Alireza Sabouri Miandehi

Alireza Sabouri Miandehi -علیرضا صبوری میاندهی

Alireza passed away more than two years after the post-election riots in Boston at an age of 22.

In the afternoon of 15 June, when he was just nineteen years of age, Alireza was trying to help rescue fellow protesters wounded in front of the Basij militia’s Ashura base, Battalion 117, when he was struck by a bullet and fell unconscious.
He was then taken to Ibn Sina hospital in west Tehran for treatment. Although he gained consciousness at the hospital, doctors were unable to fully remove the bullet from inside his skull. “The bullet exploded inside his head, a fragment left through an eyebrow, [but] the projectile stayed inside his skull while four shrapnel fragments were stuck. The projectile was extracted during a complicated and intense operation, but the fragments remained inside,” a family member told the Green Voice of Freedom on condition of anonymity.

Eleven months after he was first wounded, Alireza, accompanied by the family member, left Iran for Turkey to seek medical treatment through the UN office there. However, despite family pleas to relocate him to Germany where some of his relatives reside, the UN officials in Turkey rejected the family’s calls and instead decided to send Alireza to the United States. “We told them [the UN] time after time that he should be in Germany, close his relatives who could take care of him. But as usual, the UN completely ignored our calls and sent him to the US,” the family argued.
Nearly 900 days after being shot, Alireza Miandehi Sabouri died at the tender age of 22, 6,000 miles away from home in Boston, Massachusetts, where he was buried. “He passed away in a foreign land in silence and loneliness,” the family member continued. “He was treated unjustly both in Iran and abroad.

Source in English, in Persian.

Arash Arkan

Arash Arkan, 29, is an other victim of the post election riots and prison abuses. He died after one year, 2 months and 26 days of imprisonment, due to lack of health care urgently needed for his kidney disease. He died of heart failure three days after he was hospitalized.
Arash Arkan was arrested on 4 November 2009 while helping a protester who was being chased by the police for having taken pictures from an opposition protests close to Vali-Asr Square in Tehran. According to Iran-Emrooz, Arkan, who had realised that a young protester was in danger of being arrested by Iranian security forces for the sole "crime" of filming the unrest using his mobile phone, quickly intervened and attempted to trip one of the security forces to allow for the protester to flee the scene. Although Arkan's heroic act helped his fellow Iranian to run away, it wasn't enough to to save himself from the batons of the police forces present at the scene.
Until three months after his arrest, there was no information on Arkan's arrest or his place of detention. Despite having spent more than a year in prison, judicial authorities sentenced Arkan to eight months in prison disregarding the fact that he had already spent eight months in detention.
His father, one year after his son's death, breaks the silence and speaks out about the imprisonment and death of Arash. Here you can find the transcript of the interview with him. For Persian speakers the audio file is here.

Hoda Saber

Hoda Saber, 52, a senior journalist and activist, died June 12th in Modarres Hospital after he started a hunger strike after the tragic death of Haleh Sahabi on her father's funeral. He was serving his prison term for his activities and in consequence of his hunger strike he died of a heart failure after he had been brought to the hospital from the Evin prison. His family accused the authorities of inadequate health care given to him and thus being responsible of his death.

source (English) http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-13741374

Haleh Sahabi

Haleh Sahabi, 54, womens' rights activist and daughter of Ezzatollah Sahabi, a prominent reformist figure, 1st of June 2011 died of a heart attack following clashes with the security forces and plainclothes agents on her father's funeral. Reports by eye witnesses say that these people disturbed the ceremony and shouted insults. Shortly after a scuffle Haleh passed away and traces of blows have been found on her chest and belly.

http://www.rahesabz.net/story/37795/

english http://www.payvand.com/news/11/jun/1005.html

Behnoud Ramazani

Behnoud Ramazani - بهنود رمضانی

He was a 19 year old student was killed by basiji forces in Tehran the night of Chaharshanbe Soori - the Persian Fire Festival, March 15th.

Eyewitness report:

Last night, Behnoud Ramezani was in the Narmak area in Tehran around Square 22, when he was attacked and killed by Basiji forces in Tehran. It was around 10 PM local time, a number of young Iranian’s were heading back home from after celebrating Char Shanbeh Soori ( The Iranian Fire festival),when Basiji forces mounted on Motorcycles attacked and beat the defenseless youths with electric batons .

Behnoud like many young Iranians was carrying home-made fireworks in his pockets. During the attack all the fireworks in his pockets exploded, and he was injured severely during the explosion, as his body was literally torn apart. It was probably one of the worst scene I have ever witness in my life. Apart from myself, there were several others witness as well, and after hearing our screams and cries for help others soon arrived at the scene. Two of the basijis abandoned their motorcycles and escaped with the help of other basijis on motorcycles.

10 minutes later an ambulance arrived and brought Behnoud to the hospital and his friends followed the ambulance with their own cars. After 30 minutes the staff at Al-Qadir hospital told us that his condition was critical, and there was little hope. Today, when I went to the same place and asked people about last nights situation, everyone told me that they didn’t know anything! It was very strange for me!

After searching awhile in his neighborhood, finally I saw some of his friends with his picture in their arms and they told me that he had died. I asked them about Behnoud, and they told me that he was student at Mechanical Engineer University in the Northern part of Iran, but he was from Tehran-Pars area in Tehran, and since he was a close friend of ours, he had come to visit us, but unfortunately he was killed by basiji forces.

Sources: here, here, here and here

Amir Hossein Tehranchi

Amir Hossein Tehranchi - امیر حسین طهرانچی

Amir Hossein Tehranchi died on February 15th after he got shot by a bullet in Tehran on February 14th. The Inteliggece service agents stole his body and about nine days later he was buried in section 312 in Behesht-e Zahra cemetery. The news of his assassination at age 22 was announced by his friends, and they reported that: “the intelligence service authorities have arrested his brother and threatened the family not to contact any media or news agency about his death. Even when they wanted to bury his body they were not allowed to see his face. The agents and security have buried his body in section 312. They informed the family if they talk about his death to any one, then their other son will have the same story and will be buried just like him. Source here.

Elnaz Babazadeh

Elnaz Babazadeh - الناز بابارده

According to HRANA, three members of the Basij militia misused their ID cards in the city of Tabriz to abduct, beat, assault, rape, and kill a young woman with a gun. They dumped her body in the outskirts of the city. The news has stirred a lot of emotional reactions from the public. (The report is from July 11, 2010)

Based on information obtained by HRANA reporters, after Elnaz Babazadeh went missing, her family reported the disappearance to all official Iranian government agencies. After a week-long search, her body was delivered to the family by the coroner’s office while the coroner, after examining the body, confirmed assault, battery, rape,and murder by shooting. The police announced that the body was discovered near Emamieh Cemetery in Tabriz.

After the family filed a complaint against the murder of their daughter [demanding to press charges], the police arrested three citizens from Tabriz who are active members of the Basij [militia]. The main suspect and defendant confessed to all the above-mentioned charges in the police station. The defendant stated he entered the vehicle of the young woman in Tabriz’s Valiasr neighbourhood under the pretext of “*ordering to what is known to be virtuous”, and to give a notice to the young woman for “bad hijab”, in the context of the hijab and chastity program undertaken by the police and the Basij forces. The defendant then used his firearm to threaten the woman. The police forced her to drive to the outskirts of the city. That is where they raped her. Then, she died from three gun shots to the chest.

It is reported that the main suspect of the case is currently held by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) due to the sensitivity of the issues involved.

*It is an Islamic obligation that requires everyone to invite people to do the right thing. It is used by the Taliban, the government of Saudi Arabia, and the Iranian Islamic regime to justify interference with various aspects of the lives of citizens; for example, the way they dress, their involvement in intimate relationships, and private gatherings they hold.

Sources: In Persian, in English.

Mohsen Bikvand

This is already an older case but since I really don´t have time to catch up with all cases, I post it only now. Mohsen Bikvand has been tortured to death in Rajaishahr prison in Karaj, Ward 6, Hall 16. After the report, he was not a political prisoner and he passed away on 31st of August 2010. Bikvand was transferred to solitary in the beginning of June 2010. Gohardasht Prisoners believe that prison officials ordered his murder and the murder of other dissident prisoners is carried out systematically by prison officials. The Human Rights Activists in Iran published a film of the tortures of this prisoner and according to this document, both of his feet broke as a result of torture, his hands were made useless and his body was burned.
Source.

Hamed Nour - Mohammadi

Hamed Nour -Mohammadi

Hamed was a second-year molecular biology student at Shiraz University, he was thrown off Namazi Bridge in the southern Iranian city of Shiraz, on Sunday February 20th, eyewitnesses said.

Nour-Mohammadi resided at the Dastgheib university dormitory and was a native of Khorramabad, Lorestan province, wrote the opposition Jaras web site (NB He may have been from the town of Alashter, see below). His family is under intense pressure from security authorities to remain silent. More info here.

San'e Zhaleh and Mohammad Mokhtari

San'e Zhaleh - صانع ژاله
Mohammad Mokhtari - محمد مختاری

Two young men shot dead on monday February 14th (25th of Bahman) during the demonstrations that took place a year after the last protests.

San'e Zhaleh was a 26-year-old theater student at Tehran University of Arts. He was a member of a Kurdish Sunni minority, originally from Paveh in Kermanshah.

His death has been used by the regime who attempted to describe him as a "Basiji", member of the Islamist organization and his death has been blamed on members of the MEK, Mojahedeene Khalgh organization. An official funeral ceremony has been staged for him at the Teheran university, but his family were not allowed to attend. They have been threatened not to speak to foreign media and his father was forced to give an interview.

Mohammad Mokhtari was 22 years old university student before he was shot dead by the security forces, he wrote on his Facebook page "God, let me die standing, because I'm tired of this life of degradation"

more information here and here.

Egyptian martyrs

Even if this website is dedicated primarily to Iranian martyrs, I would like to honour Egyptian martyrs as well.
Here you can find a spreadsheet with their names, stories and some photos, please repost it to show the world the regimes like the Egyptian and Iranian who kill their own people..

https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AlikD1WbtzabdG8xQ3VxR1RPTlY0QnU2eXd2eElEMVE&hl=en&authkey=CLT_xkU#gid=0

Mohammad Ali Haj-Aghaee

Mohammad Ali Haj Aghaee was from Faridan and was a hardworking laborer.

He was arrested at 1983 accused of supporting PMOI.

At the time of his arrest his two children were struggling with a disease that only a few people have it in millions.

While in prison, he tells her wife to sell everything for the treatment of the children.

The doctors said that his children will become paralyzed at 18 and then will die.

The clerical dictatorship uses the condition of his children as a tool for putting pressure on him at the prison but he resists.

In 1988 when he gets out of prison he is faced with the death of his two children in a short while.

He was once more arrested during the uprisings of 1988.

At his trial the criminal judge Moghisehee smells his file and says: “it smells like Ashraf (the place of residence of PMOI members in Iraq)”.

His lawyer was not even allowed to see the file. The lawyer said: “I just know that he was accused of being a Mohareb (one who wages war against God)” but the lawyer added: “I don’t know in which Harb (fight against God here) he had participated. If they call the unarmed protests a Harb then millions had participated in this Harb and they are still Mohareb.

Moghisehee told Aghaee in court that he will be executed unless he confesses that he was a spy of Israel and he had received money from US.

Mohammad Ali Haj Aghaee was executed at dawn of today, Monday Jan. 24. 2011. together with Jafar Kazemi.

Jafar Kazemi

RAHANA – Jafar Kazemi was arrested on September 18, 2009 and sentenced to death. In a letter written to the United Nation’s secretary general and published by HRDAI, Kazemi’s wife describes the family’s ordeal since her husband’s arrest.

Jafar Kazemi has been executed today, 24th of January in the early morning in Tehran.

The following is the English translation of Rodabeh Akbari’s letter:

My name is Roudabeh Akbari. I am a housewife, married to the political prisoner Jafar Kazemi and a mother of two children.

My husband was arrested on September 18, 2009 at 6 am on Haft-Hoz Street in Tehran. We did not hear from him for two weeks. He was tortured for three days and then placed in solitary confinement for 74 days under harsh conditions.
My husband was accused of supporting and propagandizing for the Mojahedin Organization (MKO), as well as visiting our son in Ashraf (MKO camp in Iraq).
In prison, after being tortured and spending three months in solitary, he was pressured to make televised confessions. Faced with his resistance, they then tortured him again, and three of his teeth were broken as a result of severe beatings. Presently, my husband remains in a worrisome physical and emotional state.
At the end of the initial trial, during which judge Moghiseh sentenced him to death, my husband’s lawyer verbally objected to the ruling, which he argued was excessive and unlawful for the existing charge of anti-state propaganda. The judge remarked that he was under pressure at that time by higher authorities to rule in this fashion. According to my husband’s lawyer, during the second trial, the court did not even look at the defense statement, which contained 3 pages of arguments regarding the anti-state propaganda charge, and in a 2-line ruling upheld the initial court’s ruling (death sentence). Judge
Zargar was the judge who presided over the appeal hearing.
The interrogator has told my husband that “we need to sacrifice a few in order to save the regime, and your name has been drawn as one of them”. My husband was asked again to make an interview about the Ashura events of December 27th 2009, but he refused to comply as was arrested 3 months before Ashura. The interrogators threatened that if he refused to make the confession, they would torture his wife and his children before his eyes. In spite of threats by the interrogators that they would cut his wife in pieces before his eyes, he continued to resist making any confessions in interview. The interrogators reacted by telling my husband that his execution was final and would be enforced. After 74 days of solitary in ward 209, he was held in a place they call the suite, before being moved one week later to ward 350.
For three weeks, despite repeated attempts by me and my younger child, they refused to let us visit with him.
Which law, country or ethics, says that visiting one’s child is a crime? If the Islamic Republic considers visiting your children a crime punishable by death, then my husband is guilty.
Given the critical situation of the political prisoners, and considering the total lack of will to review the inhumane and illegal court rulings against innocent prisoners, I demand the immediate stay of execution for those have been sentenced to death.
What I described above does not only apply not to my husband and our family; all the families of political prisoners are in the same excruciating psychological situation. All the families of political prisoners want immediate action from the United Nations and the UNHCR commissioner.
Yours truly,
Roudabeh Akbari, wife of political prisoner Jafar Kazemi
Ordibehesht 1389

Hossein Khezri has been executed

Hossein Khezri, a 28 years old Kurdish activist and political prisoner has been executed. He was sentenced to death because of being "mohareb" which means enemy of God.