The girls of the Iran prison revolt that killed two teenage girls – one by one, two by one: The others died of smoke inhalation
As unrest erupted across Iran calling for an end to the Islamic Republic’s rule last month, with young women in big cities and small towns tossing their headscarves onto bonfires to chants of “Women, Life, Freedom,” two teenage girls left their homes to join the protesters.
It was the last time their relatives would see them alive. One family searched frantically for their daughter for 10 days, posting desperate appeals for information on social media; the other found out the fate of their daughter within hours of her disappearance.
But the outcome was the same. The missing teenagers had been killed by the security forces, their families and human rights groups said. One girl had her skull smashed and another had her head cracked by baton blows. Their bodies were bruised and badly scarred and returned to their families. They were teenagers at the time.
I suspected the prison uprising was behind the fire due to the fact that it had experienced sit-ins, demonstrations and unrest in the last month. Iran’s judiciary maintains that prisoners started the fire in the workshop after a fight, and that some of them died of smoke inhalation.
The notorious facility has been known for housing political prisoners in the country, which has seen mass protests in recent weeks against the Islamic regime.
The Iranian Prisoner’s Room after the Fire: A Woman Prisoner, Detainees, and the Families of the Namazi Family
Daemi said tear gas was fired by security officials and that a woman prisoner was one of them.
In an interview with Radio Farda, the Iranian branch of the US government funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Saeedi stated that her husband called her from the prison and told her that he and fellow jailed filmmakers are in good health.
She said that when her husband got a call on the next day after the fire broke out they were the worst hours of her life.
Activist group 1500tasvir reported earlier that, in videos posted on social media, gunshots were heard and Iranian special forces were seen heading to the area where the prison is believed to be located.
Inmates on Ward 8 have no water, gas, or bread and 45 of them were transferred “to an unknown place,” Daemi said. “Now everyone is fine, but they are worried about being transferred to other prisons, solitary confinement and interrogation.”
Many inmates had been transferred to Rajaei Shahr prison, about 20 kilometers west (12 miles) of Tehran, Mostafa Nili, a lawyer who represents a number of prisoners, said on Twitter. Video from IranWire shows a bus taking prisoners away from Evin.
“She told me she didn’t know what had happened at Evin last night but said that she heard the terrifying sounds and thought something terrible happened,” Hosein said his wife told him, adding she was doing well.
Hosein said Hamedi is being held in Evin’s Section 209 – notorious for housing prisoners of conscience – and did not have information about other areas of the prison.
Iranian-American Siamak Namazi, who has been detained in Iran for seven years and was forced to return to prison on Wednesday after briefly being released on furlough, is also safe, according to the Namazi family lawyer Jared Genser.
Speaking earlier to state broadcaster IRIB, Tehran’s prosecutor Ali Salehi said the “conflict” at the prison was not linked to the protests that have swept the country following the death of a young woman in police custody.
Iran has been rocked by protests since the Sept. 16 death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who died after being detained by the country’s morality police. The group that’s been monitoring the Iran protests said at least 475 people have been killed in the demonstrations. Over 18,000 were arrested by the authorities.
Iran is one of the most prolific executioners in the world. It typically executes prisoners by hanging. Already, Amnesty International said it obtained a document signed by one senior Iranian police commander asking an execution for one prisoner be “completed ‘in the shortest possible time’ and that his death sentence be carried out in public as ‘a heart-warming gesture towards the security forces.'”
A special session of the UN Human Rights Council should be held to create a “UN investigative and accountability mechanism on Iran government and religious authorities,” Callamard said in a tweet Sunday, citing “far too many crimes against the Iranian people.”
Kylie Moore-Gilbert is an Australian-British scholar of Islam and Middle East. She was released in a prisoner exchange in November 2020 after being imprisoned in Iran over espionage allegations. Moore-Gilbert is the author of “The Uncaged Sky: My 804 Days in an Iranian Prison.” The views made in the commentary are of her own. You can view more opinions on CNN.
I spent most of my time at the Evin prison, which is nestled in the foothills of the Alborz Mountains. Ringed by high concrete walls topped with razor wire, the prison is guarded by a contingent of armed soldiers whose noisy patrols could often be heard from within the cells.
According to a family member, at one point “anti-riot shooters were trying to get inside (the women’s ward) and were violently shooting at random. The head of the Prison Authority himself stood in the doorway and prevented the shooters from entering.”
Former foreign hostages and other victims of Iran’s prison system as well as family members of current detainees frantically exchanged information and checked up on one another in the fire’s aftermath.
The Iranian human rights lawyer Amirsalar Davoudi got word out that he and his cellmates in Ward 4 had survived — likewise the recently arrested activist Arash Sadeghi. There was a collective sigh of relief among those of us connected to the prison with every welfare check received.
The process of entering the prison through the front gates involves being blindfolded, handcuffed and crammed into the back of a vehicle while being accompanied by prison transfer guards. A prisoner could count how many checkpoints had been passed by how many times the vehicle’s trunk was opened and inspected.
Inside is a maze of administrative buildings and judiciary offices, with roughly a dozen prison wards perched on top of each other and built into the sharp slope of the mountain.
The oversight of Iran’s Prison Authority, which is supposed to protect prisoner rights, excludes these black sites. There are several competing groups that fight over everything, from the provision of medical treatment to the granting of prisoner furloughs.
I had known of a number of imprisoned activists, including the lawyer and Golrokh Iraee, who were rearrested recently.
The woman in the women’s ward was untouched by the gunfire: How much innocent prisoners are in prison? What will they do if the regime cannot control Evin?
As the situation stabilized, crowds massed on the streets outside Evin, and family members desperately tried to gather information about their loved ones inside.
“The women’s ward is untouched!” Someone told me that emergency services were outside of the prison gates. Two more sources confirmed that the news was true. The women are shaking but they are all fine.
I can’t imagine what it must have felt like to hear gunfire just meters outside the locked doors of their unit. That this man is part of a cruel and repressive system complicit in the unjust detention of innocent prisoners I have no doubt, but I am glad he discovered a conscience that day. The very lives of my precious friends may have depended on it.
It is not illogical to suppose that Iranian prisoners, many of them entirely innocent of any crime, would want to demonstrate solidarity with their brave compatriots protesting on the streets.
If the regime cannot control its most sensitive maximum security prison, it is likely also losing its grip over the country more broadly. Many of us are now hoping for a day in which there will be no need for an Evin prison at all.
The Zhina Disaster: The Last Days of the Amini Uprising and the Rise of the Islamic Revolution, as Declared by the Women of Amini
A former CNN producer and correspondent, Frida Ghitis, is a world affairs columnist. She is a weekly opinion contributor to CNN, a contributing columnist to The Washington Post and a columnist for World Politics Review. The views that are expressed in this commentary are of her own. View more opinion on CNN.
In Amini’s birthplace of Saqqez, where the 22-year-old also known as Zhina is now buried, thousands of people defied the police and turned out to mark an important day in the mourning process, even as security forces fired live bullets and tear gas to stop them.
But the protests are persisting. The uprising that deposed the Pahlavi regime was the longest since 1979 and lasted for seven weeks. And these protests are different from their predecessors. The Green Movement supported a candidate. In 2019, demonstrators called out harsh economic conditions.
This time, women, and the men who have joined them, are crying out, “Death to the dictator.” This is not about changing the world. This is a topic of fundamental change.
Let’s be honest. This has been inspiring, but also terrifying to watch. The Islamic Republic has what it’s capable of. We fear for the safety of these brave people, and it can seem irresponsible to encourage them. They are in a position where the odds are against them. And yet, they have made the choice to continue the fight. They deserve to be supported by us.
The United States and other western powers are always worried about supporting Iranian protesters because they are already being treated as tools of the West. The Obama administration allowed such concerns to control its responses during the protests. The Biden administration is trying to avoid making the same mistake. Washington has spoken out for the protest movement many times. On Wednesday, the State Department announced new sanctions against Iranians involved in repressing demonstrations.
That is a good start. The Iranian Revolution Guard Corps, which was involved in crushing the protesters, should be banned from entering the United States. Some countries should follow suit.
Given the situation, Germany launched a wide-ranging diplomatic response that included a review of bilateral trade and financial relations, support for nongovernmental organizations that monitor crimes against protestors and expanded protections for vulnerable Iranians.
Then there’s the matter of the abandoned 2015 nuclear deal – the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA – which the Biden administration has been working to reinstate. Iran keeps raising the stakes in the negotiations to save the deal, which was designed to delay Iran from building a nuclear weapon. The Secretary of State indicated that there wasn’t going to be a return to the JCPOA in the near term. The goal of reviving it is still possible, even if it has died completely.
The goal of the US and its allies is to prevent Iran from having a nuclear weapon. But restarting the deal could bring hundreds of billions of dollars to the regime that is currently killing peaceful protesters, arming Russia with killer drones used to slaughter innocent Ukrainians and continuing to support terrorist groups across the Middle East. At the very least, the wisdom of reviving the nuclear deal must be reevaluated.
A Tehran court has ruled that an unnamed protester has been executed for waging a war against God and spreading corruption on Earth
In Iran a woman puts herself in great danger by publicly speaking out against the authorities for her children. Many parents feel they need to take the risk, because there is no choice.
An Iranian court has issued the first death sentence linked to recent protests, convicting the unnamed person of “enmity against God” and “spreading corruption on Earth,” state media reports.
The defendants were convicted of disturbing public order and peace, community and colluding to commit a crime against national security, war and corruption on Earth, according to state news agency IRNA.
Five others who took part in the protests received sentences of five to 10 years in prison, convicted of “collusion to commit a crime against national security and disturbance of public peace and order.”
IRNA said that these decisions are preliminary and can be appealed. The news agency did not name the protester who received the death sentence or provide details on when or where they committed the alleged crime.
According to Amnesty International, as of November, Iranian authorities are seeking the death penalty for at least 21 people in connection with the protests.
In an update to its death toll on Saturday, the group said that its published number represented an “absolute minimum” and included 43 children and 25 women.
CNN cannot independently verify the number of people facing executions in Iran, or the latest arrest figures or death tolls related to the protests, as precise figures are impossible for anyone outside the Iranian government to confirm.
Despite the threat of arrests – and harsher punishments for those involved – Iranian celebrities and athletes have stepped forward to support the anti-government protests in recent weeks.
The UN experts called on the Iranian government to stop using the death penalty in protest and to refrain from indicting people for participation in peaceful demonstrations.
Iran has executed a man for injuring a paramilitary officer in the first known execution linked to protests that have swept the country since September, state media reported Thursday.
The protester was named by both Mizan Online and the Tasmin news agency. He was found guilty of waging war against God for attacking a member of the Basij paramilitary force at a protest in Tehran.
Days after Shekari was hanged, a second execution took place on December 12. The man was accused of killing two paramilitary officers and was hanged in northeastern Mashhad.
His execution must be met with international reaction. Otherwise, we will be facing daily executions of protesters who are protesting for their fundamental human rights,” the group’s director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam told CNN.
The former leader said in a message that the government should listen to the demonstrators before it is too late, ahead of Students’ Day on December 7.
The Iranian Revolutionary Guard as a Crime against Women: The Case of Molavi Abadolhamid Ismaeelzahi
Prominent Iranian Sunni cleric Molavi Abdolhamid Ismaeelzahi on Tuesday called on the country’s judiciary to investigate and prosecute individuals abusing women in prisons.
Taraneh Alidoosti, a top actor in Iran, came out in support of the movement after her death. The protests have since coalesced around a range of grievances with the authoritarian regime.
The authorities have cracked down on the Kurds since the demonstrations began with reports of torture being used to target them.
CNN has found that prisoners have been subjected to torture. Human rights groups say torture-tainted “confessions” have been used against the defendants in sham trials.
Meanwhile, Iran’s Supreme Leader has praised the Basij – a wing of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard – for its role in the crackdown, describing the protest movement as “rioters” and “thugs” backed by foreign forces.
At least 12 people have received death sentences for their involvement in the demonstrations so far, and activists are worried that more could soon be put to death.
The Mizan report also alleged that Shekari said he had been offered money by an acquaintance to attack the security forces. The government of Iran has been accusing foreign nations of fomenting unrest in the country instead of Iranians who are angry over the collapsed finances and heavy-handed policing.
Mizan said Rahnavard had been convicted in Mashhad’s Revolutionary Court. The tribunals around the world were criticized for not allowing those on trial to pick their own lawyers.
After his execution, Iranian state television aired a heavily edited package showing the courtroom and parts of Shekari’s trial, presided over by Judge Abolghassem Salavati.
Salavati faces U.S. sanctions for overseeing cases “in which journalists, attorneys, political activists and members of Iran’s ethnic and religious minority groups were penalized for exercising their freedom of expression and assembly and sentenced to lengthy prison terms, lashes and even execution,” according to the U.S. Treasury.
According to witness testimonies and official documents reviewed by CNN, the judicial process in Iran could be rushed, with death sentences often handed down in a single sitting.
According to the Mizan news agency, two security force members were stabbed to death and four other people were injured on November 17, 2009, in Mashhad.
Footage aired on state TV showed a man chasing another around a street corner, then standing over him and stabbing him after he fell against a parked motorbike. The assailant, which state TV alleged was Rahnavard, then fled.
The Mizan report says the dead was a paramilitary volunteer under the Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. In major cities, the Basij have attacked and detained protesters who have fought back.
There was no explanation for Rahnavard’s alleged attack. The report accused Rahnavard of trying to flee to a foreign country when he was arrested.
Mashhad, a Shiite holy city, sits some 740 kilometers (460 miles) east of the Iranian capital, Tehran. Protests have taken place in and around the city of Mashhad since the death of a woman in Iran’s morality police.
The first prisoner executed in Iran was during Thursday’s demonstrations. Iran’s rial currency has fallen to a new low against the US dollar.
A well-known actress in Iran has been arrested days after she criticized the executions of people involved in the protests in the country.
It was not clear which department took Alidoosti into custody, according to the Committee to Counter Violence Against Women in Iranian Cinema.
Alidoosti, known as a feminist activist, published a picture of herself without the Islamic hijab and held a sign of support for the protest movement.
After Shekari’s execution, she said in another post: “Your silence means supporting tyranny and tyrants,” adding that “every international organization who is watching this bloodshed and not taking action, is a disgrace to humanity.”
“I will stand by the families of prisoners and the killed and will demand justice for them. I will fight for my home and I will pay any cost to stand for my rights,” she wrote.
Iran executions-protests-mahsa-amini: a case study of iran’s cleric-led regime
A pro-government TV station broadcasted a confession from Rahnavard to the police. NPR could not immediately confirm the authenticity of the audio.
“Unfortunately, my own arrow hit my brother,” the recording says — seen as a reference to the Basij militia members Rahnavard was convicted of fatally stabbing.
The anti-regime demonstrations started as an expression of public outrage at Amini’s killing but quickly grew to call for the ousting of Iran’s cleric-led regime.
According to the deputy head of Allameh University, some 20 students were barred from taking classes after they participated in a rally.
According to the official, “These students are people who insisted on continuing their path and did not appreciate their tolerant behavior.”
There is a larger number of prisoners. Rights groups estimate at least 18,000 people have been detained, with at least 39 seen as at risk of receiving a death sentence or being executed.
A 53-year-old radiologist is one of the people sentenced to death. Farzaneh’s wife was sentenced to 25 years’ solitary confinement. Both were arrested after they were caught up in a protest.
Hassanlou was tortured and did not have access to his own lawyer, anti-regime activists say. The attorney who was appointed to the case by the government advised his client to accept the charges of crimes against God.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/12/20/1144206320/iran-executions-protests-mahsa-amini
A pilgrimage for supporters of the high-profile footballer, Amir Nasr-Azadani, during riots in Isfahan
He says that there’s no violence at all. On the personality level, very outspoken. He could be as stubborn as hell because he believed in something.
“I’m proud of you,” he says. I honestly am. I’m so proud of him even though I miss him. I didn’t ask, Why did you do this? The implication was huge for him, not only for his family, but also for the people around him. But I’m still very proud of him.
Shahid Alikhani square is a nondescript part of the historic Iranian city of Isfahan. Its sole claim to prominence is the grand entrance to one of the city’s main metro stations.
But now it has become a place of pilgrimage for supporters of the high-profile Iranian footballer Amir Nasr-Azadani who fear the young man could be executed in the square, where an execution platform has been installed, a witness close to Nasr-Azadani in Iran told CNN.
CNN and the activist group 1500 Tasvir used evidence, testimony, video, and statements from inside the country to suggest that at least 43 people, including Nasr-Azadi, could face imminent execution.
Nasr-Azadani is accused of involvement in the killing of three security officers, including two volunteer Basij militia members, during protests in Isfahan on November 16, Iranian state media IRNA reported last week.
The state media is reporting that the city’s chief justice stated that Nasr-Azadani was accused of rioting against authorities. Under Iran’s penal code, the sentence carries the death penalty.
Since then, a witness to his arrest said they hoped Nasr-Azadani would be freed, but nevertheless visited Shahid Alikhani square daily to see if authorities would show up with the footballer and execute him on the scaffold. The witness told CNN that the authorities promised them he would be released by the end of the week.
The court last week said it obtained “video and sufficient documentation that prove he [Nasr-Azadani] is part of an armed group” and that the footballer had confessed to his crimes, state media IRNA reported.
How the Islamic Regime is Pushing the Judiciary Process through: a case study of Saman Yasin, an Iranian Footballer and amir
The Islamic Republic regime will be able to take advantage of being removed from the eye of the world because of the time when the international community is observing holy days.
I was told by the judge that I didn’t protest, but I was not allowed to read any of the documents.
My charges had changed after the second time they took me in for questioning. That second charge levied against me contained the term ‘moharabe.’”
In a document obtained and verified by CNN, it’s stated that 10 people in Isfenhan are charged with Moharabe, spreading corruption on Earth and other charges, as well as a war against God.
The official documents and witness testimonies show how the Iranian regime is pushing the judicial process through, showing how they are hurrying the process.
And if the charge is handed down, the Iranian penal code states they could get the death sentence in a single sitting – though not carried out immediately and most sentences are appealed.
Two charges have been mentioned by judicial officials. a family member said Soheil could face charges and be sentenced to death.
“We are quite frightened that, with the beginning of the Christmas holidays and a decrease in political pressure on the government, executions will begin anew, and I think that Soheil’s life and the lives of numerous political prisoners are in danger.
In Karaj, near Tehran, CNN and 1500Tasvir have confirmed five more Iranians are facing execution. The parents of the Iranian-Kurdish Karate champion have also gone public with their plea.
In another message shared with CNN, they said that despite his alleged ill-treatment, Karami was in good spirits but “physically damaged” having suffered torture.
For those awaiting execution, the wait behind bars can be unbearable. Just this week, 27-year-old Iranian-Kurdish rapper Saman Yasin attempted suicide while in detention.
In his last music video, Yasin rapped about inequality and oppression in Iran, singing “they closed my throat violently. They didn’t allow beauty. They reversed me so that I looked like an animal. silence is not something I am satisfied with.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/23/middleeast/iran-footballer-amir-nasr-azadani-execution-intl/index.html
When are my sons ready to be released? I ask you to help me, for the love of God, and protect me, too!
My sons need help. My sons are young and they have children awaiting their release. Please save them. For the love of God, save my sons.”