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Iran-HRM – Monthly Report September 2021, Iran Human Rights Monitor
Introduction
The deaths of at least four prisoners under torture last month once again drew attention to the issue of torture and ill-treatment of prisoners in Iran.
Torture and inhumane treatment of detainees and prisoners by agents has always been one of the most serious violations of human rights in Iran.
A prisoner identified as 22-year-old Amirhossein Hatami was killed under torture on September 23 in the Greater Tehran Penitentiary. An informed source said he was killed under severe beatings of batons to his head by the prison guards.
Zeinab Parnin, the mother of Amir Hossein Hatami, killed under torture, calls on everyone to protest the murder of her son to prevent the killing of their own children. She says he was innocent, following up on his car’s documents when he got arrested #Iran #HumanRightsViolations pic.twitter.com/KYAnnhR6yS— IRAN HRM (@IranHrm) September 27, 2021
Shahin Naseri, witness to executed wrestling champion Navid Afkari, died on September 21 in the Greater Tehran Penitentiary. In his audio testimony, Shahin said that he was threatened by the court judge for his testimonies. Sources close to Shahin’s family said his body showed signs of torture. He had bruises on his sides and ribcage and a head injury. His ears were still bleeding after his death.
The death of Yaser Mangouri was reported to his family by ministry of intelligence officials in Urumieh, West Azerbaijan province on September 8. Yaser Mangouri who worked as a lathe operator, was married and father to three children.
In another episode that highlights torture of prisoners, Hadi Attazadeh died a few hours after being flogged for drinking alcohol in the city of Ahar in northwestern Iran. Footage of his funeral and footage showing marks of his lashed back was also published on social media.
In all cases, Iranian regime’s judiciary has denied reports of mental and physical torture of prisoners and, by reversing or concealing the truth, has refused to accept responsibility for the lives of prisoners.
This shows that the Iranian authorities, despite all the international reactions and public opinion of the Iranian society, insist on their practice of torturing and killing prisoners.
In none of these cases, despite complaints from the victims’ families and domestic and international outrage, even a single official has been held accountable and brought to justice. According to Amnesty International, this “reflects Iran’s long-standing crisis of impunity where allegations of torture and unlawful killings consistently go uninvestigated and unpunished.”
Amnesty International recently said in a statement that, “Iranian authorities have failed to provide accountability for at least 72 deaths in custody since January 2010, despite credible reports that they resulted from torture or other ill-treatment or the lethal use of firearms and tear gas by officials.”
Iran Human Rights Monitor once again calls for the formation of an international delegation from the United Nations to visit prisons and prisoners and to investigate the crimes of the clerical regime in prisons, especially the deaths of prisoners including Shahin Naseri, Yasser Mangouri and Amir Hossein Hatami.
Executions
In September, at least 38 death sentences were carried out in Iranian prisons. At least 12 executions were carried out for drug-related offenses and 21 were carried out for murder. Three women are among those executed.
Iran has the highest rate of executions per capita in the world.
Iranian officials executed Farhad Salehi Jabehdar on September 29 at Central Prison of Karaj. The 30-year-old man was sentenced to death on rape charges.
Salehi was arrested in June 2018 over the sexual assault of child in 2017. The father of the child formally requested that the authorities not impose the death penalty on Farhad Salehi Jabehdar in November 2019. His lawyer appealed to President Ebrahim Raisi in his former capacity as head of the judiciary to stop the execution, and order a review of the case, but Ebrahim Raisi did not accept the request.
On the same day Iranian authorities executed a prisoner who had been on death-row for 20 years on drug related charges. The death sentence of Abbasgholi Salehi, 42, who had been in prison for about 20 years on drug charges, was carried out in Dastgerd Prison of Isfahan, central Iran.
Abbasgholi Salehi, 42, who was in prison for 20 years on drug-related charges, was executed today in Dastgerd Prison in Isfahan, central #Iran.#HumanRights pic.twitter.com/Yjrayr8jdD— IRAN HRM (@IranHrm) September 29, 2021
Sep 30—Isfahan, central #Iran
A video from the funeral of Abbas-Gholi Salehi, a 42-year-old prisoner who spent more than 20 years in prison and was executed yesterday on drug charges.
A cellmate said his drug-related charges were lifted, but he was still hanged.#HumanRights pic.twitter.com/oeDZPyq9t6— IRAN HRM (@IranHrm) September 30, 2021
In another development Iran’s Supreme Court upheld on September 28 the death sentence of political prisoner Shaker Behrouzi detained in Urmia, northwestern Iran.
Iran executions in September 2021
| Iran-executions-in-July-2021 | ||||||||
| R | name | surname | age | gender | charges | place of execution | date of execution | other ditails |
| 1 | Mohammad | Sadeghzade | 30 | M | murder | Ardabil Prison | 9.1.2021 | |
| 2 | Yasin | Rezaiepour | M | drug offences | Yazd central Prison | 9.1.2021 | ||
| 3 | Noor Ahmad | 45 | M | murder | Mashhad Central Prison | 9.5.2021 | ||
| 5 | Jaafar | 21 | M | murder | Rajaie Shahr Prison | 9.8.2021 | ||
| 6 | Abdolrahim | Khani | M | drug offences | Rajaie Shahr Prison | 9.8.2021 | ||
| 7 | M | murder | Rajaie Shahr Prison | 9.8.2021 | ||||
| 8 | M | Rajaie Shahr Prison | 9.8.2021 | |||||
| 9 | f | Rajaie Shahr Prison | 9.8.2021 | |||||
| 10 | f | Rajaie Shahr Prison | 9.8.2021 | |||||
| 11 | f | Rajaie Shahr Prison | 9.8.2021 | |||||
| 12 | Alimardan | Boland Gerami | M | murder | Yasouj Prison | 9.8.2021 | ||
| 13 | Ali | Morad | M | drug offences | Taibad Prison | 9.8.2021 | ||
| 14 | Heibat | Roozbi | M | drug offences | Taibad Prison | 9.8.2021 | ||
| 15 | Adham | Maksani | M | murder | Iranshahr Prison | 9.11.2021 | ||
| 16 | Hossein | Aalapour | M | murder | Ghom Prison | 9.13.2021 | ||
| 17 | Babak | M | murder | Rajaie Shahr Prison | 9.14.2021 | |||
| 18 | M | murder | Rajaie Shahr Prison | 9.15.2021 | ||||
| 19 | Farshid | Rakhshani Rad | M | drug offences | Birjand Prison | 9.15.2021 | ||
| 20 | M | murder | Rajaie Shahr Prison | 9.17.2021 | ||||
| 21 | M | murder | Rajaie Shahr Prison | 9.17.2021 | ||||
| 22 | M | murder | Rajaie Shahr Prison | 9.17.2021 | ||||
| 23 | M | murder | Rajaie Shahr Prison | 9.17.2021 | ||||
| 24 | M | murder | Rajaie Shahr Prison | 9.17.2021 | ||||
| 25 | M | drug offences | Taibad Prison | 9.20.2021 | Citizen of Afghanistan | |||
| 26 | Abed | Khodaverdi | M | drug offences | Zanjan Central Prison | 9.21.2021 | ||
| 27 | Arshad | Joodat Rabt | 52 | M | drug offences | Zanjan Central Prison | 9.21.2021 | |
| 28 | M | murder | Rajaie Shahr Prison | 9.21.2021 | ||||
| 29 | Mehrdad | M | murder | Rajaie Shahr Prison | 9.22.2021 | |||
| 30 | M | murder | Karaj Central Prison | 9.22.2021 | ||||
| 31 | Ahmad | Farohid | 45 | M | murder | Boroujerd Prison | 9.22.2021 | |
| 32 | Sohrab | Naji | M | drug offences | Adelabad Prison (Shiraz) | 9.25.2021 | ||
| 33 | Vahab | Samadi | 30 | M | murder | Adelabad Prison (Shiraz) | 9.25.2021 | |
| 34 | Yasin | Abdollahi | 30 | M | murder | Zahedan Prison | 9.29.2021 | |
| 35 | Abass gholi | Salehi | 42 | M | drug offences | Isfahan Central Prison | 9.29.2021 | |
| 36 | Farhad | Salehi Jobedar | M | rape | Karaj Central Prison | 9.29.2021 | ||
| 37 | Hamid | Shahsanaie | M | drug offences | Dastgerd Isfahan Prison | 9.29.2021 | ||
| 38 | Mohammad | Barahooie | M | drug offences | Dastgerd Isfahan Prison | 9.29.2021 | Citizen of Afghanistan | |
| 39 | Afshar | Fathi | 28 | M | murder | Kermanshah Central Prison | 9.30.2021 |
Torture
At least four prisoners were killed under torture. They include Hadi Attarzadeh, Shahin Naseri, Yasser Mangouri and Amir Hossein Hatami.
Furthermore, the Iranian regime’s judiciary continued to issue and carry out flogging sentences amounting to torture.
Worker activist Esmail Gerami was sentenced to 74 lashes, five years of prison, and a fine of 2 million tomans (about $72) by the Tehran Appeals Court on September 18. The 67-year-old was previously sentenced to 74 lashes, five years of prison, and a fine of 2 million tomans on June 9. He was arrested on March 7 among other activists for nationwide protests.
Freedom of expression
Last month, the repression of freedom of expression in Iran continued with the imprisonment and persecution of activists.
Two prominent human rights lawyers, Arash Keykhosravi and Mostafa Nili, meanwhile remain detained in Evin Prison after being arrested last month with a group of lawyers and activists as they were preparing to sue state officials over their ineffective and deadly response to the Covid19 pandemic. The lawyers and civil activists were charged with “disrupting order” and other opposing state security charges.
Freedom of assembly
Security forces opened fire on locals who protested the arrest of a Baluch activist in Tomp Rigan village in Iranshahr County, southeastern Iran.
Security forces who had come to the village to Samad Rigi, a social activist in Iranshahr went door to door to arrest Samad without an arrest warrant and were met with resistance by locals.
In an audio file, Samad said security forces tried to arrest him for criticizing the “lack of security” in Iranshahr, and security forces’ constant shooting of locals including women and children.
Two of the men who were injured during the September 27 protest were identified as Mehroallah Rigi Yusef Abadi and Iman Rigi Yusef Abadi. A woman and child were also injured, among others.
Religious and ethnic minorities
Baha’is
On September 23, Baha’i citizens Haideh Mosali Nejad and her son Mehran Mosali Nejad were detained in Shiraz, southwestern Iran. On September 22, security forces raided her home and confiscated some of her personal belongings but were unable to arrest her since she was not home. Their homes were raided twice before.
On the same day, the state security forces arrested Iranian Baha’i woman Sheida Taeed and took her to an unknown location.
Security forces raided her home in the northern city of Ghaemshahr and confiscated a number of her personal belongings, including her mobile phone, books and photos.
On September 22, security forces detained Moein Misaghi and Negareh Qaderi in Shiraz and took them to an unknown location. An informed source said the home of Mr. Misaghi was also searched by security forces in March.
On September 21, two other Bahai citizens in Shiraz were sentenced to lengthy prison terms. Soroush Abadi and Kiana Shoaei were each sentenced to three years and three months of prison and a 2-year ban on leaving the country.
Christians
Three Christian converts were detained by security forces on September 12 in Rasht, northern Iran. They were identified as 25-year-old Ahmad Sarparast, 28-year-old Ayoub Pourrezazadeh, and 38-year-old Morteza Hajeb. The three were transferred to an unknown location.
Ahmad and Ayoub were detained in a home church, which was searched upon arrest. Their personal belongings including their mobile phones, flash drives, and religious books were confiscated. According to an informed source, security forces did not show a warrant to enter the house or arrest them and treated them with violent and offensive behavior. Relatives of the three Christians were threatened to provide information to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) about them. In addition, relatives and other members of the house church were summoned to the Rasht IRGC Intelligence Office and interrogated.
Prisoners’ conditions
Three detained protesters arrested for their part in the nationwide protests in November 2019 are kept in a state of limbo in a Tehran prison. The retrials for Amir Hossein Moradi, Saeed Tamjidi, and Mohammad Rajabi, who were previously sentenced to death, have been postponed four times. In addition to this, despite his critical condition, political prisoner Amir Hossein Moradi has been denied a much-needed medical leave.
Arbitrary killings
The Iranian regime’s military and armed forces, including the IRGC and the security and border guards killed at least 13 civilians in September. They include fuel traders from the impoverished province of Sistan and Baluchestan and Kurdish porters. At least 8 civilians were injured and wounded as a result of indiscriminate shootings by state forces last month.
Arbitrary murders, September 2021
| R | name | surname | Age | Date | Place | State forces |
| 1 | Mohammad Khaled | Abdollah Zade | 41 | 9.5.2021 | Piranshahr | IRJC |
| 2 | Esmaiel | Barahouie | 9.6.2021 | Zahedan | plaincloth agents | |
| 3 | Sirvan | Golzari | 39 | 9.8.2021 | Marivan | border guards |
| 4 | Adham | Askani | 9.10.2021 | Saravan | border guards | |
| 5 | Rasoul | Karimi | 32 | 9.12.2021 | Bane | border guards |
| 6 | Dadallah | Kiazehi | 9.13.2021 | Zahedan | security forces | |
| 7 | Mohammad Amin | Ghaderi | 36 | 9.16.2021 | Bane | security forces |
| 8 | Shokat | Ghorbani | 45 | 9.17.2021 | Noudshe | security forces |
| 9 | Omid | Mohammad Zade | 9.18.2021 | Sardasht | security forces | |
| 10 | Khodadad | Shahnavazi | 9.18.2021 | Khash | security forces | |
| 11 | Farhad | Narouie | 9.20.2021 | Ghale Ganj | Police | |
| 12 | Abdollah | Sekandari | 9.25.2021 | Rask | IRGC | |
| 13 | Behzad | Balavar | 9.29.2021 | Bashagard | IRGC |
Wounded by state forces, September 2021
| R | name | surname | Age | Date | Place | State forces |
| 1 | Asaad | Ramin | 9.1.2021 | IRGC | ||
| 2 | Davoud | Rahimi | 35 | 9.1.2021 | IRGC | |
| 3 | Haya | Payam | 4 | 9.5.2021 | Falouz | border guards |
| 4 | Ramyar | 9.10.2021 | Bane | border guards | ||
| 5 | Mohammad | 9.10.2021 | Bane | border guards | ||
| 6 | Borhan | Yousefi | 9.19.2021 | Nosoud | security forces | |
| 7 | Mehrallah | Rigi yousefabadi | 9.27.2021 | Tomp Rigan | security forces | |
| 8 | Iman | Rigi yousefabadi | 9.27.2021 | Tomp Rigan | security forces |
