National Peace Council Begins Its Work

To Prevent War

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Just two months after 72 Iranian pro-peace personalities signed a peace drive, the ‎founders of the National Peace Council held their second meeting. At the meeting, the ‎activists ratified the charter; the general assembly voted its executive operatives and ‎inspectors, thus officially launching the group.‎

Fifteen individuals were elected from the members of the general assembly to act as the ‎executive board which is mandated to run the group’s affairs, except those identified by ‎the general assembly. Hashem Aghajari, Babak Ahmadi, Habibollah Peyman, Jalal ‎Jalalizadeh, Taghi Rahmani, Issa Saharkhiz, Abdoll-FatahSoltani, Hossein Shah-‎Hosseini, Seyed-Ali Salehi, Keyvan Samimi, Abdollah Momeni, Hossein Mojahed, ‎Narges Mohammadi, Baizid Mardookhi, and Fatemeh Motamed-Aria were elected as the ‎members of the executive board, while five others, Hossein Akbari, Mohammad Sadegh-‎Rabani, Kurosh Zaeem, Soraya Aziz-Panah, and Parvin Kahzadi were elected as ‎substitute members.‎

In addition, Ezatollah Sahabi, Abbas Abdi and Dawood Hermidas-Bavand were elected ‎as the principal inspectors of the organization, while Mohammad Khaksari, and Jhila ‎Shariatpanahi were elected as substitute inspectors.‎

Issa Saharkhiz, a regular contributor to Rooz, and now a member of the executive board ‎of the Peace Council said that members to the group was open to anyone, regardless of ‎their political leanings, adding, “Anyone who is concerned about peace and is interested ‎in preventing the country from getting into one, can become a member.”‎

Last February as tensions between the US and Iran reached levels that had produced fears ‎that military action against Iran was a real possibility, Shirin Ebadi, Iran’s only Nobel ‎laureate announced the creation of a temporary peace committee and called on all Iranian ‎to participate in efforts to prevent such a war.‎

The Peace Council has set four goals for itself: the creation and strengthening of the ‎foundations for peace, human rights and continues development in Iran; preventing any ‎military, terrorist and violent action against Iran; activities to remove any sanctions ‎against Iran and prevent their strengthening, and; ending the atmosphere of ‘no war and ‎no peace’ that is in air.‎

The individuals forming this group include critics of the government, professional ‎journalists, commentators, women activists, former government officials, human rights ‎activists, lawyers, university academicians, and political activists.‎

Bahais Continue to be Arrested

Following Calls for ‘Revolutionary Execution’ of Detainees

As some religious leaders in Iran have called for “the utmost punishment” for detained ‎Bahais using state media resources, the confrontation with the followers of this belief has ‎intensified and yesterday such calls went deep into the country. Bahai leaders in ‎Vilashahr in the province of Isfahan were reported to have been arrested. ‎

The news website “Human Rights Activists in Iran” announced that according to its latest ‎reports, the leaders of the Vilashahr Bahai community in Isfahan were arrested. Their ‎names were listed as Hushmand Talebi and Mehran Zini, and Farhad Fardossian who is ‎said to be a member of the community. The news site reports that these individuals were ‎arrested by security-law-enforcement agents and transferred to the prison of the town, ‎while their conditions remains unknown.‎

In a related news story, it is reported that three other Bahais named Ali Ahmadi, Changiz ‎Derakhshan, and Ms Simin too have been arrested in the northern town of Ghaemshahr. ‎Prior to that, six leading members of the Iranian Bahai community were arrested, and ‎their names are Fariba Kamal Abadi, Jamaledin Khanjani, Afif Naimi, Saeed Rezai, ‎Behrouz Tavakoli and Vahid Tizfahm. Mahvash Sabet, another Bahai leader was arrested ‎earlier in March in the city of Mashhad. All of these seven last members comprised the ‎leadership of the sect in Iran.‎

These new arrests follow the claims by Iranian authorities that the Bahais had been ‎arrested because of their anti state activities that threatened national security. Elham the ‎spokesperson for the Iranian government had said in his weekly meetings with the media ‎that “these individuals had been arrested because they had engaged in activities against ‎the security of the state and had been in contact with foreigners particularly Zionists.”‎

Seyed Ahmadi El Alhodi, the Friday prayer leader of the city of Mashhad had recently ‎publicly called for the “revolutionary execution of the Bahai-Israeli spies”. According to ‎Shabestan news agency, this cleric said that Bahaism was not a religion and claimed that ‎‎“Bahaism was neither a religion nor even an idea” adding how could he accept these ‎‎“Israeli soldiers whose hands were stained with the blood of millions of people be ‎allowed to freely move around the Iran and, by taking advantage of a group of political ‎deviants and loose women and sex-driven boys, engage in collecting signatures to destroy ‎Islamic laws by engaging in any criminal activity.”‎

Elm Al Hodi further said that the harshest revolutionary punishment should be imposed ‎on the members of this Satanic group, calling on the judiciary of Iran to forcefully ‎confront this espionage movement without any heed to the wishes of the US and … , as ‎the group engaged in espionage behind the backs of the intelligence community of the ‎country

People Must React Too!

Increasing Crackdown on Bahai Community
A week into the arrest of six Bahai leaders in Iran, an interview published by hardliner ‎Fars news agency called for the “creation of a popular movement” to “confront and fight ‎Bahaism” so that the “government is not left alone in its confrontation against the Bahai ‎community.” ‎ The interview was held with Seyed Kazem Mousavi who is introduced as an analyst and ‎expert in contemporary Iranian history, in which he is quoted as saying “Bahais in Iran ‎are attempting to gain independence and legitimacy by being present in cultural and ‎economic fields and to infiltrate the power structure and other political spheres." ‎ Denouncing the “Bahai community's attempt to infiltrate the power structure in order to ‎gain access to regime’s secrets, reduce regime’s sensitivity to Bahai cult and downplay ‎dangers associated with this cult,” Mousavi added, “Currently, the Bahai community is ‎trying to hide its true face and pretend to be an ordinary and normal part of society. The ‎Bahai community is planning to attract the support of international organizations such as ‎Amnesty International to fulfill its mission.” ‎ Noting that Bahai followers “claim not to get involved in politics,” Mousavi claimed, ‎‎“This very non-interference in politics is itself a political move, designed to gain ‎immunity to freely and seriously participate in cultural and economic activities. Prior to ‎last winter’s Majlis elections, the leaders of the Bahai movement ordered their followers ‎to participate in elections. Some Bahai groups protested that decision, to which the Beit ‎al-Adl of Bahais responded by clarifying that it was not forbidden to participate in ‎elections and vote for independent candidates, just to support political parties.” ‎ This Fars news analyst finally declared, “The Bahai community is manipulated by the ‎Zionist regime and enjoys the support of Israel.” ‎ Fars news agency published this interview while several conservative websites attempted ‎to blame Bahai followers for last month’s explosion in a Shiraz mosque. According to ‎the reasoning of these websites, because the mosque where the explosion took place was ‎a meeting ground for some “anti-Bahai” activists, the Bahai followers were “seeking ‎revenge.” ‎ At that time, human rights activists warned against the consequences of these baseless ‎charges and predicted an intensified crackdown on the Bahai community in Iran. ‎
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Ghabel Ends Up in Prison Too

A Judgment Calculated to be Implemented after Elections

Without any prior warning, Hadi Ghabel, a cleric member of the Central Council of Jebhe ‎Mosharekat reformist front (Participation Front) was arrested on Monday and sent to ‎Langarood prison in Qom.‎

This news was broken by Ghabel’s son, Ruhollah who said, “My father had been ‎summoned by Qom’s special Clerics Court on March 26th, 2008. He requested an ‎extension and went to the court yesterday (on Monday). Because the court had not ‎announced that it was going to implement the sentence against my father, he was not ‎ready for detention, but was nevertheless transferred to a prison in Qom.”‎

Jebhe Mosharekat front, on whose central council Ghabel had served in the past, issued a ‎statement regarding Ghabel’s arrest in which it protests against the ‘unfair” execution of ‎a sentence and reminds the public that the execution of the sentence had been suspended ‎by the judiciary officials based on the negotiations that had taken place.”‎

The statement also reads, “A review of the charges against Ghabel indicate that a case ‎was concocted against him based on the public speeches that he had made which included ‎his political, religious and Shiite views, as well as his criticisms since 1997. From ‎amongst his writings and speeches, selected sentences and paragraphs had been extracted ‎to serve as documents for the arrest.”‎

Last Wednesday, agents approached Ghabel’s house on the pretext of having religious ‎questions. When the cleric appeared at the front of his house, they pushed their way ‎inside and after searching the rooms confiscated his papers, writings and computer, and ‎took him to prison. The following Tuesday, Jebhe Mosharekat issued a statement in ‎which it condemned his detention, while his imprisonment lasted for 2 months.‎

Despite the express legal provisions that political crimes must be reviewed in the ‎presence of a jury and must be public, Hadi Ghabel was interrogated repeatedly taken to ‎the Clerics Court during his two month detention and was finally sentenced to 40 months ‎of imprisonment. He was also defrocked.‎

The details of the sentence issued by the Qom court also assert that he had committed ‎acts against national security for which he was sentenced to 1 year of imprisonment, 10 ‎months for engaging in propaganda against the state, 15 months for spreading lies and ‎rumors with the purpose of disrupting public peace, the payment of 500,000 Tomans ‎‎(each US Dollar is about 850 Toman in the market) for insulting state and religious ‎officials, and imprisonment of 100 days for insulting judiciary leadership, the general and ‎revolutionary prosecutor of Tehran, and other judiciary officials. ‎

His defense attorneys have protested against the sentence passed against Ghabel and filed ‎an appeal. The second district of the court of appeals for the Clerics court however, ‎upheld the judgment.‎

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Boutimar Sentenced to Death for Second Time

\A New Sentence from the Revolutionary Court

The Revolutionary Court of the city of Marivan, in western Iran, sentenced Kurdish activist Hiva ‎‎(Abdolvahed) Boutimar to death for the second time. Although the written judgment has not yet ‎been served on Boutimar due to the Iranian New Year holidays that began on March 20th and ‎usually continue for about 2 weeks, a judge verbally notified Boutimar's attorney of the ‎judgment. ‎

Hiva (Abdolvahed) Boutimar used to publish a journal belonging to the "Sabz Chia" (literally ‎translated as Green Mountain) association, which is an active environmentalist organization in ‎Marivan. He was one of the association's founders and served on its board of directors.

Last summer, following his arrest by the Intelligence Ministry, the Revolutionary Court of the ‎city of Marivan sentenced Hiva Boutimar and a colleague, Adnan Hassanpour, to death on ‎charges of acting against national security and espionage. Hassanpour was a manging editor at ‎the Kurdish-Farsi journal "Asou." ‎

The death sentences of these two Kurdish activists sparked international protests. Following an ‎appeal filed by the attorneys of the two defendants, the appellate court rejected Adnan ‎Hassanpour's request and upheld the original sentence, but returned Hiva Boutimar's case to the ‎Revolutionary Court for a review. Hiva Boutimar appeared at the Revolutionary Court on 27 of ‎Bahman (March 17, 2008), and the court has once again issued the death sentence for Boutimar. ‎
While in prison, Hiva Boutimar and Adnan Hassanpour staged a hunger strike to protest their ‎inhumane treatment and for being kept in solitary confinement for more than 50 days. Currently, ‎Hiva Boutimar is kept at a detention facility in Marivan while Adnan Hassanpour is held at ‎Sanadaj's general prison ‎

Some sources had previously reported that the court sentenced these two activists to death based ‎on confessions extracted from them through torture and while under duress. These reports ‎indicate that prison and intelligence officers had subjected the two Kurdish activists to severe ‎mental and physical tortures to force them to make false confessions about their alleged charges ‎on tape and participate in a television program. Adnan Hassanpour's mother was also put under ‎pressure to convince her son to appear in front of the camera and confess to what was asked of ‎him. ‎

Officers from the Ministry of Intelligence have removed Hiva Boutimar several times from a ‎prison to an Intelligence Ministry facility in Sanandaj to force him to appear in front of cameras ‎and confess to charges against that incriminate him. These agents had promised Hassanpour that ‎they would arrange for his release if he agreed to confess to charges of espionage in a televised ‎program.