Mohammad Seyedi Kashani, a senior member of the Iranian opposition People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), passed away on Wednesday in a hospital in Albania. He was a member of this organization for 53 years, joining the PMOI/MEK the day after its foundation. Kashani was in contact with PMOI/MEK founder Mohammad Hanif Nejad.
Born in Tehran in 1942, Kashani went on to receive his Master's Degree in physics from Tehran University. He was then working as a research and development expert in Iran’s national oil company.
For more than seven years, from 1971 to 1979, Kashani spent time behind bars after being arrested by the Shah’s notorious secret service, the SAVAK. During his trial in a military court, he courageously defended the PMOI/MEK positions and ideology and turned the scene into the prosecution of the Shah’s regime for its crimes against the oppressed nation of Iran. Kashani was initially sentenced to two executions and went on to see his ruling downgraded to life in jail. He was released with the last group of political prisoners on January 20, 1979, less than three weeks before the 1979 revolution. Read more
Senior PMOI/MEK member Marzieh Rezaei passes away
Ms. Marzieh Rezaei, a member of the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) Central Council, passed away this morning, May 4, 2018, in Albania following a long struggle against cancer.
Born in 1968 into the renowned Rezaei family who have lost many members in the Iranian people’s plight for freedom, Marzieh became familiar with the PMOI/MEK and their devotion for their nation from an early age. After joining the organization she was seen actively accepting a variety of responsibilities.
During the Iraqi forces’ July 2009 attack on Camp Ashraf – former PMOI/MEK site in Iraq – Ms. Rezaei courageously stood shoulder to shoulder with her colleagues to defend their home and rights. Following the Iraqis’ ground assault Ms. Rezaei joined a large number of other PMOI/MEK members launching a hunger strike protesting the atrocity. Despite the deterioration of her health after a long hunger strike, Ms. Mraziah was always there as an inspiration to her friends and colleagues.
After a heinous crime by the mullahs' regime mercenaries in Camp Ashraf in Iraq on Sept. 1st, 2013, in which 52 PMOI/MEK members were brutally gunned down in cold blood, she, along with hundreds of other PMOI members and supporters from around the world went on hunger strike which lasted her 92 days.
And despite all the pains, she also set an example of high spirits in her struggle against struggle cancer.
Maryam Rajavi, the president-elect of the Iranian Resistance expressed her utmost condolences to all PMOI/MEK members and heroic Rezaei family, especially her mother.
The fighting spirit seen in the heroic Marzieh during her years of perseverance in Iraq, and her endurance in the face of cancer, eternally places her alongside the renowned Rezaie family martyrs, Mrs. Rajavi said.
PMOI/MEK Secretary General Ms. Zahra Merikhi hailed Ms. Rezaei, describing her as a genuine example of heroism, perseverance and fighting spirit against the religious fascism ruling Iran. Related: Glorious Epics–what happened in jails during 1981 to 1988 Massacre?
Prison Officials Refuse Medical Treatment for Sick Prisoner
Ardebil central prison authorities have refused to send a sick prisoner to the infirmary or a health centre since the end of his hunger strike.
The political prisoner Mohammad Saber Malek-Reisi, incarcerated in central prison of Ardebil, is suffering from medical conditions, including gastrointestinal problems due to long-term hunger strikes.
However, the prison authorities refuse to provide medical treatment to the prisoner. The prison doctor told him “I do not visit you; you should not have gone on hunger strike; you should have thought about the consequences of this before the strike.”
In the past days, the security officer, named Sha’bani, has repeatedly prevented Mohammad Saber from going to the prison infirmary.
This political prisoner has already lost about 24 kilos of his body weight in prison after a 39-day long hunger strike protesting the restrictions and pressure from prison authorities as well as beating and mayhem.
At the same time as nationwide protests in Iran started, he ended his hunger strike by sending a message and emphasizing that “in such a situation, the priority is to focus the attention of civil society and media on the nationwide protests in Iran.”
During the strike, Mohammad Saber was transferred to the quarantine of the central prison of Ardabil. The pressure on him to end the hunger strike and to accept the prison conditions was to such an extent that even the prison shop refused to give a bottle of mineral water to the prisoner and condition it to the end of the hunger strike. Read more
On the 30th Day of Hunger Strike, Political Prisoners' Health is Deteriorating Rapidly
Mohammad Saber Malek Raisi, has gone on hunger strike since November 29 while in solitary confinement, protesting the inhuman conditions and tortures he has been enduring in Ardabil Prison. Despite heart disease caused by torture he announced that he is not going to stop the hunger strike until his demands are met.
Malek Raisi has suffered from fever and severe pain in his chest since the 22nd day of the strike, but prison authorities has not allowed his hospitalisation outside of Central Ardabil Prison. To conceal the exiled political prisoner‘s condition they also denied his contact with his family.
On the morning of November 29, young Baluch political prisoner Mohammad Saber Malek Raisi, who is detained in the Central Ardabil Prison, was taken to the Quarantine Section where he was tied to a pole and beaten. Farhad Nowrozi, the head of the Interior Section, Sadegh Zadeh, a prison guard officer and a number of soldiers severely beat the young prisoner with sticks and whips. The beating was so intense that he was bruised and battered in his face, back and stomach. Malek Reiesi went on a hunger strike on November 29 in protest to this inhumane treatment.
Last year on December 18, 2016, he was tied to a pole in the prison’s courtyard and was left there for 14 hours in the freezing temperatures after being beaten. Malek Reiesi was arrested when he was 17 years old and was tortured. He is currently 25 years old and is one of the youngest (political) prisoners in Iran. Malek Reisi wrote a letter to Ms. Asmah Jahangir, the Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran, detailing the condition he has been enduring in prison and being insulted by the Central Ardabil Prison Protection and Intelligence Office.
“On Wednesday November 27, my religion and beliefs were insulted by the Central Ardabil Prison Protection and Intelligence Office and I was then taken to the office of the head of prison guards. While there, the head of the section and the head of the guards tied my hands and feet and beat me with a baton. While punching and kicking my face, they used profane language against my family to insult me. They then transferred me to quarantine while still tied up with a bruised body.” The letter reads in part.
Mohammad Saber Malek Raisi was arrested in 2009 at the age of 15. He was sentenced to 15 years behind bars for “collaboration with opposition groups.”
His family however have frequently stressed that their son is innocent and is considered hostages of the Ministry of Intelligence to force his elder brother to surrender to the authorities.
Security officials told the family that if their other son Abdul Rahman surrender himself to security forces, Mohammad will be released. Abdul Rahman, fled the country in 2009 fearing for his life after he refused spy on Sunni scholars and Balouchi tribes.
It is 9 year since Iranian regime agents have kidnapped and detained Mohammad Saber Malek Raisi when he was fifteen.in order to arrest his older brother. They have gone even further to threaten the family, saying Mohammad will be executed if his older brother doesn’t turn himself in.
He was insulted and beaten and Tortured many times by the head of prison’s security force, because of writing a letter and going on hunger strike This action was done by the Ardebil prison’s officials while Mr. Malek Reisi had been courtyard with handcuff and shackles and chained to flagpole in cold weather for 14 hours. despite being on hunger strike and being beaten he has not yet been transferred to the infirmary
On January 29, Iranian regime intelligence and security agents arrested the Mr. Jafar Azimzadeh, Secretary of the Board of Directors of the Free Union of Iran Workers, at 5:30 pm local time.
According to reports, Azimzadeh is detained at the 11th police headquarter in Karaj, west of the capital, Tehran, and will be kept there until the judge's announcement. The agents confiscated Azimzadeh’s laptop, cell phone, and personal belongings
#RezaShahabi, a #labor activist, has #stroke in #prison
Labor activist says Tehran Prosecutor is lying about Shahabi’s charges
Following new charges brought against detained labor activist Reza Shahabi by the Tehran Prosecutor including “contacting and obtaining money from dissident groups”, a labor activist from the Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company Worker’s Syndicate, said that such charges had not been raised even during the interrogation phase.
“The Tehran Prosecutor is lying as a pretext for the judiciary’s illegal measures”, he said.
This worker activist said the Prosecutor’s goal was to use these charges as an excuse to illegally keep Reza Shahabi in prison.
“Shahabi was a bus driver before his arrest and after his release, he opened a family grocery store with his wife. This is their only source of income. Sometimes Syndicate members may help those who have family in prison but having contacts with other groups and receiving money is an absolute lie”, the labor activist added.
Detained labor activist sends message from Rajaie Shahr Prison
Reza Shahabi, a prominent Iranian labor activist sent a message from prison detailing human rights violations and thanked the people and labor activists for their continuing support.
Letter by Five French Syndicates to Macron: Take Action to Save the Life of Reza ShahabiNCRI - Five French labour syndicates, together with Amnesty International, called on the French President Emanuel Macron to intervene to protect Reza Shahabi, member of the Syndicate of Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company. Reza Shahabi has been on hunger strike for 35 days, and his life is in danger.The letter to the French President is part of a “Collective” action consisting of five French syndicates including the CGT, the CFDT, the FSU, UNSA and Solidaires together with Amnesty International to support Reza Shahabi and other Iranian labour and cultural activists.Reza Shahabi, a labour activist who has been on hunger strike since August 9, faces severe hypertension, localized anaesthesia in the left side of the body, impaired digestive function, and severe weight loss. READ MORE
Prominent Syndicalist Prisoner in Critical Health Condition
Workers Syndicate of Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company, in a statement reported “deterioration” of Reza Shahabi’s health condition due to “complications of hunger strike.” Mr. Shahabi is a member of the board of directors of this guild organization.According to the statement of the Workers Syndicate of the Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company, Reza Shahabi's family said after a meeting with him in the Rajaei Shahr (Gohardasht) prison in Karaj on Wednesday, August 10, that the activist had a severe weakness and his left hand lost feeling and was numb.
Reza Shahabi struck a hunger strike 23 days ago in protest at his re-arrest. After returning to prison, following the pressures by the regime’s judiciary and prosecution office, he found that his medical leave, which was approved by legal physician of forensics, was not accepted by the prosecutor's office and was considered as “absence” and he has to stay in prison for another 968 days.
However, according to the Syndicate of Workers, Mr. Shahabi had already seen in prison the letter regarding the end of his prison term in 2015.
The Statement of Social Activists to Support Political Prisoners on Hunger Strike
NCRI - A group of labor activists and workers released a statement in North of Khuzestan (southwest of Iran) to support the political prisoners of Gohardasht Prison who have gone on hunger strike.
The statement reads, "Some terrible news comes through about the poor condition of political prisoners whereas many reformists' preoccupations are to submit articles in blogs and cyberspace or to criticize and comment on other articles. According to the reliable sources, some political prisoners of Gohardasht Prison are on hunger strike due to the poor condition of the prison. The political prisoners have started their hunger strike since July 30, 2017, as the prison guards attacked the prisoners.
Labour Activist Stages Indefinite Hunger Strike
Syndicate of the Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company said on Wednesday, 16 August 2017 that Reza Shahabi, an imprisoned member of this labour union was on hunger strike in Rajaei Shahr (Gohardssht) prison in Karaj.
A report published on the Telegram page of the syndicate indicates that Mr. Shahabi has started his hunger strike eight days ago. A close friend of this labour activist also confirmed his hunger strike in a conversation with Radio Farda. Read more
A Letter Regarding the Status of Hunger Striking Political Prisoner in Iran
Atena Daemi, a female political and civil rights activist incarcerated in Evin prison, wrote an open letter reacting to the situation of Mohammad Nazari, a political prisoner detained in Rajai Shahr (Gohardasht) prison in Karaj who experienced a prolonged hunger strike in recent months.
Ms. Daemi considers freedom to be the right of this prisoner who has been deprived of his freedom for the past 24 years.
She urged all conscientious minds to pay more attention to the “situation of the political prisoners and prisoners of conscience in Iran who have been locked behind bars in silence and injustice for many years,” asking them to make every effort to release them.
Battering against the heavy waves with his weary arms,
Keeping his mouth open, with his eyes torn with terror,
He has seen your shadows from afar,
He has swallowed the water in the livid depths,
and every moment his anguish grows,
From these waters erupt,
His head, and his feet, at once,
Oh! humans,
From the distance, he is watching this ancient world,
He is shouting and for help he hopes,
Oh! humans,
Busy watching from your untroubled shore,
The waves are pounding against the silent shore,
And spread,
Like a drunkard fallen in place,
So senseless,
Run away shouting, and this cry comes from the distance:
"Oh! humans"
NCRI issues urgent call to save hunger striking political prisoner Mohammad Nazari
Political prisoner Mohammad Nazari is in dangerously critical conditions after 94 days of hunger strike. Mr. Nazari is presently detained in Gohardasht Prison, Karaj, west of Tehran. The National Council of Resistance of Iran calls on international human rights defenders, particularly the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran, the special rapporteurs on arbitrary arrests, torture and the right to life, to take urgent action and effective measures to save his life and gain his freedom.
IRANIAN PRISONER OF CONSCIENCE CRITICALLY ILL: MOHAMMAD NAZARI
Prisoner of conscience Mohammad Nazari, who has been unjustly languishing in prison for over two decades, is critically ill and needs urgent medical care outside prison. He has been on hunger strike since 30 July, demanding his release from prison. He must be released immediately and unconditionally. Read more
IRANIAN PRISONER OF CONSCIENCE CRITICALLY ILL: MOHAMMAD NAZARI
Prisoner of conscience Mohammad Nazari, who has been unjustly languishing in prison
for over two decades, is critically ill and needs urgent medical care outside prison. He
has been on hunger strike since 30 July, demanding his release from prison. He must be
released immediately and unconditionally.
The health of prisoner of conscience Mohammad Nazari, 46, who has spent half of his life in prison, has seriously
deteriorated as a result of his prolonged hunger strike. He has undertaken a hunger strike since 30 July in protest
at his unjust imprisonment and the refusal of the authorities to review his conviction and sentence, which followed a
grossly unfair trial and stemmed from his peaceful support of the political goals of the Kurdish Democratic Party of
Iran (KDPI). He has lost about 25 kilograms in weight, his blood pressure has repeatedly dropped, and he has
become so physically weak that he can no longer walk or talk. He also suffers from several general health
problems including heart disease, for which prison doctors have long said he requires specialized medical care
outside prison. The authorities have consistently ignored such advice. On 19 October, Mohammad Nazari was
transferred to a hospital outside prison on an emergency basis but was returned to prison after one night without
receiving adequate treatment. Despite his deteriorating health, Mohammad Nazari has said that he will continue his
hunger strike until he dies, unless the authorities grant his repeated requests for a fair review of his case.
Mohammad Nazari was arrested aged 23 in May 1994 by Revolutionary Guards officials in Bukan, West Azerbaijan
Province. He was held for over a month in solitary confinement, first by the Revolutionary Guards and then by the
Ministry of Intelligence. He has said that, during this period, he was subjected to torture including beatings, kicking,
and flogging on the soles of his feet, and threats made against his sister, in order to make him “confess” to being
involved in an alleged assassination plot against a number of people affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards. No
evidence of the plot or his involvement in any armed activities was presented in court. Amnesty International
believes that the allegation was fabricated, and that the real reason for his arrest was related to his political beliefs.
Following a grossly unfair 30-minute trial before a Revolutionary Court in the city of Mahabad in West Azerbaijan
Province, Mohammad Nazari was convicted of “enmity against God” (moharebeh) and sentenced to death. The
court issued its verdict based on his forced “confessions”, despite Mohammad Nazari repeatedly telling the court
they had been made under torture and that Ministry of Intelligence officials had told him they knew the story of the
alleged assassination plot had been fabricated. Mohammad Nazari’s death sentence was commuted to life
imprisonment in 1999. He has since submitted numerous requests for retrial but apparently none of them have
been considered by the authorities. At no point during his detention or trial did he have access to a lawyer. He has
also never received an official copy of the verdict.
Political prisoner asks for help after 84 days of hunger strike
Political prisoner Mohammad Nazari, who has been imprisoned for 24 years, has been on hunger strike for more than 81 days. According to prison physicians, his condition is critical and he is in serious danger and could go into a coma at any moment.
Nazari wrote a letter from prison on October 18. This letter reads in part:
“I am the loneliest prisoner in this city! Despite 81 days of hunger strike, no one has listened and helped me in this city…
My name is Mohammad Nazari, and I have been behind bars in Mahabad Prison, Orumieh Prison and currently in Rajaie Shahr Prison for 24 years… My parents and brother have all passed away in Bukan and I have no one expect you, the people.
I have been on hunger strike for 81 days. A hunger strike for a very simple request.
I want neither liberty nor a leave; I want the law to be enforced. According to the law, I should have been released four and a half years ago. But the invisible hands of power and security have prevented the implementation of this law. Now, after 24 years in prison, while I am completely alone and left with nothing, I have no choice but to go on hunger strike…
Help me; help me so that my voice would be heard because now death is my only option to free myself from the torment of prison and my hunger strike.
Help me reach my legal right to freedom that they have deprived me of. Anything other than my release, and I will continue my strike until I too pass away and I am buried in Bukan cemetery where my family is.
Mohammad Nazari
Wednesday, October 18
Rajaie Shahr Prison “.
Kurd political prisoner Mohammad Nazari who was arrested in 1994 by agents of the Abuzar Revolutionary Guards Coprs in Bukan, has been deprived of a prison leave despite serving 24 years of prison.
He was arrested on charges of supporting and advocating Kurd opposition parties. Nazari was initially sentenced to death in a court without the presence of a lawyer… His sentenced was then lowered to life in prison in 1999. (Kurdpa Website – Jun. 1, 2017)
After 74th day of hunger strike of Kurdish political prisoner
Political prisoners write letter to Iran UN Rapporteur
A group of political prisoners in Karaj’s Rajaie Shahr Prison wrote a letter to the UN Secretary General and the Special Rapporteur on Iran, warning about the danger that political prisoner Mohammad Nazari is facing. Nazari is in critical condition due to his hunger strike. They requested that this political prisoner be released from prisoner.
Political prisoner Mohammad Nazari, who is on hunger strike in Gohardasht Prison in Karaj, was taken to a hospital outside of prison due to the deterioration of his health. But hospital officials have said that they have been instructed by the Judiciary not to examine him.
As a result of the hunger strike, the prisoner’s kidneys have stopped working and his liver has been seriously damaged. Mohammad Nazari has been imprisoned for the past 24 years. He went on a hunger strike in protest to the transfer of political prisoner to a maximum security section in Gohardasht Prison.
Health conditions of political prisoners in Iran’s Rajaee-Shahr prison have deteriorated as prison officials and regime’s judiciary prevent the prisoners from being sent to health centers. According to reports, the political prisoner Saeid Shirzad and a number of other political prisoners staged a two-month hunger strike starting from July 23, 2017, to protest against pressures applied to prisoners by Rajaee-Shahr prison officilals. Shirzad was later beaten and transferred to prison’s section 3 in mid-September, 2017.
Shirzad was first arrested after launching a relief operation for Azarbayjan’s quake-stricken residents. He was released 19 days later on bail. On June 2, 2014, Shirzad was once again arrested in his workplace in Tabriz Refinery and transferred to Evin Priosn. He was later sent into exile in Rajaee-Shahr prison for his pursuing prisoners’ protests.
After going through 15 months of uncertainty and imprisonment, Shirzad was charged with ‘gathering and colluding’ and sentenced to five years in prison by Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court Judge Abolghasem Salavati. This was while the political prisoner was earlier sentenced to one year suspended imprisonment, a sentence that was turned into a prison term in the new court ruling.
Among his activities, Shirzad was involved in relief operations in Bushehr’s quake-stricken areas as well as Sistan and Baluchestan’s deprived ones. Shirzad was also involved in educating quake-hit children in deprived areas, providing healthcare training and facilities, outfitting accommodations set up for earthquake survivors, providing standard electrical wiring for earthquake victims’ residing conexes, and communicating with quake-hit and suffering children so as to prepare them for dealing with their unfavorable conditions.
Saeed Shirzad is a children's rights defender in Iran. He has worked with children’s rights NGOs including the Association in Support of Children’s Rights, Children’s Home of Shoosh and Society in Defence of Street Children, and has traveled throughout Iran and internationally to provide humanitarian assistance to children and advocate for their rights. Saeed is known in particular for his work in defence of street children, which includes organisation training, education, and health services for homeless, disadvantaged, and refugee children in collaboration with UNICEF. He has helped recruit lawyers to support refugee and asylum seeking families to obtain legal documentation, and identified and provided direct support to more than 100 families working in sweatshops.
Saeed Shirzad, an ethnic Kurd and children’s rights activist was arrested in the earthquake-stricken town of Varzaghan in East Azerbaijan province by security agents from the town of Ahar. Agents purportedly arrested Shirzad as he administered aid to earthquake victims in the afternoon of Tuesday, August 21, 2012. Following his arrest, Shirzad was transferred to Ahar prison.
On
Golrokh Iraee appealing for the life of hunger striking prisoner
Political prisoner Golrokh Iraee who has been imprisoned just for writing an unpublished book against the inhuman punishment of stoning, has sent out an open letter in which she has called on the international community to take action to save the life of political prisoner Saeed Shirzad who is still on hunger strike.
Saeed Shirzad, who has been imprisoned for his activities in defense of children's rights, has been on hunger strike for nearly two months in protest to the raid on political prisoners in Gohardasht Prison in Karaj, transferring them to a high-security ward and confiscating the properties they have procured at their own expense.
Speaking out from behind bars, Ms. Iraee held European governments accountable for the life of this political prisoner since they turn a blind eye on flagrant violations of human rights in Iran to continue their commercial trade with the ruling clerical regime. In part of her letter, she points to the raid on the political prisoners' ward in Gohardasht and writes:
Implementation of this arbitrary decision by Mardani (warden of Gohardasht Prison in Karaj) indicates not only his personal spite but also the spirit of maximum lawlessness in this chaotic country. A country where the prosecutor and the judiciary must have been able to account for such volume of savagery if they were qualified. Here, anyone who has greater power is able to roam around as they wish and those who are knowledgeable enought to protest against this savagery become victimized.
All of these have happened in days and hours when Rouhani (the mullahs' president) was showing off his smile in front of flashing cameras from different countries.
Indeed, who is responsible for Saeed (Shirzad)'s life? Those powers who give credibility to this naked violence with their silence and smiles? Or the Prisons Organization that puts the likes of Mardani in these positions and gives them the license to play with the lives of people and do not account to anyone? Or the Judiciary and the Prosecutor's Office whose lack of independence has been proven time and again over the past years? Or the agencies that make such arrests and the interrogators who roam around like this?
The world's organizations and institutions who defend human rights must know that the lives of our friends and loved ones are in hands that are at their throats.
Saeed Shirzad continues to insist on his protest and hunger strike against the savagery of prison authorities. Saeed's life is in danger and our silence doubles the gravity of this threat.
Golrokh Iraee Ibrahimi
September 24, 2017
Women's Ward of Evin Prison
political prisoner has staged a hunger strike in a prison in Iran after sewing his lips to protest the inhuman condition of prisons, officials preventing medical treatment for ailing prisoners and lack of safety and security for political prisoners.
Link of the letters of Saeed Shirzad, from prison:
issued a letter to civil activists asking for more attention and awareness regarding the status of Zeinab Jalalian, a female prisoner in Khuy Prison who is in critical conditions due to being deprived of medical care. She is currently suffering from serious eye problems.
Farangis Mazloumi arrested and taken to unknown location
Farangis Mazloumi who is the mother of resistant political prisoner Soheil Arabi has been arrested and taken to an unknown location by intelligence agents.
Eight intelligence agents raided the residence of the sister of Farangis Mazloumi on Monday, July 22, 2019, and arrested her. They confiscated Farangis Mazloumi and her sister’s cellphones and then took her away to an unknown location.
Soheil Arabi, 32, married with a young daughter, is a blogger who has been imprisoned for putting posts on Facebook critical of the clerical regime. Mr. Arabi spent 4.5 years in Evin Prison and was subsequently transferred to the Greater Tehran’s Penitentiary (a.k.a. Fashafouyeh Prison) in February 2018, where he is being detained under harsh conditions. He has been subjected to various forms of mental and physical tortures over these years. He has gone on lengthy hunger strikes at least three times to protest brutal mistreatment of prisoners by the prison guards and interrogators.
Farangis Mazloumi, his mother, has been under tremendous pressure over these years. She has been commuting long distances to prison, but deprived of being able to visit her son.
She had previously said, “I am tortured every day and every night. Will I be alive for 11 more years? How can I bear this suffering? Can my heart endure all this torture? Is the life and youth of our children so worthless? Every time I went to court, they gave me an uppity answer. Who will answer my plea from all this oppression?” Read more
This is the third time Soheil Arabi is going on hunger strike, this time to protest poor prison conditions, violent mistreatment of prisoners by prison guards and officials, and various deprivations in prison..
Iranian Political Prisoner in Critical Health Condition Following Hunger Strike Written by Mansoureh Galestan on 24 June 2019
Political prisoner Sohail Arabi, who has been on a hunger strike in protest to the lack of facilities and cruel treatment by wardens of the Greater Tehran Prison, was transferred to hospital in a critical condition.
Arabi, a photographer, blogger and civil right activist, was detained by the regime's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) in 2013 and sentenced to death on the bogus charge of “insulting the prophet." In 2015 his sentence was reduced to imprisonment. Read more Life of political prisoner Sohail Arabi in danger Jan. 10, 2019 - Political prisoner Sohail Arabi, held in the Greater Tehran Prison, is currently in critical condition, suffering from intense bleeding due to a broken nose. Regime officials are refusing to allow this political prisoner to seek medical treatment despite this life threatening status and continuous pains from his broken nose. For months, Arabi has been deprived from any medical care or surgery, literally placing him under torture for several months now. Read more
Iranian political prisoner sends message on the occasion of International Day for Elimination of Violence Against Women
Nov. 27, 2018 - Iranian political prisoner Soheil Arabi, who has been in the Iranian regime’s dungeons since November 2013, sent a message from the Greater Tehran Prison on the occasion of International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, describing the plight of Iranian women in prisons and the savage policies of misogynist mullahs ruling in Iran: Read more
Iran political prisoner, Soheil Arabi: the moment of the Revolution has arrived"
Soheil Arabi, an Iranian blogger imprisoned for five years for opinions he posted on his Facebook, called on the Iranian people on Monday August 27th to rise up against the Iranian regime's dictatorship.
His message, recorded on an audio file from inside the Greater Tehran Prison, has been circulating on Iranian social media since Monday.
Political Prisoner Soheil Arabi Detained In Grim Conditions
Political prisoner Soheil Arabi, who has recently ended his 55-day hunger strike, is reportedly in dire conditions.
Authorities have shaved his head the political prisoner’s mother says. He is deprived of a shower and his body is full of lice, reports indicate. His family is not allowed to wire him money to buy food items. He is being held in solitary confinement and not allowed to phone his family.
Sohail Arabi was attacked by three inmates on Sunday as he was getting some fresh air. His hand is wounded and his elbow is swollen.
Farangis Mazloumi, political prisoner’s mother says, “Soheil is being treated like a very dangerous chain murderer.” Read more
55th day of hunger strike and 12th day without drinking water political prisoner Soheil Arabi have been hospitalized after he was torture in prison
Farangis Mazloum, the mother of the prominent political prisoner, Soheil Arabi, sent a message on Tuesday, March 13, describing her son’s situation who has been on dry hunger strike in the Greater Tehran Prison.
Her message, being published on social media says; “I, Farangis Mazloum, the mother of Soheil Arabi who was arrested and imprisoned for his political activities, am calling on all friends and relatives to join me to hold our New Year ceremonies in front of the prison, were he is facing an inevitable death. Soheil went on hunger strike in February in protest to assault, battery, and forcible transfer of two female political prisoners, Golrokh Iraee and Atena Daemi, to the notorious Gharchak prison. In response to his protests, the prison authorities attacked, beat and insulted him. He was eventually transfer to the Grand Tehran Prison, where criminal prisoners are held. The regime tried hard to break his will and force him to stop his strike but he stood firm. Today, they broke my heart by denying me a visit to my son. My heart is shattered into thousand pieces, knowing that I may never see him alive again. READ MORE
The Political prisoner Mr. Soheil Arabi on the forty-sixth day of his strike at Tehran's Great Prison has sent the following message:
“Place your Nowruz spread or sofreh (Persian New Year tradition) in front of their (regime’s) prison gates.
It's dry and weird in the torture chamber dying with suffering from depression, after an unsuccessful strike.
I prefer the first option of "death" to surrender to the oppressors.
Breaking my strike means: me, Arash, Golrokh and Atena (Three other fellow political prisoners), should continue to endure the torture that is getting worse every day.
A true combatant, even inside the prison, will never stay silenced in the face of oppression of himself and of people who sacrificed for them. Now that they torture my friends, I scream with all my heart, and I call on all the supporters of the political prisoners not to abandon me and my fellows in this path.
Place your Nowrus spereads in front of their prisons and, by holding the photos of political prisoners, firstly send a messages to your heroes that they are not left alone; secondly warn the torturers that they are not allowed to torment us as they wish.
The mourners have no chance for ‘Eid’ (the persian New Year celebration)
O Eid turn back from Iran since we have got no Eid in Iran
When the parrot in a cage says Happy Eid
One knows it is a mere imitation and not real
There might die in the cell an innocent prisoner
But, the criminal oppressor will never last forever
After three days of saying no to water, food, feed, and even serum, you feel like you are a desert. A desert that gets dry at any moment. Every moment you feel dry. No! No! Drops of water cannot save me from drying.
I want a flood
A flood that topples this apparatus of oppression, which has enchained the highbrows and devotees of the deprived, from Mina Zarrin to Athena Daemi, who spent the best days of their young days in prisons of “the Islamic Republic”. And also From Mohammad Nazari; Ali Moezi; Arash Sadeghi to Alireza Tavakoli
That was all to reach a point today that neither the “reformers” nor “the principalists” were sympathetic to us, and we should put a happy ending to this sad and bitter story as soon as possible.
The winter will be ended.
Soheil Arabi
Great Tehran Prison
Soheil Arabi went unconscious on 5th Day Of his Dry Hunger Strike
Held in Iran's Greater Tehran Penitentiary,Soheil Arabi went unconscious on the 46th day of his hunger strike &the 6th day of his dry hunger strike. In the jail clinic he refused any serums.
In a message from prison, addressing the regime and its judiciary this political prisoner said: “You violated my rights. At least let me donate my body organs. I doubt that I will remain alive for one or two more days. I do not eat food or drink water and I do not even allow injecting serum.
The political prisoner, Soheil Arabi, has started dry hunger strike since Monday, March 5.
In a message from prison, addressing the regime and its judiciary this political prisoner said: “You violated my rights. At least let me donate my body organs. I doubt that I will remain alive for one or two more days. I do not eat food or drink water and I do not even allow injecting serum.
I should have been freed on August 29 according to the law but I am still in prison and I don’t even have my rights like my own bed and separation of crimes according to the regulations of prisons organization and I ,like many other political prisoners, am incarcerated in the ward of ordinary prisoners who often incited to harass us.
After I was transferred to the prison of greater Tehran, I was threatened with death and rape and I defended myself hardly. Prison officers and Guard, incited prisoners or infirmary nurses allow themselves to insult us, and when I respond, they telling us to have good manners and morals.
Our crime is that we do not remain silent in the face of oppression.
Now that you do not free me and do not even let me stay with my friends like Arash Sadeghi or Manoochehr, at least let me donate my body parts and organs.
38 days into his hunger strike, political prisoner Soheil Arabi is in poor health with very low blood pressure. He had been denied medical access despite his dire health condition.
Iran’s regime has accused Soheil Arabi of being a “national security threat” for opposing the state. His life is in danger, yet refuses to go back on his demands.
On the 33th day of his hunger strike, Soheil Arabi sent a message from the Great Tehran Penitentiary:
“Anyone who has little intelligence, accepts that enlightening free thinking and criticism, is not a crime but a service to mankind. But turbaned, kaffiyeh-wearing mullahs first sentenced me to death and then to three years for fighting ignorance and superstition, human rights activism, helping labour children, and supporting imprisoned workers and political prisoners of conscience. I endured three years and six months of imprisonment and physical and psychological torture. According to the very expired rules of the Islamic Republic, I should have been released on September 18, 2017. But not only did they not release me, but they hurt my family. They forced my wife to separate from me. They arrested my mother and exiled me to the Great Tehran torture chamber. When a political prisoner finishes his or her prison sentence and they do not release him or her, they say that the prisoner is doing “Melli-Keshi” *. In the eighties, many political prisoners did the “Melli-keshi”. They were executed even after their sentences were served. Now I’m spending the fifth month of my “Melli-keshi”. During these five months, I suffered all kinds of physical and psychological torture. For the fact that I became the title holder and the world’s top webmaster, the embezzlers and fraudsters were charged to beat me. I was exiled to quarantine, and there, an officer suddenly hit my head and, after falling down, kicked my kidney and I could hardly escape and other prisoners rescued me. In the same quarantine that Sina Ghanbari was killed and they said he had committed suicide. Fraudulent and reformist-like prisoners have always been reporting false reports against us, who are demanding the overthrow of the theocrats, to enjoy the advantage of religious visits, leave and hospitals. They exiled my comrades, Golrokh Iraee and Atena Daemi, to Qarechak prison and I went on hunger strike in protest. But instead of addressing my protest and listening to my talk, they brutally exiled me to the Great Tehran Prison. At the time of arrival, 15 soldiers attacked me with water pipes and batons. I went to coma due to hunger strike but they even feared sending me to the hospital. They forced me into a clinic and gave me infusion. I experienced very difficult conditions. But I continue to strike. Because we did not commit any crime that could be so cruelly punished. Yes, an anarchist dies to not accept oppression.”
In a February 12 voice recording sent out from The Great Tehran Penitentiary addressing political and human rights activists who asked Soheil Arabi to end his hunger strike, the political prisoner insisted on continuing his strike. Soheil Arabi stated “Ending my hunger strike means succumbing accepting punishments that I did not deserve, not even one day of it… I have spent more than 1,700 of the best days of my youth detained in Khamenei’s prisons.”
Soheil Arabi, a writer, blogger and activist, went on hunger strike on January 25, 2018, to protest the illegal banishment of Atena Daemi and Golrokh Iraee to the notorious Qarchak Prison in Varamin, outside Tehran.
On Monday, January 29, Arabi was transferred to the Greater Tehran Prison and was severely beaten, according to an informed source.
According to an informed source, on January 28, Soheil Arabi was summoned and was then transferred to the quarantine in Evin Prison’s Section 1.
“He was then summoned again and told that he would be transferred to Rajaie Shahr Prison. But at noon, instead of being taken to Rajaie Shahr, he was taken to the Greater Tehran Prions,” the source said.
“When they reached the prison at 15:30, prison officials along with 10-12 soldiers tore off his clothes and severely beat him. The guards used batons and kicked him in his back, face and leg continuously with their boots. Soheil Arabi’s face, nose and feet were injured and his whole body was bruised,” the source added.
After the beatings, prison authorities kept Soheil Arabi without clothes in the prison courtyard to force him to give his consent to those that beat him.
“Don’t think that this is Evin Prison and you aunties house!” a prison official taunted him.
“This is the end of the world and hell! Don’t think that because you’re on hunger strike, your voice will be heard!” he told him.
Jailed activist Soheil Arabi says no one attended to his complaint on torture
Following a claims of Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ezhei, spokesman for the judiciary, on the prohibition of torture in Iran, political prisoner Soheil Arabi wrote a letter from prison about the tortures and pressures he was subjected to. His letter reads in parts:
I was arrested once on December 7, 2013, and I was kept in solitary confinement until January 2013 in the 2A Sarallah Revolutionary Guards Corps Detention Center.
During the 58 days of solitary confinement, I was repeatedly tortured both psychologically and physically. I was hanged by my feet, subjected to mock execution, and threatened with the rape of my wife. All my confessions were made under torture. I was severely beaten upon my arrival at 2A.
This November when I was beaten and threatened to death, instead of punishing the perpetrators, I was detained for 28 days in quarantine in Evin Prison deprived of phone calls and visits and was beaten by other prisoners on two occasions.
Political prisoner Soheil Arabi deprived of basic rights in quarantine ward
Political Prison Soheil Arabi, was recently kept in the quarantine section of Evin Prison for 29 days as punishment. During this time, he was denied calls to his family in addition to being kept in unsuitable and unhygienic conditions.
On Sunday, Soheil Arabi was finally transferred from Evin’s quarantine to Section 7, but his personal belongings have not yet been returned to him.
Soheil Arabi, who has one young daughter, was arrested by the RePolitical prisoner Soheil Arabigime’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) in 2013, for publishing photos of the 2009 uprising, cartoons of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, and articles about the Iranian Regime. He was tortured in the prison’s solitary confinement ward.
Political Prisoner: No Award Can Make Me Happy Unless We Overthrow the Oppressors
In response to the annual Reporters Without Borders Prize awarded to him, the Iranian political prisoner, Soheil Arabi, , said in a letter: “No reward can make me happy unless together hand in hand we uproot the oppression and overthrow the oppressors.”
In part of the letter, this political prisoner currently detained in Ward 8 of Evin prison said: “When most media were in the hands of two factions that compete in censorship and conservatism, when some people were paid to promote illiteracy and superstition to deceive us, I decided to be an independent journalist, so that I could reflect all the truth without retouching and censorship.”
Political Prisoner Held in Dangerous Prisoners Ward and Deprived of Family Visit
The political prisoner, Soheil Arabi, is still held in Hall 8 Ward 8 of Evin prison among dangerous prisoners and deprived of family visits.
In October this year, following Soheil Arabi’s protests against the prison warden who insulted the political prisoners, the prison authorities transferred him to the ward of the prisoners with heavy crimes.
Moreover, another political prisoner, Arash Sadeghi, who also protested the warden for insulting the political prisoners, was transferred to Gohardasht prison in exile.
Initially, Soheil was told that he would be staying in ward 8 only for three days, but he is still held in this ward against the principle of separation of offenses. This caused problems for this political prisoner. On Wednesday, November 1, one of the (dangerous) ordinary prisoners threatened to beat him up with a knife.
Tehran protest responds to call by Soheil Arabi’s mother
Monday morning, October 2, a protest gathering was staged in front of the Iranian regime's parliament in response to a call by the mother of Soheil Arabi, a political prisoner who is on dry hunger strike in Evin Prison.
The demonstrators while holding posters and placards demanded the release of Soheil Arabi and all political prisoners and prisoners of conscience as well as civil and guild activists.
Dr. Mohammad Maleki, the first president of the Tehran University after the anti-monarchial revolution, sent a message of support to the protest gathering and said: “
"Our dear friend, Soheil Arabi, has been on hunger strike for several days because his legal and legitimate demands are not fulfilled and everyone knows that hunger strike is very dangerous.”
Mr. Maleki added: “The innocent mother of this son, after appealing to various organizations responsible for this issue and getting no answer is calling on all people and student activists to accompany her in front of the parliament in order to save his son’s life.”
He also supported Soheil Arabi’s mother and said: “I also ask people to gather on Monday, October 2 in front of the parliament to support this suffering mother and shout out their legal demands.”
According to reports, the Iranian regime security forces, attacked the rally after a few minutes and tried to disperse them but faced with the protestors resistance.
Soheil Arabi's mother thanked all the people who participated in the gathering on behalf of her son and said that her mood is changed.
The political prisoner, Soheil Arabi is on his 11th day of hunger strike on Tuesday October 3rd.
According to reports, an intelligence official in a meeting with Soheil Arabi September 30 asked him to end his strike for the expediency of the regime. The official went to visit Soheil Arabi in ward 7 of Evin prison and said to him that “it would be costly for the system" if he died during the holy month of Muharram.
Prisoner of conscience Soheil Arabi born August 21, 1985, is an Iranian man who has been sentenced to death in Iran on charges of insulting the Prophet Mohammad in his postings on Facebook.
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) agents arrested Arabi at his home in Tehran in November 2013. He then spent two months in the IRGC's Ward 2-A in Evin Prison. During interrogation, he was pressured into confessing his alleged crimes. He was then transferred to Section 350 of Evin, which is under control of the Iranian judiciary. On 30 August 2014, a five-judge panel of Branch 76 of the Criminal Court of Tehran sentenced Arabi to death for "insulting the Prophet of Islam" in eight Facebook accounts allegedly belonging to Arabi.
On 4 September 2014, Branch 15 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court also sentenced Arabi to three years in prison on charges of "insulting the Supreme Leader" and "propaganda against the state" in his postings on Facebook.
In late September 2015, his sentence was commuted to "reading 13 religious books and studying theology for two
Prisoner of conscience goes on a dry hunger strike
Prisoner of conscience Soheil Arabi who had been on a 40-day honger strike, has now switched to a dry hunger strike to protest his detention.
The political prisoner in in severe health condition after a 40-day hunger strike.
“I cannot be silent when I see people enduring torture without ever committing a crime. Here is Evin Prison where freethinkers are being punished. Do not tell me to keep silent because remaining silent is the worst betrayal. I am not crying out to save my own life, I want you to hear the voice of our innocence. I want to convey the voice of all jailed freethinkers such as Manuchehr Mohammadali, Mahmoud Beheshti Langroudi, Ali Shariati, Yousef Emadi, Arash Sadeghi, Savada Aghasar and my other friends in Ward 7 whose crime is knowing and expressing the truth. We were tried by judges who are the most corrupt human beings of our time. This is the third year that my daughter is going to school and I am not with her. I have gone on a dry hunger strike because I do not want her to see me in jail any more.
Soheil Arabi a 32-year-old photographer and was arrested by Revolutionary Guards Corps forces in 2013 for publishing his views on Facebook, sent an open letter from prison announcing that he went on a hunger strike on August 24 in protest to “charges brought against his family members by security agents of the Revolutionary Guards Corps”. He said he would not end his hunger strike until his mother and mother in law were cleared of the charges.
Soheil Arabi is a 32-year-old photographer and was arrested by Revolutionary Guards Corps forces. Nastaran Na’imi was discharged due to IRGC pressure
Nastaran Na’imi, the wife of Iranian prisoner of conscience Sohail Arabi, was expelled from work under the influence of the Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).
In a letter from Evin Prison dated September 14, 2017, Soheil Arabi wrote, “The interrogators of IRGC intelligence continue to treat him and his family in illegal manners.”
According to the prisoner, the intelligence officers recently called and threatened his wife’s employer
Prisoner of Conscience on Hunger Strike Over His Wife's Arrest
Soheil Arabi has been in jail for the past four years, began a hunger strike on Tuesday, August 1 in protest to his wife’s arrest. Prisoner of conscience, Soheil Arabi went on hunger strike in Evin Prison in protest to the arrest of his wife, Nastaran Naimi, by the Revolutionary Guards. Read more
Iran Regime's Agents Intend to Create Religious Conflicts Against Political Prisoners
reports, interrogators of the Iranian regime’s ministry of intelligence are trying to create religious conflicts and clash among prisoners in Zahedan prison (South East of Iran) using their own mafia bands there.
Reports indicate that on Monday, August 9, 2017, a number of mafia bandits in Ward 3 of Zahedan prison tried to clash with political prisoners but the prisoners particularly the Sunni clerics who are incarcerated in Ward 3 showed patience and refrained from conflict or clash with the mafia bands to resolve the problem and the issue ended.
Wife of internet activist arrested On the morning of Monday, July 31, Nasrin Na’imi was arrested by Iranian security forces and taken to an unknown location. There is no information available about the agency that made the arrest and the whereabouts of Ms. Na’imi.
Nasrin Na’imi is the wife of internet activist Soheil Arabi, who was arrested in January 2014 after the IRGC Sarallah Garrison filed charges against him. He was detained two months under interrogation at the IRGC detention center. Arabi was charged with insulting the leader, spreading propaganda against the government, and insulting the officials.
