Shabtabnews In this dark night, I have lost my way – Arise from a corner, oh you the star of guidance.
IOPHR – Mr. Kazemeini Boroujerdi, the political prisoner of conscience, was summoned for the third time to the Special Court of Clergy on Monday morning, September 11, 2017, after eight months of being granted a medical leave. Although his ten years of jail sentence was terminated in 2016, but it had been extended to eleven years for no reason. Yet he was told during the last court session that there were still two political cases lodged against him, so he will not be released. Furthermore, he was informed that henceforth he should appear in the court as a prisoner.
It must be noted that he served very hard times in the Iranian prisons, after being in prison for eleven consecutive years without the right to a medical leave or to have an independent lawyer. He had faced the risk of death on several occasions because of his severe diseases and various complications caused by torture and long imprisonment. After his physical condition deteriorated, he was finally allowed in January 2017 to have an unlimited medical leave instead of being released from jail, by providing a bail of three hundred million Toomans (almost 100,000 US Dollars) and substantial guarantees to three security and judiciary organizations although his term of unjust conviction had been over.
During the last court session, Mr. Boroujerdi urged the government to return the bails and guarantees that he had provided and to close the case in accordance with the law considering that his ten-year prison term, which had unjustly been turned into eleven years, was over. However, instead of being completely released, he was told on Monday that there were still two other open cases against him from the years 2010 and 2012, which suggested that his prison term had not been over yet.
In 2010, he was transferred from the Evin prison to the Special Court of Clergy, judged by Judge Hosseini, and was sentenced to one-year of suspended imprisonment because of his political activities and sending hundreds of letters and statements of criticism about the regime, with the help of twenty of his companions, who, according to the judge, used to work in a team house. By secretly sending statements out of the prison, he in fact challenged the foundations of the government that claimed to be religious, questioned the legitimacy of the regime by disclosing cases of human rights violations in Iran, and called for support from the International societies and defenders of human rights. The other case was related to the year 2012 when he was summoned to appear in the court during his peak political activities from inside the prison. Judge Nosratabadi interrogated him in detail and on several rounds, and finally forced him to put up bails and other guarantees.
Currently there are two political cases lodged against him. According to Article 134 of the Islamic Penal Code of Iran in 2012, these two cases should have been closed considering his eleven years of being in prison, and raising such charges again at this time is totally illegal.
Interrupting and disrupting the treatment process
Following the medical diagnostic tests conducted by specialists, it was revealed that he was suffering from numerous diseases, including severe injuries to his backbone, knees and eyes. His hands tremble so severely that he is not able to eat food or drink water properly. Nevertheless, despite an urgent need for surgery and hospitalization, until now nothing has been done with regards to this. His treatment process has frequently been disrupted because all of his identification documents were destroyed during the time he was in detention; he does not have medical insurance, and the government officials do not accept the responsibility for his treatment, and the intelligence officials and agents are constantly present in the hospital and cause problems for him. They have even prevented his test results and medical reports from being recorded and have not allowed his medical file to be completed. In addition, although his physical condition requires to be treated as an emergency, he is not able to pay the cost of his treatment and he is not even able to receive help from people because the government officials do not allow his supporters and people to meet with him.
The confrontation of the security agents with Mr. Boroujerdi and his supporters
Despite special efforts made by the intelligence officials to keep him under security and intelligence restrictions, several gatherings of people in the parking lot of the hospital, who aimed to meet with him after eleven years, made the government very concerned and the security officials attacked the gatherings. In fact, the government fears that if people meet with him, the cruel and atrocious tortures that resulted in his physical injury during his jail will be disclosed. Furthermore, the government fears that if opponents of the religious government gather together, just like the time before his arrest, it will result in a serious security disaster once again. According to eyewitnesses, a few days ago, on September 06, 2017, when he was getting out of his car to buy a book in Shahr-e Rey, he was surrounded by security agents and he was forced back into his car while threatened with a gun. The security agents riding on motorbikes, equipped with anti-riot gear and various types of guns, followed him until he reached near his house.
Considering the fact that the authorities of the regime and those in charge of the judiciary are not taking responsibility for his treatment, as well as his lack of financial means, a statement was issued by his representatives and it was requested that respectful people and doctors provide him with voluntary assistance and to help out with regards to his treatments. Following this statement, a number of compassionate individuals announced their readiness to provide help. Among them, were the friends and supporters of Mr. Boroujerdi in Zanjan province, who had prepared appropriate medical means for his treatment; they invited him to be hospitalized in Zanjan city and would undergo treatment. However, the security forces reacted strongly to his arrival and as a result ten of the people who had invited Mr. Boroujerdi, were arrested by the Revolutionary Guards Intelligence agents, and were transferred to the Intelligence bureau of the province. After interrogating and threatening these individuals, they were liberated on conditional basis, and the authorities received guarantees from them that they will not contact Mr. Boroujerdi again, and warned that he will not have the right to enter Zanjan province. Such conditions indicate that there during this period just “the sign of prison is installed over Mr. Boroujerdi’s house”.
In another instance of pressure and harassment, since a few months now, he is being threatened by a person called Sardar Karami (photo attached), the director of the Karaj pressure group. This person has him under surveillance all the time, so that when the opportunity presents itself, he may assassinate this political prisoner. At several occasions he has contacted Mr. Boroujerdi at his house through a mobile number 00989199511214, and has threatened him; under the pretext that his female supporters do not respect the hijab (Islamic covering), and the fact that his religious teachings lead to the questioning of some violent and brutal aspects of Islam. At the last time, a few days ago, during a lengthy conversation on phone, he said that “he had been present during his interrogations when he was blindfolded, and during his tortures in cell number 209, and witnessed the harassment and persecution of Mr. Boroujerdi.” Also, at the end of this conversation, Karami threatened to assassinate him soon.
Political- Ideological House arrest
It is worthy of mentioning that during the past eight months that he was granted a medical leave to go out of the prison, but has been living in house arrest, and he has constantly been harassed and tormented by the intelligence agents; hence, despite his serious diseases and a need for having peace of mind, and not feeling pressure on his family and himself, The conditions of house arrest with regards to receiving people and seeing his students and supporters, and a ban on his teachings which was his vocation for forty years, and in general expression of moral, social and validity viewpoints, are becoming more severe every day, and the recent report issued by Amnesty International dated 17 August 2017, has provided full detail about this.
For example, the interrogators of special court, namely Mehrnoush and Yousefi, went to his house on several occasions and threatened his family; the telephone and internet lines of his house were constantly being cut off; unknown individuals had contacted him several times and threatened to kill him. In addition to this, he was summoned to the Special Court of Clergy several times where he was interrogated and threatened.
Request from all those who seek justice and the advocators of human rights
At the threshold of the anniversary of his arrest and over eleven years of his imprisonment and life in jail, undergoing torture and injustice, we request that in the name of justice and love for humanity, you pay close attention to his case; un unprecedented case, where he spent more than one year in solitary confinement (400 days), and was deprived of having an attorney, or access to treatment and medical leave during all these eleven years. The judicial process of the case was also very unjust and did not follow the State and international laws. His trials in the years 2006 and 2007 were carried out behind closed doors and without the presence of reporters. He believed in the separation of religion from politics and was advocating these ideals, so he just was arrested and sentenced for this reason. A ridiculous trial which had twenty-three counts of indictment issued against him without any reason whatsoever, and finally he was faced with execution under the charge of being belligerent. Even though later, on as a result of pressures of human rights advocates, this court order was transformed at the court of appeal, into a life imprisonment and exile. Now, after the end of his prison sentence which has led to the deterioration of his physical health, they are shamelessly telling him that he has two open political cases, and has no right to take any action!
Because of being framed by the Special Court of Clergy and opening of two new political cases, he is effectively unable to continue his political activities and to publish statements and to announce his political standpoint, and cannot be active like he was before. Even though he is mentally prepared for prison and is not afraid, but he has poor health from a physical standpoint and is virtually unable to return to prison. He continued his struggle with the regime even when he was in the worst physical condition, and despite the lack of support from opposition forces established abroad, by announcing his political positions, and issuing strong statements and intense criticisms of the ruling religious autocracy, he never lost hope. But now, the continuation of this path is virtually not possible under such conditions.
Of course Mr. Kazemeini Boroujerdi, was a teacher, a scholar and researcher in the fields of spirituality and religion for many years, and has forty years of experience and activity in this field, and is a writer who expresses his viewpoints. He had published a number of books in the past and has taught in numerous sessions, and still insists on his right for continuing his spiritual and scientific activities; even though the regime has banned him from teaching in classes, but during his last court session in September 2017, he announced that it is his right to continue his peaceful activities and especially according to the law, there cannot be such a ban against him. Eventually, the Special Court of Clergy found another path and threatened him that if he holds classes, he will be faced with attacks of the pressure groups or explosion of the teaching session by ISIS terrorists!
Considering the regimes background for crimes and wrongdoings in terrorist and sabotage actions, such as acid throwing, deliberate explosions, attacking protest groups, using so called “headstrong forces” or “pressure groups”, and recently under the name of “ISIS”, Mr. Boroujerdi who does not wish to endanger people’s lives, will be deprived of his right to teach and express his scientific viewpoints. In addition, he is also not authorized to publish books and his writings about ”Monotheism without Borders”, and monotheism free of discrimination and oppression, which are currently institutionalized in countries claiming to be based on religion, have remained under boycott and never published.
On the other hand, despite the fact that his representatives abroad have at many occasions informed the international human rights institutions and organizations about the seriousness of the physical health of this political prisoner during the last few months, by providing proofs and evidence of violations of laws regarding to his medical leave; however due to a media boycott, these news agencies continue to remain silent.
Based on the rights of people for freedom of speech and thought, freedom to hold peaceful gatherings and other human rights which people like Mr. Boroujerdi are deprived from, we request that the United Nations and other human rights advocating organizations, as well as civil rights activists and defenders of human rights, to support him and not to remain silent against the violations and the injustice of Iran’s rulers. The imprisonment of a human being because of his beliefs and thoughts, in particular a person with such a rank and scientific achievement and popularity, was illegal from the very beginning; and now the creation of two other cases by the repressive regime, after he has already endured the first unjust order issued against him, and based on the constitution of the Islamic regime, is completely illegal. Apart from this, the house arrest of a human being and banning him from exercising his professional and scientific activity is not acceptable under any law or measure. We request that political and human rights activists and the media become the echo of the rightful cries of Mr. Boroujerdi, and not to allow this political prisoner being in house arrest and subjected to suppression because of threats and for wanting to save the lives of others, and to save his life under so much pressure.
The Group of Representatives of Mr Kazemini Boroujerdi
