Akbar Amini, The Man Who Climbed Atop a Crane In A Show Of Protest Even After Having Been Tortured Before

Akbar Amini, The Man Who Climbed Atop a Crane In A Show Of Protest Even After Having Been Tortured Before

Early in the morning on February 14, 2011, the day that Mousavi and Karroubi had called for a mass protest, a man climbed atop a crane in Tehran, wearing a green head band, holding a long piece of green cloth and picture of himself. He was arrested and taken to prison where he still sits.

Following is an excerpt of an article on Kaleme by one of Amini’s cell mates telling the story of the man who climbed atop a crane in protest, even after having been arrested and tortured post-election in summer of 2009.

Akbar Amini’s cell mate says Akbar is known as the “Crane” among other prisoners. Even the prison football and volleyball teams that Akbar plays on is called “Crane”.

Akbar Amini, like many other Iranians, went out on the street after the rigged presidential election in June of 2009 to ask “Where Is My Vote”.

Amini says, on June 22, 2009, a young man contacted him at his store, with the pretence of buying number of computers for a government entity. The young man came to the store, talked for a few minutes about buying computers and than left to bring coworkers to buy the computers. Minutes later, the young man came back accompanied by 8 armed men. They arrested Akbar Amini, confiscated his personal computer and took him to Evin 209 (Intelligence section) and put him in solitary confinement cell 102.

Three days later they started interrogating Amini. He was beaten during the interrogations. After 45 days in solitary confinement he was transferred along with 190 other post-election detainees to ward 7 in Evin.

Early on, after their transfer to ward 7, an interrogator named Haydarifar would select a number of detainees for practice sessions for show trials that were going to be held in a few days. They were told what they had to say during the trial.

The trial practice sessions were arranged just like a real trial. During the practice sessions, there were interrogators, prosecutors and a judge in attendance. Even Judge Mortazavi (then Tehran Prosecutor) came in and checked on the practice sessions few times.

Among the detainees there were a few that were transferred in from Kahrizak. Their stories about Kahrizak were horrifying, accounts of rapes by batons, beatings with cable and lashings.

On August 12, 2009 a number of members of Parliament came to ward 7 for inspection. Alaedin Broujerdi from the National Security Commission along with Omidvar Rezaei, Ghodratollah Alikhani and Zohre Elahiyan asked the detainees questions about their condition in prison. They had a crew with them video taping the session.

The MP’s were told of long interrogation sessions, hanging prisoners from their feet for long periods of time, hanging prisoners from their feet half naked at times, throwing prisoners in water tanks and beating prisoners with shock batons which is very painful.

The MP’s got very upset at what they heard, some even cried. They promised the detainees their release and asked them to go to the Parliament after their release so they can help them. Akbar Amini along with many of the 190 detainees were released that very same day.

After release, Akbar and others went to the Parliament but the MP’s refused to see them, they were even confronted by the guards there. They left messages for MP’s Omidvar, Rezaei and Alikhani but received no response from them.

Akbar Amini was upset, felt insulted and thought to himself he will come up with a plan that would make the world listen.

He was inspired by the self emulation of the Tunisian man, thought about doing the same, then decided that would not grab as much attention in Iran considering the situation and limitations placed on the media.

He came up with the idea of climbing a crane. February 14 protest was an ideal day for him to do that.

For many, February 14, 2010 was a resurgence day for the Green Movement. There are many of our youth, women and men that feel their voice is not reaching anyone. They love their country, they are some of the same ones that fought for 8 years against Iraq and now feel they deserve a better life, they are not “Saboteurs”.

Akbar emphasizes on the word “Saboteurs” used by government to describe the protesters and says “The government must listen to us”.

Before the February 14 protest, Akbar made his plans for climbing a crane and picked a location most visible to carry out his plan.

On February 14, he filled a backpack filled with few cans of tuna fish, water, bread and warm clothes. He planned to stay up there for few days.

Early on the morning of February 14, Akbar went to the location he had picked. He took with him his backpack, a large picture of himself, a picture of his 10 year old son, a large flag with a big question mark inscribed in the middle, a 2 meter long green cloth and a green head band.

He was afraid, he was trembling and had second thoughts. He thought he may fall down to his death and did not want the media calling his death a suicide.

Eventually police were able to arrest him by reaching up there with a hydraulic crane, and pulled Akbar down. He was being pulled and pushed, kicked and bloodied

He climbed up the crane; it was 6 in the morning and not much traffic yet. The first person that noticed him up there was a traffic policeman. It was 7:20 when a fire truck with sirens on arrived. People were gathering at the bottom of the crane. People were taking pictures of him, cars were honking horns, people were whistling and waving at him.

At that time Akbar Amini had no idea he had become top news on news sites.

Mondays are visitation days for ward 350. That Monday, February 14, the hot news inside ward 350 was this man who had climbed a crane.

Akbar says he knew the news of him on top a crane had spread by the number of people and police that were down there.

The roof of the building closest to the crane was filled with police, guards and Plainclothes. Number of them were video taping the events.

The Plainclothes were threatening they would kill him, some were encouraging him to jump and the police were asking him to climb down.

A police Commander named Mostafanejad asked Akbar to climb down and promised he would listen to his complaints. Akbar said “where were you when they were torturing me?”.

Akbar says he could see police and people clashing on the streets, he could clearly hear chants of “No dictator either with motorcycles or camels” (referring to the then Egypt events).

It was 9 AM and he saw his mother down there crying. A policeman threatened to shoot him down. Akbar immediately tied himself to the crane with a rope he had with him. He thought if they shot him he wanted to dangle from the crane and not fall down.

Eventually police were able to arrest him by reaching up there with a hydraulic crane, and pulled Akbar down. He was being pulled and pushed, kicked and bloodied.

They pulled him to the adjacent roof top, just about every policeman there kicked him and threw insults at him. They took him to an apartment in the same building. On the way they continued kicking and hitting him.

They asked the owner of the apartment to leave and, right then and there, they started interrogating him. Akbar was bloodied, his clothes were torn. They told him to prepare himself for a TV interview. They were trying to broadcast the interview on TV before the planned mass protest in the afternoon.

That same Commander Mostafanejad told Akbar that he has to talk about having been hired by the Sedition Movement, that he has received money to do this. He also told Akbar he has to name a certain foreign country that has paid him money to do this. In his instructions he emphasized numerous times for Akbar to mention having been paid by the U.S. and Israel.

They threatened him with execution if he does not confess to receiving instructions from Monafeghin (MEK/MKO).

During the on camera interview, Akbar did not follow their instructions. He only repeated what he was protesting and said he just wanted others to hear his voice.They transferred him to security police where he was beaten again.

By than many had heard Akbar’s voice. At night time the national news program covered his crane climbing event but said he had mental problems.

That afternoon thousands of people came out to the streets. The Green Movement once again showed it’s power.

Many of the youth that were arrested that day, are in Evin ward 350 and say that Akbar climbing up the crane with a Green cloth was inspiration for them to go out and join the protest that afternoon.

Source: Kaleme Website
the pictures from Jahanezan Blog

Hunger Strike Continues In Rejaei Shahr , Prisoners Are In Serious Danger

As previously announced by a number of Rejaei Shahr political prisoners, they started their hunger strike on May 22. These prisoners had been on interval hunger strikes since April 10, 2011 but announced previously their plan to go on a continued unlimited hunger strike until authorities meet their demands.

In their statement announcing their plan for a continued hunger strike they emphasized, “Until the ruling faction stops their current self-interest conduct and starts giving citizens all the legal provisions as described on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, we will remain on a continued unlimited hunger strike until our demands are met”.

The hunger strike at Rejaei Shahr prison started with eleven prisoners participating and later others joined the hunger strikers.

Mansour Osanlo, Rasoul Badaghi, Issa Saharkhiz, Heshmat Tabarzadi, Mehdi Mahmoudian, Kayvan Samimi, Reza Rafiei, Jafar Eghdami, Ali Ajami, Majid Tavakoli, Behrouz Javid Tehrani, Reza Sharifi Boukani and Khaled Hardani were among those who joined in the hunger strike.

On their statement they also emphasized as a reason for their hunger strike the added pressure on the families of the political prisoners and banning of all phone contacts & communications from inside the prison.

Reports are that after the interval hunger strikes, Journalist Issa Saharkhiz is in very poor health has lost 13 lbs already.

Imprisoned teacher Rasoul Badaghi was moved to solitary confinement on his 5th day of hunger strike and his status is currently unknown.

Journalist Mehdi Mahmoudian, on his last family visit told them of his plan for joining the unlimited hunger strike on May 22. Mahmoudian is in poor health and suffers from kidney problems due to previous hunger strikes. He has lost about 26 lbs already.

Many of the families of political prisoners and the Participation Front have issued statements asking the hunger strikers to end their strike.

A number of Evin Ward 350 political prisoners have also issued a statement in solidarity with Rejaei Shahr prisoners and have warned about the limitations and the human rights violations imposed on prisoners in the Islamic Republic’s prison systems.

Housein Ronaghi Maleki, Mehdi Khodaei, Ahmad Shahrezaei, Arash Sadeghi and Ramin Parchami are the Evin Ward 350 political prisoners who, in a statement, have proclaimed their solidarity with the hunger strikers and have protested the harsh conditions and human rights violations imposed on prisoners.

The Participation Front Youth Group members have also issued a statement asking the hunger strikers to end their strike. They said ” For the sake of Iran, your children, your wives and families, end your hunger strike”.

Also a number of Green sites in a statement, while praising the courage of the hunger strikers have urged them to end their hunger strike, for the sake of their health.

The Green sites asking for an end to the hunger strike are: Kaleme, Saham News, Rasa, Jaras, The Green Voice of Freedom, Taghir, Mizan Khabar, Tahavol Sabz, Emrooz, Nedai Azadi, Advar News, The Journalists site, Where Is Our Vote and the letter writing campaign for Mousavi and Rahnavard site.

Former president Khatami has called Journalist journalist Mehdi Mahmoudian’s mother. Khatami has urged the political prisoners to end their hunger strike. Khatami said “The health of the prisoners is the most important matter today, I urge you to ask them to end their hunger strike immediately”.

Khatami also said, he “hopes for the release of all political prisoners soon and also hopes that the responsible officials would meet the legal demands of our dear prisoners and would act in a way that eliminates the need for our prisoners to take such drastic measures”.

Sources:
1- Kaleme Website
2- Kaleme Website
3- Kaleme Website

Women Political Prisoners: Our Souls And Minds Have Been Raped Many Times Over

Women political prisoners in Evin have issued a statement on the occasion of “Women’s Day” describing some of the hardships inflicted on them as female prisoners.

Following is an excerpt from the statement issued by women political prisoners in Evin prison.

It has almost been two years since the 2009 disputed presidential election. In these two years, our country has witnessed much turmoil and clashes in the streets. Many of our citizens were killed on the streets of our cities and many men & women unjustly imprisoned.

It has been two years that we, away from our homes and in the hopes of a free tomorrow, spend our days into the night, in this space surrounded by walls.

Our hope for a brighter future is what sustains us and stops us from bending against the oppression and persecution inflicted on us.

We are a number of post-election women political prisoners who have been imprisoned on false charges and have been sentenced to years in prison away from our homes.

We have all experienced very hard conditions during our detention days. Not much attention has been given to the hardships we have endured. We find it necessary to inform the public of but a sliver of the illegal actions inflicted on us.

Unfortunately, because everything in this country is based on gender separation, what happened in the interrogation rooms was solely based on our gender. For the male interrogators to be alone in interrogation rooms with female prisoners, bringing up their sexual relations, should be an insult to the Islamic System. By sexual accusations and slander, they would try to force the detainees to make detailed false confessions against themselves and against others.

Of course we only have God and the interrogators as our witness, but tens of sheets of interrogation documents are testimonies to this claim.

Overall, the method used by the interrogators against some of the female detainees to break down their resistance have been verbal sexual insults and the bringing up of their sexual relations .

Therefore, we must frankly say that our souls and minds were raped over and over. Explaining all the details of this may only be possible in a private session with the Judicial officials.

Beatings and Torture: According to the law, use of torture to extract confession is illegal. However, use of torture to extract confessions, is readily used and is a normal occurrence in the Intelligence and Sepah sections.

Slapping on the face, hitting on the head, throwing objects and chairs at the detainee, hitting with fists and kicking and…. are some of the methods used against the women post-election detainees.

It is unfortunate that to this date no one has brought this matter up and no one has talked about it.

Against the law, most of the prisoners were kept in solitary confinement for months. This is a form of mental torture and is prohibited by law.

After arrest, detainees were banned from contacting families and were banned from visits. Many of the families did not know where their loved ones were being held.

Detainees were not allowed to see defense attorneys and only saw them during their trials. During trials, proper defenses were not allowed and the judges issued verdicts without paying any attention to the defender or the attorney’s defense.

Female political prisoners have been banned from phone contacts since September 2010. Many of these prisoners have small children and their phone calls were the only contact they had with their children.

Currently there are 32 female prisoners in the small hall of the Methadone ward in Evin prison. According to prison officials this is a temporary situation and they will all soon be transferred to Varamin. Considering all the reports of conditions in Varamin prison, this has caused much worries for us and our families.

Source: Kaleme Website

Daniel Oji, Tortured For 3 Days Then Left On The Side Of A Highway

Daniel Oji, Tortured For 3 Days Then Left On The Side Of A Highway

Banned from education, Daniel Oji of Bahai faith was kidnapped by armed men on Sunday May 22, 2011. He was released on Hemmat highway on Wednesday afternoon after being tortured for 3 days.

Daniel Oji a student of Bahá’í Institute for Higher Education(BIHE) online university was arrested at 11 PM Sunday May 22, as he was leaving his home. His car was stopped by an unmarked car, he was beaten and then arrested and taken to an unknown location.

Daniel Oji was physically and psychologically tortured. He was burned by cigarettes, shocked by electrical batons, hung by his feet and beaten.

The people who tortured him said they belonged to forces other than Intelligence Ministry. They told Daniel they are under orders to execute him for “Anti Revolutionary actions”. They mentally tortured him by taking him to an open space, firing gunshots in the air while chanting “Allah-O-Akbar”.

Daniel Oji was physically and psychologically tortured. He was burned by cigarettes, shocked by electrical batons, hung by his feet and beaten

During his detention, they also interrogated Daniel and asked questions about Navid Khanjani (another banned from education Bahai student) and they also asked questions about the BIHE.

During the 3 days detention Daniel was kept in a small smelly bathroom with a backed-up toilet.

Source: Population of Combat against Educational Discrimination

Bahman, For The Sake Of “Love” Let Them Torment Us More

Following is a post from Zhilla Baniyaghoub’s blog written to her imprisoned husband journalist Bahman Ahmadi Amouei

Bahman, For The Sake Of “Love” Let Them Torment Us More

My dear Bahman,

May 22 was your birthday and I celebrated your birthday without you in our small home. Of course I was not alone, our dear friends didn’t let me be alone. And how so many friends across the world went thru so much trouble to show that they have not forgotten you and your imprisoned friends. Their great show of support made you not being here with me more tolerable.

I am still deprived of in-person visits with you. Even on your birthday they didn’t allow me to sit across from you without that tarnished glass window and telephone wires that separate us. I wanted to sit across from you and hold your hands and tell you “Happy birthday my darling”.

I knew that it wouldn’t have any effect, but still I did call the Prosecutor’s office several times last week. I don’t understand why, when human beings are certain that the answer is going to be negative, they still insist on making the request. Is it because I am so naive?

In my despair I called Tehran Prosecutor’s office many times last week and requested to see you in person. I told them that I have been deprived of an in-person visit for 10 months. I asked them to at least allow me a visit on your birthday.

Sitting behind the glass window, when you heard me tell you this, you got upset. You said, “Weren’t you supposed to not make any more requests of them? Didn’t you know their answer was going to be negative? Didn’t you know?”

I bowed my head and said, I knew, but…but…I have missed you. It’s been almost a year that I have only seen you from behind these glass windows that are not even clean. Just think…almost a year that I haven’t been able for even a second…..even a second to embrace you and hold your hands and squeeze them.

Again, you firmly said, “I miss you too, but please don’t ask them for anything, especially when you know their answer is going to be negative.”

You said, “That’s exactly what the interrogators want, it makes them happy to see you tormented. You have to prepare yourself that even these cabin visits may be taken away from us, you have to remain strong.”

I replied that I know they are happy to see us suffer. This is the reason they have imprisoned you, to make us suffer. I will try to be strong. It’s not important to me that they see our love as a weakness. Our love is our strength.

For the sake of our “love” let them torment us more, but my darling the result of all these suffering in the past 2 years has only been one thing: Our love has grown.

You smiled and said, “And of course my love for you.”

I placed my hands on the glass window and you placed your hands on the opposite side as though touching my hands. I tried to absorb the warmth of your strong hands from the other side of the glass. And than, I sent you a kiss. You asked, “Was this my birthday present?”

My darling, more than ever I am proud of your patience and more than ever I love you. Happy Birthday.

Source: Zhilla Baniyaghoub’s blog

P.S. Journalist Bahman Ahmadi Amouee was arrested on June 20, 2009 is currently serving a 5 year mandatory prison term in Evin prison, Tehran.

Secret Executions Continue in Mashhad Vakilabad Prison – 70 In The Last 2 Months

International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran reports despite the silence of the Iranian Judiciary officials about executions of people on drug charges, these executions continue in secret according to ICHRI reliable sources.

These executions have taken place in groups on a weekly basis for the last couple of months. Due to restrictions in obtaining information from inside the prison, the exact number of executed is not known, however reliable sources have confirmed 70 executions during this period.

According to sources the last group execution was on May 16, 2011. 10 people were hanged on that day. The people executed were all charged and convicted on possession and sale of drugs. These executions were performed without prior notification to families, defense lawyers and in some cases even the prisoners themselves.

Sources have told ICHRI these executions were performed without final verdict notification from the Supreme Court upholding the Appeals Court verdicts. Apparently Mashhad Prosecutor General is ordering these executions without going thru proper legal steps.

Cause of death on the death certificates issued for the people executed read “Legal Murder”. A government employee who has knowledge of these executions has told ICHRI that the death certificate for these people are issued inside Vakilabad prison hours before the executions take place and while the prisoner is still alive. Issuing a death certificate for a person still alive is illegal.

Despite the international news coverage that these secret executions have received the Iranian officials have remained silent and have not offered any explanation.

Others have confirmed these secret executions. Researcher Ahmad Ghabel who was imprisoned in Vakilabad twice, has also reported these secret executions.

Ahmad Ghabel reported 50 secret executions took place during his first prison stay and reported 60 executions took place during his second time prison stay.

Political prisoner Hashem Khastar also reported these secret executions in a letter he wrote to Judiciary Chief. In his letter he reported 63 people were executed on August 10, 2010.

Nephew of a man executed on 18 August, 2010 reported to ICHRI of 67 executions that took place. He told ICHRI that the 300 grams of drugs they executed his uncle for belonged to one of his uncle’s friends.

Many of the people convicted on drug charges say their court Proceedings were not just and in many cases verdicts were issued by judges without any evidence and solely based on confessions extracted under pressure and torture.

Source: International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran

Twenty six Political Prisoners Are Threatened by Intelligence Ministry & Sepah

26 prominent political prisoners who wrote a letter of complaint to the head of the Central Committee charged with implementing the Citizen’s Bill of Rights are now under pressure & threats to deny writing the letter or face more charges.

In their letter, originally published by Kaleme the political prisoners outlined the systematic violation of Bill of Rights protections by the Judiciary and Intelligence Ministry since the 2009 presidential election, and called on the Central Committee to launch an independent investigation into these violations.

Mohsen Aminzadeh, Mohsen Mirdamadi, Majid Dorri, Abdollah Ramezanzadeh, Behzad Nabavi and Kayvan Samimi are among the prisoners that have been threatened to deny writing the complaint letter or face additional charges. They have also been threatened with being denied basic prisoner’s right including no more furlough leave.

Every time prisoners write letters of complaint to Judiciary describing the hardships & violations they endure they are punished instead of those responsible for committing the violations. This has been true in many cases of the political prisoners who have written letters of complaint describing harsh physical & psychological tortures. In every case, the person making the complaint has been punished instead of the guilty.The political prisoners and their families say they don’t know who to make a complaint to anymore.

In their letter, they wrote that their arrest included violence, insults and some were severely beaten during their arrest.

They wrote; One of the most common forms of torture was keeping us in very small 6.6 x 4.8 ft solitary cells. This method is considered torture, after several weeks of detention in a solitary cell, the prisoner will suffer severe physical and psychological disorders.

Other severe forms of torture they endured were: shoving prisoner’s heads into toilet bowls for prolonged periods…making the prisoner eat their interrogation papers…repeated threats against the suspects… including threatening them with sexual violation … threatening arrest of their family members, and sometimes actually arresting the suspect’s family members … sleep deprivation for long periods … were some of the torture methods documented in letters published by some of the prisoners who have endured these tortures.

Prisoners say the methods used by interrogators were not to extract the facts and truth but was used to pressure the prisoner to accept false charges.

The signatories of the letter are: Mohsen Aminzadeh, Mohsen Mirdamadi, Bahman Ahmadi Amouee, Abdollah Momeni, Milad Asadi, Abdollah Ramezanzadeh, Emad Behavar, Mostafa Tajzadeh, Mojtaba Tehrani, Ali Jamali, Mohammad Hossein Khourbak, Mohammad Davari, Amir Khosro Dalirsani, Kayvan Samimi, Esmaeel Sahabeh, Mohammad Farid Taheri Ghazvini, Feizollah Arabsorkhi, Behzad Nabavi, Abolfazl Ghadiani, Majid Dorri, Zia Nabavi, Mehdi Karimian Eghbal, Mohammad Reza Moghisseh, Ali Malihi, Mohammad Javad Mozaffar, and Hassan Asadi Zeidabadi.

Source: Kaleme Website

Hunger Strike in Rejaei Shahr prison starts May 23, 2011

Number of Rejaei Shahr political prisoners who have been on interval hunger strike have announced their intention of going on a continuous hunger strike starting May 23 thru June 12 the anniversary of rigged presidential election.

Currently those on limited hunger strike add one day per week to their hunger strike. Last week they were on wet hunger strike from Sunday thru Thursday.

According to reports, Mehdi Mahmoudian, Issa Saharkhiz, Rasoul Badaghi and Kayvan Samimi are among prisoners who will participate in the hunger strike.

Continued pressure on the families of the political prisoners, banning of telephone use & solidarity with people are reasons for their hunger strike.

Reports are that Mehdi Mahmoudian who was on dry hunger strike for 3 days after being moved to solitary confinement, is in poor heath and has developed a serious kidney problem and has lost about 26 LBS.

Many of the political prisoners families and the Participation Front have asked the prisoners to end their hunger strike.

Source: Kaleme Website

Secret Executions in Khouzestan (S. Iran)

International Campaign for Human Rights reports their local sources have informed them of secret executions in recent months in Khouzestan (S. Iran) province prisons. These executions were not officially reported by Judicial authorities in Iran.

ICHRI had previously reported secret executions in Vakilabad prison in Mashhad (N.E. Iran).

Witnesses have told ICHRI they have witnessed families coming to prison to claim the bodies of the executed. Reports say that some of these executions were mass hangings and all executed were convicted on drug charges.

In some of the secret executions, families were not notified in advance and only found out when they were contacted to collect the bodies.

Secret executions mostly took place in Karoon and Sepidar prisons in Ahvaz, Dezful prison and Behbahan prison.

ICHRI has previously reported on secret executions in Birjand, Taibad, Ghezelhesar, Uromieh, Karoon and Sepidar prisons.

Source: International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran

Execution of Fathi Brothers Amid Questionable Circumstances

Amid questionable circumstances and much controversy over their case, brothers Mohammad & Abdollah Fathi were executed in Esfahan Tuesday morning May 17, 2011

Mohamad 28 & Abdollah 27, were arrested along with 5 other men in Mozandaran province (N.IR) March 28, 2010, and were taken to Esfahan, all were charged with armed robbery

All seven men were tried in a 2 hours court in Esfahan and all were convicted of Moharebeh (enmity against God) and all received the death sentence.

The Supreme Court overturned the death sentences of the 5 men who were tried with Fathi brothers but upheld the Fathi brothers death sentence.

Bijan Fathi, father of Fathi brothers, says he & the uncle of his sons were former political prisoners in the 80′s and he believes this is the reason for his son’s death sentences being upheld by court.

Fathi brothers’ uncle was sentenced to death in the 80′s but was pardoned. He spent 5 years in prison and is currently living outside of Iran.

Bijan Fathi says his sons’ mental health were effected due to their early childhood living under difficult circumstances in Abadan during Iran-Iraq war.

Mohamad & Abdollah Fathi’s mother said they only found out about the planned executions after she received a call from prison on Monday informing her of her sons’ upcoming execution the next day.

Neither the Fathi brothers, nor the parents or their lawyer were officially informed by authorities in advance of the executions as required by law.

Mrs Fathi says, the defense attorney in the case was not allowed to actually defend her sons in court, they didn’t even allow him to present medical evidence of her sons’ mental problems.

Mrs Fathi says her sons were tortured in prison to obtain false confessions. She says her sons were even threatened with rape & sexual harassment.

Mrs Fathi says the family had filed an official complaint against what she calls her son’s torturers. Both Mr. and Mrs Fathi charge that their sons were not given due process, their case was full of irregularities and their sons’ confessions were obtained under torture.

Source HRANA