Al-Arabiya wrote several women who have several children are detained in the prisons of Ahvaz.
Elaheh Darvishi, 19, was pregnant at the time of arrest. She was arrested due to the political activities of her husband. She gave birth to her child in prison. Prison guards threatened her, “If you don’t write what we want you to write, you and your fetus are going to be killed.” She is imprisoned with her infant under temporary detention status.
Many families do not speak publicly about the imprisonment of these women. They believe media attention would make it more difficult for their daughters. By remaining silent, the families want to lessen the torment these women have to go through every day.
The arbitrary arrests started in September 2018, after an attack on the Armed Forces’ parade in Ahvaz and are still ongoing. Security forces are stepping up these arrests to create an atmosphere of fear and terror and supplement the crackdown on the nationwide uprising.
Many of these women have been tortured in secret detention centers of the Ministry of Intelligence to make forced confessions. Some of their names are as the following:
Maryam Hemadi – DOB 1991, mother of a 1-year-old toddler
Sakineh Segour – DOB 1985, mother of a 1-year-old toddler
Zahra Shajarat – DOB 1982, mother of three children
Elaheh Darvishi, 19, mother of a 7-month-old infant
Zahra Hosseini – DOB 1995, mother of two girls 5 and 6 six years old
Makkieh Neissi, mother of three children, 5, 7, and 8 years old
Kholoud Sobhani – DOB 1999
Massoumeh Sa’eidawi, 48
Soussan Sa’eidawi, 45
Three other women by the names of Saghi, Akram and Khadijeh
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The resolution adopted by the European Parliament called on Tehran to announce the total number of deaths and detainees, conduct a prompt, impartial, independent and transparent investigation into allegations of excessive use of force, including direct targeting of protesters by security forces, and hold all perpetrators of violence accountable.
The MEP’s also demanded that all protesters, human rights defenders and journalists currently held under arrest in Iran for exercising their legitimate rights to freedom of expression and assembly are freed unconditionally; moreover, they demanded that the authorities inform all families of the location of their detained relatives, and calls for granting unhindered access for lawyers and international observers to all those detained during the protests and for providing identity of the detainees to the international community.
The resolution also strongly condemned Iran’s decision to shut down internet access to global networks, which prevented communication and the free flow of information for Iranian citizens; and underscored that such actions are a clear violation of the freedom of speech. They urged the Iranian authorities to lift all online based communications and services blockages.
The MEP’s stressed that fundamental rights such as freedom of expression and assembly must always be respected and calls on the Iranian authorities to live up to their international obligations, including under the ICCPR.
Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) said, “Representatives of the European people unanimously urged the United Nations to launch a comprehensive investigation into the suppression of the Iran protests, without delay. The European Union must take immediate action to expedite these investigations by the UN.”
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Days after the November uprising, news of the suspicious deaths of nearly 15 students in Ahvaz was released. Two of these students were women. Farhad Abulnejadian, head of Ahvaz University of Medical Sciences, acknowledged the deaths of these students. The body of one of the victims, Fatemeh Arasto, was found in the classroom on Sunday, December 15, 2019. She was a 2012 freshman, majoring in the medical field. (The state-run IRNA news agency – December 16, 2019)
Government officials did not provide information on the suspicious deaths of four Ahvaz University students.
Kianoush Jahanpour, director of public relations at the Ministry of Health and Medical Education, claimed that he had no exact information on the matter. (The state-run Khabar Online website – December 16, 2019)
Suspicious deaths of two female students in Ahvaz following crackdown on November uprisings
The large number of suspicious deaths of students, especially after the last November’s nationwide uprising, evokes memories of the arrested protesters who allegedly committed suicide in the January 2017 uprisings.
During the November protests, Khuzestan province was one of the centers of protests.
The regime’s repressive forces have arrested many protesters and used various inhumane methods against them. The suspicious suicides of students, along with finding the bodies of arrested protesters in various places, reveals the extent of the regime’s human rights abuses.
According to the Student Guild Council of the University of Tehran, the number of detainees at the university reaches up to 40 to 50 people. Some of these students have been taken to Evin Prison and some to the Greater Tehran Prison a.k.a. Fashafouyeh.
Tehran University Vice President Majid Sarsangi said, “The registrars are different. As to which institution has arrested the students, I have to say that the judiciary has different registrars. We do not know yet which registrar has arrested which student, and this is not relevant at all, since whichever registrar eventually arrested them the individuals are handed over to the judiciary.”
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On Wednesday, December 18, the UN General Assembly adopted the resolution on Iran regime with 81 favorable votes. The UN General Assembly urged the Iranian regime to release persons detained only for taking part in peaceful protests or the exercise of their human rights and fundamental freedoms.
Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, welcomed the 66th UN resolution and urged the highest world authority to “take effective measures to stop the escalating trend of human rights abuses and the continuous crimes against humanity by the clerical regime.”
She once again stressed, “The massacre of more than 1,500 people and youth, the wounding of 4,000 more and the arrest of 12,000 during the nationwide uprising in November is one of the most horrific crimes in the 21st century and by any measure amounts to crime against humanity.”
Mrs. Rajavi reiterated the need for the formation of a fact-finding mission by the UN to investigate the November massacre and to travel to Iran to visit the prisons and those arrested.
