ABC blog

Latif Hassani, Mahmoud Fazli, ShahramRadmehr, Ayat MehrAli Bayglu  and Behboud GholiZade  the leaders of the party Yeni GAMOH, started unlimited hunger strike on July 13, 2013 in Tabriz Central Prison protesting their unfair trial and mistreatment.

Mr. Bagherpour, the judge of the third branch of Tabriz Revolutionary Court, sentenced the above mentioned political activists for nine years imprisonment on the charge of establishing illegal group and of distributing anti-government propaganda. Sentence was approved by the court of appeal on June 9 2013. One of the activities of Yeni GAMOH group is sending an open letter to UN Secretary General concerning the right of Azerbaijani children to educate in their native language that according to article 15 of the Iranian constitution it`s free to educate. However the court has regarded this as an anti-government propaganda.

26 days have passed from start of the hunger strike. During this period, Tabriz Prosecutor’s Office and main Prosecuting Officer, Mr. KhalilOlallahi exiled them from Tabriz to Tehran on the eighth day of hunger strike .However, the executives of Evin Prison in Tehran refused to admit them because of their severe conditions, and finally after one day solitary confinement in Evin Prison in Tehran, they were moved to RajaeShahr Prison in Karaj city. They were tortured several hours during transporting from Tabriz to Tehran in the hot summer weather condition while according their relatives’ reports, they have already been suffering from serious illness because of being tortured during interrogations.

To one of the prisoner’s family members “the strikers have been tortured in their transfer to Tehran. Evin prison in Tehran had denied accepting responsibility of their lives because of their critical health condition. The strikers spent a day and a half in handcuffs and shackles inside a metal room of a van under the direct sun heat of Tehran. The general situation of these prisoners is worsening day by day, and today Mahmoud Fazli had stomach bleeding in quarantine of RajaeShahr prison.Their physical condition is in such a crucial condition so that some of them refuse to say their exact feeling considering concerns of their families”

Of course this is just an example of injustice behaviors against Azerbaijani activists. Dozens of such human rights violations taking place in Azerbaijan in a daily based. Among them; Saeed Matinpour, Azerbaijani journalist has been sentenced to eight years of prison, and after four years in prison, he has been deprived of furlough. In addition, Shahrokh Zamani has been sentenced to long imprisonment, and also Younes Aghaian has been sentenced to death because of his activities towards protection of religious rights of “Ahl-e Hagh” minority group, and each year hundreds of them receive unfair trial and are subject to arbitrary detention.

We, the undersigned, demand the immediate release of these prisoners. We draw the attention of everybody to the plight of the violation and human right abuse against ethnic groups and religious minorities. All protests against wide variety aspect of discrimination; political, economic, social, and cultural rights are repressed brutally. We demand the international community to respond to this issue, also we ask the strikers to end their hunger strike on behalf of the great and holly ideas that puts us with a sufficient number of the world people on justice and democracy side.

08 August 2013

1. Abdorrahman Boroumand Foundation
2. Ahwaz Human Rights Organization (AHRO)
3. Arse Sevom
4. Association for Human Rights in Kurdistan of Iran- Geneva (KMMK-G)
5. Baluchistan Human Rights Organization
6. Center for Supporters of Human Rights (Chaired by Mrs. Shirin Ebadi )
7. Center for Combating Racism and Discrimination against Arabs in Iran (CCRDAI)
8. Committee of Human Rights Reporters (CHRR)
9. European Ahwazi Human Rights Organization (EAHRO)
10. Iran Human Rights
11. Justice for Iran NGO
12. Kurdish Human Rights Association
13. Kurdish Human Rights Network