Iranian Dissident Leader Detained in Hospital ICU, Jailed without Charge
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Related subjects: Asia / Pacific, Diplomacy & Politics, Global, Iran, Middle East, Open Government, Rights & Freedoms, Security & Surveillance, The Global Intercept, The Vote Comments (14)
Ebrahim Yazdi, foreign minister to revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, and now head of the Iranian Freedom Movement, a leading dissident organization, was reportedly detained by armed men who did not identify themselves, and who transferred him from a hospital ICU to an undisclosed location, according to interviews with Mehdi Noorbaksh, his son-in-law.
Yazdi has vocally criticized the official results of the election, accusing the government of stealing the vote. According to the Guardian newspaper:
In the run-up to the election, Yazdi called for stringent measures to protect the integrity of the ballot, and his party secured commitments from reformist candidates Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi to press for more open democracy if elected, Noorbaksh said.
News reports suggest Yazdi was in fact held in the Evin prison in Tehran, despite being incapacitated in intensive care, undergoing cancer treatment. The arrest appears to have been an attempt to prevent him participating in the opposition rallies. He was reportedly returned to hospital after suffering complications due to his ongoing struggle with prostate cancer.
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Yazdi is reported to be close to reformist cleric Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, who has called the official election results unbelievable and has voiced support for the opposition demonstrators. The BBC reports that other prominent figures have been detained, including:
Mohammad Tavasoli: Director of political office of Freedom Movement
Mohammad Ali Abtahi: A former vice-president of Iran
Mustafa Tajzadeh: A former deputy interior minister
Saeed Hajjarian: A reformist strategist, badly wounded in a shooting attack in 2000
Abdullah Ramazanzadeh: A former government spokesman and provincial governor
Mohsen Mirdamadi: Secretary General, Islamic Iran participation Party
Mohsen Aminzadeh: A former deputy foreign minister
Behzad Nabavi: Former first deputy speaker of parliament
Human Rights Watch is calling on Iran to cease all use of violence against peaceful demonstrators and to launch a criminal investigation into the deaths of at least 7 people earlier this week. Iranian state television reported on Tuesday that 7 people had been killed the night before in clashes between demonstrators and security forces. Witnesses have reported widely that unarmed demonstrators were attacked by security forces using live ammunition.
According to the watchdog group:
Several witnesses told Human Rights Watch that on June 16, special police forces randomly attacked persons in the streets of Tehran close to the silent gathering in support of the reformist candidates whom, according to the contested official account, Ahmadinejad defeated.
“We were not doing anything wrong but walking toward the crowd,” said one of the witnesses. “The [policemen] wanted to terrify the people who were about to join the protesters.”
The arbitrary violence against unarmed civilians, even those who were not participating in the marches, has clearly added to the anger among Iranians who feel their election was hijacked. Efforts to document the security forces’ use of violence have had to depend heavily on amateur video footage, the use of overseas proxy servers and the will of individuals inside Iran to defy the government’s ban on media coverage and send their reports out to the world wide web.
Rights groups are in the process of trying to verify the authenticity of numerous tapes and eyewitness accounts of the reported acts of repression. It appears the government believed that Ebrahim Yazdi’s participation, however indirect, in the protests could help disparate opposition groups coalesce around recognized leaders and broaden their support inside and outside the halls of power.
- Massive Opposition Rally in Tehran Mourns Slain Demonstrators (video)
- Iran Government Targets Press as More Demonstrations Planned (video)
- Rafsanjani Calls for Emergency Meeting of Assembly of Experts
- Pro-Mousavi Demonstrations & Iranians’ Constitutional Rights (video)
- Iran Opposition Movement Forces Khamenei to Investigate
- Iran Crackdown: Is it Tacit Admission Vote was Rigged?
- Iran Declares Ahmedinejad Winner, Results Widely Questioned as Fraudulent
- Rivals Ahmedinejad & Mousavi Both Declare Victory in Iran Election
- Iranian Polls Kept Open Several Hours Longer than Planned
- Iran Votes, with Popular Reformist Challenging Hardline Ahmedinejad
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[...] Iranian Dissident Leader Detained in Hospital ICU, Jailed without Charge [...]
[...] Iranian Dissident Leader Detained in Hospital ICU, Jailed without Charge [...]
[...] Iranian Dissident Leader Detained in Hospital ICU, Jailed without Charge [...]
[...] Iranian Dissident Leader Detained in Hospital ICU, Jailed without Charge [...]
[...] Iranian Dissident Leader Detained in Hospital ICU, Jailed without Charge [...]
[...] Iranian Dissident Leader Detained in Hospital ICU, Jailed without Charge [...]
[...] Iranian Dissident Leader Detained in Hospital ICU, Jailed without Charge [...]
[...] Iranian Dissident Leader Detained in Hospital ICU, Jailed without Charge [...]
[...] Iranian Dissident Leader Detained in Hospital ICU, Jailed without Charge [...]
[...] Iranian Dissident Leader Detained in Hospital ICU, Jailed without Charge [...]
[...] Iranian Dissident Leader Detained in Hospital ICU, Jailed without Charge [...]
[...] Iranian Dissident Leader Detained in Hospital ICU, Jailed without Charge [...]