Balochistan Human Right Watch: Urgent – Save
the life of religious activists in Balochistan Iran
03/08/2008
In its continuous suppression of Baloch people
33 military vehicles full of Mersad armed forces (the special security force
in Iran, active in Balochistan in particular for suppression purposes)
attacked the village Nasirabad suited in district in Balochistan in Iran on
Monday 16th June 2008.
The aim of attack was to arrest Moulavai Abed Bahramzahi (the local Sunni
religious cleric in the village). This incident was reported by Balochistan
Human Right Watch (BHRW) on 18th June 2008, The village people resisted
against the attack. In the subsequent event many people were injured and
some people were arrested. Three persons, Abdoulbaset Vatankhah, Abdoulhalim
Vatankhah and Khalilulrahman Bahramzahi were seriously injured and were
hospitalized, later they were also taken into prison.
In addition to those injured more people were arrested, some are still in
prison, amongst following five:
1- Abid Gowharmzhai son of Dr. Mohammad karim, residence of Nasser Abad.
2- Hafiz Salahoudin Gowhramzahi son of Moulevi Adul Karim, residence of
Bandan.
3- Moulevi Khalil Zarai, residence of Iranshahr.
4- Moulevi Abdul Majid Salahzahi son of Haji Nawazkhan from Iranshahr
5- Oubid Zardkohi son of karim Bakhsh, residence of Zardkoh, Iranshar
Those arrested are still in prison, their relatives have not been allowed to
visit them since the arrest. They are kept in the Zahedan Central prison
which is named Nedamatgah by general public, meaning confession Centre.
In the 9th April 2008 two religious activists were hanged in Zahedan prison
after they, under torture, confessed to activities against Iranian regime
and were shown in the Iranian national TV, to order to be humiliated.
Iranian regime blamed them as the supporter of armed resistance group with
link to western countries. There were arrested, because a number of
resistance group were hiding in the abandoned facilities near the premises
of the school.
In the light of the latest mass hanging in Tehran and Zahedan in which among
them there were three Baloch prisoners Sohrab kamal Zahi ,Abdul Reza
Shabakhsh and Hamid Amri , there is a strong fear that people arrested in
the Nasser Abad will meet the same faite if Iranian regime is not pressured
to release them or to give them a fair trial.
These people were arrested for defending religious freedom and resisting
against suppression of religious activists and students. This kind of action
in Iran is treated as crime against the Iranian State, prisoner is deprived
of a fair trail and is sentenced to death.
Therefore we in Balochistan Human Right Watch strongly fear for the life of
these young Balochi people, in prison and would like to call international
attention, the Amnesty International in particular, to our concern.
Nevertheless we would like the international community to take the necessary
and immediate action on this particular important matter.
Balochistan Human Right Watch / Radio Balochi FM - Sweden
Wensday, 30 July 2008
http://bhrw.blogspot.com
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Journalist hanged in eastern Iran
Tuesday, 5 August 2008; BBC News
Iran has executed a journalist accused of involvement with a Sunni militant
group blamed for a spate of attacks in the south-east, officials have said.
Judiciary spokesman Ali Reza Jamshidi said Yaqoub Mehrnehad and another man
were hanged on Monday in Zahedan, the capital of Sistan-Baluchistan
province.
Mr Mehrnehad was convicted in February of being a member of Jundallah and of
"crimes against national security".
He was arrested in Zahedan last year while reporting for a Tehran newspaper.
Reports say the journalist also ran a charity apparently focused on
improving childhood education.
Sistan-Baluchistan province, which borders both Pakistan and Afghanistan,
has long been affected by smuggling, drug trafficking, banditry and
kidnapping. Its population is mainly made-up of the Baluchi ethnic group who
are Sunni Muslims.
Jundallah, also known as the Popular Resistance Movement of Iran, says it is
fighting against the political and religious oppression of the country's
Sunni minority. The government says it is a terrorist group.
In February 2007, Iran hanged a suspected member of Jundallah who was
convicted for killing 11 members of the Revolutionary Guards.
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Iran: 2 Accused as Rebels Are Executed
By NAZILA FATHI
August 6, 2008 ; The New York Times
The government executed two men on Monday who were convicted of having ties
with an armed opposition group in the southeastern city of Zahedan, the
newspaper Etemad Melli reported Tuesday. The men, identified as Yaghoub
Mirnehad, 28, a former reporter, and Abdolnasser Taheri, were charged with
membership in the Jundallah organization, which has claimed responsibility
for several bombings in Iran. Mr. Mirnehad, who was arrested in May 2006,
was tried behind closed doors. His family denied the charges, saying he was
a social activist, Web sites reported
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Newsman's execution called "state-sanctioned"
killing
The Denver Post ; 08/05/2008
CAIRO — An Iranian journalist sentenced to
death on terrorism charges has been executed in what a human-rights group
Tuesday called a "state- sanctioned murder" carried out after a secret
trial.
Yaghoob Mirnehad was executed Monday after Iran had accused him of being
involved in the armed Jundallah group.
The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran said no evidence of
links with Jundallah or involvement in armed attacks was presented at
Mirnehad's trial earlier this year.
In addition to writing for a Tehran-based newspaper, Mirnehad ran a charity
to improve childhood education in Iran. As part of that work, he criticized
local government officials and called for their resignations. The Associated
Press
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Iran rebel leader ready for talks with
government
08-08-2008
DUBAI (AFP) — The leader of a rebel group blamed for a string of attacks in
restive southeastern Iran said in an interview broadcast on Thursday that he
was ready to enter talks with the Tehran government.
"We are ready from this moment to start a dialogue with the Iranian
government ... in the presence of an international party," Jundallah
(Soldiers of God) leader Abdolmalek Rigi told the Al-Arabiya news channel.
"If the Iranian government allows us to enjoy all our political rights, we
will be ready to abandon arms and enter the political arena," Rigi added.
But he warned that the group would continue its struggle against Tehran
until it secured "all the rights entitled to our people."
The Jundallah group has been blamed for a string of attacks and kidnappings
in Iran's Sistan-Baluchestan province, which is home to a large ethnic
Baluch community that straddles the border with Pakistan.
The Dubai-based television said the interview was conducted in Pakistani
Baluchistan close to the Iranian border.
A bearded Rigi was shown sitting against a mountainous backdrop surrounded
by masked and armed militants. A young boy appeared next to him for part of
the interview.
On June 12, the group captured 16 Iranian border guards at a checkpoint in
the town of Saravan before taking them across the border into Pakistan. The
group has since announced executing four of them.
The group has threatened to execute the remaining guards unless Iran heeds
its demands for the release of 200 of its fighters.
In February last year the group claimed a car bombing in the
Sistan-Baluchestan provincial capital of Zahedan in which 11 elite
Revolutionary Guards were killed and 31 wounded.
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Iran Sunni rebels say willing to talk to
Tehran-TV
DUBAI, Aug 7 (Reuters) - The leader of an
Iranian Sunni Muslim rebel group said on Thursday his faction was willing to
talk to the government of the Shi'ite-dominated country and turn itself into
a political party.
Abdolmalek Rigi told Al Arabiya television that Jundollah (God's Soldiers),
which Tehran has accused of having a link to al Qaeda, was ready to open
dialogue with the Iranian government "in the presence of an international
institution."
"If we were allowed to practice our rights in full, we are willing to drop
weapons and enter political life," he said in an interview with the
Saudi-owned station.
Rigi also said Jundollah, which has killed at least four of 16 Iranian
policemen it had abducted, was thinking of expanding its operations to
defend the rights of Sunni Muslims in Iran, even into Tehran.
The rebels operate mostly in a volatile region near the border with
Pakistan. Sistan-Baluchestan, a region near Pakistan, is home to Iran's
mostly Sunni Muslim ethnic Baluchis.
Iran, which has often accused the United States and Britain of trying to
destabilise the country by supporting rebels, has previously linked
Jundollah to al Qaeda and said Rigi was a leader of al Qaeda's network in
Iran.
In 2007, Jundollah claimed responsibility for an attack on a bus carrying
Iranian Revolutionary Guards that killed 11 people. (Reporting by Inal Ersan;
editing by Robert Hart)