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Iran: Kurdish Women's Rights Activist Was Tortured In Prison

 
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cyrus
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 02, 2006 4:36 pm    Post subject: Iran: Kurdish Women's Rights Activist Was Tortured In Prison Reply with quote

Iran: Kurdish Women's Rights Activist Claims She Was Tortured In Prison
By Golnaz Esfandiari and Farin Assemi

Source: http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2006/2/018e8424-74c5-4f77-a00b-444cdc86061c.html



Roya Toloui before her arrest
(courtesy photo)
Roya Toloui, a prominent Iranian Kurdish women's rights activist, who was recently released from prison on bail, says she was tortured and forced to make confessions while confined. Toloui, the editor in chief of the monthly "Rasan" magazine and the founder of the Association of the Kurdish Women Supporting Peace in Kurdistan, was arrested last August following unrest in several Iranian Kurdish cities. The charges against her include "acting against national security" and "disturbing public order." Toloui told Radio Farda that Iran's Islamic establishment should be condemned because of serious human-rights abuses.


PRAGUE, 30 January 2006 (RFE/RL) -- Roya Toloui and several other Kurdish human-rights activists were jailed following protests in several Kurdish cities against the killing of a young Kurdish activist, Shivan Qaderi, by Iranian security agents in July.

"Its very difficult for me to talk about [what I went through. I'm partly worried that women who are actively involved in the women's movement would fear that they could face torture in case of arrest. But my message to all Iranian women who fight for their rights is that their struggle should [continue] with courage."
Qaderi Protest

Protestors had called on the government to arrest Qaderi's killers and put them on trial. During some of the protests government buildings and offices were attacked. Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported that during the protests government forces killed at least 17 people. Many others were arrested.

In August, HRW called on the Iranian government to conduct a full and impartial investigation into the "violent response " to the protests in Kurdish cities. HRW said that the government opened fire on demonstrators protesting the killing of Qaderi.

Local journalists and activists, including Toloui, had reportedly criticized the wave of repression that followed the unrest.
Toloui who had been summoned to court on several occasions in connection with her human-rights work, and was arrested in her home in Sanandaj on 2 August.

Human Rights First, a U.S.-based rights group which campaigned for the release of Toloui, describes her as a vocal critic of the Iran government's policies on minority and gender issues. The Writers in Prison Committee of the International PEN had also expressed serious concern about Toloui's arrest and called for her release.

She was released in October after having spent more than two months in prison, including 17 days in solitary confinement, she said.

Charged With Several Crimes

She told Radio Farda in a 27 January interview that authorities brought many charges against her ranging from "acting against Iran's national interest " to " disturbing public order."

"In total they brought [at least 10] charges against me," she said. "Anything not considered a crime against others was a crime when it came to me, for example the publication of my book in the Kurdish language in Iraq's [Al-Sulaymaniyah] was considered a crime. There were other charges, the most important of which is acting against national security and also giving interviews to different foreign radio stations was considered propagating lies against the establishment."

Toloui, who is currently outside Iran, added that her interrogators were putting pressure on her to confess that she was one of the main organizers of the protests that erupted in the wake of Qaderi's murder in Sanandaj and other Kurdish cities.

"They wanted me to make a [written] confession, they were forcing me to confess," Toloui said. "I wrote that I will speak only in the presence of my lawyer and they laughed at me. I wrote that this is against human rights and that I had the right to see my lawyer. They lost their patience and they ordered that my children should be brought in and they threatened me and said that they will burn my children alive in front of my eyes."

Torture Claims
Toloui added that she was also subjected to physical torture that included beatings. She did not want to elaborate. Her claims of torture cannot be independently verified.

"During the night of 6 August, Kurdistan's deputy prosecutor, Amiri (no first name available), personally tortured me in the most brutal ways and subjected me to such behaviors that cannot be expressed," she said.

Toloui told Radio Farda that she was later transferred to a prison where convicted murderers and drug traffickers are held. She claims the transfer was a move aimed at putting her under more pressure. But she added that despite her difficult time in jail she refuses to be silenced.

She says the international community is focusing its attention on Iran's controversial nuclear activities while more attention should be paid to human rights abuses that are occurring inside the country.

"I was tortured and I want to complain about it to all of the world's human rights organizations," she said. "I say the Islamic Republic should not be taken to the UN Security Council only because of its nuclear issue but our main problem -- the main issue of the Iranian people -- is the abuse of their rights and pressure from the regime."

Toloui is one of the signatories of a letter signed and published last year by women's rights groups, personalities and activists that calls for a change in Iran's Constitution in order to guarantee equal rights for women and men.

Toloui says she is now concerned that her fate could create fear and concern among other women's rights activists who are fighting for more rights and freedom.

"Its very difficult for me to talk about [what I went through]," Toloui said. "I'm partly worried that women who are actively involved in the women's movement would fear that they could face torture in case of arrest. But my message to all Iranian women who fight for their rights is that their struggle should [continue] with courage."

Human rights organizations and activists say torture is prevalent in Iran's prisons. In July, Iran's hard-line judiciary acknowledged -- in an unprecedented report -- that human-rights abuses, including torture, have in some cases taken
place in prisons and detention centers.
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 02, 2006 5:38 pm    Post subject: Kurdish Women’s Rights Activist Summoned to Revolutionary Co Reply with quote








Kurdish Women’s Rights Activist Summoned to Revolutionary Court in Iran
http://www.humanrightsfirst.org/defenders/hrd_iran/alert040605_kurd.htm

Alert Issued: April 6, 2005

When the Iranian government refused to register the Association of Kurdish Women for the Defense of Peace and Human Rights, Dr. Roya Toloui, one of its founding members, spoke out. In what appears to be retaliation, Dr. Toloui was summoned to appear before a revolutionary court in Sanandaj on April 5, for interrogation.

Dr. Toloui is a leading Kurdish women’s rights and human rights activist and a champion of the rights of Iran’s Kurdish minority and women’s rights in Iran.

Dr. Toloui is an outspoken nonviolent critic of the policies of the Iranian government. The revolutionary prosecutor in Sanandaj, the capital of Iran’s Kordestan province, has claimed that her public comments jeopardize national security. She has also been criticized for being photographed not wearing a headscarf that all women in Iran are required to wear in public.

Join Human Rights First in supporting Dr. Toloui’s right to freedom of expression. Urge the Iranian government to cease its harassment and intimidation of human rights advocates.

Background:

Roya Toloui is a leading Iranian human rights defender who speaks out for the rights of the Kurdish minority, especially those of women. She currently resides in Sanandaj, the capital of Kordestan province in western Iran. Kurds are a minority in Iran, comprising some ten percent of the population, concentrated in the western provinces of the country.

In an interview with Baran, a literary magazine published in Stockholm, Sweden, that was featured on the web log Hajir on December 30, 2004 she stated:

The Islamic Republic of Iran is a totalitarian system that has depressed human rights, women's rights and the rights of minorities; it wants to return all, even the Persians, to the Arab culture of 7th century. It has not achieved this during the last 25 years and now (after these many years) they are focusing on Iranian nationalism....
The registration of the Association of Kurdish Women for the Defense of Peace and Human Rights has been blocked, but Dr. Toloui and the other leaders of the organization have not been given any reason for the refusal to permit their group to operate. This arbitrary denial of the right to freedom of association contradicts the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Iran is bound by treaty, and the U.N. Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, which provides in
Article 5:

For the purpose of promoting and protecting human rights and fundamental freedoms, everyone has the right, individually and in association with others, at the national and international levels:
(a) To meet or assemble peacefully;
(b) To form, join and participate in non-governmental organizations, associations or groups…
Human Rights First fears that Dr. Toloui’s summons to the Revolutionary Court could result in her being detained or subject to prosecution. Trials before revolutionary courts often take place in secret and without regard for internationally recognized fair trial standards.

The harassment of women’s rights and NGO leader Dr. Roya Toloui is part of a continuing and broadening clampdown on independent activist of all backgrounds. In recent years, as other avenues for activism and free expression were closed by the authorities, large numbers of young people, including many women, became involved in officially recognized NGOs active in fields like women’s rights. Focusing on private sphere issues like child custody, inheritance, domestic violence and divorce, these activists found space in which they could organize without confronting the repressive force of the state head on. Even these avenues are now being blocked.

Read Media Alert

As a Kurd seeking to form an organization that addresses Kurdish rights within Iran it is likely that she faced additional hurdles. Kurds are an economically disadvantaged ethnic minority and their distinctive language and culture has suffered in comparison to the dominant Persian culture. Moreover, most Kurds are Sunni Muslims, a religious minority in the Shi’ite Islamic Republic. Asserting Kurdish cultural rights remains controversial in Iran. A senior government official, Abdollah Ramazanzadeh, who is a Kurd and a former governor of Kordestan province, recently came under harsh criticism in the government controlled press for suggesting that Kurds should be treated as full citizens of the country, given a fair share of the national resources and be able to develop their language and culture. Critics remarked that Ramazanzadeh’s comments “endangered national security,” echoing the accusations made against Dr. Toloui.

The Iranian authorities should support and protect the work of human rights defenders such as Dr. Roya Toloui instead of targeting them for interrogations and restricting their freedoms of expression and association. Please speak out today in support of the crucial work of Dr. Roya Toloui and other human rights defenders in Iran by sending a letter calling on the government to accord human rights defenders basic rights and freedoms.
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 02, 2006 7:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
"I was tortured and I want to complain about it to all of the world's human rights organizations," she said. "I say the Islamic Republic should not be taken to the UN Security Council only because of its nuclear issue but our main problem -- the main issue of the Iranian people -- is the abuse of their rights and pressure from the regime."


Very good point.
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PostPosted: Fri Feb 03, 2006 4:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Women aid workers beaten up security agents

SMCCDI (Information Service)
February 3, 2006

Several assisted women were beaten up, yesterday, by the
Islamic regime's security agents who intervened in order to
brutally expropriate the "Omidvar" ('Hopeful') Assistance
Center located in Tehran.

Tens of these young helpless women are residing in the
facility but the so-called "Bonyad Mostazafan" ('Poor's
Foundation') (http://www.iran-bonyad.org/) corrupt
management has decided to sell the Charity Center.

Several residents were badly injured by the militiamen who
wanted to throw their belongings in the street. But the
resistance of the assisted females and the rush of
neighbors to defend them forced the Islamic regime's
security agents to retreat for now.

Some of injured residents were transferred to the nearby
hospital for broken arms or noses.

The Bonyad is the biggest land and industrial owner of Iran
and was created following the wave of the illegal
confiscation of Iranians' assets in the aftermath of the
Islamic revolution of 1979. The entity which is linked to
the regime's Supreme leadership is as powerful and as rich
as a mid seize state. It owns billions of dollars of
illegitimate assets worldwide and is acting like a
sponsored Mafia organization. Due to a special regulation,
it's not subject to any taxation and finances the special
expenses of the regime's higher leadership.

It's to note that the corruption in this foundation is
high, that few years ago, the Islamic judiciary had to
intervene and arrest the brother of its founder for a fraud
estimated at hundreds of millions of dollars. The latter
named Morteza Rafighdoost, brother of the powerful founder
named Mohsen Rafighdoost, was accused of having stolen, in
1997, over 200 Billions of Tomans (Iranian currency) from
the Bank Saderat.

Many Iranians lost their deposits and the ruling took place
in order to calm the scandal.

Condemned to life in prison, Morteza Rafighdoost was freed
less than two years ago for officially following a
medical treatment in Sweden. There's no news about his
return to Iran since then, while his middle man was called
back from San Francisco to Tehran and executed upon his
return.
Mohsen Rafighdoost was muted from the management of
Bonyad Mostazafan to the management of Bonyad Noor which is
in reality a screen company for the first entity.

This Orwellian scenario took place, while, the Islamic
regime is notorious for having used barbarian methods,
such as, cutting fingers or hands of some desperate
Iranians who stole in order to feed their hungry families.

It's believed that the execution of the middle man was to
cut the possibility of any critical information to the
Rafighdoost clan's illegitimate assets in N. American,
Europe and in UAE.

The Bonyad intends to expropriate the Omidvar center in
order to sell it, as it has done with so many confiscated
factories sold to rich affiliates of the Islamic regime.
The plants are then brought to the stage of bankruptcy,
employees are laid off, materials are sold and the land,
which is the real issue of the transaction, is sold to
speculators who are often family members of clerics or
individuals with close ties to the theocratic regime.

http://daneshjoo.org/publishers/currentnews/article_3775.shtml

----------------------------------

Comments / Nazariat:
Tel: +1 (972) 504-6864
Fax: +1 (972) 491-9866
E.mail: smccdi@daneshjoo.org

www.daneshjoo.org www.iranstudents.org

The "Student Movement Coordination Committee for Democracy
in Iran" (SMCCDI) / "Komite e Hamahangui e Jonbesh e
Daneshjoo i Baraye Democracy dar Iran"

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