International Condemnation of Iranian Elite Students’ Arrest and Calls for UN to Intervene

Written by
Mahmoud Hakamian
International Condemnation of Iranian Elite Students’ Arrest and Calls for UN to Intervene
The Romanian Parliamentarian Committee for a Free Iran and International Christian Peace Movement from Australia, in two separate letters, condemned the Iranian regime’s arrest and torture of two Iranian elite students,

Amir Hossain Moradi and Ali Younesi, along with 18 other individuals, arrested for having alleged connection with the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI, Mujahedin-e Khalq or MEK). These two organizations also urged the United Nations and its related organizations, particularly the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Ms. Michele Bachelet, to intervene and halt the torture and possible execution of the detainees and secure their release. The two letters are as follows.

 

13th May 2020

The persecution, arbitrary arrests, torture, and executions in Iran have a long history over the past four decades. Many detainees have been tortured to death during interrogation, and the mullahs’ regime has been repeatedly condemned by international organizations, the Human Rights Council, and other relevant bodies for its ongoing human rights abuses.

On April 13 this year, two students of Sharif University of Technology, Ali Younesi and Amir Hossein Moradi, were arrested by security forces without a prosecutor’s order. Not only was the family of the detainees not informed of the reason and place of their detention and their health, but they were threatened with arrest, murder and rape by security forces. Up until the last week when a spokesman for the judiciary, Gholam-Hossein Esmaili, officially announced their arrest last week, accusing them of links to the People’s Mojahedin of Iran (PMOI).

Ali Younesi, the Iranian elite, won the gold medal in astronomy at the Chinese Olympics in 2018.

Subsequently, the PMOI announced the names of the two students and 18 others who had recently been detained by security forces. The abduction of these people without a court order is followed by the threat of torture and execution for them.

Experience has shown that detainees are subjected to the most severe tortures, especially when arrested on charges of being affiliated with the PMOI.

Therefore, this committee expresses its concern about the situation of these detainees and calls for their immediate release and demands these actions to be condemned.

The committee calls on the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to urge the Iranian government to release detainees immediately and to respect the rights of the Iranian citizens.

These arbitrary detentions and acts of violence against detainees are a clear violation of all international human rights conventions and laws. The international community is against this regime.

The committee also calls on the UN and other human rights bodies to take immediate action to form a committee to investigate the situation of the detainees and the release of political prisoners.

We appreciate your actions.

ROMEO NICOARA

 

President- Romanian Parliamentarian Committee for Free Iran

1 – MRS. Cristina Iurișniți
2 – MR. Andrei Gerea
3 – MRS. Ionita Antoneta
4 – MR. Liviu Titus Pasca
5 – MR. DANIEL BUDURESCU
6 – MRS. MARIA EUGENIA BARNA
7 – MR. Mihai Deaconu

 

Pax Christi is a Christian worldwide movement for peace and disarmament. It regards justice and human rights as central to peacebuilding and fosters the spiritual dimension of peacemaking. Postal Address: PO Box A681 Sydney South NSW 1235 Australia

May 28, 2020

The Hon Michelle Bachelet

High Commissioner for Human Rights

[email protected]

Dear High Commissioner

I am writing on behalf of Pax Christi Australia which is part of the International Christian peace movement Pax Christi International, based in Brussels, with consultancy status at the UN. Our organisation, has for many years been concerned with the political, social and human rights situation in Iran, as well as many other countries. Again, it is necessary to write to your office to draw attention to the fact of many new political detainees in Iran.

These people, along with their families, and many innocent people, are continuing to suffer repression by the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence and Security and intelligence units of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

It has come to our notice that these intelligence and security units of the Iranian Government recently raided homes and offices with violence on May 25, 2020. This violence included confiscation of mobile phones, computers as well personal and other valuable items. These actions occurred in Tehran, Mashhad, Neyshabur, Kermanshah, Sabzevar, Arak, Kashan, Mahshahr, Bushehr, Marvdasht, Amol, Ahvaz, Andimeshk, Rasht, Behbahan, Isfahan, Gorgan, Karaj, Tabriz, and Shiraz. The majority of victims have had association with the People’s Mojahedin Organisation of Iran.

We are aware, as you would too, that many thousands of Iranians have died as a result of the Covid 19 pandemic due to Government failures. Sanctions imposed by countries such as the USA have made the situation even more grave, yet this cannot be an excuse for stepped up repression of dissent.

I am calling on your good offices to demand that the Iranian government release all political prisoners arrested in recent weeks. We cannot be silent in the fact of such abuses anywhere in the world, as well as in Iran. Silence denotes complicity. Pax Christi is a Christian worldwide movement for peace and disarmament. It regards justice and human rights as central to peacebuilding and fosters the spiritual dimension of peacemaking. Postal Address: PO Box A681 Sydney South NSW 1235 Australia

An international fact –finding mission to visit Iranian prisons would be a welcome beginning to ascertain the deaths and injuries that have taken place as well as the conditions of the prisons themselves.

Pax Christi holds you and your organisation in high esteem. We thank you for your efforts around the world. We hope that you will response to this request as well.

Yours sincerely

(Father) Claude Mostowik msc

President, Pax Christi Australia

Copies to:

The Hon Javaid Rehman
The Special Rapporteur for human rights in Iran
[email protected]
The Hon Michelle Bachelet
High Commissioner for Human Rights
[email protected]
The Hon Agnès Callamard
The UN special rapporteur for extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions
[email protected]

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