Baha’i man sentenced to three years of prison and a fine

Tehran- March 2, 2011
Payam Aqhsani, a Baha’i resident of Tehran was sentenced to three years of prison and a 400,000 toman (about 400 dollar) fine by the 28th branch of the Revolutionary Court.
Eghsani was arrested before on January 14, 2009 along with 11 other Baha’is and his home was searched by security forces.

Female political prisoner infected with Hepatitis B in Gohardasht Prison

Karaj- March 2, 2011
According to reports, political prisoner Kobra Banazadeh Amirkhizi was infected with Hepatitis B in the Gohardasht Prison infirmary.
This 56 year old political prisoner who was also jailed in the 80’s was taken to the infirmary for so-called treatment and was infected with Hepatitis B because unclean material was used to treat her. She is in very critical condition but intelligence interrogators refuse to allow her treatment outside of prison. Mrs. Banazadeh suffered from an eye injury before this due to torture in cellblock 209 in Evin Prison and being struck on the head and lost a large portion on her eyesight.
Notably, this political prisoner was arrested on January 16, 2009 in the Khomeini Airport when she intended to visit her children and family in Camp Ashraf in Iraq, despite having a visa and passport. She was arrested along with 18 other elderly mothers and fathers and was taken to cellblock 209 in Evin Prison where she was under mental and physical torture by interrogators of the Ministry of Intelligence for several months. Banazadeh was sentenced to five years of prison to be served in Gohardasht Prison in Karaj.

Political prisoner one step closer to execution

Tehran-March 2, 2011
The family of death row political prisoner Hamid Qasemi Shal has announced that this Iranian-Canadian man is in danger of execution. They have asked international institutions and all those who can help not to let the ‘blood of an innocent person be spilled’.
Qasemi Shal has been in prison since June 13, 2008 and has been sentenced to death by the 29th branch of the Revolutionary Court on charges of espionage and having links to the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran. His sentence was upheld by the Supreme Court and he is on the verge of execution because his request for amnesty was rejected.
His sister says that her brother was not involved in any political activities and that there is no evidence that proves the charges brought against him which has led to the death sentence.

New step taken to remove Rafsanjani as head of Assembly of Experts

Tehran-March 2, 2011
With the announcement that Mahdavi Kani was a candidate for the head of the Assembly of Experts, a new step was taken towards ousting Rafsanjani as the head of the Assembly.
According to the Mehr News Agency on February 28, the head of Mahdavi Kani’s office said, “According to the invitation of about 60 representatives of the Assembly of Experts and his request to take part in the elections as the head of the Assembly, Ayatollah Mahdavi Kani has given a positive answer to this request and intends to become a candidate for its presidency”.

Iran’s shows reaction to names of 80 officials in EU’s black list

Tehran-March 2, 2011
In the first reaction to the names of 80 Iranian officials in the EU’s sanctions list, the state-run Keyhan Daily which is close to Khamenei wrote, “Foreign media said that there was a list of 80 Iranian personalities who are to be sanctioned by the European Union. Some of the names in the list are Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi, Ahmad Khatami, Mohammad Yazdi and Hossein Shariatmadari”.
“This list has been under discussion in the EU and the people in the list will be subjected to sanctions and their assets in the EU will be frozen”.

Iran arrests three soldiers on charges of being nice to political prisoners in Evin Prison

Tehran-March 2, 2011
Reports received by ISC say that three conscripts who were dispatched in Evin Prison were arrested and detained in cellblock 2A run by the Revolutionary Guards Forces on charges of cooperating with political prisoners Tajzadeh and Nourizad.
According to reports, these three soldiers are Shahin Attar, Soheil Rohandeh and Hamid-Reza Mohammadi were on duty in the Evin Intelligence and Protection Department and they were arrested on charges of being polite and nice to political prisoners Mohammad Nourizad and Mostafa Tajzadeh, who were detained in the quarantine cellblock in this section.
Articles and letters written by these two political prisoners that have been published in websites while they were jailed have caused three innocents to be charged like this. This is while most of these articles and letters were written while these prisoners were on furloughs while some of the letters were dictated in family visits and have been published by their families.

Iranian government terrified over Fire Festival celebrations

Tabriz-March 2, 2011
The Tabriz Prosecutor said that those who sell fire crackers will be dealt with as smugglers.
“The Revolutionary and Public court in Tabriz will deal very firmly with those who disrupt the peace and security of the people by any means including using firecrackers and causing abnormal sounds. They will be dealt with as disrupters of public order”, he added.
“We ask families to monitor what their youngsters are doing to prevent horrible things that might happen to their youngsters and others which will have legal consequences”, he stressed.