An Eye Witness Account of June 12 Silent Protest In Tehran By Dr. Mehdi Khazali

Following is an eye witness account of the silent protest called by the Green Path of Hope Coordinating Council on the anniversary of the 2009 rigged presidential election in Iran.

Dr. Mehdi Khazali, a former political prisoner writes on his web site: This is a small report on the silent protest as I witnessed myself:

On June 12 the city had taken a military zone atmosphere. Valiasr street was filled with security and anti-riot forces moving up and down the street. All the stores on Valiasr were ordered closed.

Despite closing of a stores on Valiasr, there was a large crowd of people walking up and down the street in silence. Among the people waling were security forces and Plainclothes forces.

A friend was talking on his cell phone. Apparently person he was talking to asked where he was. My friend answered, “Valiasr, Hemmat bridge”. The Plainclothes standing next to him asks, are you inviting people to come here? Than he arrested my friend and placed him in a van.

We tried very hard to explain the situation to them. After some time with the help of few Basijis my young friend was released.

There was 2 vans parked under Hemmat bridge. In less than 10 minutes both vans were filled with people they arrested. You can just imagine how many they must have arrested on Valiasr.

In the 10 minutes that I was standing there under the bridge, they arrested many people. They were mostly arresting young women.

I tried to pay attention and figure out their profiling system to no avail. Seems like they would just pick at random someone from the crowd that was walking in silence.

Seems like the anti-riot was using their own judgment in who to arrest. Perhaps they were arresting the more beautiful girls. I am not kidding, just saying what I saw. They were arresting beautiful young girls.

Maybe they saw these young girls as their war prisoners, maybe they just wanted to look at the more beautiful girls.

This was a hard and sad fact that I saw with my own eyes. They were arresting people who had done nothing but just walk peacefully in silence. They were not even chanting anything. They may have been just going back home or going somewhere else.

An old man felt sick and fell down on the sidewalk. A young smiling Basiji man went to help him get up. As soon as the old man saw a Basiji, he kept repeating that he was fine and didn’t need any help. The young Basiji saw the fear in the old man’s eyes and left. Others helped the old man up.

At Vanak square group of Basijis clad in black clothing were standing. On the back of their clothing it said “Imam Ali battalion”. I thought to myself, in the name of Imam Ali they are confronting the people.

Source: Dr.Khazali Website

Testimony Of 64 Political Prisoners On The Last Hours Of Hoda Saber, The Journalist Who Died On Hunger Strike

64 Evin Ward 350 political prisoners have issued a statement explaining the last hours of journalist/activist Hoda Saber.

Hoda Sober and Amir Khosro Dalirsani went on a hunger strike after Haleh Sahabi was attacked by regime thugs in her father’s funeral resulting in her death.

Following is an excerpt of the statement issued by the 64 political prisoners:

The 64 political prisoners who signed the statement say: On May 22, 2011 while Hoda Saber was mourning the death of Ezzat Sahabi, the news of his daughter Haleh’s death reached ward 350.

As a sign of protest to the injustice inflicted on Sahabi’s family, Hoda Saber and Amir Khosro Dalirsani announced they will go on an unlimited hunger strike.

Thursday May 22, Hoda Sober started his hunger strike after performing his afternoon prayers.

We Testify: Hoda Saber, in addition to reading books, reading the Quran and holding history classes on a daily basis, showed a great interest in sports and joined in many sports activities held by the youth prisoners.

We Testify: That Hoda Saber was not suffering from any health problems, and medical records in Evin’s medical facility attest to that.

We Testify: On his 8th day of hunger strike, Hoda Saber, suffered from chest pain and digestive problems.

On Friday June 10, at 4:00 AM Hoda Saber was taken to Evin’s medical facility but 2 hours later, as he was in severe pain, they returned him to the ward. His screams from pain were so loud that woke his cellmates up.

He told his cellmate that in the medical facility not only did they not help him, but they beat and insulted him and threw him out of the treatment room.

We Testify: That while Hoda Saber was in excruciating pain and was shaking, he loudly said he will file a complaint against them.

At this point with the perseverance and request of his cellmates, the guard promised to take him back to the medical facility, but Hoda said he does not trust them. The guard promised to arrange for him to be taken to a hospital.

We Testify: That Hoda Saber was not able to stand on his own at this time and they took him on a stretcher out of the ward. In these last hours he had complained about his digestive system, had diarrhea and vomiting.

The statement continues with the 64 political prisoners condemning the handling of Hoda Saber’s case and saying an atrocity was answered by another atrocity. They also say this was not the first time such a thing happened, and that it won’t be the last either. The prisoners call the current ruling officials directly responsible for Hoda Saber’s death.

They extend their condolences to Saber family, especially to Farideh Saber and his dear children.

The prisoners condemn the treatment of political prisoners and say they hold the current ruling authorities directly responsible for the inhumane treatment of prisoners.

Source: Kaleme Website