With the trial of Tajzadeh, the weekly review of Jameh Madani, re-examined the analysis presented in its first issue: ‘on the basis of a totalitarian approach and negligence of the regulations of the game, the conservative wing has set the task of omission of the valuable key figures of the President as its primal task and intends to omit the President’s men before the next presidential election in order to make access to Mr. Khatami easier.’ Following this introduction, exclusion of Mr. Mohajerani and initiation of two legal cases against him, exclusion of Tajzadeh, attempts to prepare a legal case against Mohammad Ali Abtahi, the head of the presidential office and to summon Mohammad Reza Khatami the first man of Participation Front (Jebheh Mosharekat) with the excuse of the presence of certain illegal acts at the time of his deputyship in the Ministry of Health… are regarded as a part of the plan that the conservatives intend to carry out. At the end of the aforementioned article, Jameh Madani writes, ‘if we keep silent against these poisonous political plans, we should await more serious crises.’ Mohsen Armin, MP and the deputy of the parliamentary commission of national security and foreign policy had previously warned that the reformists should prepare themselves for much more difficult times.’ In order to prove his point, Armin had referred to the uncertain future of some of the activists recently arrested and said, ‘it is heard that there has been a serious attempt to force these people to sit for an interview.’

In a speech in Feizieh (religious school of Ghom), Mohseni Ezhehii, in reply to the question posed in relation to the arrest of Saiid Montazeri, said, some of the people arrested in connection with the circulation of pamphlets confessed that Saiid Montazeri had given them those pamphlets, although we first hesitated to arrest him, but when we inspected his house we found classified documents that approved of his involvement in this case. He then emphasized that the documents show that those individuals and trends writing and talking against the Revolution are supported by Mr. Montazeri. He talked about considerable amounts of monetary aid particularly paid to Yusefi Eshkevari, Ezatolah Sahabi, Ali Afshari, Akbar Ganji, Emadoldin Baghi that are now in jail and Ms. Azam Taleghani and Daftar Tahkim Vahdat (a reformist student organization). In another part of his speech, Mohsen Ezheii, without mentioning Ganji’s name said, one of the detainees has confessed that we received money to defame Mr. Hashemi Rafsanjani (‘we got 30 millions toumans from …to defame…’ but there are people in the government and the parliament who support Ganji’s family ever since he was arrested. He then referred to the annual 200 millions toumans budget allocated to the special court of clergy and accused the ex-minister of Ershad, Mohajerani of paying a considerable sum of money from the interests of bank deposits for Haj (pilgrimage) to buy Ganji’s book which immediately was officially denied by Mohajerani.

Meanwhile a letter addressed to the President and signed by 132 clergies of Feizieh of Ghom demanded the release of Saiid Montazeri who had been seriously injured during the war and was arrested while being hospitalized to the great pain he was suffering. But the news published about the famous press and political prisoners imply that on the whole they are in good physical conditions, even though in certain cases the causes of their arrest and the place of their detainment is still unknown. Hoda Saberi, one of the editors of the banned journal ‘Iran Farda’ is one of the journalists recently sent to prison by the verdict of Revolution Court. His family does not know where he is detained and Taghi Rahmani – who is now under persecution of the court in Shahr Kurd – evaluated Saber’s arrest as a part of the plan to exert pressure on reformist movement. Ali Afshari and Ezatolah Sahabi were also arrested by the verdict of the same court.

The last relevant person imprisoned is Bagher Vali Beik- one of the veteran managers of Revolution now working for the private sector. He was summoned to the court by the famous judge Mortazavi in connection with his position as the director general of the company Jameh Rooz, the company that used to publish the trend-making newspapers Tous, Neshat, Asr Azadegan and Goonagoon. Vali Beik known in the political society of Iran as Chamran’s close associate, used to work as the director of Iranian news agency in Japan and as the head consul in Europe for years.

On the first day after the annual celebration of Revolution (Fajr), the courts were very busy. In addition to Vali Beik, Ramezanzadeh, the governor of Kurdestan, Ahmad Bourghani and Elaheh Koulaii, MPs, and Alireza Rajaii, journalist were summoned to the court. On the other hand, concern for the conditions of Ezatolah Sahabi and Ali Afsahri was continuing, as nobody knew where they were detained. The legal authorities claimed that they were in a prison supervised by the general office of prisons, Evin’s authorities emphasized that they were not in Evin, until five days after the extension of the temporary arrest of Sahabi on the basis of new accusations, the head of the parliamentary commission of clause 90 of the constitutional law revealed his visit to Alizadeh and said that Afshari and Sahabi were transferred to Evin. The next day the newspapers announced that they were in the solitary ward 240 of Evin prison and other journals published the news of the letter that Sahabi’s daughter has written to Mandella, the ex-president of South Africa and the Nobel Prize winner who had also been in jail for 27 years because of his struggles against racial discrimination in South Africa.

Meanwhile, Shamsolvaezin, being in prison since 10 months ago faced new accusations that are related to articles published while he was already in jail. Shamsolvaezin who insists on not wearing the prison uniform and did not attend his last court for this reason, although he was taken to the court without uniform at one o’clock has not been allowed to visit his mother hospitalized due to some cardiac dysfunction. Latif Safari, now sharing the same cell with Shamsolvaezin, Baghi and Ganji, too has not so far been able to take a leave of absence. In a letter to Alizadeh, Safari has answered a part of Alizadeh’s letter to MPs where in reply to the question of MPs in relation to what might be the reason for temporary arrest of the journalists he had referred to the possibility of their escape and had used Latif Safari’s case as an example – Alizadeh had said that Safari did not report himself to the court although he had received the official papers in this regard. Safari who was at that time busy was campaigning for the sixth parliamentary election believes that this is a vain accusation as he could be easily accessed throughout that time and everybody knew where he lived and worked. According to the newly approved parliamentary bill that allows the prisoners who have spent one fifth of their term to buy the rest of it, Latif Safari and Shamoslvaezin could be released at the beginning of the next Iranian year.

Akbar Ganji, the most clamorous prisoner of ward 325, created another scandal after his recent interview with Reuter published both in Guardian and Herald Tribune. The questions were secretly delivered to Ganji and he wrote the answers and again sent them out secretly. After the publication of this interview, Ganji’s brother protested against the distortion of his brother’s answers by the foreign press. Ms. Jeneive Abdu, Guardian’s representative in Iran, who left Tehran together with his husband, the head of Reuter’s news agency in Tehran, a few days after the publication of this interview in Guardian defended the content of her published article once outside the country. In reply to the question ‘why hasn’t Mr. Khatami adopted any direct position in relation to your case’ Ganji who presented the content of this interview to Iranian newspapers had said, ‘Khatami is extremely busy and therefore he has no time to deal with my case. I don’t expect anything from him. If he paves the path of transition of Iran to democracy and freedom, it is not at all important if people like Ganji stay in prison.’

Another prisoner, Ahmad Zeidabadi, attracted attention last month during his fourth trial when he was faced with two new accusations, one dealing with national security of the country that automatically implied that his court had to be held behind the closed doors. His wife who was not allowed to meet his husband at the beginning and just managed to send their small son to the room to spend a few minutes with his father said, ‘so far my husband has gone through 150 hours of investigation and has answered all the question of the judge. I don’t know how they can justify their claim that the court for this type of accusations, dealing with published articles, should be held behind the closed doors.’ A few days after this trial, Zeidabadi was informed that he is to be transferred to another ward. He resisted against this order for two days, but when he went to the sickbay of the prison for medical examination, on his return he found the door of the ward closed to him and he was transferred to Hall 5 where Behnoud, Ghoochani and Amir Farsahd Ebrahimi were previously detained.

Zeidabadi immediately started a hunger strike that although it shocked the juridical power and the rightist newspapers, it produced an immense concern among journalists and the reformist press. The members of the society defending freedom visited his family and once the news of Zeidabadi’s internal bleeding was spread they urgently asked him to put an end to his hunger strike. Zeidabadi then accepted their request and in a letter while appreciating their great efforts in defending the rights of prisoners, he emphasized that he should have been kept in the same ward 325, in the first place, but when he accepted his transfer to hall 3 where the students are imprisoned, he was again deprived of it and he was left with no other alternative than going on a hunger strike. When his wife appealed to Mortazavi the judge to let her see her husband as she was so worried for his state of health, the judge had said, ‘Zeidabadi is trying to improve his wrinkles and that is why he is now trying water therapy, but he pretends that he is on hunger strike. While the rightists’ press was claiming all sorts of things to prove that Zeidabadi’s hunger strike is just a show, Ansari Raad, MP received permission to visit him in prison and approved his hunger strike. His wife who finally managed to get the required permission to see him said that he had lost about 10 kilos and could not keep his balance. On the basis of the regulations of the prison that when a prisoner goes on hunger strike, he should be transferred to a solitary cell and the public wards refuse to accept such prisoners, Zeidabadi agreed to put an end to his strike and Mortazavi the judge announced that he gained nothing in this process, but he was taken back to his previous ward and the day of his trial was finally determined.

Another hunger strike whose news permeated out of the prison, was that of Amir Farshad Ebrahimi whose statements about the event of the university campus recorded on a tape and delivered to the lawyers of the students had many grave consequences including the trial of Mohsen Rahami and Shirin Ebadi, the students’ lawyers. This case actually introduced a new term, ‘tape-makers’ to our political literature. Once Ebrahimi, who is now over a year that is in jail, started his hunger strike, his parents sought sanctuary in front of the Parliament. In reply to a parliamentary investigation group in relation to the case of ‘tape-makers’, Alizadeh forbade them to interfere with juridical affairs and announced that the case of Ebrahimi, the former member of Ansar Hezbolah, has been surrendered to Supreme Court. Ebrahimi who was taken to a solitary cell put an end to his strike. The authorities promised him that because he has spent a third of his term, he can ask to be released once he receives his final verdict.

Another relevant news was the letter of the lawyer of Amir Entezam, the prisoner who so far has spent the longest term in Evin to the parliamentary commission of the clause 90, in which he had disclosed that Revolution Court has not answered his request for another trial and also the reasons for Amir Entezam’s imprisonment.

At the same time that there were anxious statements published nearly daily in relation to the absolute lack of news about the place where Ali Afshari is kept, it was suddenly announced that his father Taghi Afshari, the chief editor of a weekly review published in Ghazvin has been imprisoned on the basis of publishing an article in which the juridical power was attacked and undermined. He was released two days later, but was arrested again by the verdict of the court ‘Hadis Ghazvin.’

Another court in Ghazvin summoned Fatemeh Govaraii – one of figures of the political trend known as national-religious - and tried her behind the closed doors. Ghovaraii received two new accusations in which she was accused of undermining the esteem of the holy act of judgment. Ms. Govaraii has announced that if they do not resolve the defects of the process of investigation of her case, she would complain to the parliamentary commission of the clause 90.

In Zanjan, the court dealt with accusations of Ahmad Hakimipour, the editor of Omid Zanjan in the presence of jury. At the end of the trial Hakimipour, that was the only trial held in the presence of jury in the last month, he said, he was quite content with the course of his trial and said such trials particularly when held under proper legal conditions in towns is a positive step toward the execution of civil law and development of civil behavior.

Mohamad Hossein Alipour, the editor of the banned weekly review, Aban, was also tried last month. At the end of his trial he announced that at the beginning there were only two complaints against Aban, but then in the course of investigation 37 additional complaints were added to his case. He has two weeks to prepare his defense.

In Boushehr, a court tried Yunes Ghimizadeh, the editor of the weekly review Breeze of the South, due the case raised by the Town House because of the publication of the article ‘those guilty of the crisis of sewage channels of the city’ in this review.

Finally the last guest of the ward reserved for the clergy, Hojatoleslam Ali Afsahi, the editor of the weekly review, Cinema Sport condemned to four month of imprisonment and prohibition to wear the religious robe by the special court of clergy, protested against his second penalty in a letter addressed to the parliamentary commission of the clause 90. He has asserted that such penalty is for those who publicly commit any form of fraud. Ali Afsahi who was active in holding conferences on the discussion on religion and cinema, was frequently criticized by different journals because of his problematic views. For the first two weeks of his imprisonment he was detained in the ward of ordinary prisoners and was then transferred to the ward 325 where he is apparently busy teaching English to Abdolah Nouri and Yusefi Eshkevari.

Abdolah Nouri can be perhaps regarded as the most quite political prisoner in recent months. He spends his time in an empty quite cell reading and exercising, and although he is allowed to use the phone, and last month he took a short leave of absence, but he avoids the press and strangers, while on the other side of the yard, in the ward 325, Ganji, Baghi, Shamsolvaezin not only never miss such opportunities, but they frequently send letters or messages to outside. For example, Shamsolvaezin who has been selected as the journalist of the year by Index de Censorship, an organization defending human rights, has asked his wife to keep the prize if non-monetary and in case there were any amount of money accompanying the prize, to donate it to charity organizations working for welfare of children.

The evacuation of the ward that until three weeks ago was the host of about 220 prisoners and now only four people, can be regarded as the readiness of the office of prisons to receive a higher number of pro-reformists and men of letters, but according to the wife of one of the prisoners, new prisoners are not sent to this ward, but they are taken to other prisons. This is when everybody insists to remain in or be transferred to the ward 325. The evacuation of this band has taken place at the price of the overcrowding of the other wards and according to Zeidabadi there are not enough beds for all the prisoners and so they are forced to sleep on the floors.

As the juridical power in general and the department responsible for the legal affairs of the state employees in particular, is becoming more active, all those parties that oppose the government of Mr. Khatami are now supporting this power more enthusiastically than before. The heads of this wing defended the judge and the verdicts issued for those who had participated in Berlin Conference as powerfully as they did when the verdicts of the case of chained assassinations, those responsible for Hajarian’s terror and finally those that attacked the students in the university campus were issued. On the other hand the reformists criticized the juridical power by their members and representatives in the parliament. Their most clamorous act was their second letter addressed to Mr. Shahroudi that led to serious reactions. Nabavi, ex-MP and the chief editor of Resalt newspaper said in a speech, ‘the parliament is now the place to defend a few tyrant criminals’ and his newspaper called this letter ‘coup d’etat against the juridical power and cooperation with foreigners.’

Karoubi, who was very angry for the fact that the scandal of the above letter had been extended to the public session of the parliament too, said, ‘we have poisoned the political air of the country, that is why some of the MPs sign something and then try to take it back’ referring to Kehyan’s doubt expressed in relation to whether there were really 150 signatures under the letter of protest of the MPs to Mr. Sharoudi or not. The letter was read in the public parliamentary session by Naiimipour and among other things there was this request from Mr. Shahroudi to compare the verdict of the case of university campus and Hajarian’s terror, with that of Berlin conference.’

The conflict between the two political wings is not limited to the courts and juridical power. It is also reflected in minor incidents, such as the arrest of those present in three parties held during Christmas time. After two days of propaganda and outrageous titles appearing on the first page of the anti-reformist newspapers, the event was all of a sudden hushed down. According to a widespread rumor, the owners of the houses where the parties were held were closely associated with a specific political wing. The guests belonged to wealthy families that when on the next day of the event, assembled in front of the court where their children were kept they indeed formed a large crowd. While driving their expensive cars and holding their mobile phones, they were all busy to find a solution and managed to release their relatives from the prison by paying large sums of money. Some of the guests were whipped as well.

Then there were a few days of silence, until some of the MPs requested to investigate the case further and a newspaper published in English reported the removal of the deputy of the commander of the military forces on the basis of the fact that he had done nothing to prevent these parties to take place although he had received the relevant information long before. Also the report of the head of the parliamentary commission of national security and foreign policy showed that responsible systems knew about the forthcoming parties at least a week before they were actually held and they knew very well that certain illegal acts were bound to happen. Simultaneously there appeared a report on the trade of prostitutes in a weekly review published by Deh Namaki (a very radical and active member of Hezbolah). So when the film taken from the different stages of the arrest of the guests was shown for the members of the parliamentary commission of national security a rumor spread that these parties were held as a part of the intrigue against Mr. Khatami, such as the one now known as the Carnival of Ashoura held at the time of his election.

-- Translated for payvand.com by Roya Monajem, royamonajem@yahoo.com