'Did these children have to be killed?': Mother of dead protester Sohrab Aarabi speaks out

Sohrab Aarabi, Parvin Fahimi

Gholam Ali Haddad Adel, former Majlis speaker and current head of the legislature's cultural committee, said last week that three deaths at Kahrizak 'should not become the main issue.' The Iranian regime has officially recognized only three deaths at the notoriously barbaric detention center.

The comment provoked widespread outrage and prompted Parvin Fahimi, the mother of dead protester Sohrab Aarabi, to write a sharp letter to Haddad Adel, considered particularly close to the regime because his daughter is married to Leader Ali Khamenei's son, Mojtaba. Fahimi also spoke to the Voice of America and Radio Farda this week, providing new details surrounding Sohrab's death.

In her letter, Fahimi wrote that Haddad Adel's comments were were like 'salt poured on the wounds of those who have lost loved ones in the crackdown after the election.'

'Would you make the same judgment if your child, like Mr. Rouholamini's child and our children, had been tortured or killed in the streets,' she asked Haddad Adel, referring to Mohsen Rouholamini, 25, who was beaten to death in Kahrizak.

Sohrab Aarabi disappeared during massive demonstrations in Tehran on June 15, but it is unclear when, where, or how he was killed. The authorities informed Fahimi of her son's death on July 11. Fahimi had been shuffled from prison to morgue to judiciary office to hospital for 26 days as she sought her child in vain.

The following video documents Sohrab's story:


Fahimi spoke to Voice of America's Farideh Rahbar two days ago. A translation follows the video:


Host:
One of those killed in the post-election unrest is Sohrab Aarabi, 19. His mother told Farideh Rahbar that she wants her son's killer identified and is still waiting for her son's personal belongings.

Parvin Fahimi:
A week after Sohrab was buried, I hired a lawyer and filed a complaint. The only thing they've said is that he was fired upon from a range of 3 to 15 meters by a Kalashnikov. The coroner has no record of who brought him to the morgue and left my child's naked body there. They still haven't given us any answers about who killed him or where he was killed. 

Farideh Rahbar: 
You mentioned some things to Mr. Haddad Adel. What do you expect from the authorities? 

Parvin Fahimi: 
It is important for me that the murderer is identified and brought to trial before just judges. They have to tell us who carried out these acts and to what end. Where was my child killed? I wrote a letter to Mr. Haddad Adel because he had said that three people had died in Kahrizak and that this was not an important issue, the main issue. But as a mother, I have the right, as a citizen in this country it is my right to know what happened, what horror befell my child. If he was killed... he had his mobile on him... why was I not informed? They kept me hanging for 25 days. I kept going to the Revolutionary Court and Evin Prison. After several months, we still know nothing. I've sent letters to the Majlis, the judiciary... They must answer me. Instead, they put salt on our wounds. Haven't we suffered enough? As a mother, the head of the household, I expect them to respond. Why aren't they returning my child's personal belongings? His mobile phone? If anyone loses his mobile or has it stolen, they follow up and find it in a month. But from the day he disappeared, my child's mobile has still not been found. They haven't returned his personal belongings... His ring, his chain, his glasses, his clothes... These things are dear to me. They may not be worth anything to them, but for me they have sentimental value.

In an interview broadcast by Radio Farda yesterday, Fahimi said that she had written to Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani, judiciary chief Sadegh Larijani, former judiciary chief Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, the Majlis's National Security Committee, and the Majlis's Article 90 Committee. She has yet to receive a response. The Article 90 Committee investigates grievances against the three branches of government.

Fahimi gave Radio Farda additional details about Sohrab's injuries. 'His arms were lowered. They shot him in such a way that the bullet broke his left arm, passed under his heart, and punctured his lung. But it is unclear whether they took him to a hospital or not,' she said.

'How could they bring themselves to kill these children because of a civil protest over their vote,' she wondered. 'Did these children have to be killed?'

Asked whether she now thought that her son had died in vain, she responded, 'No. He went out for his beliefs and these children will always live on. [...] I am certain that his struggle will continue through other young people and we can see that it is still continuing.'

Listen to a portion of the Radio Farda interview

Letter leaked: Tehran governorship forbids city council members from visiting families of post-election victims

Mehdi Chamran, Safarali Baratlou

The deputy governor of Tehran province has demanded that Tehran city council members cease their compassionate visits to the families of post-election victims.

The 'request' was conveyed to Tehran city council president Mehdi Chamran in a letter that came to light two days ago, but was dated September 15 and was registered by the council's secretariat on September 26. The missive was signed by Safarali Baratlou, Tehran province's social and political deputy governor who is also in charge of security and police affairs. Baratlou was placed in charge of organizing the presidential election in Tehran province by Governor Morteza Tamaddon in March.

In the letter, Baratlou states, 'Given the recent actions of some members of the city council who have visited families who have suffered in the post-election events, and given the necessity of maintaining national concord and avoiding tension in the society, I request that you order the honorable council members to shun uncoordinated actions (which may contribute to tension and...). It is evident that the continuation of the visits will be considered a provocation which will have to be dealt with.'

City council president Chamran belongs to the conservative Principlist faction, but he shifted his allegience from Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Tehran Mayor and Ahmadinejad rival Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf in 2006. Baratlou, like other provincial officials, is appointed by the Interior Ministry.

Iran regime celebrates World Teachers' Day by jailing 12 union members: New sweep part of longstanding repression

At least twelve members of the central council of the Iranian teachers' union, including the secretary general of the group, Ali Akbar Baghani, were arrested during their weekly meeting at Baghani's house on Tuesday. The arrests took place a day after World Teachers' Day, an event that the union had been banned from celebrating. 

'Some time in the afternoon, two unmarked vans drove up to the house,' Asghar Zati, a former spokesman of the union, told Advar News. 'Everyone in the house was arrested and taken to an unknown location.' Mokhtar Assadi, member of the union's national coordination council told Radio Farda that the house was raided at 3:30 PM. 

Assadi said that the reason for the arrests was unknown and that the Intelligence Ministry would have to provide that information. But he added, 'The intelligence and security forces think that by cracking down on the educational system and the teachers they are somehow confronting the green movement, which has recently spread to universities. They fear that it will spread to the schools and they want to prevent this.'

The conservative Keyhan daily wrote that the union was exploiting teachers' professional issues to dupe people and strengthen itself, referring to the union as a groupuscule. The Kanouneh Senfiyeh Moalleman is known in English as the Iran Teacher Trade Association. Keyhan daily contended that the union was engaging in nefarious acts 'despite the fact that this justice-seeking government has pursued the teachers' professional demands with determination and seriousness.'

The union begged to differ. In a statement published by Advar News before yesterday's arrests took place, the union called for the immediate and unconditional release of their colleagues who had been jailed in the past year, the closure of court cases filed against union members, the payment of the salaries of said members, and the lifting of all restrictions on the activities of civil organizations. Among those who had been arrested prior to yesterday's round of detentions, the statement mentioned Hashem Khastar, Farzad Kamangar, Abdollah Momeni, Jafar Ebrahimi, Mohammad Davari, and Rasoul Badaghi.

The photo to the right is a visual catalog of some of the pressure the government has exerted on the teachers' union. It shows six members of the group's central council at a conference held in Isfahan on June 13 and 14, 2008. Secretary General Baghani, to the extreme right, was among the twelve arrested yesterday, as were Mojtaba Ghoreishian and Mahmoud Beheshti Langeroudi, respectively third and fourth from the right.

On the extreme left are Soraya Darabi, editor of the union magazine Teachers' Pen, and Mohammad Khaksaari, who are married. Their son, Sajjad Khaksaari, a journalist at Teachers' Pen, was arrested on April 26 outside the Majlis during a demonstration organized by teachers from Lorestan and Kermanshah who sought permanent contracts. According to Education International, which represents 30,000 teachers worldwide, Sajjad was also arrested in 2006 for writing an article on the plight of Iranian teachers. In early January of this year, he was arrested for attending an 'illegal teachers' gathering' and later that month he was again detained for taking photographs of a demonstration. Education International reiterated its call for the release of Khaksaari on September 1.

Rasoul Badaghi, second from the right in the photo, was also arrested during the same April 26 gathering as Khaksaari, though he was released a day later. In 2007, he was arrested during a demonstration seeking a salary readjustment for teachers. He received a suspended two-year sentence. More recently, he was summoned to the Education services of Islamshahr on August 25, the same day that other unionists were meeting with opposition leader Mehdi Karroubi in Tehran. When Badaghi left the building, two Peugeots carrying eight passengers screeched to a halt next to him. He was dragged into one car and taken away. It was only after 17 nerve-wracking days that the authorities contacted his family and informed them that he was being kept in wing 209 of Evin Prison.

Baghani, Alireza Hashemi

Alireza Hashemi, leader of another representative group, the Iran Teachers' Organization, was arrested on June 16 and released 25 days later without any explanation.   

Union officials have expressed concern that the repression will lead to the radicalization of some of their members. 'We do not have poilitical demands, just professional ones,' Mokhtar Assadi, member of the teachers' union's national coordination council told Radio Farda. 'We express our demands through legal channels, but there might come a day when we will not be able to control the teachers' actions,' he warned.

Principlists file complaint against First Vice President

Mohammad Reza Rahimi

Three conservative members of the Majlis have filed a complaint against Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's beleaguered First Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi for forging his doctorate.

Ahmad Tavakoli, head of the Majlis's research center, Elias Naderan, and Alireza Zakani, all members of the Principlist faction of the Majlis supposedly allied with the government, filed their complaint with the legislature's Article 90 Committee, according to Hossein Eslami, vice-chairman of the committee.

Rahimi has been the target of some Principlists close to Speaker Ali Larijani for at least a year and his ascension to the post of first vice president, next in line for the presidency if Ahmadinejad becomes incapacitated, has enraged his adversaries even more. Naderan has been leading a campaign against Rahimi and in the past weeks has presented the Majlis with documents allegedly proving Rahimi's guilt. The documents have been published in Tavakoli's news web site, Alef.

The legislators allege that Rahimi forged his academic degree and subsequently enjoyed state privileges and salaries based on the fake credentials.

The Article 90 Committee of the Majlis, created by the constitutional article of the same name, investigates complaints against the three branches of government. 'In cases where the subject of the complaint is of public interest, the reply must be made public,' according to the constitution of the Islamic Republic.

Weekend roundup - Monday 5 October 2009

Mohammad Javad Larijani

• Unrest in Iranian universities continued despite threats and an increased security presence in the country's institutions of higher learning. On Sunday, Mohammad Javad Larijani was heckled at Sharif University as he prepared to give a speech. Larijani, brother of Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani and judiciary chief Sadegh Larijani, heads the judiciary's human rights office [sic] and runs a research center at Sharif University, the country's top engineering school. Last week he had compared opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi to Massoud Rajavi, the unpopular leader of the MKO. Larijani had been invited to speak by Sharif University's Basij, but considerably more students showed up to tell him he was not welcome, completely drowning out the applause of a few hapless souls in the front seats of the conference hall:
  
  
  The students shouted 'Death to the dictator!' and 'The coup government must resign!':
  
  
  The protesters then filed out of the conference hall, leaving behind a few spectators to listen to Larijani:
  
  
  Fars News reported that in his subsequent speech Larijani had accused Mousavi of seeking to carry out a coup d'état. Fars did not mention the student protest.
  
  
• In a series of decrees issued this weekend, Leader Ali Khamenei shuffled top brass in the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. The most notable change concerned Hojattoleslam Hossein Taeb, the hated chief of the Basij, who was transferred to the IRGC intelligence unit. He was replaced by an equally controversial figure, General Mohammad Reza Naghdi. Naghdi was at the heart of the hardliners' battle against former reformist Tehran Mayor Gholam Hossein Karbaschi, a chief adviser of former President Mohammad Khatami, in 1998. At the time, he was counterintelligence chief of Iran's security forces, but was transferred after his role in the arrest and torture of Tehran's district mayors was divulged. He was also behind the assault on two of Khatami's ministers, Interior Minister Abdollah Nouri and Islamic Guidance Minister Ataollah Mohajerani, at Tehran Friday Prayers in 1998.
  
  
• Apparently the tense atmosphere in Iranian universities is affecting government officials. According to the Amir Kabir Newsletter, Culture and Islamic Guidance Minister Mohammad Hosseini showed up for a ceremony in Kashan University without any prior announcement. The minister hastily left the campus after his official duties had ended.
  
  
• According to Salam News, Saeed Hajjarian, the wheelchair-bound theorist of the reform movement who was released from prison on bail on Wednesday, has been grilling visitors about what really happened in the country since his arrest in the week that followed the disputed election of June 12. Hajjarian said that he was kept in solitary confinement in Evin Prison for a month, before being transferred to an unknown location for over two months where his only contact with the outside world was his interrogator. Hajjarian does not seem to have lost his legendary sense of humor. According to Salam News, he has been telling friends that his jailers did not even give him copies of the conservative Keyhan daily, 'which was fine with me.'
  
  
• Friday's soccer derby between Tehran's rival teams, Esteghlal and Persepolis, turned into another opportunity for the green movement to protest. Live footage of the game included loud chants in favor of opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi. For a full report and videos, go to this previous post. The conservative news site Alef however ran a story claiming that BBC Persian had tried to make 40 protesters appear like 80,000. In a related story, Donyayeh Football (Soccer World) magazine's last issue was banned, although the magazine has not been officially shut down. The authorities have suggested that the magazine refrain from publishing for the time being. Various reports, including one in Parsine, allege that the reason for the restrictions on Donyayeh Football is an article in which the magazine claimed that 33,000 tickets to the derby had been reserved for 'certain official bodies.' Some counter-slogans, 'We don't want politics mixed with footabll!', were heard at the stadium as greens chanted 'Ya Hossein, Mir Hossein!'