Source:
International Campaign for Human Rights
in Iran
Free the Mourning Mothers and Account for
their Grievances
Security forces attacked and detained 30
members of Mourning Mothers in Laleh Park and surrounding streets in Tehran
around 4 p.m. local time on Saturday, the International Campaign for Human
Rights in Iran reported. Mourning Mothers is a group of mothers whose children
have been killed in recent events.
Gathering of grieving mothers in Laleh Park in Tehran (file photo)
More than a hundred police and plain clothes
agents attacked today's gathering and transferred the detainees to the Vozara
Detention Center in Tehran."No
culture permits such violence to be unleashed against mothers. How can this
government, which claims to have moral and religious authority, treat mothers
who have lost their children in such a way? The Iranian officials should know
that the activities of Mourning Mothers will not stop until their legitimate
grievances are properly addressed," said Hadi Ghaemi, the Campaign's
spokesperson.
An eyewitness, in an exclusive interview with the
Campaign, described today's event as the following:
"I was in Laleh Park today around 4 p.m. More than a hundred police and plain
clothes agents had occupied the park and its perimeter. They would not allow
anyone to even sit on the benches or congregate. Every Saturday, the Mourning
Mothers and their supporters gather in the Park. Today after about 70 mothers
had entered the park, security forces engaged them and started chasing them,
grabbing them, and forcing them into police vans. They used a lot of violence
and insults in the process. One of the mothers who is 75 years old has been
taken to a hospital."
Neda Agha-Soltan's mother
After the killing of Neda Agha Soltan and Sohrab
Aarabi by government forces during the summer protests, Mourning Mothers was
formed by women whose children have been killed recently and their supporters.
Many civil society activists as well as mothers whose children had been executed
in previous years, as well as mothers whose children have been arbitrarily
detained or disappeared at the hands of the security and intelligence forces
have joined the group. The group's principle demand is for the authorities to be
accountable for the deaths, disappearances, and detentions of their children.
Parvin Fahimi with her son Sohrab Arabi
The eyewitness told the Campaign that: "After the
detentions of the Mothers, their families and other members of the group went to
the Vozara Detention Center and forced the officials there to confirm and
provide them the names of the detainees. The officials announced 30 names to
them. Tomorrow, family members and their supporters will go back to demand their
release from the judge in charge.
The Campaign called on the judicial authorities
to immediately and unconditionally release all the detainees and to identify and
prosecute all of the agents responsible for the attack and detention of the
Mourning Mothers.
