Greetings!
We are delighted to present you with the current issue of Iran Update, a publication of International Solidarity for Democratic Change in Iran (ISDCI).
International Solidarity for Democratic Change in Iran (ISDCI) is a public benefit association comprised of members of Parliament, political dignitaries, human rights advocates and organizations throughout the world, as well as different Iranian organisations, associations and personalities.
Iran Update endeavours to report on topics related to the movement for democracy, human rights, and freedom in Iran on a regular basis. We invite you to subscribe your friends to this newsletter and contribute articles or ideas related to our work.
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| Forced disappearance & extra-judicial killing of young man
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 A young man, arrested six months ago at Neda Agha Sultan's memorial service at her grave, has been identified by his father at a Tehran morgue. Mustafa Mir Ibrahimi, was not heard of after his arrest despite his family's repeated attempts to learn of his whereabouts. None of the prisons would confirm his name on their prison roster to the family. Several days ago the Public Corners' office contacted his father to identify the body of Mustafa.
The authorities have not handed Mustafa's body to his family and ordered him buried without ceremony.
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| Zahra Asadpour Gorji suffers heart attack in Gohardasht prison
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Ms. Zahra Asadpour Gorji (Joushan), 52, a political prison held in women's ward of Karaj's Gohardasht prison, has suffered from a heart attack due to appalling prison conditions and pressures exerted by the regime's henchmen at the prison. She had already had an operation on her heart. She is in critical state.
Ms. Asadpour was arrested on December 7, 2009, during a raid by suppressive forces on her residence. Before that, she was imprisoned for 16 months alongside her daughter, Fatemeh Joushan, for visiting her daughter in Ashraf City. Her son, Reza Joushan, 25, who is also imprisoned, suffers from severe asthma and leg pains. He was arrested on December 1 and has been placed under cruel physical and psychological tortures.
After their arrests, both mother and son were transferred to solitary confinement at Ward 8 of Gohardasht prison, which is controlled by agents of the Ministry of Intelligence and Security, and placed under torture in order to coerce them into forcing their relatives to return to Iran from Ashraf.
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| Video surfaces of savage attack on Tehran University dormitory on 15 June 2009
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The Persian language website of the BBC posted a newly emerged video of a savage attack on Tehran University dormitory by a special unit of the IRGC (Guards Corps) and the paramilitary Basij.
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| Prisoner dies after torture in Gohardasht prison
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Yavar Khodadoost died after being viciously tortured in Gohardasht Prison
Based on reports by Human Rights and Democracy Activists in Iran, one of the prisoners held in ward 1 of Gohardasht prison (Karaj, Iran) had been murdered as a result of torture he endured at the hands of Kermani and Faraji (director and vice-director of the prison's Intelligence division).
The murder of Yavar Khodadoost took place on Monday, 22 February 2010. His body has been transferred to the prison clinic and is currently being kept in the prison morgue.
Yavar's brother Latif Khodadoost is also serving time in prison. ISDCI condemns the torture of defenceless prisoners. Death under torture is considered a criminal act. We ask our friends to write to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and other international organisations to take urgent action to end torture in prisons of the Iranian regime.
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Exiles urge EU to impose sanctions on Iran guards
The Associated Press
22 February 2010
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An Iranian opposition leader is urging the European Union to impose sanctions against Iran's Revolutionary Guards.
Maryam Rajavi, head of a Paris-based umbrella opposition group, says the guard corps should also be placed on a European list of banned terrorist organizations.
EU foreign ministers are meeting Monday to discuss the escalating row with Tehran over its nuclear program.
The Revolutionary Guard is a separate from Iran's ordinary armed forces and has a hand in critical areas including missile development, oil resources, telecommunications and nuclear technology.
The U.S. has frozen the assets of some of the unit's subsidiaries because of their alleged involvement in producing and spreading weapons of mass destruction.
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| Former Basij commander named Tehran police chief
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Tehran's former police chief, Brig.Rajabzadeh was dismissed partly due to his failure to contain the uprising on Ashura (27 December) and amid rumours that his beating on Ashura day protest by a female martial arts expert was seen as humiliating by the Security Forces. His replacement is Brig. Hossein Sajedinia, a former commander of the paramilitary Basij militia. The Basij operate with impunity in plainclothes and uniformed units, beating, arresting, detaining and interrogating protesters with official sanction.
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Thank you for your readership. We welcome your comments.
Sincerely,
ISDCI News Group |
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