Monthly Report, Azerbaijani Political Prisoners in Iran (ADAPP)

الجمعة ٢٠ - سبتمبر - ٢٠٢٤ ١٢:٤١ مساءً

اضيف الخبر في يوم السبت ٢٦ - ديسمبر - ٢٠٠٩ ١٢:٠٠ صباحاً.

The systematic violation of ethnic and human rights of Azerbaijanis in Iran continued throughout November. Security authorities and forces detained Azerbaijani activists and subject them to long-term arbitrary detentions, torture and other ill-treatment. The number of trials issuing verdicts against Azerbaijanis is growing. Azerbaijanis are sentenced to heavy jail terms just for participating in peaceful demonstrations demanding their ethnic rights. Security and judiciary authorities have increased pressure on Said Matinpur, a prominent Azerbaijani journalist and human rights defender. Matinpur’s health has severely deteriorated, however he has been denied access to any treatment outside of the prison.

Several Azerbaijani Activists Are Assigned Hefty Prison Sentences

The government of the Islamic Republic of Iran routinely arrests Azerbaijanis who organize or participate in rallies or gatherings which call for broader linguistic and cultural rights.

Fardin Moradpur, Mortaza Moradpur, Rasul Badali, Ali Badali, Amin Pasha Gharabaghi, Jalal Rajabzadeh, Arash Eshghi, Alireza Farshi, and Sima Didar have been sentenced to prison terms ranging from six months to six years.

These activists were arrested in May 22, 2009 during a rally which took place in Tabriz condemning Iran’s former president Khatami for insulting Azerbaijanis in an internet video which showed him making racist jokes to his supporters.

Husband-and-wife activists Alireza Farshi and Sima Didar have been sentenced to one year in prison. They were tried on October 18, 2009 and charged with “propaganda against regime”. The trial was not public.

Security forces detained Sima Didar not long after Farshi’s arrest in order to put psychological pressure on him. Didar, who was the director-in-chief of Yashmaq student journal in Tehran University, was arrested on August 19, 2009 when visiting Farshi in Tabriz Prison. Farshi and Didar were released on bail after three months and one months of temporary detentions respectively.

Fardin Moradpur, an Azerbaijani teenager, Mortaza Moradpur, a student of Ajabshir Azad University, and Rasul Badali have also been tried and sentenced to six, three and two years of imprisonment, respectively. They were charged with “preparing and producing explosive materials”, “committing crimes against national security”, and “propaganda against regime”. Ali Badali, Amin Paha Gharabaghi, Jalal Rajabzadeh, and Arash Eshghi were all sentenced to six months of imprisonment by the same court. Another trial will take place to charge Vahid Aghajani, Amin Pasha Gharabaghi, and Arash Esghi with “violation of public order.” Naser Badali and Behzad Sadeghiyan were acquitted from all claims against them.

The verdicts were issued based on the distribution of CDs and books regarding Azerbaijani ethnic rights and demands and their participation in a rally on May 22, 2009.

Security forces attacked the participants in the rally, firing into the crowd. They arrested tens of people who were carrying signs which featured slogans in support of ethnic and linguistic rights.

Fardin Moradpur, an 18-year-old Azerbaijani teenager, was injured by gunfire and was left rapidly losing blood. Initially, security forces were refusing to allow Moradpur to be taken to a hospital. He was finally allowed to seek medical attention after his father arrived on the scene. After his transfer to the hospital, the intelligence officers detained Mordapur’s father and mother.

At the time of his arrest, Moradpur had homemade firecrackers in his pocket. Later in his trial, he was charged and convicted with “preparing and producing explosives,” which added another three years to his sentence, totaling 6 years altogether.

Prior to the events, Alireza Jamshidi, the spokesperson for the Iran Judiciary system, and Ayyub Haghighi, the chief manager of East Azerbaijan Province security office mentioned that they had detained some Azerbaijani activists who were trying to violate public order and engage in terrorist actions. Azerbaijani activists have always denied these claims.

Iran security and judiciary forces have continually tried to falsely link Azerbaijani activists participating in May 22, 2009 rally with a case involving armed robbery and murder in the same city. Azerbaijani activists claim that the authorities want to influence public thought and change the procedure of political-motivated activity to criminal charges. They strongly emphasized that the so-called explosives in Moradpur’s pocket were nothing more than homemade firecrackers.

The detainees from the May rally were all denied access to a lawyer or visits their family. Reportedly they were tortured or subjected to other harsh conditions.

In a public action report on June 9, 2009, Amnesty International claimed that the detention of 15 people in Tabriz was a result of the pre-election atmosphere.

Azerbaijani Activists Transferred to Prison

Azerbaijani activist Ebadat Madadi Negarestan was sent to prison on November 26, 2009 to serve an eight-month jail term.

Madadi was arrested on May 27, 2006 when participating in the protests against a cartoon in the state-run newspaper Iran,which most of Azerbaijanis found offensive. He was later released on bail to be tried later. He was sentenced to 34 months of imprisonment by Iran Revolutionary Court in Tabriz on December 16, 2006. The appeals court reduced the jail term to 8 months. Madadi is an Azerbaijani activist in Tabriz who has been detained several times since 1996.

Jamshid Zarei was sent to prison on November 22, 2009 to serve a six-month jail term.

Zarei was detained on May 10, 2008 with some other activists in Tabriz and was released after three months of temporary detention to be tried later. He was tried along with activists Ahad Razavi, and Babek Hosseini and they were all sentenced to six months in prison on February 8, 2009. Zarei was charged with “propaganda against regime” and “preparing and distributing articles which invited people to participate in demonstrations of May 2007”. Zarei also has been detained several times since 1996.

The 27^th article of Iran Constitution allows for peaceful meetings and protests; however Iran government authorities prevent Azerbaijanis from such activity. The organized events are deemed illegal the participants are usually treated harshly and some are detained.

Pressure on Said Matipur Increases

Said Matinpur, a prominent Azerbaijani journalist and human rights defender, is under increasing physical and psychological pressure.

Prison authorities have transferred Matinpur to Section 350 of Evin Prison, the ward reserved for committers of financial crimes, from his original section which was reserved for political prisoners. Prison authorities in the new ward are further limiting his allotted telephone calls. These limits have left his family terribly worried since he suffers from severe health problems. The prison authorities also have not allowed him to visit his wife orders from judiciary authorities stating otherwise.

Matinpur has suffered from heart and lung problems since September 2009. He is reported to be experiencing severe pain in his chest and left hand and has recently experienced acute lung pains. Demands for his transfer to a hospital have been rejected by judiciary authorities.

In May 2007, Said Matinpour was arrested in Zanjan. He was released after 278 days of detention in solitary confinement on a bail of 5 billion Rials ($500,000). As a result of both harsh treatment and unsanitary cell conditions, Matinpour suffered from serious back problems and digestive difficulties after his release from prison. He was forced to give false confessions during his detention by means of physical and psychological torture.

Matinpur was charged with “connections to foreigners” and with “propaganda against the regime” based on his alleged participation in a conference in Turkey about human rights, which was also attended by several other Azerbaijanis from Iran. Matipur, however, was in Iran at the time that the conference was held. The charges against him were based confessions that were obtained through torture. He was sentenced to eight years in prison. The appeals trial issued the same verdict.

Amnesty International, Reporters without Borders, Front Line and The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) have released urgent action reports on Matinpour’s behalf. The reports described Matinpour as a prisoner of conscience and called for his unconditional release.

Azerbaijani Activist Faces Long Arbitrary Detention

In Iran, cultural and linguistic activists are arbitrarily detained for indefinite periods of time. One such activist Ali Hosseinnejad, has been in MOIS custody for over two months with no word to his family about his situation. He has not been allowed to call or inform them about his whereabouts and his health and judiciary authorities have resisted inquiries on his status by his family.

Hosseinnejad was arrested by intelligence officers on September 26, 2009 in Maku (in West Azerbaijan province) while on a temporary leave from Maku Prison. Reports claim that he is under physical and psychological pressure in prison.

The Trial of Azerbaijani Activists took place

The trials of Azerbaijan activists are usually not public and they are tried without a lawyer. In cases where lawyers are present, they not allowed defend their defendants effectively.

Azerbaijani cultural activists Behnam Sheykhi and Mahmud Ojaghlu were tried on November 30, 2009 in Tehran. They were detained in Islamshahr, Tehran on Jun 9, 2009 and were released on bail of 500 million rials ($50,000) after 55 and 63 days of temporary detentions respectively. They were charged with “violation of national security”, “propaganda against regime” and “organizing illegal meetings”. Their trail was not public.

Sheykhi and Ojaghlu were treated badly when they were arrested and faced physical and psychological pressure in detention. They were not allowed to access a lawyer or visit their families.

The trial of Hasan Abdollahi, Azerbaijani-Turkic language teacher; poet Mahbub budaghi; Faraz Zehtab, student activist; and Azerbaijani rights activists Habib Avarideh, Hasan Asiyabi, Mohammad Reza Hashemi took place on November 19, 2009. All were detained in Tabriz in July 2009, and were released on bail after around three months of arbitrary detention only to face trial at a later date.

They are charged with establishing groups that would threaten national security via the internet and distributing articles that promoted public rallies. The charges were based on confessions that were acquired under torture and for participation in rallies at Babek Castle. The trials were not public.

Faraz Zehtab is a student activist in Tabriz University, and was sentenced to one year of imprisonment along with two years parole for managing a weblog called AZOH. He was recently released from prison conditionally when serving his one year imprisonment on November 10, 2009.

The joint trial of student activist Asghar Ghadimi, film director Babek Meynaghi, Abdollah Sadughi, Armin Shakeran Vahidi, Farid Bagherzadeh, and Azerbaijani activists Berat Dadger took place in Tabriz on November 8.

The activists were arrested after a speech given by then presidential candidate Mir-Hossein Musavi’s in Tabriz on May 25, 2009. During Musavi’s speech the activists protested in favor of linguistic and ethnic rights for Azerbaijanis and condemned insults by former president Khatami.

They were detained by security forces for 9 days and released on bail. During their detentions, the activists were tortured and ill-treated and were interrogated to make false confessions.

They were charged with “violation of public order.” The trial was not public and the lawyers were not present during the trial.

At the same time, a large number of Azerbaijanis was subjected to police brutality and many were arrested. Nader and Jahanbakhs Bakhtavar, Mehdi and Ali Imani, Hamed Hasanzaded and other Azerbaijani activist were detained and released on bail after some days of detention. They are now waiting for their trail date.

The trial of Azerbaijani activists Jamshid Zarei, Vahid Sheykhbeglu, and Nima Puryaghub took place in Tabriz on November 10, 2009.

They were detained in a gathering to welcome home Azerbaijani student activists who were released from Tabriz Prison. They are charged with “violation of national security” and “violation of public order.”

Their trial was not public and their lawyers were barred from attendance.

Detention of Student Activists

Rasul Alinejad, and Behruz Faridi, student activists from Tabriz Azad University were detained on November 18, 2009 by security forces. They were detained when President Ahmadinejad was in Tabriz but there is no more information of the reason of their arrest. They are now being heldt in Tabriz Prison.

Azerbaijani Activists released from Prison

Azerbaijani student activists Farzad Zehtab and Aydin Khajeyi from Tabriz University were released conditionally from prison after serving their one year jail term.

Zehtab and Khajeyi were arrested in June 2008 along with seven other students and were under physical and psychological pressure for three months throughout the detention period. They were charged with “participating and establishing illegal groups in order to violate national security” and also “propaganda against regime” by directing the weblog AZOH (Azerbaijan Student Movement).

They were sentenced to one year of imprisonment and two years of parole.

Ehsan Najafi and Majid Makuyi, who were also sentenced to prison for the same case, are presently serving out their jail terms.

Musa Saket, Tahkim Vahdat, Behnam Nikzad and Ata Alizade, student activists at Tabriz University, were detained on November 4, 2009 by security forces and were released on bail after 22, 9, and 9 days of detention, respectively.

They were detained following the Student Day demonstrations of November 4. On the same day, the government severely cracked down on protests in Tehran and Esfahan.

Irresponsible Behavior Leads to Two Deaths

Ehsan Etebar, a student of Physics at Urmia University, died from wounds incurred from an explosion caused by gas leak in student dormitory. Following the death of Etebar, around 600 students from Urmia University protested against the lack of responsibility for the conditions in the dorms. The university authorities called 12 protesters to the disciplinary committee. Prior to this incident, three Urmia University students died in gas leak on October 9, 2009.

Javad Alipur, a student at Sahand Technical University, died of heart attack as he was being transported to a hospital. The university campus is 30 km from the city of Tabriz, but does not have adequate medical services nor proper ambulance services.

Azerbaijani Journalist Attacked

Ahmad Naghizadeh, an Azerbaijani journalist and blogger was beaten by security guards in the governor’s administrative building when taking photos of the initial days of the governor of West Azerbaijan province. After the journalists plead for security forces to stop, he was accused of “violating public order.” There were no restrictions on photography in the building

Prior to this incident, Javid Asadzadeh, another blogger from West Azerbaijan province was attacked and beaten by unknown persons.

Filtering of Web-Sites

Savalansesi the news organ of ADAPP (Association for the Defence of Azerbaijani Political Prisoners in Iran) was filtered on November 26, 2009 by Iranian authorities.

This website has aimed to reflect accurate depictions of human rights violations against Azerbaijanis and other ethnic minorities in Iran throughout the past three years.

Iranian government officials try to prevent people from access to news of human rights violations in Iran by filtering websites linked to ADAPP. Dozens of other Azerbaijani websites have also been filtered or closed by Iranian government in the past.

Cultural Ceremonies Are Restricted by the Iranian Government

The prevention of organizing of cultural and national ceremonies in past few years has increased widely. The organizers or participants of such ceremonies are detained or subjected to violence.

Authorities at Esfahan University prevented students from attending an Azerbaijani music concert by turning off the electricity to the concert hall.

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