruits each day.
Norway's Prominent Publication Interviews Kianoosh Sanjari
http://www.savedelara.com/Kianoosh+Sanjari+Interview1.html
Norway's most important newspaper interviews Kianoosh Sanjari, a human rights activist and former political prisoner from Iran:
Kianoosh Sanjari, an Iranian student activist, weblog writer and human rights activist since 1999, was arrested 7 times since he was 17 years old, was placed in solitary confinement, and was repeatedly tortured in prison.
Although Kianoosh is currently living abroad, he continues his steadfast activism with even greater determination and vigor.
"How wonderful to be able to discuss human rights issues, without the fear of being arrested afterwards!" Kianoosh made this remark in his speech at the University of Oslo.
http://www.vg.no/nyheter/utenriks/artikkel.php?artid=515268
Norway's most important newspaper interviews Kianoosh Sanjari, a human rights activist and former political prisoner from Iran:
Kianoosh Sanjari, an Iranian student activist, weblog writer and human rights activist since 1999, was arrested 7 times since he was 17 years old, was placed in solitary confinement, and was repeatedly tortured in prison.
Although Kianoosh is currently living abroad, he continues his steadfast activism with even greater determination and vigor.
"How wonderful to be able to discuss human rights issues, without the fear of being arrested afterwards!" Kianoosh made this remark in his speech at the University of Oslo.
http://www.vg.no/nyheter/utenriks/artikkel.php?artid=515268
Speech at Oslo University, covering the suppression of the Student's movement
http://www.studentersamfundet.no/vis.php?ID=2558
In Norwegian:
Foredrag: Onsdagsdebatten: Menneskerettighetsbrudd i Iran
Wed 06. Feb 2008
Klokken 19:00, Betong
Burde dine grunnleggende rettigheter som menneske avhenge av landet du kommer fra? Selv om svaret er et rungende NEI, skjer det groteske brudd på disse hver dag. En av de mest prominente eksemplene er Iran.
Studenten og menneskerettighetsaktivisten Kianoosh Sanjari(25) har gjentatte ganger blir fengslet og torturert i sitt hjemland Iran, uten noen formell siktelse. Han satt nylig i isolat i 75 dager.
In Norwegian:
Foredrag: Onsdagsdebatten: Menneskerettighetsbrudd i Iran
Wed 06. Feb 2008
Klokken 19:00, Betong
Burde dine grunnleggende rettigheter som menneske avhenge av landet du kommer fra? Selv om svaret er et rungende NEI, skjer det groteske brudd på disse hver dag. En av de mest prominente eksemplene er Iran.
Studenten og menneskerettighetsaktivisten Kianoosh Sanjari(25) har gjentatte ganger blir fengslet og torturert i sitt hjemland Iran, uten noen formell siktelse. Han satt nylig i isolat i 75 dager.
Norges utenrikskomitè, ledet av Olav Akselsen, dro sommeren -07 til Iran og la fram et opprop mot steining.
Tre dager etter deres hjemkomst ble de seneste tiltalte steinet.
Irans gjentatte brudd på menneskerettighetene går nærmest ubemerket hen, mens vi sitter og trekker på skuldrene og rister på hodet i avsky.
Foredrag ved Kianoosh Sanjari og Amnesty-prisvinneren Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam.
University of Oslo's Magazin interviews Kianoosh Sanjari
In Norwegian:
http://wo.uio.no/as/WebObjects/avis.woa/wa/visArtikkel?id=42705&del=uniforum
– Iran undertrykkjer akademikarar
– Både studentar og tilsette ved Universitetet i Oslo må visa solidaritet med fengsla og forfylgde akademikarar i Iran ved å skipa til seminar som tar opp situasjonen deira. Det seier den iranske studenten Kianosh Sanjari, som nyleg kom til Noreg som flyktning.
Av Martin Toft
Publiseringsdato: 11.02.2008 16:29
Etter at han kom til Noreg 1. november i fjor har Kianosh Sanjari brukt ein stor del av tida på å fortelja om den politiske situasjonen i Iran, og spesielt om trakasseringa og forfylginga av studentane og universitetslærarane i heimlandet sitt.
Sjølv har han både vore studentleiar og ein ivrig bloggar. Saman med Amnesty International og UiO-forskaren Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam har han også skipa til ein protest utanfor Stortinget mot alle avrettingane i Iran.
Då me treffer han på Chateau Neuf, skal han delta som hovudgjest i onsdagsdebatten. Temaet er auken i avrettingane i Iran og den utvida bruken av makabre avrettingsmetodar. Den nesten to meter høge iranaren er mest opptatt av å snakka om den vanskelege situasjonen for studentane og akademikarane i Iran.
– Torturerer studentar
– I dag las eg om studentar som blir utsette for tortur i varetektsområde 209 i det berykta Evin-fengselet i Teheran. Dei er blant dei 30 studentane som blei arresterte i november i fjor, fordi dei ville organisera eit fredeleg studentarrangement, seier han.
¨ Men Sanjari er viss på at det iranske regimet vil bruka den faste påstanden mot dei som dei arresterer og fengslar.
– Regimet vil løgnaktig skulda dei for å ha kontakt med iranske opposisjonsgrupper i eksil. Det brukar dei som grunn til å slå ned på studentaktivitetar. Den eigentlege grunnen til at dei blir tatt av politiet, er at dei har kritisert styresmaktene i Iran, er han heilt sikker på.
Disiplinærdomstolar
Sidan august 2007 har minst 60 studentar mista studieretten sin ved ulike universitet i Iran.
– Dei er blitt dømde av disiplinærdomstolar ved universiteta, som kan gi dei åtvaringar eller stengja dei mellombels ute frå universitetet i to eller fleire semester. I dag høyrde eg også om studentar som var blitt slått og sparka av politiet, for å få ut tilståingar frå dei.
- Dei blir ofte melde til politiet av student-Basijis, som er ei gruppe med studentar som er nært knytte til etterretningstenesta. Studenten Said Habibi har ikkje familien klart å få kontakt med, og dei veit sjølvsagt ikkje kvar han er, fortel Sanjari. Protestar Det er likevel ikkje berre på universitetsområda, men også i studentbyane studentane protesterer.
– Over 1500 studentar samla seg i ein protest mot styresmaktene for nokre veker sidan. Det førte til samanstøytar mellom studentane og tryggingsstyrkane. Me veit ikkje om nokon blei arrestert, men éin student er framleis sporlaust borte. Dette skjer for å setja studentar under press, før dei brukar tortur for å få dei til å tilstå framfor fjernsynskamera. Det har også skjedd tidlegare, men alle veit at dei tilstår berre fordi dei er blitt torturerte, fortel han.
– Kasta ut 40 lærarar Heller ikkje professorane og universitetslærarane slepp unna undertrykkinga til regimet til president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad og Vaktarrådet.
– I fjor var presidenten på Universitetet i Teheran og oppfordra universitetsleiinga til å kasta ut liberale universitetslærarar og studentar. Like etter blei 40 universitetslærarar over natta kasta ut av universitetet. Hossein Bashireh er professor i statsvitskap, og han blei kasta ut av universitetet på grunn av meiningane sine, fortel Sanjari. Han synest likevel ikkje at Universitetet i Oslo skal seia opp samarbeidsavtalen med Universitetet i Teheran.
– Universitetet bør halda fram med kontakten. Men det bør vera klar over at universitetsleiinga er handplukka av regimet og gir feil informasjon. Det beste norske akademikarar kan gjera, er å ha kontakt med forfylgde universitetslærarar og studentar, slik at dei ikkje føler at dei er gløymde. Dessutan kan dei be norske styresmakter om å pressa det iranske regimet til å betra situasjonen for menneskerettane, slår han fast. Den 25 år gamle studenten synest ikkje det er rart at han er blitt ein aktivist mot regimet i Iran.
– Viss du hadde blitt arrestert for å ha ytra kritikk mot det politiske systemet i eit studenttidsskrift og bede om å slutta med det, så ville du heilt sikkert ha gjort det same. Sju politifolk knuste døra der eg budde, før dei arresterte meg og sende meg til eit fengsel der eg blei plassert på ei einecelle i 111 dagar. I den tida blei eg også torturert under avhøyr, fortel han. Flykta til Nord-Irak I 2006 klarte han å koma seg over fjella i iransk Kurdistan, til den kurdiske enklaven Nord-Irak. Der blei han arrestert av politiet, før han blei godtatt som kvoteflyktning. Noreg var det første landet som sa seg villig til å ta imot han. No brukar han ein god del av tida si på å fortelja nordmenn om den politiske situasjonen i Iran. Likevel har han eit håp om at han kan halda fram med studia i Noreg.
– Då skal eg studera menneskerettar, seier han til Uniforum.
http://wo.uio.no/as/WebObjects/avis.woa/wa/visArtikkel?id=42705&del=uniforum
– Iran undertrykkjer akademikarar
– Både studentar og tilsette ved Universitetet i Oslo må visa solidaritet med fengsla og forfylgde akademikarar i Iran ved å skipa til seminar som tar opp situasjonen deira. Det seier den iranske studenten Kianosh Sanjari, som nyleg kom til Noreg som flyktning.
Av Martin Toft
Publiseringsdato: 11.02.2008 16:29
Etter at han kom til Noreg 1. november i fjor har Kianosh Sanjari brukt ein stor del av tida på å fortelja om den politiske situasjonen i Iran, og spesielt om trakasseringa og forfylginga av studentane og universitetslærarane i heimlandet sitt.
Sjølv har han både vore studentleiar og ein ivrig bloggar. Saman med Amnesty International og UiO-forskaren Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam har han også skipa til ein protest utanfor Stortinget mot alle avrettingane i Iran.
Då me treffer han på Chateau Neuf, skal han delta som hovudgjest i onsdagsdebatten. Temaet er auken i avrettingane i Iran og den utvida bruken av makabre avrettingsmetodar. Den nesten to meter høge iranaren er mest opptatt av å snakka om den vanskelege situasjonen for studentane og akademikarane i Iran.
– Torturerer studentar
– I dag las eg om studentar som blir utsette for tortur i varetektsområde 209 i det berykta Evin-fengselet i Teheran. Dei er blant dei 30 studentane som blei arresterte i november i fjor, fordi dei ville organisera eit fredeleg studentarrangement, seier han.
¨ Men Sanjari er viss på at det iranske regimet vil bruka den faste påstanden mot dei som dei arresterer og fengslar.
– Regimet vil løgnaktig skulda dei for å ha kontakt med iranske opposisjonsgrupper i eksil. Det brukar dei som grunn til å slå ned på studentaktivitetar. Den eigentlege grunnen til at dei blir tatt av politiet, er at dei har kritisert styresmaktene i Iran, er han heilt sikker på.
Disiplinærdomstolar
Sidan august 2007 har minst 60 studentar mista studieretten sin ved ulike universitet i Iran.
– Dei er blitt dømde av disiplinærdomstolar ved universiteta, som kan gi dei åtvaringar eller stengja dei mellombels ute frå universitetet i to eller fleire semester. I dag høyrde eg også om studentar som var blitt slått og sparka av politiet, for å få ut tilståingar frå dei.
- Dei blir ofte melde til politiet av student-Basijis, som er ei gruppe med studentar som er nært knytte til etterretningstenesta. Studenten Said Habibi har ikkje familien klart å få kontakt med, og dei veit sjølvsagt ikkje kvar han er, fortel Sanjari. Protestar Det er likevel ikkje berre på universitetsområda, men også i studentbyane studentane protesterer.
– Over 1500 studentar samla seg i ein protest mot styresmaktene for nokre veker sidan. Det førte til samanstøytar mellom studentane og tryggingsstyrkane. Me veit ikkje om nokon blei arrestert, men éin student er framleis sporlaust borte. Dette skjer for å setja studentar under press, før dei brukar tortur for å få dei til å tilstå framfor fjernsynskamera. Det har også skjedd tidlegare, men alle veit at dei tilstår berre fordi dei er blitt torturerte, fortel han.
– Kasta ut 40 lærarar Heller ikkje professorane og universitetslærarane slepp unna undertrykkinga til regimet til president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad og Vaktarrådet.
– I fjor var presidenten på Universitetet i Teheran og oppfordra universitetsleiinga til å kasta ut liberale universitetslærarar og studentar. Like etter blei 40 universitetslærarar over natta kasta ut av universitetet. Hossein Bashireh er professor i statsvitskap, og han blei kasta ut av universitetet på grunn av meiningane sine, fortel Sanjari. Han synest likevel ikkje at Universitetet i Oslo skal seia opp samarbeidsavtalen med Universitetet i Teheran.
– Universitetet bør halda fram med kontakten. Men det bør vera klar over at universitetsleiinga er handplukka av regimet og gir feil informasjon. Det beste norske akademikarar kan gjera, er å ha kontakt med forfylgde universitetslærarar og studentar, slik at dei ikkje føler at dei er gløymde. Dessutan kan dei be norske styresmakter om å pressa det iranske regimet til å betra situasjonen for menneskerettane, slår han fast. Den 25 år gamle studenten synest ikkje det er rart at han er blitt ein aktivist mot regimet i Iran.
– Viss du hadde blitt arrestert for å ha ytra kritikk mot det politiske systemet i eit studenttidsskrift og bede om å slutta med det, så ville du heilt sikkert ha gjort det same. Sju politifolk knuste døra der eg budde, før dei arresterte meg og sende meg til eit fengsel der eg blei plassert på ei einecelle i 111 dagar. I den tida blei eg også torturert under avhøyr, fortel han. Flykta til Nord-Irak I 2006 klarte han å koma seg over fjella i iransk Kurdistan, til den kurdiske enklaven Nord-Irak. Der blei han arrestert av politiet, før han blei godtatt som kvoteflyktning. Noreg var det første landet som sa seg villig til å ta imot han. No brukar han ein god del av tida si på å fortelja nordmenn om den politiske situasjonen i Iran. Likevel har han eit håp om at han kan halda fram med studia i Noreg.
– Då skal eg studera menneskerettar, seier han til Uniforum.
Kianoosh Sanjari in cooperation with Amnesty International will protest against the recent arrest, torture and death sentences of students in Iran
"On January 12th 2008 at 12:00 pm a demonstration will take place in front of the Norwegian parliament in Oslo. Kianoosh Sanjariin cooperation with Amnesty International will protest against the recent arrest, torture and death sentences of students in Iran."
http://amnesty.no/web.nsf/pages/4EC9685E398BFFDBC12573CC003636FA
Amnesty International in Norway:
- In Norwegian
10.01.2008
Markering: Stans henrettelsene i Iran!
Lørdag samles eksiliranere og menneskerettighetsaktivister foran Stortinget i Oslo kl 12.00 i protest mot det stadig økende antall henrettelser og arrestasjoner i Iran. - Det er viktig at det iranske folk ikke kjemper alene, sier den tidligere fengslede studentaktivisten, Kianosh Sanjari.
Det iranske regimet strammer grepet ytterligere i 2008. 19 mennesker har blitt henrettet i de første 9 dagene av året. Folket holdes nede, opposisjonen kues med brutale midler. Aktivister trakasseres, arresteres og mange tortureres i fengsel. Flere titals studenter har blitt arrestert i de siste måndene ved ulike universiteter i Iran.
Bak markeringen lørdag står 25 år gamle Kianosh Sanjari som nylig har ankommet Norge som kvoteflyktning med hjelp fra blant annet Amnesty. I Iran figurerte han som talsmann for en sekulær gruppe studentaktivister, men måtte flykte etter stadige arrestasjoner og flere lengre fengselsopphold.
Nå er han talsmann for en forening for politiske fanger og vil bruke friheten i Norge til å beskytte de som fortsatt kjemper i Iran.- Jeg vil bruke alle mine krefter. Det er viktig at vi fortsetter kampen. Protestene må ikke stilne, det er det, det iranske regime vil. Vi godtar ikke at mennesker blir truet og utsatt for grusomme overgrep. Det iranske folk fortjener bedre enn dette, sier Sanjari som har samlet ulike, ofte motstående grupperinger innen det iranske eksilmiljøet i Norge til en felles markering.
Under markeringen vil det blant annet Jila Hassanpour, søsteren til den fengslede journalisten Adnan Hassanpour holde appell, sammen med Kianosh Sanjari, vinner av Amnestys menneskerettighetspris for 2007, Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam og en representant frra Amnesty. Amnesty oppfordrer fremmøtte til å signere en appell til myndighetene i Iran om å stanse alle henrettelser og respektere menneskerettighetene.
Tid: Lørdag 12. januar kl 12-14.00Sted: Eidsvoll Plass, foran Stortinget i OsloArrangør:Kianosh Sanjari og Amnesty International Norge
http://amnesty.no/web.nsf/pages/4EC9685E398BFFDBC12573CC003636FA
Amnesty International in Norway:
- In Norwegian
10.01.2008
Markering: Stans henrettelsene i Iran!
Lørdag samles eksiliranere og menneskerettighetsaktivister foran Stortinget i Oslo kl 12.00 i protest mot det stadig økende antall henrettelser og arrestasjoner i Iran. - Det er viktig at det iranske folk ikke kjemper alene, sier den tidligere fengslede studentaktivisten, Kianosh Sanjari.
Det iranske regimet strammer grepet ytterligere i 2008. 19 mennesker har blitt henrettet i de første 9 dagene av året. Folket holdes nede, opposisjonen kues med brutale midler. Aktivister trakasseres, arresteres og mange tortureres i fengsel. Flere titals studenter har blitt arrestert i de siste måndene ved ulike universiteter i Iran.
Bak markeringen lørdag står 25 år gamle Kianosh Sanjari som nylig har ankommet Norge som kvoteflyktning med hjelp fra blant annet Amnesty. I Iran figurerte han som talsmann for en sekulær gruppe studentaktivister, men måtte flykte etter stadige arrestasjoner og flere lengre fengselsopphold.
Nå er han talsmann for en forening for politiske fanger og vil bruke friheten i Norge til å beskytte de som fortsatt kjemper i Iran.- Jeg vil bruke alle mine krefter. Det er viktig at vi fortsetter kampen. Protestene må ikke stilne, det er det, det iranske regime vil. Vi godtar ikke at mennesker blir truet og utsatt for grusomme overgrep. Det iranske folk fortjener bedre enn dette, sier Sanjari som har samlet ulike, ofte motstående grupperinger innen det iranske eksilmiljøet i Norge til en felles markering.
Under markeringen vil det blant annet Jila Hassanpour, søsteren til den fengslede journalisten Adnan Hassanpour holde appell, sammen med Kianosh Sanjari, vinner av Amnestys menneskerettighetspris for 2007, Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam og en representant frra Amnesty. Amnesty oppfordrer fremmøtte til å signere en appell til myndighetene i Iran om å stanse alle henrettelser og respektere menneskerettighetene.
Tid: Lørdag 12. januar kl 12-14.00Sted: Eidsvoll Plass, foran Stortinget i OsloArrangør:Kianosh Sanjari og Amnesty International Norge
Kianoosh Sanjari in Oslo: Stop the Hangings in Iran!
http://www.amnesty.no/web.nsf/pages/CC06C073B7BBFEF8C12573D30040D421
Stop the Hangings in Iran!
On January 12, 2008, human right activists demonstrated against the rising number of hangings in Iran. The Iranian regime has escalated hangings in 2008 and the demonstration was to condemn human right violations in Iran. 19 people have been hanged in the first 9 days of the new year. Dissidents are suppressed violently. Political activists are harassed and most are arrested for ambiguous reasons and are tortured in prisons. Tens of student activists have been arrested in the recent government crack-down.
25 year old Iranian activist, Kianoosh Sanjari, who was recently granted political asylum with the help of Amnesty International, spearheaded the recent protest in Oslo, Norway.
Kianoosh, who served as an active spokesperson and representative of a secular student group in Iran, was forced to escape the country due to repeated arrests, lengthy prison terms, and continued threats.
In his speech before the protesters on Saturday, Kianoosh expressed deep concern about the escalating and grave violations of human rights in Iran. Calling for an end to such violations, Kianoosh appealed for active participation by all concerned entities. "It is so important that the Iranian people are not left alone in this struggle!" he told the crowd.
Ms. Bente Erischsen, Amnesty International representative in the gathering, said that Iran is on top of the list of the worst violators of human rights in the world. Erischen went on to emphasize that Amnesty International has condemned the use of torture as a method to obtain confessions and damage government opponents. She emphasized that we should continue the struggle against the Iranian regime.
At first glance, it might seem that it is useless to try, but this is a mistake. It is imperative that we continue our human right activities in this context. In fact, this is what the Iranian regime is trying to do: To discourage actions on behalf of human rights, they are pretending that any effort to improve human rights conditions would be a waste. However, if this happens, it will serve as a significant advantage for a regime that claims that it has won already.
Approximately 50 Iranians participated in the protest, despite inclement weather conditions. The human right organization of Norway thanked the protestors and organizers for their efforts.
Stop the Hangings in Iran!
On January 12, 2008, human right activists demonstrated against the rising number of hangings in Iran. The Iranian regime has escalated hangings in 2008 and the demonstration was to condemn human right violations in Iran. 19 people have been hanged in the first 9 days of the new year. Dissidents are suppressed violently. Political activists are harassed and most are arrested for ambiguous reasons and are tortured in prisons. Tens of student activists have been arrested in the recent government crack-down.
25 year old Iranian activist, Kianoosh Sanjari, who was recently granted political asylum with the help of Amnesty International, spearheaded the recent protest in Oslo, Norway.
Kianoosh, who served as an active spokesperson and representative of a secular student group in Iran, was forced to escape the country due to repeated arrests, lengthy prison terms, and continued threats.
In his speech before the protesters on Saturday, Kianoosh expressed deep concern about the escalating and grave violations of human rights in Iran. Calling for an end to such violations, Kianoosh appealed for active participation by all concerned entities. "It is so important that the Iranian people are not left alone in this struggle!" he told the crowd.
Ms. Bente Erischsen, Amnesty International representative in the gathering, said that Iran is on top of the list of the worst violators of human rights in the world. Erischen went on to emphasize that Amnesty International has condemned the use of torture as a method to obtain confessions and damage government opponents. She emphasized that we should continue the struggle against the Iranian regime.
At first glance, it might seem that it is useless to try, but this is a mistake. It is imperative that we continue our human right activities in this context. In fact, this is what the Iranian regime is trying to do: To discourage actions on behalf of human rights, they are pretending that any effort to improve human rights conditions would be a waste. However, if this happens, it will serve as a significant advantage for a regime that claims that it has won already.
Approximately 50 Iranians participated in the protest, despite inclement weather conditions. The human right organization of Norway thanked the protestors and organizers for their efforts.
Kianoosh Sanjari Continues His Battle On Behalf of Iranian Students
On Monday, January 14, 2008, Iranians demonstrated in front of the Norwegian parliament in Oslo to protest the Iranian regime's inhumane treatment of student dissidents. The demonstration was coordinated by Kianoosh Sanjari and Amnesty International. They protested against the torture of Iranian students who have been imprisoned and are awaiting their death sentences for voicing their objections to systematic oppression and violation of their most basic human and civil rights. During this demonstration there were several speeches from Kianoosh Sanjari, a leading human and student rights activist, the representative of Amnesty International, Mahmood Amir Moghaddam (human rights prize winner in Norway) and Jila Hassanpour (Adnan Hassanpour's sister, a journalist who currently is imprisoned and awaits his death sentence in Iran).
Click HERE to see more photos of Kianoosh Sanjari and Amnesty International demonstration in Oslo, Norway.
Click HERE to see more photos of Kianoosh Sanjari and Amnesty International demonstration in Oslo, Norway.
Catching Up with Imprisoned Iranian Bloggers
http://committeetoprotectbloggers.org/2007/12/08/catching-up-with-imprisoned-iranian-bloggers/
By Curt on Dec 8, 2007 in Omid Sheikhan, Shurideh, Najmeh Oumidparvar, Mohamad Reza Nasab Abdolahi, Kianoush Sanjari, Aryo, Iran, Arash Sigarchi, Mojtaba Saminejad, Ahmad Seraji, Imprisoned bloggers
Hamid Tehrani was good enough to provide us with a status report on a number of Iranian bloggers who had been sentenced to time in prison.
Mojtaba Saminejad. Mojtaba was one of the people featured on CPB’s Free Mojtaba and Arash Day, the fifth leading meme in the blogosphere in 2005. He was arrested in June of 2004, after detailing the arrest of other Iranian bloggers on his blog. He had originally been freed on bail but the authorities doubled the bail and he was forced to return to prison. In June of 2005, he was sentenced to almost three years in prison. At one point he was allowed out, in handcuffs, to take his university examinations. He was released in September of 2006. He blogs again, at Ghomaar, on political and social issues and works for an Iranian publishing house.
Arash Sigarchi. Arash was the other focus of the CPB’s Free Mojtaba and Arash Day. Arash was sentenced to 14 years in prison for…well, who knows? It’s Iran. His blog, meeting with foreign reporters, any number of other real and fictional offenses. His sentenced was subsequently reduced to three years. Arash was released from prison after being diagnosed with cancer of the tongue. Mercifully, he has recovered his health. However, with a renewed health is a renewed possibility of being imprisoned again. However, while in jail, Arash lost his brother.
Ahmad Seraji (Aryo). This blogger slipped over the border to Turkey. According to a Persian human rights blog, he was beaten by Turkish police, who tried to have him deported. He subsequently escaped from Turkey with his wife.
Kianoosh Sanjari. This blogger also fled charges but escaped to Iraqi Kurdistan.
Among others we are researching are Omid Sheikhan (Shurideh), Najmeh Oumidparvar & Mohamad Reza Nasab Abdolahi. If you know anything on the status of these bloggers, or of any others that are in, or have been released from, prison, please let us know.
Update: We received an email from Kianoosh.
I was kept in solitary confinement, by the Intelligence ministry for 2 months in the 209 section of Evin prison, and had experienced enormous physical and psychological pressure.
I was discharged from prison on bail and escaped Iran.
I spent sometime in the Iraqi Kurdistan and then managed to get asylum in Norway through Amnesty International.
According to statistics released by Reporters without boarders, 2 journalists and 2 bloggers are in Iranian prisons, including Jelwe Javaheri and Maryam Hossenkhah.
A number of students who have been arrested during the past week have also been bloggers.
Update: We received information regarding Omid Sheikhan, aka Shurideh. He was given 124 lashes, which he survived, and, after four months, representatives of Shirin Ebadi’s Nobel-prize winning human rights law firm in Tehran were able to get him released. He is out and doing well.
Update: Persian Impediment
“I Was Forced into Silence!”
http://www.gozaar.org/template1.php?id=449
Open Letter by Kiyanoosh Sanjari
January 15, 2007It took only 20 minutes for me to understand that, from this day forward, I am prohibited from writing anything against the government in my web-blog or conducting interviews with radio and television stations on subjects related to politics. The government informed me, in an assertive and unfaltering tone, that I no longer have these rights.
They told me I should keep silent like Mr. X and Mrs. Y who have been released from prison and have since “zipped their mouths.” They told me the other alternative was for me to go back to prison where I was held until a few days ago.
But blogging, along with my endeavors to promote human rights, is the only outlet through which I can breathe. Without this outlet I will suffocate. I have the right to speak, write, and criticize. I have written and spoken about the truth.
I understand that I am not permitted to speak about subjects that interest me, I am not supposed to see the whole truth, and I am not supposed to write the whole truth. Once again, the government’s tone was assertive and unfaltering.
I understand that if I behave otherwise, “[You’ll] have to pay dearly, isn’t that so?” I understand clearly.
Despairing sobs have choked me and my eyes are wet with tears. My sobs have penetrated into my veins and oppressed my heart. I am full of pain and sadness, a profound and tormenting sadness, a horrible and unyielding sadness. From yesterday afternoon until now the shadow of a heavy sadness has enveloped my life. I am sick with sadness. Uttering the phrase “I can no longer do it” over and over has acutely unnerved me.
I cannot write again because I have nothing else to write and speak about – except the truth. What else is there in life to fascinate me?
I am prohibited from continuing my previous activities. I no longer have the right to write or speak about the problems of political prisoners and my former fellow prisoners. I no longer have the right to mention that Mehrdad Lahrasbi has been in jail for seven years and treated with indifference, although he never committed any crime. I no longer have the right to say that he has become ill in prison and needs to be released, even temporarily. He has no money and no one to bail him out.
I no longer have the right to recount the incidents that have happened to me or discuss how the authorities have treated me.
I no longer have permission write in my web-blog or tell the media what 45 days of solitary confinement means.
Solitary confinement means nothing but being buried alive. I have been stripped of the right to even say this, stripped of all imaginable rights.
If I write again and if I speak again, the prison walls will once again surround me. This was the warning the government wanted me to understand.
I have read somewhere that “endless joy will only come with endless courage.” I am weighing this to see if I have the courage to gain such joy. What about my mother? Her illness? Her loneliness?
Imprisonment has been a harrowing experience in my life. Since the beginning of my youth, when I was still a student, I have received hard slaps, suffered, and cried in a corner of numerous prison cells. The year 2000. The year 2001. The year 2002. The year 2005. And this year. Altogether, there have been nine months of solitary confinement and one year of regular prison. Detention Center No. 59 of the Revolutionary Guard. Ward 2. Ward 240. Tohid Prison. Detention Center No. 209. And others. The charges? Membership in the illegal group “Democratic Front,” acting as the spokesman of the illegal group “United Student Front,” taking part in an illegal political gathering, writing, speaking, and telling the truth. These are the crimes of which I have been accused. But if I try to count these crimes, interpret their meaning like philosophers, I will say I have been searching for “endless joy,” a joy that is hidden in the cocoon of truth, freedom, emancipation, and eventually happiness; an endless happiness that we all long for, a happiness that can be tasted, a warm and kind embrace, a trust.
I tried to erase my “indifference.” I made a moral choice. I thought I could distance myself from a futile life. Now I have to make another choice. The next seven or eight years of my life depend on this choice. “At least eight years of prison,” said the government, their tone assertive and unfaltering.
A sincere confession: I do not wish to return to prison. At this moment so many insurmountable difficulties exist in my life, which have robbed me of the power to make a truly free choice. But I should be even more sincere: it is true that all these difficulties – like my mother’s illness, loneliness, and the numerous problems she faces – have paralyzed my life and deprived me of a truly whole-hearted choice; perhaps this is not a convincing reason to not return to prison.
I must confess: I am tired of prison and suffering. When I was in prison, at times I felt I was an unfortunate Iranian youth. Of course, this feeling was the result of the intolerable pressures of interrogations and solitary confinement. My eyes would fill with tears, and helplessness would creep into my whole being, a kind of vacuum, a shred of doubt, a shaken will that made me hesitant. I would waver with uncertainty about the choices I had made. I would doubt the truth of the moral choices I had made. I would doubt my very existence. But then I would realize that all these misgivings were imaginary, particularly when I felt myself being crushed by the walls of my prison cell.
But now that I am outside the prison, I have no doubt as to the righteousness of what I have chosen: human rights, freedom, and justice are concepts that deserve respect and must be sought. Just like refusing to lie, or to beat one’s wife, or to steal. One must seek an honest and dignified life.
The words of the government were assertive and unfaltering.
- Kiyanoosh Sanjari
Open Letter by Kiyanoosh Sanjari
January 15, 2007It took only 20 minutes for me to understand that, from this day forward, I am prohibited from writing anything against the government in my web-blog or conducting interviews with radio and television stations on subjects related to politics. The government informed me, in an assertive and unfaltering tone, that I no longer have these rights.
They told me I should keep silent like Mr. X and Mrs. Y who have been released from prison and have since “zipped their mouths.” They told me the other alternative was for me to go back to prison where I was held until a few days ago.
But blogging, along with my endeavors to promote human rights, is the only outlet through which I can breathe. Without this outlet I will suffocate. I have the right to speak, write, and criticize. I have written and spoken about the truth.
I understand that I am not permitted to speak about subjects that interest me, I am not supposed to see the whole truth, and I am not supposed to write the whole truth. Once again, the government’s tone was assertive and unfaltering.
I understand that if I behave otherwise, “[You’ll] have to pay dearly, isn’t that so?” I understand clearly.
Despairing sobs have choked me and my eyes are wet with tears. My sobs have penetrated into my veins and oppressed my heart. I am full of pain and sadness, a profound and tormenting sadness, a horrible and unyielding sadness. From yesterday afternoon until now the shadow of a heavy sadness has enveloped my life. I am sick with sadness. Uttering the phrase “I can no longer do it” over and over has acutely unnerved me.
I cannot write again because I have nothing else to write and speak about – except the truth. What else is there in life to fascinate me?
I am prohibited from continuing my previous activities. I no longer have the right to write or speak about the problems of political prisoners and my former fellow prisoners. I no longer have the right to mention that Mehrdad Lahrasbi has been in jail for seven years and treated with indifference, although he never committed any crime. I no longer have the right to say that he has become ill in prison and needs to be released, even temporarily. He has no money and no one to bail him out.
I no longer have the right to recount the incidents that have happened to me or discuss how the authorities have treated me.
I no longer have permission write in my web-blog or tell the media what 45 days of solitary confinement means.
Solitary confinement means nothing but being buried alive. I have been stripped of the right to even say this, stripped of all imaginable rights.
If I write again and if I speak again, the prison walls will once again surround me. This was the warning the government wanted me to understand.
I have read somewhere that “endless joy will only come with endless courage.” I am weighing this to see if I have the courage to gain such joy. What about my mother? Her illness? Her loneliness?
Imprisonment has been a harrowing experience in my life. Since the beginning of my youth, when I was still a student, I have received hard slaps, suffered, and cried in a corner of numerous prison cells. The year 2000. The year 2001. The year 2002. The year 2005. And this year. Altogether, there have been nine months of solitary confinement and one year of regular prison. Detention Center No. 59 of the Revolutionary Guard. Ward 2. Ward 240. Tohid Prison. Detention Center No. 209. And others. The charges? Membership in the illegal group “Democratic Front,” acting as the spokesman of the illegal group “United Student Front,” taking part in an illegal political gathering, writing, speaking, and telling the truth. These are the crimes of which I have been accused. But if I try to count these crimes, interpret their meaning like philosophers, I will say I have been searching for “endless joy,” a joy that is hidden in the cocoon of truth, freedom, emancipation, and eventually happiness; an endless happiness that we all long for, a happiness that can be tasted, a warm and kind embrace, a trust.
I tried to erase my “indifference.” I made a moral choice. I thought I could distance myself from a futile life. Now I have to make another choice. The next seven or eight years of my life depend on this choice. “At least eight years of prison,” said the government, their tone assertive and unfaltering.
A sincere confession: I do not wish to return to prison. At this moment so many insurmountable difficulties exist in my life, which have robbed me of the power to make a truly free choice. But I should be even more sincere: it is true that all these difficulties – like my mother’s illness, loneliness, and the numerous problems she faces – have paralyzed my life and deprived me of a truly whole-hearted choice; perhaps this is not a convincing reason to not return to prison.
I must confess: I am tired of prison and suffering. When I was in prison, at times I felt I was an unfortunate Iranian youth. Of course, this feeling was the result of the intolerable pressures of interrogations and solitary confinement. My eyes would fill with tears, and helplessness would creep into my whole being, a kind of vacuum, a shred of doubt, a shaken will that made me hesitant. I would waver with uncertainty about the choices I had made. I would doubt the truth of the moral choices I had made. I would doubt my very existence. But then I would realize that all these misgivings were imaginary, particularly when I felt myself being crushed by the walls of my prison cell.
But now that I am outside the prison, I have no doubt as to the righteousness of what I have chosen: human rights, freedom, and justice are concepts that deserve respect and must be sought. Just like refusing to lie, or to beat one’s wife, or to steal. One must seek an honest and dignified life.
The words of the government were assertive and unfaltering.
- Kiyanoosh Sanjari
Tohid=Torture / Interview with a former prisoner
Maryam Maktoob
May 31, 2007
iranian.com
After being incarcerated in one of the world’s most notorious prisons, Kianoosh Sanjari, a human rights activist, finally escaped Iran’s oppressive regime. Now hiding in Iraq, waiting for Amnesty International to bring him to The United States, Kianoosh took the time to have an extensive interview with me. Kianoosh gives detailed accounts of his time in Evin Prison, and what he hopes to accomplish now that he is free. Since Kianoosh does not speak fluent English, Roya Teimouri, a fellow human rights activist living in Los Angeles, took the time to act as a translator for our interview.
Maryam: What happened the first time you were incarcerated, and for what were you incarcerated for?
Kianoosh: I was a student at the University of Tehran. The first time [I was arrested] was for being involved in a demonstration. I wasn’t a political activist at the time. I was 17 years old and in my second year of university studying graphic design. I was being charged for supposedly being involved in a demonstration that was against the Iranian government. I was beaten up really badly before being taken to Tehran’s Evin Prison. The officials blindfolded us and threw us into police vans to and from the different destinations. Soon after, we were transferred to a place called Tohid for interrogation. We were taken secretly in and out of facilities blindfolded so we wouldn’t know where we were going. The officials would often play psychological games with us so we would lose our sense of direction.
Maryam: What is Tohid?
Kianoosh: Tohid is a place where the Iranian government officials take anyone they arrest. It is also the place where they conduct most of their torture. I was there for two months. Other political activists such as Ahmad Batebi, and Mohammad Akbari have also been tortured at Tohid.
Maryam: Describe Tohid and your experience in there.
Kianoosh: When I was taken to Tohid, the officials blindfolded a group of us. We had to put our hand on the shoulder of the person in front of us so we wouldn’t fall. Each prisoner is kept in a cell that is 1 ½ by 2 meters. My first time at Tohid, I was stuck in that small cell for three weeks. Tohid has underground places where the prison officials conduct torture and lash people at the bottom of their feet. The people who conduct the torturing have permission from the high court to perform any torture they want. One form of torture they conducted consisted of taking us into a courtyard blindfolded. They would make us sit in the courtyard, oblivious to what is happening, and they would suddenly play loud sounds of people being beaten and tortured.
After a long while, the prison guards would angrily ask us, “Is this the kind of freedom you want? If so, then this is what you get!”
Another form of torture they used on prisoners was only allowing them to use the restrooms three times a day. The problem with this is that prisoners who get tortured develop full bladder problems, and therefore need to use the restroom more often than three times. It would be nothing out of the ordinary for prisoners to be forced to pee in their own pants.
Maryam: Does this type of torture still occur at Tohid?
Kianoosh: Recently they closed down Tohid and they have turned it into a museum. The “museum” only displays pictures of people who were tortured during the Shah’s regime, and fails to recognize the torture of the political prisoners of the current regime.
Maryam: Did this type of torture also occur in Tehran’s Evin prison?
Kianoosh: The same kinds of torture techniques still occur in all of these prisons. The same things are happening to all of the political prisoners.
Roya: When Tohid was opened, it was ruled under the military force. This is the worst kind of place to be. It is the military forces who are out on the streets of Iran taking innocent people in and falsely accusing them of committing crimes against the Iranian government.
Kianoosh: We experienced all different sections and all different types of prisons.
I think that Tohid was the worst out of all them, but the same manners are happening in all sections of the prison. When somebody was taken to Tohid, the families were not notified of the arrests for months. They could rot in the prison cells and no one would know what happened to them.
Maryam: Describe your time in solitary confinement.
Kianoosh: There were nights when I would stand by the iron bars. I would listen to the women being tortured. They were crying and screaming. I would hear the people who were torturing them, yelling, and screaming at the women.
Maryam: Describe your last prison experience before you fled the country.
Kianoosh: I was taken to section 209 of Evin Prison, which is the solitary confinement area. My family wasn’t notified of my whereabouts. I was in solitary confinement for an entire month before my family was able to contact me.
Maryam: What reason did the officials give you or your family for imprisoning you?
Kianoosh: Accusations that are given to all political prisoners are the same: You are advertising against the government; you are calling the officials cheaters or liars, or you are probably involved with people outside Iran. The government officials keep you in prison for months if you commit any of the aforementioned crimes.
Maryam: Did you continue with activism work after you were released from prison?
Kianoosh: After I was released, I decided to write all my memories and experiences of prison in the form of a web blog. I wrote about the experiences of my political prisoner friends whom I met in jail. I even wrote detailed accounts of Ahmad Batebi’s physician who was also arrested. While I was writing web blogs, I wasn’t aware that the Iranian government was planning my arrest behind my back.
Maryam: They arrested you once again?
Kianoosh: During this time, an Ayatollah in Iran who is in favour of secularism started a movement against the Iranian government. He felt they were using Islam against the people.
One night, while he was having a meeting with his followers, military guards surrounded his house. By chance I went over to his house that night to get information for my web blog. As soon as I arrived, I was arrested. I was once again returned to solitary confinement. A man came into my cell and started slapping my face and interrogating me. When I asked him why he was hitting me, he slapped me harder and proceeded to ask the same questions. The next day, three or four men with turbans, most likely Ayatollahs, came into my prison cell and started accusing me of hitting and abusing innocent people on the streets. They charged me with many crimes that I never committed. For example, they accused me of throwing a hand made arm into a crowd during a protest. I was also accused of getting paid to be a web blogger and I was supposedly attempting to unite other web bloggers around the world. This is one way for the government to show the people in Iran that activists like me are doing the wrong thing. The officials would interrogate us until they could get a lie out of us, or until their torture got too exhausting. Their ultimate goal was to get us to falsely admit to the accusations against us. The government officials want the Iranian people to think that we political activists are fed financially from different groups and oppositions outside of Iran. They wanted us to make the Iranian regime look good and everything else to look bad. After ten months in solitary confinement, I was able to have my mom visit me. They allowed her to visit, so they can put pressure and instill fear in me so I can falsely confess. After not being successful in their interrogation, I was placed back in solitary confinement for two more months. I have served two full years in prison since I was 17 years old. Ten months of my prison time was spent in solitary confinement.
Maryam: How did you get released out of prison this time?
Kianoosh: I served my time in prison and I was released. The government officials thought that I had learned my lesson and would ultimately stop being involved in activism work. Instead, I started giving interviews and began writing more of my accounts on my web blog. One day, one of the high officials called my house and started harassing me. Soon after I was called into the court and the officials requested for me to start talking about that Ayatollah who turned against the government. They wanted me to state that he was mentally insane, but I denied cooperation with the officials.
Maryam: What was the breaking point that made you decide to flee Iran?
Kianoosh: I never thought that one day I would be forced to leave my county. After I discussed leaving Iran with my friends, they realized that was the best decision I could make. I had no better choice but to leave Iran; my life was in danger, and I got continuously harassed by government officials after being released from prison. I had to leave everything behind, and I am very sorry that I had to be forced to make that decision. The hardest part was leaving my mom and younger brother behind.
Maryam: How does your mother feel about your involvement in activism?
Kianoosh: Of course my mother was very disturbed by the entire situation. She spent her days begging for my freedom. For instance, in 2002, I was the spokesperson for the United Students movement. Iran gave me five years of prison time for this, but my mom begged so much for my sentence to be decreased that the government reduced it to one year. My mom has been a big support to me. Every time I was arrested, the officials would call my house and talk to my mother. They would warn her against talking to the media and not telling anyone about my situation in the prison, but she still did what she had to do. When the media contacted her, she would cry and talk about the situation she was put in. The last time I was arrested, the government officials called the house and she cried and begged to see me. She just wanted to make sure I was alive. She begged to see me alive for one second. She has been a big support to me.
Maryam: Is anyone in Iran safe?
Kianoosh: No one in Iran has any safety. For example, there are poor family members who have political gatherings in front of Amnesty International in Iran, and soon after they all get arrested. Even if someone is protesting a simple pay hike at their job, they will get immediately arrested. Even if a parent is with his/her kids; everyone present will be arrested. There is a man by the name of Omid Ahbassgolinejad who has two daughters and a wife. One day he and his family were standing outside of Amnesty International, at which point they were all arrested, including his three and four year old children. As this example demonstrates, no one, even if you are a young child has any safety in Iran.
Maryam: Who have been the biggest supporters of the political prisoners?
Kianoosh: Families of the political prisoners have been the biggest supporters. In Ahmad Batebi’s case, his wife informed the world what was happening to her husband. She was also arrested herself for being too outspoken. The officials kidnapped her for defending her husband.
Maryam: What’s next for you now that you have fled Iran?
Kianoosh: Right now I have been going daily to the United Nations office in Iraq. As you know, Iraq is not a safe place right now. I wish to come to America soon and fight against the Iranian government.
Maryam: How do you plan to fight against the Iranian government in America?
Kianoosh: I feel that the actual fight against the government of Iran is in Iran. That is why I am sorry to have left the country. Now that I am out, and there is more freedom of speech, I hope to be the voice of the people of Iran. My friends in Iran have said to me that I can be their voice outside of Iran and get their messages across. In a free world, people need to know what is going on to the people in Iran. It is our duty to tell people what kind of government is ruling Iran. If you look at what is going on in Iran, there are different movements all the time. The outside world needs to support the movements that are occurring in Iran. They need to go stand beside the people’s movements. The people of Iran need mental support more than anything. The people of Iran can arrange the rest on their own. The movement is happening inside Iran as we speak. We need to help the Iranian people push it forward.
Maryam: What can we do as citizens of Western countries to help the Iranian people with their movement?
Kianoosh: Countries need to stop doing negotiations with Iran. People in Canada can urge their governments to stop doing negotiations with Iran. If you follow the news, you will see what they are doing to the women and men in Iran. The citizens are not allowed to even dress the way that they want. The new generation of Iran is desperate for someone or another country to come and release them from the torturous hands of the Ayatollahs. The people don’t have power because the government is ruling them with fear. The Iranian government doesn’t care about human rights organizations.
Maryam: How can Iranians in the West get involved in political activism work?
Kianoosh: There are not many Iranian freedom fighters outside of Iran. If an Iranian living in the West wants to help, they should go stand outside of Embassy of Iran or Amnesty International and protest. We don’t see that often. If we have 100,000 Iranians get together, we could make a difference; even if it’s a small difference. Everyone should know about the political prisoners and what they are going through. I hope that people who are not freedom fighters can wake up from the dream that they are in and think about their home country. Unfortunately what I see for the people living outside of Iran is that they left Iran to live under different circumstances. They forgot the poverty, the killings and the prisons. They forgot about the torture. Instead they have been taken by the beauty of the West and have forgotten where they came from. It is our duty as human rights activists to inform these people of what is going on in Iran.
Maryam: Do you have any expectations of the Iranian youth living in Western countries?
Kianoosh: Because I haven’t come to the West yet, I have no recognition of the youth here. I think that if we want to reach the youth, we have to speak their language. We need to try to communicate with them and make them realize it will be to everyone’s benefit to overthrow the Iranian government. I believe that the media can play a very important part in this as well. The youth can start a new revolution through the media. It is very difficult at the same time, because there are Iranian stations in Los Angeles who are bought from the Iranian government. Anytime you see advertisements from Iran on the satellite system, chances are that station is being bought by the Iranian government. Comment
May 31, 2007
iranian.com
After being incarcerated in one of the world’s most notorious prisons, Kianoosh Sanjari, a human rights activist, finally escaped Iran’s oppressive regime. Now hiding in Iraq, waiting for Amnesty International to bring him to The United States, Kianoosh took the time to have an extensive interview with me. Kianoosh gives detailed accounts of his time in Evin Prison, and what he hopes to accomplish now that he is free. Since Kianoosh does not speak fluent English, Roya Teimouri, a fellow human rights activist living in Los Angeles, took the time to act as a translator for our interview.
Maryam: What happened the first time you were incarcerated, and for what were you incarcerated for?
Kianoosh: I was a student at the University of Tehran. The first time [I was arrested] was for being involved in a demonstration. I wasn’t a political activist at the time. I was 17 years old and in my second year of university studying graphic design. I was being charged for supposedly being involved in a demonstration that was against the Iranian government. I was beaten up really badly before being taken to Tehran’s Evin Prison. The officials blindfolded us and threw us into police vans to and from the different destinations. Soon after, we were transferred to a place called Tohid for interrogation. We were taken secretly in and out of facilities blindfolded so we wouldn’t know where we were going. The officials would often play psychological games with us so we would lose our sense of direction.
Maryam: What is Tohid?
Kianoosh: Tohid is a place where the Iranian government officials take anyone they arrest. It is also the place where they conduct most of their torture. I was there for two months. Other political activists such as Ahmad Batebi, and Mohammad Akbari have also been tortured at Tohid.
Maryam: Describe Tohid and your experience in there.
Kianoosh: When I was taken to Tohid, the officials blindfolded a group of us. We had to put our hand on the shoulder of the person in front of us so we wouldn’t fall. Each prisoner is kept in a cell that is 1 ½ by 2 meters. My first time at Tohid, I was stuck in that small cell for three weeks. Tohid has underground places where the prison officials conduct torture and lash people at the bottom of their feet. The people who conduct the torturing have permission from the high court to perform any torture they want. One form of torture they conducted consisted of taking us into a courtyard blindfolded. They would make us sit in the courtyard, oblivious to what is happening, and they would suddenly play loud sounds of people being beaten and tortured.
After a long while, the prison guards would angrily ask us, “Is this the kind of freedom you want? If so, then this is what you get!”
Another form of torture they used on prisoners was only allowing them to use the restrooms three times a day. The problem with this is that prisoners who get tortured develop full bladder problems, and therefore need to use the restroom more often than three times. It would be nothing out of the ordinary for prisoners to be forced to pee in their own pants.
Maryam: Does this type of torture still occur at Tohid?
Kianoosh: Recently they closed down Tohid and they have turned it into a museum. The “museum” only displays pictures of people who were tortured during the Shah’s regime, and fails to recognize the torture of the political prisoners of the current regime.
Maryam: Did this type of torture also occur in Tehran’s Evin prison?
Kianoosh: The same kinds of torture techniques still occur in all of these prisons. The same things are happening to all of the political prisoners.
Roya: When Tohid was opened, it was ruled under the military force. This is the worst kind of place to be. It is the military forces who are out on the streets of Iran taking innocent people in and falsely accusing them of committing crimes against the Iranian government.
Kianoosh: We experienced all different sections and all different types of prisons.
I think that Tohid was the worst out of all them, but the same manners are happening in all sections of the prison. When somebody was taken to Tohid, the families were not notified of the arrests for months. They could rot in the prison cells and no one would know what happened to them.
Maryam: Describe your time in solitary confinement.
Kianoosh: There were nights when I would stand by the iron bars. I would listen to the women being tortured. They were crying and screaming. I would hear the people who were torturing them, yelling, and screaming at the women.
Maryam: Describe your last prison experience before you fled the country.
Kianoosh: I was taken to section 209 of Evin Prison, which is the solitary confinement area. My family wasn’t notified of my whereabouts. I was in solitary confinement for an entire month before my family was able to contact me.
Maryam: What reason did the officials give you or your family for imprisoning you?
Kianoosh: Accusations that are given to all political prisoners are the same: You are advertising against the government; you are calling the officials cheaters or liars, or you are probably involved with people outside Iran. The government officials keep you in prison for months if you commit any of the aforementioned crimes.
Maryam: Did you continue with activism work after you were released from prison?
Kianoosh: After I was released, I decided to write all my memories and experiences of prison in the form of a web blog. I wrote about the experiences of my political prisoner friends whom I met in jail. I even wrote detailed accounts of Ahmad Batebi’s physician who was also arrested. While I was writing web blogs, I wasn’t aware that the Iranian government was planning my arrest behind my back.
Maryam: They arrested you once again?
Kianoosh: During this time, an Ayatollah in Iran who is in favour of secularism started a movement against the Iranian government. He felt they were using Islam against the people.
One night, while he was having a meeting with his followers, military guards surrounded his house. By chance I went over to his house that night to get information for my web blog. As soon as I arrived, I was arrested. I was once again returned to solitary confinement. A man came into my cell and started slapping my face and interrogating me. When I asked him why he was hitting me, he slapped me harder and proceeded to ask the same questions. The next day, three or four men with turbans, most likely Ayatollahs, came into my prison cell and started accusing me of hitting and abusing innocent people on the streets. They charged me with many crimes that I never committed. For example, they accused me of throwing a hand made arm into a crowd during a protest. I was also accused of getting paid to be a web blogger and I was supposedly attempting to unite other web bloggers around the world. This is one way for the government to show the people in Iran that activists like me are doing the wrong thing. The officials would interrogate us until they could get a lie out of us, or until their torture got too exhausting. Their ultimate goal was to get us to falsely admit to the accusations against us. The government officials want the Iranian people to think that we political activists are fed financially from different groups and oppositions outside of Iran. They wanted us to make the Iranian regime look good and everything else to look bad. After ten months in solitary confinement, I was able to have my mom visit me. They allowed her to visit, so they can put pressure and instill fear in me so I can falsely confess. After not being successful in their interrogation, I was placed back in solitary confinement for two more months. I have served two full years in prison since I was 17 years old. Ten months of my prison time was spent in solitary confinement.
Maryam: How did you get released out of prison this time?
Kianoosh: I served my time in prison and I was released. The government officials thought that I had learned my lesson and would ultimately stop being involved in activism work. Instead, I started giving interviews and began writing more of my accounts on my web blog. One day, one of the high officials called my house and started harassing me. Soon after I was called into the court and the officials requested for me to start talking about that Ayatollah who turned against the government. They wanted me to state that he was mentally insane, but I denied cooperation with the officials.
Maryam: What was the breaking point that made you decide to flee Iran?
Kianoosh: I never thought that one day I would be forced to leave my county. After I discussed leaving Iran with my friends, they realized that was the best decision I could make. I had no better choice but to leave Iran; my life was in danger, and I got continuously harassed by government officials after being released from prison. I had to leave everything behind, and I am very sorry that I had to be forced to make that decision. The hardest part was leaving my mom and younger brother behind.
Maryam: How does your mother feel about your involvement in activism?
Kianoosh: Of course my mother was very disturbed by the entire situation. She spent her days begging for my freedom. For instance, in 2002, I was the spokesperson for the United Students movement. Iran gave me five years of prison time for this, but my mom begged so much for my sentence to be decreased that the government reduced it to one year. My mom has been a big support to me. Every time I was arrested, the officials would call my house and talk to my mother. They would warn her against talking to the media and not telling anyone about my situation in the prison, but she still did what she had to do. When the media contacted her, she would cry and talk about the situation she was put in. The last time I was arrested, the government officials called the house and she cried and begged to see me. She just wanted to make sure I was alive. She begged to see me alive for one second. She has been a big support to me.
Maryam: Is anyone in Iran safe?
Kianoosh: No one in Iran has any safety. For example, there are poor family members who have political gatherings in front of Amnesty International in Iran, and soon after they all get arrested. Even if someone is protesting a simple pay hike at their job, they will get immediately arrested. Even if a parent is with his/her kids; everyone present will be arrested. There is a man by the name of Omid Ahbassgolinejad who has two daughters and a wife. One day he and his family were standing outside of Amnesty International, at which point they were all arrested, including his three and four year old children. As this example demonstrates, no one, even if you are a young child has any safety in Iran.
Maryam: Who have been the biggest supporters of the political prisoners?
Kianoosh: Families of the political prisoners have been the biggest supporters. In Ahmad Batebi’s case, his wife informed the world what was happening to her husband. She was also arrested herself for being too outspoken. The officials kidnapped her for defending her husband.
Maryam: What’s next for you now that you have fled Iran?
Kianoosh: Right now I have been going daily to the United Nations office in Iraq. As you know, Iraq is not a safe place right now. I wish to come to America soon and fight against the Iranian government.
Maryam: How do you plan to fight against the Iranian government in America?
Kianoosh: I feel that the actual fight against the government of Iran is in Iran. That is why I am sorry to have left the country. Now that I am out, and there is more freedom of speech, I hope to be the voice of the people of Iran. My friends in Iran have said to me that I can be their voice outside of Iran and get their messages across. In a free world, people need to know what is going on to the people in Iran. It is our duty to tell people what kind of government is ruling Iran. If you look at what is going on in Iran, there are different movements all the time. The outside world needs to support the movements that are occurring in Iran. They need to go stand beside the people’s movements. The people of Iran need mental support more than anything. The people of Iran can arrange the rest on their own. The movement is happening inside Iran as we speak. We need to help the Iranian people push it forward.
Maryam: What can we do as citizens of Western countries to help the Iranian people with their movement?
Kianoosh: Countries need to stop doing negotiations with Iran. People in Canada can urge their governments to stop doing negotiations with Iran. If you follow the news, you will see what they are doing to the women and men in Iran. The citizens are not allowed to even dress the way that they want. The new generation of Iran is desperate for someone or another country to come and release them from the torturous hands of the Ayatollahs. The people don’t have power because the government is ruling them with fear. The Iranian government doesn’t care about human rights organizations.
Maryam: How can Iranians in the West get involved in political activism work?
Kianoosh: There are not many Iranian freedom fighters outside of Iran. If an Iranian living in the West wants to help, they should go stand outside of Embassy of Iran or Amnesty International and protest. We don’t see that often. If we have 100,000 Iranians get together, we could make a difference; even if it’s a small difference. Everyone should know about the political prisoners and what they are going through. I hope that people who are not freedom fighters can wake up from the dream that they are in and think about their home country. Unfortunately what I see for the people living outside of Iran is that they left Iran to live under different circumstances. They forgot the poverty, the killings and the prisons. They forgot about the torture. Instead they have been taken by the beauty of the West and have forgotten where they came from. It is our duty as human rights activists to inform these people of what is going on in Iran.
Maryam: Do you have any expectations of the Iranian youth living in Western countries?
Kianoosh: Because I haven’t come to the West yet, I have no recognition of the youth here. I think that if we want to reach the youth, we have to speak their language. We need to try to communicate with them and make them realize it will be to everyone’s benefit to overthrow the Iranian government. I believe that the media can play a very important part in this as well. The youth can start a new revolution through the media. It is very difficult at the same time, because there are Iranian stations in Los Angeles who are bought from the Iranian government. Anytime you see advertisements from Iran on the satellite system, chances are that station is being bought by the Iranian government. Comment
Ongoing Resistance in Iran Not Driven by The West
http://newsblaze.com/story/20070622082522nnnn.nb/newsblaze/IRAN0001/Iran.html
Mr.Sanjari you are or have been a student activist in Iran, could you tell us about the student movements in Iran, considering that these movements often get confused with the pro-democracy movements said to be backed by the Bush Administration?
I think we have to clarify a few issues in order to distinguish the student movement and as you referred the pro-democracy movement.
The Iranian student movement has no interdependence on any foreign government programs and is totally independent and self ruled. Although it is true to say that there are various trends in the movement.
The Iranian Intelligence ministry, however, has tried so far to propagate the idea that the student movements have been harnessed in co ordination with the US government, or foreign governments and movements, in order to arrest and detain students under this pretext.
The Iranian regime has recently adopted this method and has detained illegally a couple of active dissident students. They are accused of being in contact with foreign organizations and governments to overthrow the Iranian regime.
This is not true, and is only a pretext used by the Iranian Intelligence ministry to suppress the student movement.
There are different trends of thought amongst the students, ranging from liberals to Marxists, the latter leaning more on Marxist-Leninist ideology.
These groups tend to be negative on any help from the west for establishing democracy.
Of course I can't neglect the fact that some students, while losing hope on any possible change in the present political infrastructure of the Islamic republic, have turned an eye to support and help offered by the US for the people's civic movement that seeks to change the regime in Iran.
How effective are these movements and are they sponsored by any mainstream political opposition?
The student movement has always been a stronghold against all totalitarians and tyrants for all freedom seeking groups in our history.
The movement's aspirations for freedom always began from the university campus and led out into public arenas, echoed in alleys and public places and finally has been absorbed by the people.
In past years, we have suffered from a vacuum left by the absence of experienced and organized opposition parties and independent news media in our political society. The task of safeguarding the movements' stronghold was therefore left to the democratic student movement to sustain the opposition in Iran.
The significance of this movement is its financial independence from the government.
Unlike some reformist parties in the government, they do not believe in conservatism, and tend to pass the "red line" drawn by the regime constantly, by criticizing the anti-democratic constitution of the Islamic Republic.
They are in constant touch with their environment and encourage their families to join them in the resistance.
For example they support the women's movement or take part in the workers and teachers demonstrations. They help them out to communicate their demands in university campuses, and try to unify the different movements in the society. They are very much aware that their success lies in realizing this unity.
I should finally say that, they are supported by the mainstream opposition movements, while at the same time face much threat of being manipulated by the reformists. They are very much reluctant in accepting this pressure.Have any student demands been met so far?
The Iranian regime is incapable of meeting the demands of the students' protests.
Some of the demands of the students have been the dismantling of the disciplinary committees established by the government, the closing of the secret security force units in the Universities-known as "Harasat", giving Academic freedom which would mean that political pluralism is realized in the University and freedom in exchange of political opinion would be granted.
But the regime has planned to carry out a cultural revolution such as the one carried out in 1996. During those years, many progressive professors and also pro-democracy students were discharged from Universities. They close newspapers, arrested protesting students, and set them up with fraudulent cases, and accuse them of being in contact with foreign western governments.
This regime intends to purge the universities as we say in a "Stalinist style" perhaps replicating the Chinese cultural purge.
Students demand regime change, but they have only been suppressed violently. They demand respect for Democracy, and the compliance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.This regime is antagonistic with Democracy and all it stands for, because of its ideology.
In your profile we know that you have been the spokesman for a group of Iranian political prisoners, could you tell us of their present situation, their demand and political composition?
Please allow me first to explain a fact that is taken for granted in fairly democratic systems.
Countries that abide with original democracy hardly come across with the question of political prisoners.
In Iran, dissidents and political critics are persecuted for their political beliefs and are detained and imprisoned.
The regime has invented ways to pin down its opposition;There is a unique term used in Iran, known as "creating fear and instability in public opinion". I know that this term is some how alien to you, but this invented charge, when aimed at someone means that, the person has created chaos in other people's minds, while he is expressing his opinion.
He is therefore arrested and chucked into a prison cell, as simple as this.We come cross another common charge against dissidents known as "advertising against the system".
Hundreds of prisoners are accused of this vague charge; these may include those who have either converted from Islam to Christianity or the Baha'I religion.
I personally know one such person; his name is Hamid Pourzand, a military personnel, who was caught in a friendly picnic with a group of Christians in Karaj-city near the Capital. He was charged with apostasy. According to laws of the mullahs, any one charged with apostasy is automatically sentenced to death.
We can even find mullahs who criticize the regime, imprisoned for their opinions. Such is Ayatollah Boroojerdi. In his case, the special Clergy tribunal charged him with apostasy, and sentenced him and a few of his followers to death. He believed in the separation of state and religion.
Last year I was in the notorious section 209 of Evin prison on certain charges, and witnessed the kind of tortures inflicted on Ayatollah Boroojerdi and his followers by the interrogators - members of the Secret police.
300 women, who had taken part in the sit-in held in support of Mr.Boroojerdi, were tortured physically and mentally in section 209, alongside this, Mr.Boroojerdi also suffered a head hemorrhage.
You also asked about the political trends which exist in the Iranian prisons; they include a variety with different political tendencies.
Of the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran, have many of its supporters and members in the notorious 209 section of Evin prison. One of them was Saiid Masoori who has been in prison for at least 3 years now.
I was in the same cell with him in 2003. He was separated from his friends and kept in a different place as a tactic used by the secret police to exhaust the spirit of the prisoner.
There are other political prisoners in Evin, who are accused of spying for countries such as Israel, the US and some other western countries. They are kept in the security detention center 209 of the 325 section of the RGC.We could also find a few other prisoners in Evin who are charged with leaking top secret information about the nuclear activities and programs of Iran. They include staff of the organizations working with the nuclear sites.
These prisoners' whereabouts is usually kept secret from other inmates.
It must be hard to imagine seeing teachers and professors in these prisons, charged and accused, for having demanded for their civil rights, workers who had sought their unpaid wages defied economic policies of this regime.
Mansour Osanloo, one of the leaders of the Independent Syndicate of Bus Drivers in Tehran, who had protested disregard of the regime's own Labor law, was imprisoned along with his colleagues, and put off work with no salary.
Mahmoud Salehi, a baker, who had participated in the workers rally on the 1st of May, in Saghez, was arrested and has been in prison since, while his kidneys have stopped functioning. He should be transferred to hospital for treatment, but this has been denied.
In Iran, lawyers defending various cases have also been imprisoned. Lawyers such as, Mrs. Solatni, and Nasser Zarafshan are such examples. Mr.Zarafshan has been representing families of terror victims killed by the Intelligence Ministry. He was charged for defending his clients, imprisoned for a couple of years and then released recently.
Student activists of the Polytechnic University in Tehran have been imprisoned in the security section 209 of the notorious Evin prison.
We have had news that they are being brutally tortured by Hadad so called "judge". I know this judge in person, because he was my interrogator and quite known for his infamous brutality in prison.
These students have been arrested by the Intelligence ministry and charged for offending sacred values - meaning insulting Khamenie - in their publications.
Women defending equality are also in the prisons.
Recently 10 activists who had participated in a protest in front of the Central Revolutionary Court were arrested and transferred to the Evins' 209 section. They were charged for trying to overthrow the regime. They were kept in small cells and deprived of their lawyers.
We have had news that some prisoners had died of mysterious circumstances, one death cause being a heart problem the other head injury, what do you have to say to the allegations accusing the Iranian authorities of being responsible for deaths in prisons?
In the past year, two political prisoners known as Akbar Mohammadi and Valiollah Feiz Mahdvi have died in Rajaii Shahr prison in Karaj city.
Akbar Mohammadi was a student and was arrested along with his brother in the landmark student demonstration of 1999 - in which the demonstration was violently suppressed and many students caught.
They were both sentenced to death, but later had parole for 15 years.
Akbar Mohammadi vas severely ill and needed treatment at the time. He began a hunger strike to protest against inhuman treatment towards his cell mates, and being already ill he managed to continue his protest for only 10 days. On the 10th day his health had deteriorated and was transferred to the prison clinic. In the clinic one official was quoted to have told him that "even if you suffer to death like an animal, we will do nothing for you". Unfortunately having been rejected help, he was returned to his cell. He died later on.
Vliollah Feiz Mahdavi, also began a hunger strike in protest his situation.
His demands were; to see his lawyer, to be transferred from Rajaii Sharh Prison in order to have his case clarified. This was because he had already received a death sentence and this classified him as a political prisoner, where he was being tormented and mixed with criminal cases. But his demands were never met by the Judiciary.
Prison officials declared that they had transferred Valiollha to the hospital and he died in the hospital. They also tried to show that Valiollah had killed himself in the bathroom, an impossible task to achieve in Iranian prisons. His cell mates had denied these accusations saying that he had been on hunger strike and never had the intuition to commit suicide.
It is irrefutable that the Iranian regime and its officials in prison are responsible for the death of these 2 political prisoners.
Could you please tell us your view on the recent demonstrations in Iran?
These demonstrations depict radicalism in the Iranian society, a show of defiance to all restrictions. It is a confrontation to suppression.
In a town center in Mashahd, youth clashed with forces who wanted to arrest a woman for not tolerating the dress code. The Iranian society is very angry. It is frustrated by suppression and dictatorship. They are fed up of wrong policies of Ahmadinejad's government, of its role in creating crisis in the world, and also of wrong political stance taken on the nuclear issue.
The sanctions are playing effect already and the Iranian people are paying the price for it.
The common factor in all protests so far have been a collective defiance towards Ahmadinejad's wrong policies. A show of frustration was displayed by Polytechnic university students, who set his photo on fire, in a protest in his presence,
Today the protests are widespread and include all walks of life.
For example, the women's movement is now engaged in a petition campaign collecting a million signatures for the equality of men and women demanding the nullification of misogynistic laws in Iran. Last year, on June 18, the women's movement arranged a gathering in a square in Tehran, chanting for their demands. Students also joined the act.
Iranian women are very courageous, they know that their wishes represent millions of unheard voices and they would never recede from their demand. Their act was of course suppressed violently and many were sent into prisons. Even then they arranged for more protests, the last being in front of the "revolutionary" court - on 2 June 2006 - accompanying their friends who were going to be on trial in the court that day.
That day they had gathered to protest the trial of their friends. This is a civic resistance.
We can see civic resistance as peaceful and gentle acts of protests, which is not acceptable by the regime at all. The intelligence ministry has accused the women activists of trying to bring about a "velvet revolution" - a term used to describe reformed change from within the regime. I believe it is their right to call for their basic rights in a peaceful manner.
Are there any links between these demonstrations? Is there any radical change in line do you think?
I explained in the previous question that there have been connections, still to be reinforced, and these demonstrations are not yet programmed or organized. They are more self proclaimed.
The women's movement is a different case. They have carried their campaign in a more grass root level, contacting NGOs and vesting villages, starting a public library, creating workshops for women in different areas alerting them to their rights.
In the demonstration of women two years go, known activists such as Simin Behbahani, also took part in front of Tehran University, which the police had suppressed violently and many were arrested.
Finally, I should reiterate that the student movements support other movements and has been active in reunifying other movements such as the workers and women's, but there is a need for deeper and more reliable relationship.
Mr.Sanjari you are or have been a student activist in Iran, could you tell us about the student movements in Iran, considering that these movements often get confused with the pro-democracy movements said to be backed by the Bush Administration?
I think we have to clarify a few issues in order to distinguish the student movement and as you referred the pro-democracy movement.
The Iranian student movement has no interdependence on any foreign government programs and is totally independent and self ruled. Although it is true to say that there are various trends in the movement.
The Iranian Intelligence ministry, however, has tried so far to propagate the idea that the student movements have been harnessed in co ordination with the US government, or foreign governments and movements, in order to arrest and detain students under this pretext.
The Iranian regime has recently adopted this method and has detained illegally a couple of active dissident students. They are accused of being in contact with foreign organizations and governments to overthrow the Iranian regime.
This is not true, and is only a pretext used by the Iranian Intelligence ministry to suppress the student movement.
There are different trends of thought amongst the students, ranging from liberals to Marxists, the latter leaning more on Marxist-Leninist ideology.
These groups tend to be negative on any help from the west for establishing democracy.
Of course I can't neglect the fact that some students, while losing hope on any possible change in the present political infrastructure of the Islamic republic, have turned an eye to support and help offered by the US for the people's civic movement that seeks to change the regime in Iran.
How effective are these movements and are they sponsored by any mainstream political opposition?
The student movement has always been a stronghold against all totalitarians and tyrants for all freedom seeking groups in our history.
The movement's aspirations for freedom always began from the university campus and led out into public arenas, echoed in alleys and public places and finally has been absorbed by the people.
In past years, we have suffered from a vacuum left by the absence of experienced and organized opposition parties and independent news media in our political society. The task of safeguarding the movements' stronghold was therefore left to the democratic student movement to sustain the opposition in Iran.
The significance of this movement is its financial independence from the government.
Unlike some reformist parties in the government, they do not believe in conservatism, and tend to pass the "red line" drawn by the regime constantly, by criticizing the anti-democratic constitution of the Islamic Republic.
They are in constant touch with their environment and encourage their families to join them in the resistance.
For example they support the women's movement or take part in the workers and teachers demonstrations. They help them out to communicate their demands in university campuses, and try to unify the different movements in the society. They are very much aware that their success lies in realizing this unity.
I should finally say that, they are supported by the mainstream opposition movements, while at the same time face much threat of being manipulated by the reformists. They are very much reluctant in accepting this pressure.Have any student demands been met so far?
The Iranian regime is incapable of meeting the demands of the students' protests.
Some of the demands of the students have been the dismantling of the disciplinary committees established by the government, the closing of the secret security force units in the Universities-known as "Harasat", giving Academic freedom which would mean that political pluralism is realized in the University and freedom in exchange of political opinion would be granted.
But the regime has planned to carry out a cultural revolution such as the one carried out in 1996. During those years, many progressive professors and also pro-democracy students were discharged from Universities. They close newspapers, arrested protesting students, and set them up with fraudulent cases, and accuse them of being in contact with foreign western governments.
This regime intends to purge the universities as we say in a "Stalinist style" perhaps replicating the Chinese cultural purge.
Students demand regime change, but they have only been suppressed violently. They demand respect for Democracy, and the compliance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.This regime is antagonistic with Democracy and all it stands for, because of its ideology.
In your profile we know that you have been the spokesman for a group of Iranian political prisoners, could you tell us of their present situation, their demand and political composition?
Please allow me first to explain a fact that is taken for granted in fairly democratic systems.
Countries that abide with original democracy hardly come across with the question of political prisoners.
In Iran, dissidents and political critics are persecuted for their political beliefs and are detained and imprisoned.
The regime has invented ways to pin down its opposition;There is a unique term used in Iran, known as "creating fear and instability in public opinion". I know that this term is some how alien to you, but this invented charge, when aimed at someone means that, the person has created chaos in other people's minds, while he is expressing his opinion.
He is therefore arrested and chucked into a prison cell, as simple as this.We come cross another common charge against dissidents known as "advertising against the system".
Hundreds of prisoners are accused of this vague charge; these may include those who have either converted from Islam to Christianity or the Baha'I religion.
I personally know one such person; his name is Hamid Pourzand, a military personnel, who was caught in a friendly picnic with a group of Christians in Karaj-city near the Capital. He was charged with apostasy. According to laws of the mullahs, any one charged with apostasy is automatically sentenced to death.
We can even find mullahs who criticize the regime, imprisoned for their opinions. Such is Ayatollah Boroojerdi. In his case, the special Clergy tribunal charged him with apostasy, and sentenced him and a few of his followers to death. He believed in the separation of state and religion.
Last year I was in the notorious section 209 of Evin prison on certain charges, and witnessed the kind of tortures inflicted on Ayatollah Boroojerdi and his followers by the interrogators - members of the Secret police.
300 women, who had taken part in the sit-in held in support of Mr.Boroojerdi, were tortured physically and mentally in section 209, alongside this, Mr.Boroojerdi also suffered a head hemorrhage.
You also asked about the political trends which exist in the Iranian prisons; they include a variety with different political tendencies.
Of the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran, have many of its supporters and members in the notorious 209 section of Evin prison. One of them was Saiid Masoori who has been in prison for at least 3 years now.
I was in the same cell with him in 2003. He was separated from his friends and kept in a different place as a tactic used by the secret police to exhaust the spirit of the prisoner.
There are other political prisoners in Evin, who are accused of spying for countries such as Israel, the US and some other western countries. They are kept in the security detention center 209 of the 325 section of the RGC.We could also find a few other prisoners in Evin who are charged with leaking top secret information about the nuclear activities and programs of Iran. They include staff of the organizations working with the nuclear sites.
These prisoners' whereabouts is usually kept secret from other inmates.
It must be hard to imagine seeing teachers and professors in these prisons, charged and accused, for having demanded for their civil rights, workers who had sought their unpaid wages defied economic policies of this regime.
Mansour Osanloo, one of the leaders of the Independent Syndicate of Bus Drivers in Tehran, who had protested disregard of the regime's own Labor law, was imprisoned along with his colleagues, and put off work with no salary.
Mahmoud Salehi, a baker, who had participated in the workers rally on the 1st of May, in Saghez, was arrested and has been in prison since, while his kidneys have stopped functioning. He should be transferred to hospital for treatment, but this has been denied.
In Iran, lawyers defending various cases have also been imprisoned. Lawyers such as, Mrs. Solatni, and Nasser Zarafshan are such examples. Mr.Zarafshan has been representing families of terror victims killed by the Intelligence Ministry. He was charged for defending his clients, imprisoned for a couple of years and then released recently.
Student activists of the Polytechnic University in Tehran have been imprisoned in the security section 209 of the notorious Evin prison.
We have had news that they are being brutally tortured by Hadad so called "judge". I know this judge in person, because he was my interrogator and quite known for his infamous brutality in prison.
These students have been arrested by the Intelligence ministry and charged for offending sacred values - meaning insulting Khamenie - in their publications.
Women defending equality are also in the prisons.
Recently 10 activists who had participated in a protest in front of the Central Revolutionary Court were arrested and transferred to the Evins' 209 section. They were charged for trying to overthrow the regime. They were kept in small cells and deprived of their lawyers.
We have had news that some prisoners had died of mysterious circumstances, one death cause being a heart problem the other head injury, what do you have to say to the allegations accusing the Iranian authorities of being responsible for deaths in prisons?
In the past year, two political prisoners known as Akbar Mohammadi and Valiollah Feiz Mahdvi have died in Rajaii Shahr prison in Karaj city.
Akbar Mohammadi was a student and was arrested along with his brother in the landmark student demonstration of 1999 - in which the demonstration was violently suppressed and many students caught.
They were both sentenced to death, but later had parole for 15 years.
Akbar Mohammadi vas severely ill and needed treatment at the time. He began a hunger strike to protest against inhuman treatment towards his cell mates, and being already ill he managed to continue his protest for only 10 days. On the 10th day his health had deteriorated and was transferred to the prison clinic. In the clinic one official was quoted to have told him that "even if you suffer to death like an animal, we will do nothing for you". Unfortunately having been rejected help, he was returned to his cell. He died later on.
Vliollah Feiz Mahdavi, also began a hunger strike in protest his situation.
His demands were; to see his lawyer, to be transferred from Rajaii Sharh Prison in order to have his case clarified. This was because he had already received a death sentence and this classified him as a political prisoner, where he was being tormented and mixed with criminal cases. But his demands were never met by the Judiciary.
Prison officials declared that they had transferred Valiollha to the hospital and he died in the hospital. They also tried to show that Valiollah had killed himself in the bathroom, an impossible task to achieve in Iranian prisons. His cell mates had denied these accusations saying that he had been on hunger strike and never had the intuition to commit suicide.
It is irrefutable that the Iranian regime and its officials in prison are responsible for the death of these 2 political prisoners.
Could you please tell us your view on the recent demonstrations in Iran?
These demonstrations depict radicalism in the Iranian society, a show of defiance to all restrictions. It is a confrontation to suppression.
In a town center in Mashahd, youth clashed with forces who wanted to arrest a woman for not tolerating the dress code. The Iranian society is very angry. It is frustrated by suppression and dictatorship. They are fed up of wrong policies of Ahmadinejad's government, of its role in creating crisis in the world, and also of wrong political stance taken on the nuclear issue.
The sanctions are playing effect already and the Iranian people are paying the price for it.
The common factor in all protests so far have been a collective defiance towards Ahmadinejad's wrong policies. A show of frustration was displayed by Polytechnic university students, who set his photo on fire, in a protest in his presence,
Today the protests are widespread and include all walks of life.
For example, the women's movement is now engaged in a petition campaign collecting a million signatures for the equality of men and women demanding the nullification of misogynistic laws in Iran. Last year, on June 18, the women's movement arranged a gathering in a square in Tehran, chanting for their demands. Students also joined the act.
Iranian women are very courageous, they know that their wishes represent millions of unheard voices and they would never recede from their demand. Their act was of course suppressed violently and many were sent into prisons. Even then they arranged for more protests, the last being in front of the "revolutionary" court - on 2 June 2006 - accompanying their friends who were going to be on trial in the court that day.
That day they had gathered to protest the trial of their friends. This is a civic resistance.
We can see civic resistance as peaceful and gentle acts of protests, which is not acceptable by the regime at all. The intelligence ministry has accused the women activists of trying to bring about a "velvet revolution" - a term used to describe reformed change from within the regime. I believe it is their right to call for their basic rights in a peaceful manner.
Are there any links between these demonstrations? Is there any radical change in line do you think?
I explained in the previous question that there have been connections, still to be reinforced, and these demonstrations are not yet programmed or organized. They are more self proclaimed.
The women's movement is a different case. They have carried their campaign in a more grass root level, contacting NGOs and vesting villages, starting a public library, creating workshops for women in different areas alerting them to their rights.
In the demonstration of women two years go, known activists such as Simin Behbahani, also took part in front of Tehran University, which the police had suppressed violently and many were arrested.
Finally, I should reiterate that the student movements support other movements and has been active in reunifying other movements such as the workers and women's, but there is a need for deeper and more reliable relationship.
Iranian blogger freed and reporting once again
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/iranian-blogger-freed-and-reporting-once-again-440279.html
By Angus McDowell in Tehran
Thursday, 15 March 2007
When a bruised Kianoosh Sanjari climbed from the police van last October, he immediately recognised the familiar drab buildings of Evin prison section 240, run by the plainclothes branch of the Revolutionary Guards. His crime? Reporting for his weblog on the violent arrest of a religious group by security forces.
In his first interview since being released Iran's most prominent blogger recalls the rough tactics used against him by the authorities and the backlash against US support for democracy activists in the Islamic Republic.
In early October, Mr Sanjari went to the home in western Tehran of the dissident cleric Ayatollah Mohammed Kazemaini Borojerdi and watched as security forces attacked his followers outside.
"The alley was flooded with broken glass, water, teargas and riot police with batons hitting everybody," he said. "A police van was being used as a battering ram. Our eyes were burning and our faces hurt. I crawled into a camper van where another woman was hiding. I heard people being beaten and knew that in a few seconds, I'd be beaten too. The broken windows cut my side as I was pulled out. I was knocked unconscious."
He spent the next three months in Evin, where he had been interned several times before. He was blindfolded and questioned and slapped by the interrogator, whose questions took a new and sinister turn.
"The worst thing was they wanted to connect me to US politicians, especially to [neo-conservative] Richard Perle," he said. "They wanted me to write about US money being allocated to the democracy movement. Where does it go? Who gets it?"
As tensions between Iran and Western countries have escalated over the nuclear crisis and the wars in Iraq and Lebanon, the authorities have come to regard democracy activists as a potential fifth column. Separatist attacks in border provinces have been blamed on the US and Britain.
When Condoleezza Rice promised cash for Iranian democracy movements last year, activists and non-governmental organisations started to feel the heat.
"Such measures always have the reverse effect on the country to those intended," said Elaheh Koolaee, a former member of parliament and official for a major reformist party. "They increase the domestic reaction because of suspicions over the motives of foreign countries."
Koolaee's party supported a demonstration last week for international women's day that was violently dispersed by the police. Kayhan newspaper, which reflects hardliner views, accused the women of accepting foreign money and being a front for enemies of the Islamic Republic. Groups representing women, students, ethnic minorities and workers have all taken to the streets in recent months, but they now lack the meagre political cover once extended by Mohammed Khatami's government.
Those who seek change within the system increasingly fall foul of the authorities. One of the women arrested last week was Shadi Sadr, a young human rights lawyer who has successfully defended women facing the death penalty. Activists working within the system sometimes criticise those who reject it for giving the state an excuse to crack down. Others disagree.
"The state structure is closed to outsiders," said Abdullah Momeni, one of Iran's most prominent student leaders. "Political activists should change things with protest movements and civil disobedience, which can promote change without giving legitimacy to the system."
Mr Sanjari's development from wide-eyed student to hardened political prisoner by the age of 23 reflects the frustration of some young activists who see little point in engaging with the regime. Like many others, he has played a cat-and-mouse game with the authorities, fought in courtrooms and prison cells, at political demonstrations and online, or in the pages of foreign newspapers.
On one occasion, during the 2005 presidential elections, his flat was raided by security agents. "They pretended to be postmen bringing a letter from the Netherlands," he says. "I didn't open the door because I was scared. I could see from the window they didn't look like postmen. But the neighbours let them into the block and they broke down the door of my flat."
His first arrest at the age of 17 in 2001 led to a spell in Towhid prison, once used by the Shah to jail the future leaders of the Islamic Republic and since turned into a museum commemorating victims of pre-revolutionary torture. By 2002 he was a committed activist, spending another three months in prison. He later served a whole year, accused of membership of an illegal organisation.
"I didn't even think about my family at the time, but during the three months I was in prison they didn't know where I was," he said. "My mother went from court to court begging to see her son."
Iranian campaigners
* Sina Motallebi In the summer of 2002 while a reporter for the pro-reform Hayat-e Nou newspaper, he became the first person in the world to be imprisoned for the contents of his blog. He was released and left Iran for Europe.
* Akbar Ganji One of Iran's most influential dissidents, he was once a member of the Revolutionary Guards, now a fierce critic of the government. Released from a seven-year jail sentence last year after 80-day hunger strike.
* Shirin Ebadi Successful human rights lawyer who shot to international fame after becoming the surprise winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2003.
By Angus McDowell in Tehran
Thursday, 15 March 2007
When a bruised Kianoosh Sanjari climbed from the police van last October, he immediately recognised the familiar drab buildings of Evin prison section 240, run by the plainclothes branch of the Revolutionary Guards. His crime? Reporting for his weblog on the violent arrest of a religious group by security forces.
In his first interview since being released Iran's most prominent blogger recalls the rough tactics used against him by the authorities and the backlash against US support for democracy activists in the Islamic Republic.
In early October, Mr Sanjari went to the home in western Tehran of the dissident cleric Ayatollah Mohammed Kazemaini Borojerdi and watched as security forces attacked his followers outside.
"The alley was flooded with broken glass, water, teargas and riot police with batons hitting everybody," he said. "A police van was being used as a battering ram. Our eyes were burning and our faces hurt. I crawled into a camper van where another woman was hiding. I heard people being beaten and knew that in a few seconds, I'd be beaten too. The broken windows cut my side as I was pulled out. I was knocked unconscious."
He spent the next three months in Evin, where he had been interned several times before. He was blindfolded and questioned and slapped by the interrogator, whose questions took a new and sinister turn.
"The worst thing was they wanted to connect me to US politicians, especially to [neo-conservative] Richard Perle," he said. "They wanted me to write about US money being allocated to the democracy movement. Where does it go? Who gets it?"
As tensions between Iran and Western countries have escalated over the nuclear crisis and the wars in Iraq and Lebanon, the authorities have come to regard democracy activists as a potential fifth column. Separatist attacks in border provinces have been blamed on the US and Britain.
When Condoleezza Rice promised cash for Iranian democracy movements last year, activists and non-governmental organisations started to feel the heat.
"Such measures always have the reverse effect on the country to those intended," said Elaheh Koolaee, a former member of parliament and official for a major reformist party. "They increase the domestic reaction because of suspicions over the motives of foreign countries."
Koolaee's party supported a demonstration last week for international women's day that was violently dispersed by the police. Kayhan newspaper, which reflects hardliner views, accused the women of accepting foreign money and being a front for enemies of the Islamic Republic. Groups representing women, students, ethnic minorities and workers have all taken to the streets in recent months, but they now lack the meagre political cover once extended by Mohammed Khatami's government.
Those who seek change within the system increasingly fall foul of the authorities. One of the women arrested last week was Shadi Sadr, a young human rights lawyer who has successfully defended women facing the death penalty. Activists working within the system sometimes criticise those who reject it for giving the state an excuse to crack down. Others disagree.
"The state structure is closed to outsiders," said Abdullah Momeni, one of Iran's most prominent student leaders. "Political activists should change things with protest movements and civil disobedience, which can promote change without giving legitimacy to the system."
Mr Sanjari's development from wide-eyed student to hardened political prisoner by the age of 23 reflects the frustration of some young activists who see little point in engaging with the regime. Like many others, he has played a cat-and-mouse game with the authorities, fought in courtrooms and prison cells, at political demonstrations and online, or in the pages of foreign newspapers.
On one occasion, during the 2005 presidential elections, his flat was raided by security agents. "They pretended to be postmen bringing a letter from the Netherlands," he says. "I didn't open the door because I was scared. I could see from the window they didn't look like postmen. But the neighbours let them into the block and they broke down the door of my flat."
His first arrest at the age of 17 in 2001 led to a spell in Towhid prison, once used by the Shah to jail the future leaders of the Islamic Republic and since turned into a museum commemorating victims of pre-revolutionary torture. By 2002 he was a committed activist, spending another three months in prison. He later served a whole year, accused of membership of an illegal organisation.
"I didn't even think about my family at the time, but during the three months I was in prison they didn't know where I was," he said. "My mother went from court to court begging to see her son."
Iranian campaigners
* Sina Motallebi In the summer of 2002 while a reporter for the pro-reform Hayat-e Nou newspaper, he became the first person in the world to be imprisoned for the contents of his blog. He was released and left Iran for Europe.
* Akbar Ganji One of Iran's most influential dissidents, he was once a member of the Revolutionary Guards, now a fierce critic of the government. Released from a seven-year jail sentence last year after 80-day hunger strike.
* Shirin Ebadi Successful human rights lawyer who shot to international fame after becoming the surprise winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2003.
Iran: Further information on Fear for safety/ Fear of torture and ill-treatment: Kianoosh Sanjari
http://www.amnesty.org/en/alfresco_asset/8676e33a-a30e-11dc-8d74-6f45f39984e5/mde130012007en.html
PUBLIC AI Index: MDE 13/001/2007
10 January 2007
Further Information on UA 284/06 (MDE 13/121/2006, 23 October 2006) Fear for safety/Fear of torture or ill-treatment
IRAN Kianoosh Sanjari (m) aged 24, student activist and blogger
Student activist Kianoosh Sanjari was released on 27 December on bail of 100 million touman (over US$100,000) by the Special Court for the Clergy. He is believed to have been accused of “acting against state security” and “propaganda against the system”, although he does not yet appear to have been formally charged. No date has been set for a trial to begin.
He had been arrested in Tehran on 8 October 2006 while reporting on clashes between the security forces and supporters of Shi'a cleric Ayatollah Sayed Hossein Kazemeyni Boroujerdi. Beaten with batons during his arrest, he was taken to Section 209 of Evin Prison, which is run by the Ministry of Intelligence, and held there until his release. He was not permitted to meet his lawyer while he was in custody, and was not allowed to phone his family for the first month. After the first month, he was permitted some family visits, but these were supervised by an official.
Kianoosh Sanjari has thanked Amnesty International for its efforts. In a posting on his blog dated 8 January 2007 (which can be read in Persian at http://ks61.blogspot.com/2007/01/blog-post_08.html), he thanked those who worked on his behalf and mentioned Amnesty International. He also referred to a radio interview with Radio Farda (http://www.radiofarda.com/Article/2007/01/08/f4_sanjari_release_iran.html) in which he described his detention in Section 209. He said that during his first interrogation session the interrogator slapped him very hard several times and told him that he would be executed, which he believed was intended to put pressure on him to confess. He said that because of the conditions of his release, he was unable to describe everything that had happened while he was in custody.
According to Radio Farda, he had spent a month and a half in solitary confinement, and said, "Keeping people in solitary confinement, in which they have no contact with the outside world, is reckoned to be one of the worst forms of torture ... Solitary confinement, which is at war with body and mind, can be the most inhuman form of white torture for someone like me who has been arrested solely for the crime of investigating the rights of citizens and society." Kianoosh Sanjari went on to say that stories he had posted on his website, which had been picked up by other news sites, such as the memorial ceremony for Akbar Mohammadi, who died in prison following a hunger strike, and also news regarding the situation of political prisoners, seemed to have been the cause of “sensitivity” on the part of the authorities.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Kianoosh Sanjari has been arrested at least four times, the first time when he was only 17. He was held in various detention centres, including Prison 59, and Section 325 of Evin Prison, which are both controlled by the Revolutionary Guards, and section 209 of Evin Prison, controlled by the Ministry of Intelligence. On one occasion he was sentenced to a year’s imprisonment by Branch 26 of the Revolutionary Court after being accused of student activities and being a spokesman for the United Student Front. Students are a politically active section of society in Iran, and are frequently targeted by the authorities for abuses including arbitrary arrest and denial of the right to continue their studies.
“White torture” is a term used by Iranians to describe prolonged periods of solitary confinement, often in detention centres outside the control of the prison authorities, including Section 209 of Evin Prison. Some of those who have experienced it have described it as being far worse than physical abuse.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible in English, French, Persian, Arabic or your own language:
- welcoming the release on bail of Kianoosh Sanjari;
- calling on the authorities to order an immediate and impartial investigation into his allegations that he was tortured (which included being beaten, threatened with execution and subjected to prolonged incommunicado detention) and bring those responsible to justice;
- asking the precise charges he is facing, and the evidence against him;
- asking the authorities to inform you of the date of any trial sessions;
- urging the authorities to drop any charges against him which relate solely to his peaceful exercise of his internationally recognized right to freedom of expression and association, including his work as a blogger and human rights defender;
- stating that if Kianoosh Sanjari were to be convicted and imprisoned solely on the basis of such charges, Amnesty International would consider him to be a prisoner of conscience, and would call for his immediate and unconditional release.
APPEALS TO:
Leader of the Islamic Republic
His Excellency Ayatollah Sayed ‘Ali Khamenei, The Office of the Supreme Leader
Shoahada Street, Qom, Islamic Republic of Iran
Email: info@leader.ir
istiftaa@wilayah.org
Salutation: Your Excellency
Head of the Judiciary
His Excellency Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi
Ministry of Justice, Park-e Shahr, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
Fax: + 98 21 3 311 6567 (Mark: "Please forward to HE Ayatollah Shahroudi")
Salutation: Your Excellency
Minister of Intelligence
Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejeie
Ministry of Intelligence, Second Negarestan Street, Pasdaran Avenue, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
Email: iranprobe@iranprobe.com
Salutation: Your Excellency
COPIES TO:
President
His Excellency Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
The Presidency, Palestine Avenue, Azerbaijan Intersection, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
Fax: (via foreign ministry) +981 6 674 790 (Mark "Please forward to H.E. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad")
Email: dr-ahmadinejad@president.ir
via website: www.president.ir/email
Salutation: Your Excellency
Speaker of Parliament
His Excellency Gholamali Haddad Adel
Majles-e Shoura-ye Eslami
Imam Khomeini Avenue,
Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
Fax: + 98 21 6 646 1746
and to diplomatic representatives of Iran accredited to your country.
PUBLIC AI Index: MDE 13/001/2007
10 January 2007
Further Information on UA 284/06 (MDE 13/121/2006, 23 October 2006) Fear for safety/Fear of torture or ill-treatment
IRAN Kianoosh Sanjari (m) aged 24, student activist and blogger
Student activist Kianoosh Sanjari was released on 27 December on bail of 100 million touman (over US$100,000) by the Special Court for the Clergy. He is believed to have been accused of “acting against state security” and “propaganda against the system”, although he does not yet appear to have been formally charged. No date has been set for a trial to begin.
He had been arrested in Tehran on 8 October 2006 while reporting on clashes between the security forces and supporters of Shi'a cleric Ayatollah Sayed Hossein Kazemeyni Boroujerdi. Beaten with batons during his arrest, he was taken to Section 209 of Evin Prison, which is run by the Ministry of Intelligence, and held there until his release. He was not permitted to meet his lawyer while he was in custody, and was not allowed to phone his family for the first month. After the first month, he was permitted some family visits, but these were supervised by an official.
Kianoosh Sanjari has thanked Amnesty International for its efforts. In a posting on his blog dated 8 January 2007 (which can be read in Persian at http://ks61.blogspot.com/2007/01/blog-post_08.html), he thanked those who worked on his behalf and mentioned Amnesty International. He also referred to a radio interview with Radio Farda (http://www.radiofarda.com/Article/2007/01/08/f4_sanjari_release_iran.html) in which he described his detention in Section 209. He said that during his first interrogation session the interrogator slapped him very hard several times and told him that he would be executed, which he believed was intended to put pressure on him to confess. He said that because of the conditions of his release, he was unable to describe everything that had happened while he was in custody.
According to Radio Farda, he had spent a month and a half in solitary confinement, and said, "Keeping people in solitary confinement, in which they have no contact with the outside world, is reckoned to be one of the worst forms of torture ... Solitary confinement, which is at war with body and mind, can be the most inhuman form of white torture for someone like me who has been arrested solely for the crime of investigating the rights of citizens and society." Kianoosh Sanjari went on to say that stories he had posted on his website, which had been picked up by other news sites, such as the memorial ceremony for Akbar Mohammadi, who died in prison following a hunger strike, and also news regarding the situation of political prisoners, seemed to have been the cause of “sensitivity” on the part of the authorities.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Kianoosh Sanjari has been arrested at least four times, the first time when he was only 17. He was held in various detention centres, including Prison 59, and Section 325 of Evin Prison, which are both controlled by the Revolutionary Guards, and section 209 of Evin Prison, controlled by the Ministry of Intelligence. On one occasion he was sentenced to a year’s imprisonment by Branch 26 of the Revolutionary Court after being accused of student activities and being a spokesman for the United Student Front. Students are a politically active section of society in Iran, and are frequently targeted by the authorities for abuses including arbitrary arrest and denial of the right to continue their studies.
“White torture” is a term used by Iranians to describe prolonged periods of solitary confinement, often in detention centres outside the control of the prison authorities, including Section 209 of Evin Prison. Some of those who have experienced it have described it as being far worse than physical abuse.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible in English, French, Persian, Arabic or your own language:
- welcoming the release on bail of Kianoosh Sanjari;
- calling on the authorities to order an immediate and impartial investigation into his allegations that he was tortured (which included being beaten, threatened with execution and subjected to prolonged incommunicado detention) and bring those responsible to justice;
- asking the precise charges he is facing, and the evidence against him;
- asking the authorities to inform you of the date of any trial sessions;
- urging the authorities to drop any charges against him which relate solely to his peaceful exercise of his internationally recognized right to freedom of expression and association, including his work as a blogger and human rights defender;
- stating that if Kianoosh Sanjari were to be convicted and imprisoned solely on the basis of such charges, Amnesty International would consider him to be a prisoner of conscience, and would call for his immediate and unconditional release.
APPEALS TO:
Leader of the Islamic Republic
His Excellency Ayatollah Sayed ‘Ali Khamenei, The Office of the Supreme Leader
Shoahada Street, Qom, Islamic Republic of Iran
Email: info@leader.ir
istiftaa@wilayah.org
Salutation: Your Excellency
Head of the Judiciary
His Excellency Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi
Ministry of Justice, Park-e Shahr, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
Fax: + 98 21 3 311 6567 (Mark: "Please forward to HE Ayatollah Shahroudi")
Salutation: Your Excellency
Minister of Intelligence
Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejeie
Ministry of Intelligence, Second Negarestan Street, Pasdaran Avenue, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
Email: iranprobe@iranprobe.com
Salutation: Your Excellency
COPIES TO:
President
His Excellency Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
The Presidency, Palestine Avenue, Azerbaijan Intersection, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
Fax: (via foreign ministry) +981 6 674 790 (Mark "Please forward to H.E. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad")
Email: dr-ahmadinejad@president.ir
via website: www.president.ir/email
Salutation: Your Excellency
Speaker of Parliament
His Excellency Gholamali Haddad Adel
Majles-e Shoura-ye Eslami
Imam Khomeini Avenue,
Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
Fax: + 98 21 6 646 1746
and to diplomatic representatives of Iran accredited to your country.
Iran: Released Student Activist Thinks Blog Riled 'Sensitivities'
http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2007/01/489B68D8-B5D0-425D-9027-D4A2E825809C.html
January 11, 2007 (RFE/RL) -- The charges against Kianush Sanjari remain unclear, but he suspects that stories posted on his personal weblog might have riled "sensitivities" among authorities.
A student activist and devoted blogger, Sanjari was released on December 27 after posting the equivalent of more than $100,000 in bail (100 million tumans). He had spent about three months in Evin prison.
Sanjari was arrested in October during clashes in the capital between police and supporters of the Ayatollah Kazemeyni Boroujerdi, who advocates a separation of religion from politics.
Sanjari says he does not want to comment on the circumstances of his arrest.
"Because of the limitations I'm facing, and also because I'm not [completely] free, I'm afraid I cannot describe everything that happened during my arrest and custody in [section] 209 of the security detention center (Evin prison)," Sanjari says. "But I can say that -- apart from my activities in defense of the rights of political prisoners, many of whom are my friends -- I am also a blogger; and on [October 7], I went to a protest to cover it for my blog."
Sanjari and dozens of others -- including the ayatollah at the heart of that protest -- were arrested that day. Many have been released, but Ayatollah Boroujerdi reportedly remains in prison.
Sanjari says he was beaten by special police forces before being transferred to Section 209 of Evin prison, which is Iran's most notorious detention center for critics and activists.
Sanjari recalls his first interrogation in Section 209.
"A man, whom I could not see because I had been blindfold, slapped me eight or nine times and told me that I would be among those who would be executed," he says. "Of course, he said that to apply physical and psychological pressure."
'White Torture'
Sanjari is no stranger to the methods that Iranian prisons employ to force confessions. He has been arrested several times. The first time he was jailed, he was just 17 years old.
Rights groups say Iran's political prisoners are often held in solitary confinement for long periods, with no contact with the outside world. The method is frequently described in Iran as "white torture."
Sanjari has been subjected to "white torture" several times in the past -- including this latest detention, when he spent a month and a half in solitary confinement.
He calls it one of the worst forms of torture.
"I feel that solitary confinement -- which wages war on the soul and mind of a person -- can be the most inhuman form of white torture for people like me, who are arrested solely for [defending] citizens' rights. I only hope the day comes when no one is put in solitary confinement [to punish them] for the peaceful expression of his ideas."
Charges A Mystery
The charges against Sanjari are unclear. Amnesty International suggests he might have been accused of "acting against state security" and "propaganda against the system." Those are common charges in dissidents' cases.
Sanjari says his blog might have upset authorities.
"From the questions and inquisitiveness, I could understand that stories I had posted on my blog and were used by news websites had caused sensitivity," Sanjari says.
Before his arrest, Sanjari had posted stories on his blog dealing with the plights of political prisoners. He also covered a commemoration ceremony held for activist Akbar Mohammadi, who died at Evin prison following a hunger strike, and a police raid on the office of Iran's largest reformist student group.
No date has been announced for a trial for Sanjari. In the meantime, he can only speculate as to the charges that he is likely to face.
January 11, 2007 (RFE/RL) -- The charges against Kianush Sanjari remain unclear, but he suspects that stories posted on his personal weblog might have riled "sensitivities" among authorities.
A student activist and devoted blogger, Sanjari was released on December 27 after posting the equivalent of more than $100,000 in bail (100 million tumans). He had spent about three months in Evin prison.
Sanjari was arrested in October during clashes in the capital between police and supporters of the Ayatollah Kazemeyni Boroujerdi, who advocates a separation of religion from politics.
Sanjari says he does not want to comment on the circumstances of his arrest.
"Because of the limitations I'm facing, and also because I'm not [completely] free, I'm afraid I cannot describe everything that happened during my arrest and custody in [section] 209 of the security detention center (Evin prison)," Sanjari says. "But I can say that -- apart from my activities in defense of the rights of political prisoners, many of whom are my friends -- I am also a blogger; and on [October 7], I went to a protest to cover it for my blog."
Sanjari and dozens of others -- including the ayatollah at the heart of that protest -- were arrested that day. Many have been released, but Ayatollah Boroujerdi reportedly remains in prison.
Sanjari says he was beaten by special police forces before being transferred to Section 209 of Evin prison, which is Iran's most notorious detention center for critics and activists.
Sanjari recalls his first interrogation in Section 209.
"A man, whom I could not see because I had been blindfold, slapped me eight or nine times and told me that I would be among those who would be executed," he says. "Of course, he said that to apply physical and psychological pressure."
'White Torture'
Sanjari is no stranger to the methods that Iranian prisons employ to force confessions. He has been arrested several times. The first time he was jailed, he was just 17 years old.
Rights groups say Iran's political prisoners are often held in solitary confinement for long periods, with no contact with the outside world. The method is frequently described in Iran as "white torture."
Sanjari has been subjected to "white torture" several times in the past -- including this latest detention, when he spent a month and a half in solitary confinement.
He calls it one of the worst forms of torture.
"I feel that solitary confinement -- which wages war on the soul and mind of a person -- can be the most inhuman form of white torture for people like me, who are arrested solely for [defending] citizens' rights. I only hope the day comes when no one is put in solitary confinement [to punish them] for the peaceful expression of his ideas."
Charges A Mystery
The charges against Sanjari are unclear. Amnesty International suggests he might have been accused of "acting against state security" and "propaganda against the system." Those are common charges in dissidents' cases.
Sanjari says his blog might have upset authorities.
"From the questions and inquisitiveness, I could understand that stories I had posted on my blog and were used by news websites had caused sensitivity," Sanjari says.
Before his arrest, Sanjari had posted stories on his blog dealing with the plights of political prisoners. He also covered a commemoration ceremony held for activist Akbar Mohammadi, who died at Evin prison following a hunger strike, and a police raid on the office of Iran's largest reformist student group.
No date has been announced for a trial for Sanjari. In the meantime, he can only speculate as to the charges that he is likely to face.
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