This letter is the expression of the pain and torment that we, Zanyar and Loqman Moradi, two innocent brothers, have suffered since we were detained in Iran’s Reja’i Shahr prison nearly a year ago. At the writing of this letter we stand condemned to be executed on the basis of false and trumped up charges. We implore international and human rights organizations to come to our help and save our lives.

Sa'id Malekpur, a 35-year-old web designer and permanent resident of Canada since 2004, travelled to Iran in 2008 in order to visit his ailing father. While in Iran, he was arrested by Revolutionary Guard forces. Prior to his arrest, he had created a program enabling users to upload photos on websites. That program had then been used to post pornographic images, which he said had happened without his knowledge. Later in November 2011, Branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court sentenced Mr. Malekpur to death stemming from charges of “management of pornographic sites, insulting the clergy, insulting the leadership, insulting the president, affiliation with anti-government groups, and corruption on earth.” Human rights groups have reported that he was tortured while being held for more than a year in solitary confinement in Evin Prison. His case was the object of an international campaign protesting his death sentence and calling for his release. The present text is an appeal by Sa'id Malekpur's family that was translated by the Boroumand Foundation.

Abdollah Momeni, a former spokesperson for the Daftar-e Tahkim-e Vahdat student organization, was arrested following the 2009 election. He was later sentenced to four years and 11 months in prison. Currently he is in Ward 350 of Evin Prison.

Navid Khanjani is a human rights activist, focusing on minority rights; one of the founders of the “Society against Educational Discrimination” within the “Committee of the Right to Education” (established November 28, 2009); and a member of the “Committee of Human Rights Reporters”. He was banned from continuing his education due to his Baha`i faith, as other followers of the Baha`i faith have experienced in Iran. Mr. Khanjani was arrested at his father’s house in Esfahan on March 2nd 2010 and transferred to Evin Prison. Of the 65 days he spent in detention, 25 were spent in solitary confinement. During this time period, he was deprived of legal assistance of his lawyer. He was beaten several times and went on a hunger strike in order to protest the bad conditions of his detention and the prison authorities’ failure to respect his rights as a defendant. He was also under pressure to record video interviews to confess against himself. Finally, he was released on $100,000 bail. He went on trial on December 20th 2010, in Branch 26th of Islamic Revolutionary Court, headed by Judge Pir Abbasi. Navid Khanjani was charged with “acting against national security,” “propaganda against the regime,” “disturbing public order,” libel, founding the Baha’i Education Rights Committee, and for being a member of two human rights organizations: the Committee of Human Rights Reporters (CHRR) and the Human Rights Activists (HRA). He was sentenced to 12 years in prison and a monetary fine. On May 31, 2011 he was release on $100,000 bail, and is waiting for the decision of the Court of Appeals. This has been the harshest sentence given to a human rights activist since the Islamic Revolution. Mr Khanjani was interviewed by the Abdorrahman Boroumand Foundation (ABF) on April 17th, 2009. The following statement is drawn from the interview. the contents of which follows.

As of May 14, 2011, Majid Dori is held in Bahbahan Prison. He was a former student of Alameh University, but has been denied the right to continue his studies because of his student activism as a member of the Council to Defend the Right to Education. He was arrested on July 9, 2009 in Qazvin during the 10th anniversary protests against the attack on the student dorms. He was then transferred to Evin Prison, where he and 17 other prisoners in Ward 350 went on a hunger strike for two weeks to protest the mistreatment by prison guards. His initial sentence was 11 years in prison, one year for “acting against national security by participating in illegal gatherings,” and ten years for “ties and cooperation with the Mujahedin Khalq Organization,” – five of which are to be spent in exile in Izeh Prison. Through an appeal, his 11-year prison sentence was reduced to six years in prison – one year in Evin Prison and five years in prison in exile, in Behbahan Prison in the province of Khuzestan. There is no evidence linking him to the MKO, but rather, that he was charged due to his membership in the Council to Defend the Right to Education. He suffers from migraines and hemophilia in prison, and his physical condition has deteriorated because of a lack of medical treatment.

17 days after he wrote this letter to Mr. Ban Ki-Mun, Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr. Mehdi Eslamian was hanged by the Islamic Republic's judicial authorities. He had been sentenced to death for having allegedly committed crimes such as "Relation with monarchist groups", "war against God" and "corruption on earth". His 19 year old brother was executed for the alleged crime of terrorism in May 2009.

In his letter to Mr. Ban Ki-Mun, Mr. Eslamian denies all the charges brought against him, and protests against prison conditions, and the use of torture in Evin and Raja'i Shahr prisons. He asks the UN Secretary-General to visit Raja'i Shahr's prison in the hope that such visit will result in the improvement of prison conditions.

On November 2009, Mr. 'Abedi Baxoda was sentenced to three year imprisonment for visiting relatives in Camp Ashraf (The opposition Mojahedin Khalq organization's camp)in Iraq. A sympathizer of the Mojahedin, he had been shot at by Revolutionary Guard in June 1981 and was disabled as a result. In this letter Mr. Baxoda protests against the prison conditions that are not suitable for a disabled political prisoner and have resulted in a dramatic deterioration of his health conditions.

Ayatollah Khamenei

The Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran

During one of my days in detention at Evin prison, I had the opportunity to hear a televised speech by you... You took the opportunity at the Prayers on the occasion of Eid al Fitr to say that: “Whatever accused persons say about themselves in court is credible.” This is why I decided to write a letter and describe the torture, illegal, and un-Islamic treatment which I have received in prison, so that perhaps I can receive an answer to this question: And so, in the hopes of establishing a truth commission to investigate what I have faced during my incarceration, interrogation, and court hearings, and as a person accused and imprisoned by the Islamic Republic of Iran during your rule, I will recount my experiences. At the same time, I hope that the recounting of these experiences will not end in increased pressures and difficulties during my stay in prison.

Shiva Nazar Ahari — a journalist, blogger, and member of the Committee of Human Rights Reporters (CHRR) and other human rights groups — was arrested at her workplace on 14 June 2009 in Tehran, after the post-election unrest in Iran. Security forces searched her house the previous night in her absence and confiscated some of her personal possessions. She was released on bail on 23 September 2009.

In an interview with the CHRR after her release, she said that when she was arrested,“The charges that I was informed of on June 15th were threatening national security by being affiliated with the PMOI [the People’s Mojahedin of Iran, an armed group that opposes the Islamic Republic of Iran] and organizing mass protests — or as they called it — the unrest. Now, which one of these [charges] actually fit with my background and my work is a question [officials] have yet to answer. But apparently at the time, these charges were common and many people [who were arrested after the 2009 election] were charged similarly. That’s when I found out that in their eyes, everyone is affiliated with the PMOI until proven otherwise. The fact that I am not affiliated with the PMOI is one that the officials cannot comprehend. But during the interrogations, more charges were brought. For example, working against national security by being a member of illegal groups, by giving interviews to foreign media, and creating chaos by organizing mass protests.”

Shiva was rearrested on 20 December 2009, while en route to the funeral of the late dissident Ayatollah Montazeri. On 11 February, Shiva called her family and told them that she had been transferred to a “cage-like” solitary confinement cell where she could not move her arms or legs. As of 1 September 2010, Shiva is awaiting her trial. She is charged with "war against God" and could face the death penalty.

This video interview was made by another women rights defender and journalist, Mahbubeh Abbasgholizadeh, in December 2009, a few days before Shiva was rearrested. The English subtitles were added by ABF.

“Sara” is one of the victims of 2009 post-election state violence in Iran. She was tortured and raped by the Islamic Republic’s government forces who wanted to arrest her brother charged with participating in the popular protests against the 2009 presidential election results. After suffering a great deal of sexual and mental abuse, she fled the country. 2009 was not the first time Sara was targeted by security forces; she had endured torture during the student protests of 1999. Sara was interviewed by the Abdorrahman Boroumand Foundation in August 2010. For security reasons, this interview is published under a pseudonym.

Kian Amani is an Iranian photographer and documentary filmmaker, whose photographs and films have been featured in the media and displayed at various exhibitions around the world. Last year, in addition to photography, he made two documentaries on the events surrounding the Iranian presidential elections and the ensuing clashes. He has also made a film on the problems faced by homosexuals in Iran and the infringement of their rights. This photographer and documentary filmmaker was stabbed and hit with batons, and arrested twice by so-called plain-clothes officers in the course of the post-election clashes in Iran, on 16 June 2009. In his interview with the Abdorrahman Boroumand Foundation (17 May 2010, Washington DC), he talks about what he witnessed during the days of popular protest in Tehran between June 2009 and February 2010.

Ramin Haqju is one of the young people in Iran who was shot and injured by government forces in Tehran as he participated in last year's post-election street protests. The bullet entered his stomach and came out of his hip, resulting in a large crack in the hip and severing a nerve in his leg. Ramin's interview with Abdolrahman Boromand Foundation accounts some of what he has witnessed and personally experienced. Ramin recently fled to Turkey to save his life and, like thousands of Iranian refugees in Turkey, is awaiting asylum in a safe country.

My name is Saeed Malekpour. I was arrested on October 4th, 2008, near Vanak Square (in northern Tehran) by plainclothes agents who did not present an arrest warrant or identification.

This testimony was obtained in December 2009 through an ABF interview with a former Kahrizak detainee at a location outside of Iran, and was completed with follow-up phone interviews. The identity of the witness will not be disclosed in order to avoid retaliation against his family. Sa’id was arrested on July 9, 2009, the day of commemoration of the July 1999 students protest in Tehran.He was tortured and he witnessed the death of several co-detainees as a result of ill-treatment they had been subjected to.

Since the Student uprising of 1999, Behrouz Javid Tehrani has spent nearly 8 years in prison charged with participation demonstration, being a member of Democratic Front and independent student associations. In this letter, Mr. Javid Tehrani protests against torture and harsh prison conditions. Mr. Javid Tehrani was released from prison on December 28th, 2011.

I have never been afraid of death, even now that I feel it closest to me. I can sense it and I'm familiar with it, for it is an old acquaintance of this land and this people. I'm not writing about death but about justifications for death, now that they have translated it to restoring justice and freedom, can one be afraid of future and destiny? "We" who have been sentenced to death by "them," were working to find a small opening to a better world, free of injustice, are "they" also aware of what they are working towards?

Ehsan Fatahian

Sanandaj Central Prison

two days before his execution on November 11, 2009

The 15-year-old boy sits weeping in a safehouse in central Iran, broken in body and spirit. Reza will not go outside — he is terrified of being left alone. He says he wants to end his life and it is not hard to understand why.

In a series of reports on the 1988 prison killings in various Iranian cities, there is an interview with a former prisoner in Ahvaz. Convicted for association with a branch of the Fadayan-e Khalq, he had been incarcerated in Ahvaz prison from 1983 until September 1988. He was released upon the end of his prison term which had been reduced from 10 to 5 years. In this interview, he has preferred to be called Ali.(The Persian version of this interview was published by Bidaran, a website dedicated to the memory of the victims of the 1988 killings of political prisoners in Iran).

Abolfazl Jahandar, a student activist and former member of the Alameh University Islamic Association,was in charge of the news website Pouya. He is currently serving a three-year sentence on charges such as “insulting authorities”, “publicity against the regime.” Based on information provided by his mother, his treatment in prison has led to injuries of several vertebra.

ُSource : Human Rights Activists in Iran / ABF translation

Mahboubeh Hosseinzadeh was arrested along with her fellow women rights activist Nahid Keshavarz, on April 2, 2007, while collecting signatures for the One-Million Signature Campaign Demanding Changes to Iran’s Discriminatory Laws. They both were charged with "acting against national security and propaganda against the regime" These two prominent activists were released on April 15th, after posting a 200 million rial bail with the revolutionary court [around 25 thousand U.S. dollars]. The present text is Hosseinzadeh's testimony about her detention and other women detainees's cases. change for Equality

NEW YORK – Bahá'í students in primary and secondary schools throughout Iran are increasingly being harassed, vilified, and held up to abuse, accordingto recent reports from inside the country. During a 30-day period from mid-January to mid-February, some 150 incidents of insults, mistreatment, and even physical violence by school authorities against Bahá'í students were reported as occurring in at least 10 Iranian cities.

In an ominous move, Iran’s Ministry of Interior has ordered officials throughout the country to step up the surveillance of Iranian Bahá'ís, focusing in particular on their community activities.

Dr Roya Toloui, an Iranian-Kurdish women's rights activist, and the editor of a banned publication was arrested in August 2005, following the demonstrations that took place in several cities in the Iranian Kurdestan in reaction against the torture and murder, by the Islamic Republic security forces, of Shavaneh Ghaderi (a young pro-democracy militant who had peacefully advocated the boycott of June's presidential election). Ms. Toloui spent 66 days in prison. After being coerced to confess against herself, she was set free and fled the country. In an interview with Radio Farda (Maryam Ahmadi), she briefly talked about what happened to her in prison and concluded : "My main point to the powers of the world is that our issue is not limited to atomic energy. Violation of human rights is the biggest problem in Iran. If Iran ('s case) is really going to the Security Council, it must be for violation of human rights. Couldn't the Security Council put these people under pressure so that our nation can have the right to a free election and choose its desired government? Or could it not help us have a democratic government? Is the value of the human rights less than the issue of atomic energy? If we have a democratic government which protects human rights, then our nuclear energy would not be a problem."

The present text is an excerpt from Ali Afshari's open letter to the Head of the Islamic Republic's Judiciary, Ayatollah Shahrudi. Ali Afshari, a Student Union Leader and pro-democracy advocate, was arrested in December 2000 for a speech he delivered at the Amir Kabir University (Tehran) regarding Iran's political impasse. He was charged with "propaganda against the regime", "agitating public opinion", and " insulting the Leader". In this letter Mr. Afshari describes the torture he was subjected to and the confession he was violently forced to make. The content of this letter was first aired by the BBC Persian on Wednesday, 17 August 2005.

On November 22nd 1998, Darioush and Parvaneh Forouhar,two peaceful nationalist dissidents and outspoken critics of the Islamic Republic, were brutally murdered in their home by agents of the Ministry of Information.In the “Report to the Nation”, the Forouhars’ daughter, Parastou, provides a public account of her parents’ deaths and the subsequent investigation and prosecution.

Excerpts of Mr. Manuchehr Mohammadi's letter to the European Union. Translated in English by About Iran. Manuchehr Mohammadi, a pro-democracy imprisoned student, addressed a letter to the European Union, asking the world's freedom loving people to save him from the ongoing cruelties committed against him by the Islamic Republic regime . Manouchehr Mohammadi had tried to organize an independent Student Union.

Ahmad Batebi is a student arrested during the students uprising of 1999 in Tehran. He was photographed while lifting a bloody T-shirt of one of his fellow students. The photograph was published on the cover of the Economist. He was arrested, tried and sentenced to death. A world wide campaign in his favor led to the commutation of his sentence to 13 years imprisonment. He wrote the present letter to report on his conditions of detention.

In November and December 1998, undercover agents of the Ministry of Information assassinated four peaceful dissidents in Tehran. The newspaper Salam, investigating the killing of dissidents, revealed ties linking the killers, agents of the Ministry of information, with the regime's high ranking officials. These revelations resulted in the newspaper's immediate closure. The closing of Salam prompted a peaceful student protest . Backed by security forces , the regime's vigilantes retaliated with a ferocious attack on students' dormitories. The ensuing street demonstrations led to a massive wave of arrests among students and leading dissidents.[1] To suppress demonstrations, the government resorted to violence again and many students were injured and at least seven were reported to have been killed by security forces only in Tehran.[2] The government confirmed only the death of one student, Ezzat Ebrahim Nejad.

While revolutionary courts issued death sentences and lengthy prison terms for many students, they acquitted the security agents accused of attacking students dormitories.

In the end, judicial authorities - against the spirit and the letter of Iran's criminal laws - organized a post-mortem trial where the victim, Ezzat Ebrahim Nejad, was posthumously found guilty of "crime against national security". His murderers were never brought to justice.

On the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the regime's wanton and tragic attack on university students across Iran, ABF is releasing a new English translation of the testimony of some of the students who witnessed the July 8th attack of the Tehran University dormitories by police and other government agents in retaliation for students' peaceful demand for justice and freedom of the press.

This piece is a report documenting the persistent efforts of the families of mass execution victims to keep the memory of their loved ones alive. It was published in the magazine "Noghteh", 6, 1996.

In the summer of 1997, "Noghteh," an Iranian political magazine, published by political refugees in Paris, released an issue entitled "Prison and torture in Iran." This article series is the recollection of what the relatives of the political prisoners went through during the last months of 1988, when the regime engaged in a systematic killings of political opponents previously sentenced to prison terms.

The present text is the testimony of Helmut Szimkus, a German engineer who was detained in Evin prison by the Islamic Republic's authorities for over five years and was released on July 1st, 1994 as a result of the German government's intervention. Back in Germany, he was interviewed by Andreas Gutzeit and Josef Hufelschulte for Focus, the German news magazine, Number 28, dated 11 July 1994. He talked about the conditions of detention in the Iranian prison, and the torture of detainees, including children. He called for an international court to try the Iranian government.

An interview with Reza Fani Yazdi, who was a prisoner in Mashhad in 1988…. “Just a few days after they had taken out the third group of our guys for execution, they called the names of another 23 of us and transferred us from Ward 2 to the quarantine. They, then, took the rest to Ward 1. The assistant prosecutor who had run into one of the guys in the corridor had told him offhandedly that they were going to be the next group. “The next time the Commission comes to Mashhad, it’s gonna send you guys off to hell as well.” These are the exact words that Haji Valipur, a young clerical student and the acting assistant prosecutor for the political prisoners’ ward, expressed to our friends.”

On August 19th, 1978, Islamist militants set on fire the Rex, a movie theater in Abadan. The flames and fire fighters' ineptitude caused the death of scores of people. At that time, public rumors pointed to the Shah's political police's responsibility in the arson. The tragedy was a determining factor in the escalation of public anger against the monarchy. On February 23rd, 1979, less than two weeks after the victory of the revolutionary movement, Captain Monir Taheri, a police officer, was arrested, charged for the arson (among other counts) and executed 48 hours later. Later investigations proved that religious figures linked to the revolutionary movement were part of the conspiracy and no officials of the former regime had been involved in the arson. The document presented here is an open letter by Mr. Taheri's family, in which they deny the veracity of the charges brought against him. It was published in the daily Ayadegan.