Revolutionary Guards Going after Family Members of Iranian Journalists Living Abroad

منتشرشده در آوریل 30, 2016

Brother of Journalist Sentenced to Five Years in Prison

In a long-established practice of targeting the family members of Iranian journalists who live outside Iran, the Revolutionary Guards have sentenced the brother of a journalist to five years in prison, on trumped up national security charges.

The Guards have long harassed the relatives of Iranian journalists living abroad, in an effort to intimidate foreign-based reporters and silence critical media coverage of the Islamic Republic.

In the most recent case, Davoud Assadi, the brother of the well-known Iranian journalist Houshang Assadi who lives in Paris, was sentenced to the five-year prison term for “assembly and collusion against national security.”

Yet Davoud Assadi, while referred to for six months by Iranian news media as a “journalist” in detention, is neither a journalist nor has he ever been interested or involved in politics. Rather, he is the marketing manager of a private company based in Tehran. He is in his early 30s, married, and has a child.

His brother, Houshang Assadi, edited RoozOnline, a dissident news website funded by the Dutch parliament, which operated for 12 years until its closure at the end of 2015. Houshang Assadi was also the author of the critically acclaimed book Letters to My Torturers, which depicted his time as a political prisoner in Iran during the 1970s.

“I’m surprised that all this time my brother’s lawyer, Mr. [Mahmoud] Alizadeh [Tabatabaee], has described him as a journalist,” Houshang Assadi said in an interview with the Campaign. “My brother doesn’t even read the newspaper. [The Revolutionary Guards’ Intelligence Organization] has accused a man, who has never written a sentence in his life, of being a journalist in order to carry out their own security agenda.”

Asked why he is speaking out now, Houshang Assadi said he had learned of his brother’s arrest from their father, but did not publicize it because Davoud’s wife was told by Judiciary officials to keep quiet.

“My brother’s wife was summoned to Branch 13 of the Culture and Media Court. They treated her with a lot of respect and told her that Davoud would definitely be freed, but only after the mandatory three-month interrogation period,” said Houshang Assadi.

“They told her that she should absolutely refrain from giving me any information. My brother’s wife is not a social or political activist. She is a young woman busy raising a little boy. She believed what they told her,” he added.

“My brother’s wife has not had any contact with me during this time (since Davoud’s detention). I don’t blame her, given the atmosphere of intimidation they built around her. But I told my father that being silent about the framing of Davoud would be the worst thing for his situation,” continued Houshang Assadi.

“But [Davoud’s] wife insisted we should be quiet and comply with the authorities. For this reason, I was silent. But after the verdict was issued, I decided to talk and tell the world about the lies and injustice,” he said.

Four journalists—Issa Saharkhiz, Ehsan Mazandarani, Ehsan (Saman) Safarzaei and Afarin Chitsaz—were arrested on November 2, 2015 by agents of the Revolutionary Guards’ Intelligence Organization. That same day the agents arrested a fifth person who was presumed to be a journalist, but his identity was not immediately revealed. That person was Davoud Assadi.

Houshang Assadi told the Campaign his brother is faring poorly in prison.

“He was moved to Evin Prison’s Ward 8 last week, but before that he was in solitary confinement in Ward 2-A, run by the [Revolutionary] Guards,” said Houshang Assadi.

“I have heard that in Ward 8 Davoud is often curled-up in a corner and afraid to talk to anyone. He is a young man who has never been involved in social or political activities. Now, after months in solitary confinement, he’s so depressed and afraid that he doesn’t want to be in contact with anyone,” he told the Campaign.

“This is an obvious violation of human rights. It’s the worst kind of treatment when you arrest and punish someone only for your own goals; someone who’s not a political activist,” he added.

Mahmoud Alizadeh Tabatabaee, Davoud Assadi’s lawyer, recently told the Campaign that his client was convicted because of funds he had received from his brother, Houshang Assadi. Tabatabaee added that Assadi insisted in court that he did not know why his brother was sending him money, but the judge was not convinced.

But according to Houshang Assadi, it was always clear that the money was for their father’s medical expenses.

“Mr. Alizadeh [Tabatabaee] is giving out wrong information. It has been a year and a half since I learned about my father’s illness. As brothers, we agreed to each pay a certain amount for his treatment,” said Houshang Assadi.

“I wired 7.8 million tomans ($2,500 USD) to my brother’s account for my father’s medical bills. Sometimes I also shipped pills that could not be found in Tehran,” added Houshang Assadi. “If the court has evidence that the money I sent was spent on anything other than my father’s expenses, it should publish it.”

“We did not have a secret account and we were not involved in anything clandestine. Why isn’t the security establishment showing [evidence that] the money was spent for other things? Because they know the accusation is totally false,” said Houshang Assadi. “My feeling is that my brother’s arrest is a warning to me and other political activists based abroad that [the Revolutionary Guards’ Intelligence Organization] could intimidate our relatives instead of us.”

“A few months before they arrested these journalists [on November 2, 2015], there was a wave of propaganda against Iranian media operating abroad, including RoozOnline,” added Houshang Assadi. “There were articles that claimed RoozOnline had sent millions of dollars to Iran on behalf of Western intelligence agencies. They even published a so-called list of how much we paid Iranians, but RoozOnline did not have any reporters inside Iran.”

“It was obvious that [the Revolutionary Guards’ Intelligence Organization] wanted to frame RoozOnline and other outlets in foreign countries. My guess is that they arrested Davoud just to back up their conspiracy theories,” he said.

“Based on what I’ve heard from my family, Mr. Alizadeh [Tabatabaee] told them that [during court proceedings] Davoud had completely rejected the charges against him and consistently stated that the money he received from me was spent on our father’s medical treatment,” he added. “But the court did not accept his explanation.”

Houshang Assadi also told the Campaign that he and Davoud Assadi were not in contact very often: “We live in different worlds, far apart. I remember when I called to wish him a happy new year and told him that our website was closing down, he asked me what the name of the site was.”

On the same day that Davoud Assadi’s five-year prison sentence was issued, newspaper columnist Afarin Chitsaz, who wrote for Iran, the official daily newspaper of the Rouhani administration, was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Ehsan Mazandarani, the editor-in-chief of the reformist Farhikhtegan newspaper, was also sentenced to seven years in prison, while Ehsan (Saman) Safarzaei, another reformist journalist who is the international desk editor of Andisheh Pooya magazine, was sentenced to five years in prison.

Issa Saharkhiz, a prominent reformist journalist who was arrested at the same time as the other journalists, has not yet stood trial because he has been hospitalized for serious medical illnesses.

Journalists in Iran Slapped with Long Prison Sentences

منتشرشده در آوریل 28, 2016

Three journalists and the brother of a journalist have been given prison sentences ranging from five to ten years after spending months in detention, the lawyer representing two of the individuals told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran.

The newspaper columnist Afarin Chitsaz, who wrote for Iran, the official daily newspaper of the Rouhani administration, was sentenced to 10 years in prison while the reformist journalist Ehsan Mazandarani, who is editor-in-chief of Farhikhtegan newspaper, was sentenced to seven years in prison. The reformist journalist Ehsan (Saman) Safarzaei, who is the international desk editor of Andisheh Pooya magazine, and Davoud Assadi, whose brother is the editor of a Paris-based dissident news website, were each sentenced to five years in prison.

Mazandarani was found guilty of “assembly and collusion against national security” and “propaganda against the state,” said his lawyer, Mahmoud Alizadeh Tabatabaee, who is also representing Assadi. The charges were connected to Mazandarani’s alleged collaboration with Iranian media outlets based abroad.

“We rejected this charge but the court made a ruling based on presented evidence that we believed to be unacceptable,” said Tabatabaee.

“[Assadi’s] five-year prison sentence was also for ‘assembly and collusion against national security.’ He was found guilty because his brother, Houshang Assadi, an editor of RoozOnline, sent him money [from Paris], but Davoud insisted that he was unaware of the reason why his brother did so,” added Tabatabaee. “Unfortunately, the court did not accept this explanation.”

The sentences against Mazandarani and Assadi will be appealed, Tabatabaee told the Campaign.

Tabatabaee added that even though he does not represent Afarin Chitsaz, he has learned that she received her 10-year prison sentence for alleged “collaboration with foreign governments” in addition to “assembly and collusion against national security.”

An informed source also told the Campaign that the court found Ehsan (Saman) Safarzaei’s articles to be “against national security.” Since they were written for media outlets abroad, the judge decided that Safarzaei was guilty of “assembly and collusion against national security” even though his lawyer argued otherwise.

Mazandarani and Chitsaz, and prominent journalist Issa Saharkhiz, who is still awaiting sentencing, were arrested by the Revolutionary Guards’ Intelligence Organization during a wave of arrests on November 2, 2015.

A month after their arrest, Ahmad Khatami, a hardline member of the Assembly of Experts, accused the journalists of “cooperation with America” and claimed they had all confessed to writing for U.S. publications for money. News organizations affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards and Iran’s security establishment have made similar allegations.

“The confessions of those recently arrested in connection with an infiltration plot will be broadcast in the near future and the Iranian people will see how they operated behind the scenes,” said Ali Shirazi, the supreme leader’s representative to the Revolutionary Guard’s Qods Force, on February 1, 2016.

Political prisoners in Iran are subjected to harsh conditions and various forms of torture to extract false confessions, which are then used as evidence to convict.

Bus Drivers’ Union Leader Awaiting Sentencing for Peaceful Labor Activism

منتشرشده در آوریل 26, 2016

Ebrahim Maddadi, a labor activist and leading member of Tehran’s bus drivers’ union, is awaiting sentencing after standing trial on April 16, 2016. Arrested for his peaceful activism, Maddadi has been charged with “collusion and assembly against national security,” his lawyer, Saleh Nikbakht, told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran.

Maddadi, deputy chairman of the Union of Workers of the Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company, was arrested on several occasions during the past eight years, and served three and a half years in prison (2008-2011) for his peaceful activism. He was charged with “collusion and assembly against national security.”

Maddadi was last arrested on April 29, 2015, two days before International Labor Day (May 1), along with three other union activists.

Independent labor unions are banned in Iran, strikers are often fired and risk being detained, and labor leaders face long prison sentences on trumped up national security charges.

Nikbakht also represents Davood Razavi, a board member of the bus drivers’ union who was arrested at the same time as Maddadi. Nikbakht told the Campaign that Razavi was tried in January 2016 and sentenced to five years in prison for “collusion and assembly against national security.” Razavi is currently awaiting a ruling on his appeal.

According to the bus union’s website, Maddadi and Razavi were arrested in their homes while they were preparing for Labor Day gatherings by Intelligence Ministry agents on April 29, 2015. Maddadi and Razavi were held at Evin Prison’s Ward 209, which is controlled by the Intelligence Ministry, and released after 22 days on 1 billion rials (about $33,000 USD) bail.

The website also reported that Reza Shahabi, another member of the union’s board, has served five of his six-year prison sentence and is now on medical furlough. Shahabi was sentenced to an additional one year in prison in March 2015 by Judge Mashallah Ahmadzadeh; the sentence was upheld by the appeals court.

Punishment for any kind of organized labor protest is swift and severe. Instances of workers being fired after their participation in protests are numerous in Iran. For example, nearly 1000 workers at the Safa Rolling company in Saveh were fired in February 2015, and as the protests over unpaid wages continued, others who joined the strikers were fired as well.

“The Union of Workers of the Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company condemns these punishments against labor activists and calls for an end to the security and police state surrounding workers and teachers, and demands the freedom of all workers and teachers who have fought for their rights,” said the union in a statement on April 16 2016.

“We state once again that workers and other union activists will never set aside their just demands even in the face of pressures from the security and police forces,” continued the statement.

The International Labor Organization (ILO), of which Iran is a member, mandates the right of workers to associate freely and bargain collectively, and its Committee on Freedom of Association is charged with investigating complaints relating to its observance by member states. Its March 2014 report notes Case No. 2508, in which the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) lodged a complaint against the Iranian government.

The complaint cited “continued acts of repression against the local trade union at the bus company, including: harassment of trade unionists and activists; violent attacks on the union’s founding meeting; the violent disbanding, on two occasions, of the union general assembly; and the arrest and detention of large numbers of trade union members and leaders under false pretenses (disturbing public order, illegal trade union activities).”

Iran is also obligated under international law. It is a signatory to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which mandates in Articles 21 and 22 freedom of association and guarantees the right to form trade unions, and to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which guarantees in Article 8 the right of workers to form or join trade unions and protects the right of workers to strike.

The Iranian Constitution also contains provisions for such rights: Article 26 guarantees the right to form “parties, societies, political or professional associations,” and Article 27 states that “Public gatherings and marches may be freely held, provided arms are not carried and that they are not detrimental to the fundamental principles of Islam.”