Amnesty International Report about Iran

Some parts of Amnesty International Feb 2009 report about Iran is selected here. Please click here to see the complete report.

Amnesty International

Iran

Worsening repression of dissent as election approaches

February 2009

In the last three months, Amnesty International has received reports of waves of arbitrary arrests and harassment, directed particularly against members of Iran’s religious and ethnic minority communities, students, trade unionists and women’s rights activists. Amnesty International is aware of the apparent arbitrary arrest of, or other repressive measures taken against, over 220 individuals. Many of those arrested, if not all, are at risk of torture or other ill treatment. Other individuals arrested before this period have been sentenced to death. In addition, several newspapers have been closed down, and access to internet sites has been restricted, including some relating to human rights or which are operated by international broadcasters. These measures may in part be intended to stifle debate and to silence critics of the authorities in advance of the forthcoming presidential election in June 2009. All individuals and groups should be allowed to peacefully exercise their rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly, including in ways which dissent from state policies and practices, in the run-up to the presidential election.

Amnesty International has documented repeatedly how vaguely worded legislation is being used to silence the most active sectors of the Iranian population. Charges such as “acting against state security”, “spreading lies”,“propaganda against the system”, “creating unease in the public mind”, “insulting the holy sanctities” and “defamation of state officials” are used to target members of Iran’s religious and ethnic minorities as well as human rights and other civil society activists. Such laws and practices violate Iran’s obligations under Articles 18, 19, 21 and 22 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights regarding freedom of belief, expression, assembly and association.

Amnesty International is calling on the Iranian authorities to end such repressive measures and to uphold the rights to freedom of belief, expression, assembly and association. Vaguely-worded provisions in the legislation of Iran which are being used to restrict these essential freedoms should be repealed or reviewed to bring them in line with Iran’s obligations under international human rights law.

Anyone held as a prisoner of conscience, solely on account of their peaceful exercise of their rights to freedom of expression, association, or on account of their religious belief, should be released immediately and unconditionally. Others detained should be released unless they are to be promptly charged with a recognizably criminal offence and tried fairly. All detainees and prisoners should be protected from torture or other ill-treatment.

Amnesty International has not been permitted to visit Iran for first-hand investigation of the human rights situation there since shortly after the Islamic Revolution which took place 30 years ago. While Amnesty International was not always able to speak directly to, and collect testimonies from, the people subjected to human rights violations, whose cases are mentioned in this report, the details are consistent with known patterns of human rights violations in the country.

Restrictions on Freedom of Belief

Only three religious minorities – Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians – are allowed under Article 13 of Iran’s Constitution to practise their religious faith. By contrast, adherents of unrecognized religious groups such as Baha’is, the Ahl-e Haq and Mandaeans (Sabians), are not permitted freedom to practise their beliefs and are particularly at risk of discrimination or other violations of their internationally recognized human rights. Converts from Islam and evangelical Christians who proselytize are also subject to repression.

In addition, Sunni Muslims, who are mostly members of ethnic minorities, also face repression in connection with their religious beliefs. Shi’a Muslims who do not subscribe to the principle of Velayat-e Faqih,¹the founding principle of the Islamic Republic of Iran, or who engage in religious practices frowned upon by the authorities, are also at risk of arbitrary arrest and other human rights violations in connection with their beliefs.

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Al-e Yassin

Payman Fattahi, the leader of a group known as the Al-e Yassin³ was arrested on 14 January 2009 after being summoned to an interrogation session at the Department for Dealing with Religions in the Ministry of Intelligence. Five of his followers – Nazi Hesami (f), Morteza Rasoulian, Sa’id Sourati, Hamid Sourati and Farhad Moradi - are said to have been arrested the following day. Three are known to have been taken to Section 209 of Evin Prison, which is under the control of the Ministry of Intelligence, but the whereabouts of Payman Fattahi, Farhad Moradi and Morteza Rasoulian remain unknown. Payman Fattahi had previously spent about five months in detention after his arrest in May, during which he was reportedly tortured and interrogated about a variety of alleged offences, including “acting against state security”, “establishing a sect”, and “promoting Christianity and atheism”⁴. The group has also been vilified in state-owned press.

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INTERNATIONAL SECRETARIAT, 1 EASTON STREET, LONDON WC1X 0DW, UNITED KINGDOM

1 The political concept of the absolute authority of Velayat-e Faqih (leadership of the learned man) was developed by Ayatollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran. It was enshrined as part of the Iranian Constitution adopted in 1979, which stated that overall political authority lies with the Leader, who must not only possess the requisite political capability to lead, but must also be a holy and pious man, as well as an expert in Islamic Law and a marja-ye taqlid - a religious source of emulation for his followers. A 1989 amendment to the Constitution dropped the requirement for the leader to be a marja, but greatly enhanced the political powers of the Leader.

2 Gonabadi Dervishes in Iran consider themselves to be Shi’a Muslims. This Sufi order describes Sufism as neither a religion nor a sect, but rather a way of life by which individuals – from any religion - may find God. See, for example, http://www.sufism.ir/sufischool.php. This is a website belonging to the Gonabadi Dervish order in Europe, which is headed by Dr Sayed Mostafa Azmayesh. In Iran, the Head of the Order is Dr Nour Ali Tabandeh, who was forced to leave his home in Bidokht, the main centre of the order in Iran, in May 2007 and take up residency in Tehran. Several prominent clerics in Iran have issued fatwas attacking Sufis. For example Ayatollah Lankarani said in 2006 that Sufis were “misleading Iranian youth” and that “any contact with them was forbidden”.

3 Al-e Yassin members describe the group as “an academic organization, formed from many different groups such as The Society of Professional Thinkers and Probers, the Al-e-Yassin Association of Interpreters, Writers and Instructors and the (Iranian) Nature Front Association”. They claim to publish various publications including: The Divine Cognition, The Motivators, The Arts of living, The Science of Success, The Journal of Esoteric Science, and The Art of Divine Living, among others. They claim some of these publications have been forcibly closed, that books by the group’s leader have been banned and that websites are filtered and the members of society are called to the Ministry of Security and Intelligence of Iran, on a regular basis. From communication to Amnesty International by email. Similar information can be seen at http://aleyassin.blogspot.com/

4 The group has claimed that the accusations levelled against Payman Fattahi during his arrest included “religious heresy”, “Christian orientation”, “Spiritual Pluralism”, “Striving to unify Islam, Christianity, and Judaism”, “Propaganda”, “Conspiracy against the Islamic System”, “Religious Degeneration”, and “spreading spiritual liberalism and American Islamism”.

5 The Iranian authorities stated that four people had been killed (Press TV, 29 December 2008). Pakistani sources, when commenting on the subsequent closure of the international border between Saravan and Panjgur, stated that around 45 people had been killed, http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008\12\30\story_30-12-2008_pg7_12 including 15 to 20 foreign nationals, including Afghans and Uzbeks, who were detained nearby after having entered the country illegally http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008%5C12%5C31%5Cstory_31-12-2008_pg7_37. The PRMI claimed that 150 people had perished in the attack (PRMI statement published on various websites).

6 http://www.autnews.us/archives/1387,10,00015696

7 The PMOI is an Iranian opposition group which participated in the Revolution of 1979 but was subsequently attacked by the Iranian authorities. Thousands of PMOI members were arrested, tortured and executed in the following years. In 1986, during the Iran-Iraq war, the PMOI based itself in Iraq and allied itself with the government of Saddam Hussein. Following the US-led military intervention in Iraq in 2003 about 3,400 members of the PMOI were disarmed by the US-led forces at Camp Ashraf in Iraq’s northern governorate of Diyala, where its members still reside. The current Iraqi administration has pledged to remove the PMOI from its territory.

8 Please see Urgent Actions AI Index: MDE 13/023/2003, 10 July 2003; AI Index: MDE 13/024/2003, 31 July 2003; and AI Index: MDE 13/030/2003, 15 August 2003.

Amnesty International February 2009 AI Index: MDE 13/012/2009

http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/MDE13/012/2009/en/6355979b-f779-11dd-8fd7-f57af21896e1/mde130122009en.htm

U.S. Department of state - 2008 Human Rights Report: Iran

US Department of state issued its 2008 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices on February 25, 2009. Some parts of the report about Iran regarding Ale-Yasin and Master Ilia (Peyman Fattahi) is selected as follows. To see the whole report about Iran click here.


U.S. Department of state
2008 Human Rights Report: Iran*
Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor 2008 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices February 25, 2009
...
RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
Section 1 Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom From: ...
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
The constitution and law prohibit torture; however, there were numerous credible reports that security forces and prison personnel tortured detainees and prisoners.
...
In October Peyman Fatahi was hospitalized after security officials reportedly beat him severely after summoning him for questioning related to his association with a group known as the "Ale-Yasin community." Authorities first arrested Fatahi in June 2007 and conditionally released him after holding him for six months in Evin Prison on charges of "acting against national security." Group members alleged that he was also severely beaten during his 2007 imprisonment
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Report about crack down against AleYasin society

By IHRV | February 2

Al Yasin Society in Iran Reported Detention of Its Leader and Number of Its Members

Payman Fatahi, also known as Master Ilya, is an individual who is referred as Master by the followers of Al Yasin Society. On January 4, when Mr. Fatahi appeared at the office of the Ministry of Intelligence to respond to some inquiries, he was apprehended and transferred to Evin Prison. Four others were also detained at the same time as Mr. Fatahi. Some reports indicated that the detained individuals have been mistreated and subjected to assaults by security agents at the Ministry.

The society followers also said that agents from the Ministry of Intelligence have routinely harassed some of their members.


Al Yasin Society

Although there is not much information available about the characteristics of this society, its members introduced the organization as one of the largest Non-Governmental Organizations in the Middle East. Followers, in their description of the Society stated:

“The Al Yasin Society is a cultural society that is formed from a collection of many other NGOs. The organizations that make up the Society include: Intellectual Organization, Interpreters Organization, Yasin Writers and Teachers Organization, Nature Front Organization (largest environmental entity in the Middle East), Steady Thinking and other similar publications, Yahou Publication institutions, Ham, Rights Teachings and many other similar cultural entities. The members of Al Yasin society are estimated to be somewhere between 140 and 160 thousand.”

So far, a number of publications affiliated with this society have been closed for their association with Mr. Fatahi (Master Ilya M), and other publications such as Movers, Spiritual Science, The Art of Higher Life and the Art of Living have been put under pressure by close monitoring of security forces.

Followers have also stated that many books composed by Master Ilya have been blocked by the Ministry of Guidance and have not been released for publication. The books were written by Master Ilya when he was between the ages of 12 and 33 and there are approximately 30 such books and their subject matters are focused on religious discussions and philosophical issues.


An Introduction of Payman Fatahi

According to followers of Payman Fatahi, those who know him across different social strata and in many different locations refer to him by different names. Some of these names have included: Payman Fatahi, Mohammad-Masih Mosavi, Koroush Aryanejad, Iliahou Hanavi and Davoud Abdullahi. In recent years, Mr. Fatahi has been known as Master Ilya M throughout a wider community and among his followers.

Mr. Fatahi is 35 years old, and he was detained by the Ministry of Intelligence in June of 2007 and kept in section 209 inside Evin Prison for six months, 150 days of which were spent in solitary confinement. During Mr. Fatahi’s detention period, he was subjected to 104 questioning sessions. Later, he was released from the prison conditionally. The conditions for his release included: censure from writing or conducting speeches and overall censure from any further cultural activities. He was also barred from leaving the country or making contacts with any of his previous students or contacting any other associated organizations.

Charges in Mr. Fatahi’s case included: dissension from religious dogma, conversion to Christianity and spreading Christianity, promoting pluralism and propagation of spiritualism, conspiracy against the Islamic regime, religious breakdown by attempting to link Islam, Christianity and Judaism, propagation of spiritual liberalism, insulting religious artifacts, propaganda against the regime and attempts against national security by promoting secret organizations and establishing Ilyaism.

Some believe that Mr. Fatahi has been subjected to both physical and psychological tortures during his detention in section 209 in Evin Prison, and the Ministry of Intelligence also pressured him to make a testimony via a television broadcast.

Mr. Fatahi’s family members have also been harassed and put under pressure by the Ministry of Intelligence.

The website belonging to his followers has made the following statement:

“We call him Master because he has masterfully engraved the path of a steady life in our minds and in our hearts. Steady life is a steady thought, steady speech and a steady deed. God-like and God-loving.

It was he who evoked faithfulness in our psyche. Because he has submitted and has become a servant of God. Because he is our educator and our Master and the smallest token between an educator and his pupils is faith.”

In an open letter distributed by Mr. Fatahi’s followers after his last year’s arrest, they said:

“From the age of 16, Ilya M, based on his research and observations in connection with aspects of soul-searching, spiritual science in the Quran and God’s word, and based on meaningful analysis and spiritualism derived from God’s word, made his mastery evident among a limited number of his pupils. These practical and theoretical trainings continued at this level for a number of years – at the age of 23, the first public speeches of Master Ilya M began in Tehran – the sessions were greeted with extraordinary enthusiasm among people, especially amongst the young, students, and those involved in writing, culture and thinking.

The popularity of these meetings grew so big that, after a short while, there was not a hall big enough in Tehran to contain all of the participants. As a result, the speech sessions were being repeated at different times via video or audio cassettes. Over the years, as a result of a widespread pressures and limitations by the office of anti-religion, the frequency of these speech sessions was reduced. Every now and then, a new attack by an Al-Qaeda-like culture and Taliban-like religion would take place, which were intended to keep a complete, continuous control over the culture and the religion for their usage as tools. Then, in one speech session held in Martyr Shiroodi stadium in Tehran, the first physical attack was committed against the Master, and with a brave defense shown by the people, the Master’s arrest plan was blown and was defeated on this day. After this incident, the wave of terror against the person and the character of Master Ilya M appeared in a new form, and attacks appeared in violent and Taliban-like press. According to the official Fars press, four large security and cultural organizations were commissioned to confront Master Ilya M, his followers and all spiritual activities. At this time, one ultra-conservative paper (possibly without awareness of its managing editor) in a number of very critical articles by agents in the office of anti-religion against Master Ilya, called for judicial and security authorities to stand against the Master. Coincidentally, the next speech session was planned to be held in the 100,000 person capacity Azadi Stadium, which was prevented by the authorities decisively. Gradually, confrontations began with a number of Master’s followers, ending with followers’ expulsions from governmental and quasi-governmental positions in the offices. Most of the publications, which were being managed by followers close to the Master and under his supervision, were closed or faced with new limitations. In a blink of an eye, publications including The Art of Steady Life, The Movers, The Art of Life and Science of Spiritualism were ordered to be shut down.”

In spite of many published reports about the arrest of followers in this Society, most of known social and political activists in Iran have expressed no knowledge about the existence and activities of this society.

Ilya followers have stated: “Presently, close to 40 of his (Ilya M) works, which are interpretations of his speeches, have been banned. The only work that has been published is related to his speeches made when he was 23 years old (11 years ago). Among these works, there are more than 200 research projects that were designed by Master Ilya M directly or through his interventions, and these works have also been censured”.

So far, one month since the arrest of Mr. Fatahi, there has not been any published report on his condition inside the prison


* The entire article is compiled based on reports published by Ilya followers and the accuracy of its content has not been verified.