Welcome to ICFTO

Political prisoner Fatemeh Mosanna was taken to Taleghani Hospital in Tehran on Wednesday, August 19, 2020, after going unconscious in the women’s ward of Evin Prison.

Her hands and feet are cuffed to the hospital bed since that day. She is denied from being visited by her children and relatives.

Political prisoner Fatemeh Mosanna earlier had symptoms of fever and chills.

Ms. Mosanna’s children referred to the Taleghani Hospital to see their mother, but they have not yet managed to visit her.

They have been told that their mother is tied to her bed, on the orders of Amin Vaziri, the special prosecutor for political prisoners.

Despite other claims, Iranian authorities knew about the mass execution of political prisoners in 1988, a document recently retrieved from the archives of Amnesty International shows. The document, which was tweeted by the Farsi account of Amnesty first, is an Urgent Appeal that dates back to August 16, 1988, when the executions were at their height.

“Amnesty International is concerned by evidence that a new wave of political executions is taking place in Iran,” the document reads.

The document contains accounts of the execution of members of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) and other groups that oppose the Iranian regime. “Approvals by the Supreme Judicial Council of death sentences of members of opposition groups also continue to be reported,” the document reads in part.
Amnesty International had, at the time, also expressed concern about “lack of provisions for a fair trial in political cases” and “lack of any procedure for prisoners sentenced to death to appeal against conviction or sentence.”

Infected labour activist Jafar Azimzadeh has started a hunger strike since Sunday, August 16, after being transferred from Evin Prison to Gohardasht Prison (Rajai Shahr) in Karaj instead of a hospital.

Mr. Azimzadeh contracted the coronavirus while in Evin Prison. After a clinic doctor diagnosed that he was an emergency case, prison authorities transferred him out of Evin but instead of taking him to a civic hospital, took him to Gohardasht Prison.

The infected labour activist was held in solitary confinement for two days without being allowed to contact his family.

The reason Mr. Azimzadeh went on hunger strike was to protest the authorities’ “deceiving him and taking him to Rajai Shahr Prison instead of a hospital,” “failure to observe hygiene protocols to fight the coronavirus in prison and disseminating false reports from 20:30 TV news program pretending that there is no coronavirus in prison”, and “keeping his family in the dark, torturing them psychologically and letting them wander around in Tehran’s hospitals.”

Seventy-two political prisoners who have been detained for partaking in the November 2019 protests are participating in a hunger strike over coronavirus fears at the Greater Tehran Penitentiary.

The prisoners announced in a letter today that they started a hunger strike to protest against being denied leave during the Coronavirus pandemic and poor prison conditions.

The strikers refused meals today and said that they will continue their protest until their demands are met.

The political prisoners said in their letter, “We started to strike today to protest the violations of the political prisoners’ rights and the authorities’ insistency on imprisoning justice-seeking people in these deplorable health conditions and in this remote prison, which lacks the necessary standards for human care.

Alireza Farshi Dizjikan, an Azeri activist detained in Evin Prison, called on prison authorities to attend to Evin Prison conditions during the coronavirus pandemic and enforce social distancing measures. He did so in an open letter to the legal deputy of Evin Prison.

Alireza Farshi Dizjikan in his letter revealed the horrible Evin Prison conditions in Ward 8 during the coronavirus pandemic.

Noting international standards and the internationally recognized definition of prison and prisoners, the Azeri activist questioned the authorities’ conduct with regards to the safety of inmates during the pandemic.

Heydar Ghorbani, a Kurdish political prisoner in Iran is facing imminent execution.

On Wednesday, August 5, Branch 27 of Iran’s Supreme Court upheld a death sentence against political prisoner Heydar Ghorbani from the city of Kamyaran in Kuridstan province, western Iran.

The dossier has been transferred to the Prosecutor’s Office in the city of Sanandaj, capital of Kurdistan province, for the execution to be carried out.
Heydar Ghorbani, a member of the Kurdish minority community, along with his brother-in-law Mahmoud Sadeqi, were arrested by agents of the Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) back in 2016 and immediately transferred to Sanandaj Central Prison.
They were accused of cooperation in the killing of several members of the Revolutionary Guard and membership in the outlawed Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (DPIK).

Political prisoner Majid Assadi as well as Mohammad Bannazadeh Amirkhizi, and Payam Shakiba continue to be under interrogation in the Intelligence Ministry Ward 209 of Evin Prison.

They were transferred from Rajaei Shahr Prison in Karaj (a.k.a. Gohardasht) to Ward 209 of Evin Prison two weeks ago on July 22, and they are still under interrogation for a new case opened against them while they were in jail.

Fatemeh Vakili, Majid Assadi’s mother, said the Judiciary had issued a letter indicating that political prisoner Majid Assadi was going to be freed after 3.5 years in jail on July 20, 2020.

Iran’s official Judiciary news agency announced that Mostafa Salehi, a young man arrested for participating in late 2017 and early 2018 protests was hanged at dawn today in a prison in Isfahan, central Iran.

Mostafa Salehi was one of the protesters arrested during the nationwide protests in 2017-18 in the city of Kahrizsang, in Isfahan province.

He was tried in the 1st Branch of the Isfahan Penal Court and was charged with killing a member of the Revolutionary Guards using a hunting rifle during the protests, and beating and injuring six other people, the judiciary’s Mizan News Agency reported.

Sunday, July 19, 2020, was Day 2 of the Free Iran Global Summit and the virtual international conference titled, “The 1988 Massacre, A Crime Against Humanity, Remains Unpunished 32 Years After,” held at Ashraf-3, Albania. Prominent lawyers and political personalities, including distinguished female members of European parliaments and former political prisoners and witnesses to the 1988 massacre, addressed the summit.
Two female members of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), who had been witnesses to the 1988 massacre, were the first speakers at the virtual international conference.