Refugee Iranian Photojournalist In Turkish Security Prison
Source: International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran
Hossein Salmanzadeh
The Turkish authorities arrested Hossein Salmanzadeh, an Iranian
photojournalist and a refugee in Turkey, on April 26 and have detained him
inside the Ankara Security Police Detention Center, Javad Moghimi Parsa told the
International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran. According to Javad Moghimi,
Salmanzadeh's close friend and former colleague, Salmanzadeh embarked on a dry
hunger strike for five days to protest his arrest and his detention inside the
Ankara Security Detention Center.
In a short phone conversation with Hossein Salmanzadeh inside the detention
center, he told the Campaign that he ended his hunger strike on Saturday, May 4.
Salmanzadeh told the Campaign that it is possible that his arrest could be
related to his absence in Nevshehir , the location where he was assigned for
residence as a refugee, and his presence in Ankara. According to Turkish laws,
any movement from an assigned location must only take place with permission.
Salmanzadeh said, however, the penalty for such violations is usually cash fines
and such a long detention for this violation is unprecedented. Hossein
Salmanzadeh told the Campaign that during the last year, he has been sent
messages from the Iranian government to return to Iran, and this matter has put
additional pressure on him. "On the first days of my arrest, there were a lot
more arrestees here who were all in this detention center for illegal presence
or entry into Turkey, but in one round, 60 Afghanis were deported, and at the
present, 27 individuals from different countries such as Chechnya, Afghanistan,
Bangladesh, and so on, are being held here, but, I am the only person here who
has a United Nations refugee acceptance letter, and I don't understand why they
are keeping me here," Salmanzadeh told the Campaign. In this regard, as a
UN-documented refugee, the detention of Hossein Salmanzadeh in a security prison
in Turkey seems to be a questionable act.
"I talked to Hossein Salmanzadeh today [Saturday, May 4]. Hossein wan not in
good shape at all. He was in a bad psychological state. He was on hunger strike
for five days, and has been kept among deportees and individuals who have
entered Turkey illegally for the seven to eight days he has been in prison. His
physical and mental strength had deteriorated and he was in a very bad state. A
mutual friend had gone to visit Hossein and gave me the telephone number of the
detention center, and I called him. Hossein's voice was trembling and he had no
strength to talk," Javad Moghimi Parsa told the Campaign.
Hossein Salmanzadeh, a Fars News Agency's photographer, exited Iran after his
name was revealed as the photographer who took pictures of the street protests
following the 2009 Iranian election and sent them to news agencies outside Iran.
He has been registered and accepted by the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugee Affairs, and is currently awaiting determination of his future country
of residence. Initially, Hossein Salmanzadeh's case was assigned to the United
States by the UN, but after several months of residence in the US, he returned
to Turkey for personal reasons and again presented himself to the UNHCR, and his
request for change of settlement country was accepted. Salmanzadeh is now
awaiting determination of his settlement country.
"I was in contact with Hossein a few days before his arrest," Delbar Tavakoli,
another one of Hossein Salmanzadeh's friends, told the International Campaign
for Human Rights in Iran. "He told me that the UN in Turkey had accepted his
case file, and that he was waiting to be assigned to a country. He said he had
spoken to the UN authorities several times over the past few months about this
matter and that he protested the tardiness in forwarding his case file to a
destination country," said Tavakoli. "Hossein told me several times that the
reason for his return to Turkey was the he was afflicted with depression in the
United States, which of course I could observe myself that he did not have a
balanced mental state. Hossein said that because he did not have a job and
because of the mental pressure, he returned to Turkey in the hopes that in
Europe he would live in a busier environment and that he would escape depression
and find employment there," Delbar Tavakoli told the Campaign.
... Payvand News - 05/06/13 ... --
