Below is a copy of the letter I sent to Representative Rob Bishop and Senators Orrin Hatch and Bob Bennett. The letter asks for the Congressmen's support in House Resolution 175 and Senate Resolution 71, bills which request that the United States reaffirm its opposition to the Islamic Republic's continued abuses against the Baha'i religious minority of Iran. The Iran Human Rights Documentation Center report refferenced can be found here. Please feel free to use or copy this letter if you wish to send in one of your own! Constructive comments of any kind are also appreciated.
Honorable Representative (name),
It is doubtless that you have heard of the issues in Iran surrounding June’s elections and the protests and rallies carried out thereafter. During this political fallout it was difficult to see exactly what was going on in Iran due to the extreme measures the Iranian government took to cover up the state sponsored violence and abuses of civil and political rights. Fortunately, the world was able to get a frightening glimpse at what was going on due to the efforts of courageous individuals who risked their very security in an attempt to gather strength from the international community. Sadly, many of these freedom fighters lost their lives during the turmoil and more still continue to be unfairly tried in televised state tribunals.
Unsurprisingly these heinous crimes are not isolated events taking place only recently in the Islamic Republic. The strategies of coercion, violence, torture, and abuse have long been part of the necessary stratagem for the Islamic Republic to retain its power. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, his predecessors, and many others, have used these same strategies to force what is essentially genocide upon one of Iran’s most prominent minority religions- the Baha’is. A report released by the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center entitled Crimes Against Humanity: The Islamic Republic’s Attacks on the Baha’is outlines in detail the multifaceted approach the Islamic Republic has taken to murder, coerce, imprison, or otherwise harm the Baha’i minority.
I am writing to you today to encourage you to read the aforementioned report in full and to request that you co-sponsor and support House Resolution 175, a bill which reaffirms the United States opposition to these practices by the Islamic Republic and which asks for the immediate release of a number of Baha’i political prisoners who are currently detained solely for their religious affiliation. I also urge you to publicly gather support for this bill as a means to increase the likelihood of the release of these prisoners. Time is of the essence and the survival of those individuals may very well depend on the timeliness and efficiency of all those who oppose the brutality of the Islamic Republic.
Sincerely,
Zachary J. Stickney
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Prison Conditions in Iran
One of the major recurring human rights abuses by the Islamic Republic is the torture and abuse of detainees in Iranian prisons. Although these practices are nothing new, they have recently become a lightning rod of controversy amid the hundreds of arrests following the election protests this June.
Political prisoners within the walls of Iranian prisons such as Kahrizak and Evin prison testify that they are victimized by one or multiple of the following mistreatments: beatings, cutting, flogging, being held completely incommunicado, hours of interrogation, various degrees of mental, physical, and sexual torture, humiliation, forced confessions, and brutal rape.
Due to the opacity of the Iranian legal system it is often very difficult to come up with a concrete verification for the claims of abuse expressed by those incarcerated. However, the consistency of the claims made by the detainees and the physical evidence seen on their bodies and observed in their mental state upon leaving these prisons strongly suggests the truth within the allegations.
To get an idea of the extent of the abuse seen within these prisons one need look no further than the case of Zahra Kazemi, a Canadian-Iranian photo journalist who died in Iranian custody a mere 19 days after her arrest. (A full report on this incident can be found here. This report is the property of the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center and is not affiliated with Omid for Iran.)
Kazemi was in Iran on June 23rd, 2003 to take photographs of parents gathered at the gates of Evin prison in an attempt to find out what had happened to their children, who were arrested days earlier for taking part in a demonstration. Kazemi had a government issued press card for this event which, to her knowledge, allowed her to work throughout Tehran. As Kazemi was taking pictures a guard emerged from the prison and asked her to turn over her camera- a request Kazemi refused. After a short violent scuffle, Kazemi was detained by the guards and taken into custody at Evin.
Although specifics of exactly what happened to Kazemi in custody is still a bit fuzzy, it is clear that she was passed around between multiple Iranian ministries who questioned her for hours on end and held her completely incommunicado both from her family and proper legal representation. Nothing else was known about her treatment in the prison until July 11th, 2003, the day she was brought to Baghiyyatollah al-Azam Military Hospital and was pronounced dead.
The original report from the government stated that Kazemi had suffered a tragic stroke while in prison and died from the complications thereof. A few days later the report changed to state that Kazemi had been on a hunger strike while in prison and had collapsed from exhaustion and hit her head. With all these contradictions in the reports the real truth was finally revealed- Iran’s then-Vice President Mohammad Ali Abtahi conceded to the press that Kazemi had been killed as a result of being beaten.
Almost 2 years later Kazemi’s case became an extreme controversy when Shahram Azam, a staff physician at al-Azam, stated that he had examined Kazemi in the hospital shortly after her arrest and found multiple signs of torture. Kazemi’s body, according to Azam, had been subject to a skull fracture, two broken fingers, crushed toes, a broken nose, bruising all over the body, scratches, marks of floggings, and evidence of what he described as a “brutal” rape.
Though it is clear that the extremes seen in Kazemi’s case are not typical, it remains blatantly obvious that a grotesque abuse of power is present in the Iranian prison system. Far too many others have claims similar to what is seen in Kazemi’s case and, in fact, deaths continue to occur in these prisons, as seen in the recent death of Mohsen Ruholamini, who died in Kahrizak prison from repeated beatings early in August.
These conditions can and must be changed. Iran is a signatory of both the International Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Signing these declarations affirms a nation’s commitment to securing human rights for its entire people. If those aren’t enough, Iran’s own constitution “guarantees” similar rights including the right to protest peaceably, freedom from discrimination, and equality before the law. These rights look great on paper, but if the Iranian people are to reach their full potential not only in their own lives but also on the world stage the Iranian government needs to put its own constitution into practice. They either need to do this, or, in the words of Grant Ayatollah Montazeri, “… at least have the courage to announce that this government is neither a republic nor is it Islamic.”
Political prisoners within the walls of Iranian prisons such as Kahrizak and Evin prison testify that they are victimized by one or multiple of the following mistreatments: beatings, cutting, flogging, being held completely incommunicado, hours of interrogation, various degrees of mental, physical, and sexual torture, humiliation, forced confessions, and brutal rape.
Due to the opacity of the Iranian legal system it is often very difficult to come up with a concrete verification for the claims of abuse expressed by those incarcerated. However, the consistency of the claims made by the detainees and the physical evidence seen on their bodies and observed in their mental state upon leaving these prisons strongly suggests the truth within the allegations.
To get an idea of the extent of the abuse seen within these prisons one need look no further than the case of Zahra Kazemi, a Canadian-Iranian photo journalist who died in Iranian custody a mere 19 days after her arrest. (A full report on this incident can be found here. This report is the property of the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center and is not affiliated with Omid for Iran.)
Kazemi was in Iran on June 23rd, 2003 to take photographs of parents gathered at the gates of Evin prison in an attempt to find out what had happened to their children, who were arrested days earlier for taking part in a demonstration. Kazemi had a government issued press card for this event which, to her knowledge, allowed her to work throughout Tehran. As Kazemi was taking pictures a guard emerged from the prison and asked her to turn over her camera- a request Kazemi refused. After a short violent scuffle, Kazemi was detained by the guards and taken into custody at Evin.
Although specifics of exactly what happened to Kazemi in custody is still a bit fuzzy, it is clear that she was passed around between multiple Iranian ministries who questioned her for hours on end and held her completely incommunicado both from her family and proper legal representation. Nothing else was known about her treatment in the prison until July 11th, 2003, the day she was brought to Baghiyyatollah al-Azam Military Hospital and was pronounced dead.
The original report from the government stated that Kazemi had suffered a tragic stroke while in prison and died from the complications thereof. A few days later the report changed to state that Kazemi had been on a hunger strike while in prison and had collapsed from exhaustion and hit her head. With all these contradictions in the reports the real truth was finally revealed- Iran’s then-Vice President Mohammad Ali Abtahi conceded to the press that Kazemi had been killed as a result of being beaten.
Almost 2 years later Kazemi’s case became an extreme controversy when Shahram Azam, a staff physician at al-Azam, stated that he had examined Kazemi in the hospital shortly after her arrest and found multiple signs of torture. Kazemi’s body, according to Azam, had been subject to a skull fracture, two broken fingers, crushed toes, a broken nose, bruising all over the body, scratches, marks of floggings, and evidence of what he described as a “brutal” rape.
Though it is clear that the extremes seen in Kazemi’s case are not typical, it remains blatantly obvious that a grotesque abuse of power is present in the Iranian prison system. Far too many others have claims similar to what is seen in Kazemi’s case and, in fact, deaths continue to occur in these prisons, as seen in the recent death of Mohsen Ruholamini, who died in Kahrizak prison from repeated beatings early in August.
These conditions can and must be changed. Iran is a signatory of both the International Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Signing these declarations affirms a nation’s commitment to securing human rights for its entire people. If those aren’t enough, Iran’s own constitution “guarantees” similar rights including the right to protest peaceably, freedom from discrimination, and equality before the law. These rights look great on paper, but if the Iranian people are to reach their full potential not only in their own lives but also on the world stage the Iranian government needs to put its own constitution into practice. They either need to do this, or, in the words of Grant Ayatollah Montazeri, “… at least have the courage to announce that this government is neither a republic nor is it Islamic.”
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Omid For Iran
August 25th was my second official day as an intern for the human rights organization "Omid for Iran." My boss, Amir Soltani, is an exceptionally intelligent man who has written works regarding Iran, Islam, and the Middle East in publications such as the Boston Globe and the Harvard Divinity journal. Needless to say, I'm very excited to begin working for his organization and helping out in any way I can, even if the help I offer is minimal. Working for an organization that gives me an opportunity to support global unity, human rights, and international relations while uprooting torture, ignorance, and injustice on a daily basis is really exciting.
Right now my main purpose is to gather information for Amir regarding current events in Iran and to collect any documents we can use including human rights reports, newspaper articles, etcetera. Amir uses these documents to flesh out a concrete plan of action for Omid and to create articles of his own which detail possible paths to unity between the United States and Iran.
Collecting this information is very much like preparing oneself to write a term paper or extensive essay. In the two days I've worked I've only barely scratched the surface of the information available and already I feel far more knowledgeable than I was previously. It is very rewarding to be able to learn something new every day at a job.
But with the rewards and blessings of knowledge always comes the knowledge of despicable acts- acts which are not only unjustifiable in any situation but also incompatible with assertions of basic human dignity. As you may or may not know, the Islamic Republic of Iran is a signatory to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which essentially is the international equivalent to the United State's "Bill of Rights." The ICCPR requires that signatories guarantee certain rights to their citizens and allow for international groups to observe elections, treatment of prisoners, and a variety of other governmental institutions. In addition to Iran's ICCPR agreement, the Iranian constitution also guarantee rights such as freedom from discrimination, equality before the law, rights of human dignity, and freedom of assembly. These institutions and guarantees of rights look great on paper, but as we have seen time and time again these "guarantees" are yet to be put into practice.
A recent story from the New York Times helps to put the egregious violations of the Iranian government into perspective. The article describes a young boy of about 14 years of age who joined a group of friends in the recent "Green Revolution." The boy wore green bands on his arms and shouted the slogans of the movement- asking only that the votes of his parents, friends, and fellow Iranians be legitimately counted in the elections. He was one of the millions who yearned for solidarity in his homeland. Sometime later, the boy was taken into custody with a number of his friends, "fellow conspirators" his captors called them. While in prison the boy was beaten, tortured, psychologically demeaned, and sexually abused. The boy said that he was raped multiple times and forced to have sex with his friends- all for practicing his "guaranteed" freedom of speech and assembly. After his treatment in the prison the boy was forced to sign multiple documents "confessing" to his crimes against the nation and was forbidden to ever speak of the treatment he received. He is now on suicide watch by his doctor, who confirmed to the New York Times that the injuries the boy still bears are consistent with his story.
I don't know specifically about how anyone who reads this feels about Islam, Arabs, Persians, or whatever, but I do know that anyone who reads this in good conscience can clearly see that this treatment is, quite plainly, wrong. It is wrong because because the Iranian government is lying to its people. It is wrong because this boy, and countless others, gathered in a peaceful fashion to protest a controversial election- two rights, that of assembly and speech, which are guaranteed in the Iranian constitution and in Iran's covenant to the world. It is wrong because this boy, and countless others still, were tortured, demeaned, held incommunicado in secret prisons, beaten, raped, and forced to do unspeakable acts, all in the name of preserving the "Islamic" Republic, which in reality is in and of itself an affront to both the true meaning of "Islam" and "Republic."
It is by this premise that I encourage you all to join me on this journey- not a journey of appeasement of this terrible government but rather a journey to encourage the Iranian Republic to legitimately pursue the guarantees of its constitution with its people. This can be done through diplomatic pressure and the creation of international observation of Iran's policies and treatment of its citizens. Pursuing liberty and justice in Iran will not only benefit Iranians, but it will also benefit the United States and the rest of the world by forming a legitimized nation of freed individuals equipped with liberty, civil and human rights, and above all common human dignity. You can join in this journey by visiting www.omidforiran.org and reading the petition posted there. Make it clear to Iran's leadership that their actions are intolerable, but that there is still time to make right their many wrongs and failings. As Ghandi once said:
"We never wanted to bring you to your knees,
we only wanted to bring you to your senses."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)