2009 Iran poll protests trial
Encyclopedia
2009 Iran poll protests trial refers to a series of trials conducted after 2009 Iranian presidential election. Over 140 defendants, including prominent politicians, academics and writers, were put on trial for participating in the 2009 Iranian election protests
. The defendants were accused of orchestrating "colour revolution" in Iran, and “exposing cases of violations of human rights.” The trials were widely condemned by world leaders both in Iran and worldwide as a "Show trial
" with coerced confessions.
, former government spokesman Abdollah Ramezanzadeh
, former Deputy Speaker of the Parliament and Industry Minister Behzad Nabavi
, reformist lawmaker Ali Tajernia, Shahaboddin Tabatabaei, journalist Ahmad Zeidabadi
, and others. Other people put on trial include French Embassy employee, Nazak Afshar, nine British Embassy employees, including Hossein Rassam, Newsweek
correspondent Maziar Bahari
, and French academic Clotilde Reiss
. On August 16, 25 more defendants were added to the trial.
Throughout the trials, family members of the defendants and others gathered in front of the court to condemn the trial. Witnesses reported that riot police attacked the protesters outside the court. The wife of detained reformist lawmaker Ali Tajernia was arrested while outside the court.
On August 28, President Ahmadinejad called on judiciary officials to “decisively” and “mercilessly” prosecute those "who organized, incited and pursued the plans of the enemies," remarks called "clearly aimed at Mir Hussein Moussavi, Mehdi Karroubi
, Mohammad Khatami
, and Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.
In a press conference shown on state television several of the defendants - Abtahi, Kian Tajbakhsh, Maziar Bahari - made confessions and withdrew charges against the election results they had made earlier. Critics of the prosecution and the confessions by the accused, such as Pamela Kilpadi, say the confessions, "have been forced under duress from (people) being held in an undisclosed location without access to a lawyer, family, or friends, in violation of the human rights treaties to which Iran is supposedly a signatory," Prosecutors have warned against questioning the legitimacy of the trial, threatening to prosecute doubters. The prosecutor read an indictment on August 8, 2009, that accused United States and Britain of stoking the unrest in an attempt to create a "soft overthrow" of the Iranian government. Another detainee allegedly confessed to spying for the United Arab Emirates
Intelligence Ministry as well as the United States.
, the Prosecutor General of Tehran
, who has been called a "hardliner" for his role in the death of Iranian-Canadian photojournalist Zahra Kazemi
, and the shutting down of 60 pro-reform newspapers. The sentences for the charges range from a short imprisonment to capital punishment.
Saleh Nikbakht
, who represents some of the most prominent defendants, has complained of being sidelined from the trial. He told Radio Farda
The families of the detained have also complained about the lack of openness in the trial. According to the website Norooznews.ir in a letter to judiciary chief Sadegh Larijani they said
Two people were convicted for being members of a monarchist
group and a third was convicted for his alleged ties to a terrorist group and for links to the People's Mujahedin of Iran
. The other two were convicted of ties to armed opposition groups.
Iran's former vice president Mohammad Ali Abtahi
was sentenced to six years in prison for taking part in the protests.
Former Prime Minister and presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi has called the treatment of prisoners on trial "medieval torture". Former chairman of Iranian parliament Mehdi Karroubi
has stated that male and female prisoners have been raped in the prison and their genitals torn. In a letter to the head of Assembly of Experts
he asked the head of the assembly to investigate abuses. Amnesty International
's secretary general has also called for an investigation into allegations of torture and rape in detention. Iran's police chief, Gen. Ismail Ahmadi Moghaddam, acknowledged that the prisoners had been abused and raped.
Ali Larijani
, Iran's parliament speaker, has denied that prisoners were abused. In response to denials, several journalists and activists who were detained in the prisons, reported their own personal experience. On August 16, 2009, Fereshteh Ghazi
, in an article in Rooz, wrote about her time in prison, describing the torture and sexual violence in Iranian prisons.
Additionally, several of the prisoners died while in prison. Authorities claimed that they had "pre-existing conditions" that led to their deaths, however, examining of the bodies would show signs of torture and broken bones. At least three of the detained protesters have died while in prison at the Kahrizak detention center
. One prisoner, 24-year old Amir Javadifar was clubbed by so badly that he was taken to a hospital and treated before being taken to Evin Prison
. He would die while in prison and his father was later called to collect his corpse. Medical reports on his body would show that he had been beaten, had several broken bones and his toenails had been pulled out. Another detainee, Amir Hossein Tufanian, who was in the Kahrizak detention center died while there. After his death, police allegedly demanded that his family pay thousands of dollars for his body. When the family protested that they had no money, they were told they could have it for free if they did not discuss it to anyone. Examinations would show that he had been tortured and had two broken arms. The mysterious death of an Iranian prison doctor on November 10, 2009, continued to raise suspicions. The doctor, Dr. Ramin Pourandarjani
, was the only doctor serving at the Kahrizak detention center
. He came under scrutiny of the Iranian government when he refused to change the death certificate of Mohsen Rouhalamini
, a protester detained at Kahrizakt, to meningitis rather than from torture and beatings. Conflicting reports from Iranian authorities regarding Dr. Pourandarjani's death led to massive outcries from opposition leaders.
Many prisoners were raped while detained. In Tehran, at least 37 men and women claim to have been raped by their jailers. Doctors' reports say that two males, aged 17 and 22, died as a result of internal bleeding from being raped.
There is some question as to the effectiveness of the confessions to turn public opinion in Iran. One observer has stated that "so far," the trials "have failed to accrue" the "fearsome power" of the Moscow show trials
or earlier public confessions of Iranian secular leftists and MeK
guerrillas in 1982, due to broad public support for the prisoners' cause and the "subversive" power of parodies and criticism of the trials on the Internet.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called the trials a "sign of weakness" and that it shows Iran "is afraid of its own people" in an interview with CNN
. British Foreign Secretary David Miliband
condemned the trial and said that accusing British Embassy staff of stoking the unrest "only brings further discredit to the Iranian regime."
The Swedish Presidency of the European Union
expressed concern over the trial and demanded that the prisoners be released promptly, saying "The Presidency reiterates that actions against one EU country — citizen or embassy staff — is considered an action against all of EU, and will be treated accordingly."
On September 24, 2009, demonstrators from around the world gathered in New York City
to protest against Ahmadinejad's speech to world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly.
2009 Iranian election protests
Protests following the 2009 Iranian presidential election against the disputed victory of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and in support of opposition candidates Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi occurred in major cities in Iran and around the world starting June 13, 2009...
. The defendants were accused of orchestrating "colour revolution" in Iran, and “exposing cases of violations of human rights.” The trials were widely condemned by world leaders both in Iran and worldwide as a "Show trial
Show trial
The term show trial is a pejorative description of a type of highly public trial in which there is a strong connotation that the judicial authorities have already determined the guilt of the defendant. The actual trial has as its only goal to present the accusation and the verdict to the public as...
" with coerced confessions.
Accused
On August 1, 2009 110 people were put on trial, including prominent reformists, journalists and writers. Among them were former Vice president Mohammad Ali AbtahiMohammad Ali Abtahi
Hojjat ol-Eslam Seyyed Mohammad Ali Abtahi is an Iranian theologian, scholar, pro-democracy activist and chairman of the Institute for Interreligious Dialogue. He is a former Vice President of Iran and a close associate of former President Mohammad Khatami...
, former government spokesman Abdollah Ramezanzadeh
Abdollah Ramezanzadeh
Dr. Abdollah Ramezanzadeh , also spelled Ramazanzadeh, is an Iranian academic, writer and politician.He is the former spokesman and secretary of the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran during the presidency of Muhammad Khatami.Ramezanzadeh is an assistant professor in faculty of Law and...
, former Deputy Speaker of the Parliament and Industry Minister Behzad Nabavi
Behzad Nabavi
Behzad Nabavi is an Iranian politician. He served as Deputy Speaker of the Parliament of Iran and was one of the founders of the reformist party Mojahedin of the Islamic Revolution Organization...
, reformist lawmaker Ali Tajernia, Shahaboddin Tabatabaei, journalist Ahmad Zeidabadi
Ahmad Zeidabadi
Ahmad Zeidabadi is an Iranian journalist, academic, writer and political analyst and the secretary general of Office for Strengthening Unity. He is one of the notable figures of the Iranian reform movement....
, and others. Other people put on trial include French Embassy employee, Nazak Afshar, nine British Embassy employees, including Hossein Rassam, Newsweek
Newsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
correspondent Maziar Bahari
Maziar Bahari
Maziar Bahari Maziar Bahari Maziar Bahari (مازیار بهاری, (born 1967) is an Iranian Canadian journalist, film maker and human rights activist. He was a reporter for Newsweek from 1998 to 2011...
, and French academic Clotilde Reiss
Clotilde Reiss
Clotilde Reiss is a French student who was accused of being an agent of the French Secret Service. Her arrest in Iran on espionage charges on 1 July 2009 has generated considerable diplomatic controversy. She holds a master's degree from Sciences-Po Lille...
. On August 16, 25 more defendants were added to the trial.
Throughout the trials, family members of the defendants and others gathered in front of the court to condemn the trial. Witnesses reported that riot police attacked the protesters outside the court. The wife of detained reformist lawmaker Ali Tajernia was arrested while outside the court.
On August 28, President Ahmadinejad called on judiciary officials to “decisively” and “mercilessly” prosecute those "who organized, incited and pursued the plans of the enemies," remarks called "clearly aimed at Mir Hussein Moussavi, Mehdi Karroubi
Mehdi Karroubi
Mehdi Karroubi is an influential Iranian reformist politician, democracy activist, mojtahed, and chairman of the National Trust Party. He was Chairman of the parliament from 1989 to 1992 and 2000 to 2004, and a presidential candidate in the 2005 and 2009 presidential elections.He is a founding...
, Mohammad Khatami
Mohammad Khatami
Sayyid Mohammad Khātamī is an Iranian scholar, philosopher, Shiite theologian and Reformist politician. He served as the fifth President of Iran from August 2, 1997 to August 3, 2005. He also served as Iran's Minister of Culture in both the 1980s and 1990s...
, and Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.
Charges and confessions
The charges included "rioting", "vandalism" and "acting against national security", "disturbing public order," having ties with counter-revolutionary groups according to official sources.In a press conference shown on state television several of the defendants - Abtahi, Kian Tajbakhsh, Maziar Bahari - made confessions and withdrew charges against the election results they had made earlier. Critics of the prosecution and the confessions by the accused, such as Pamela Kilpadi, say the confessions, "have been forced under duress from (people) being held in an undisclosed location without access to a lawyer, family, or friends, in violation of the human rights treaties to which Iran is supposedly a signatory," Prosecutors have warned against questioning the legitimacy of the trial, threatening to prosecute doubters. The prosecutor read an indictment on August 8, 2009, that accused United States and Britain of stoking the unrest in an attempt to create a "soft overthrow" of the Iranian government. Another detainee allegedly confessed to spying for the United Arab Emirates
United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates, abbreviated as the UAE, or shortened to "the Emirates", is a state situated in the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia on the Persian Gulf, bordering Oman, and Saudi Arabia, and sharing sea borders with Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and Iran.The UAE is a...
Intelligence Ministry as well as the United States.
Prosecution
The prosecution is led by Saeed MortazaviSaeed Mortazavi
Saeed Murtazavi is a controversial Iranian jurist and former prosecutor of the Islamic Revolutionary Court, and Prosecutor General of Tehran, a position he has held from 2003 to 2009. He has been called as "butcher of the press" and "torturer of Tehran" by some observers...
, the Prosecutor General of Tehran
Tehran
Tehran , sometimes spelled Teheran, is the capital of Iran and Tehran Province. With an estimated population of 8,429,807; it is also Iran's largest urban area and city, one of the largest cities in Western Asia, and is the world's 19th largest city.In the 20th century, Tehran was subject to...
, who has been called a "hardliner" for his role in the death of Iranian-Canadian photojournalist Zahra Kazemi
Zahra Kazemi
Zahra "Ziba" Kazemi-Ahmadabadi was an Iranian-Canadian freelance photographer, residing in Montreal, Canada, who died in the custody of Iranian officials following her arrest....
, and the shutting down of 60 pro-reform newspapers. The sentences for the charges range from a short imprisonment to capital punishment.
Complaints about access and rights
According to journalist Borzou Daragahi, "only reporters with news organizations controlled by Ahmadinejad or his loyalists were granted access to the courtroom."Saleh Nikbakht
Saleh Nikbakht
Saleh Nikbakht is a prominent Iranian lawyer and academic. He is the spokesman for the Society of Political Prisoners in Iran....
, who represents some of the most prominent defendants, has complained of being sidelined from the trial. He told Radio Farda
Radio Farda
Radio Farda is the Iranian Branch of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's broadcast services. It broadcasts 24 hours a day in the Persian language from its headquarters Prague, Czech Republic. Radio Farda first aired December 2002. Radio Farda broadcasts political, cultural, social, and art news...
"I have repeatedly notified the judiciary that I have agreed to represent the defendants at their request, but I was never granted permission to see the detainees and I wasn't notified about today's trial. ... I first heard about the trial today at 11:30 a.m. on television. When I went there, the doors were closed and they did not let me in."
The families of the detained have also complained about the lack of openness in the trial. According to the website Norooznews.ir in a letter to judiciary chief Sadegh Larijani they said
"The lawyers are not even informed of where the hearings are held, nor have they studied the dossiers, ... We ask you, as Iran's top judge, to bring the ongoing judicial case back on the right track to keep the judiciary from losing more face."
Sentences
So far, five people have received death sentences for their parts in the protest.Two people were convicted for being members of a monarchist
Monarchy
A monarchy is a form of government in which the office of head of state is usually held until death or abdication and is often hereditary and includes a royal house. In some cases, the monarch is elected...
group and a third was convicted for his alleged ties to a terrorist group and for links to the People's Mujahedin of Iran
People's Mujahedin of Iran
The People's Mujahedin of Iran is a terrorist militant organization that advocates the overthrow of the Islamic Republic of Iran....
. The other two were convicted of ties to armed opposition groups.
Iran's former vice president Mohammad Ali Abtahi
Mohammad Ali Abtahi
Hojjat ol-Eslam Seyyed Mohammad Ali Abtahi is an Iranian theologian, scholar, pro-democracy activist and chairman of the Institute for Interreligious Dialogue. He is a former Vice President of Iran and a close associate of former President Mohammad Khatami...
was sentenced to six years in prison for taking part in the protests.
Prisoner abuse
Opposition leaders have claimed that the prisoners have been tortured and raped in prison. UN human rights experts, opposition leaders, and world leaders condemned the abuse, which has been compared to Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison.Former Prime Minister and presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi has called the treatment of prisoners on trial "medieval torture". Former chairman of Iranian parliament Mehdi Karroubi
Mehdi Karroubi
Mehdi Karroubi is an influential Iranian reformist politician, democracy activist, mojtahed, and chairman of the National Trust Party. He was Chairman of the parliament from 1989 to 1992 and 2000 to 2004, and a presidential candidate in the 2005 and 2009 presidential elections.He is a founding...
has stated that male and female prisoners have been raped in the prison and their genitals torn. In a letter to the head of Assembly of Experts
Assembly of Experts
The Assembly of Experts of Iran , also translated as Council of Experts, is a deliberative body of 86 Mujtahids that is charged with electing and removing the Supreme Leader of Iran and supervising his activities.Members of the assembly are elected from a government-screened list of candidates by...
he asked the head of the assembly to investigate abuses. Amnesty International
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
's secretary general has also called for an investigation into allegations of torture and rape in detention. Iran's police chief, Gen. Ismail Ahmadi Moghaddam, acknowledged that the prisoners had been abused and raped.
Ali Larijani
Ali Larijani
Ali Ardashir Larijani is an Iranian philosopher, politician and the chairman of the Iranian parliament. Larijani was the Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council from August 15, 2005 to October 20, 2007, appointed to the position by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad,replacing Hassan Rowhani...
, Iran's parliament speaker, has denied that prisoners were abused. In response to denials, several journalists and activists who were detained in the prisons, reported their own personal experience. On August 16, 2009, Fereshteh Ghazi
Fereshteh Ghazi
Fereshteh Ghazi is an Iranian journalist and human rights activist.In 2004 she worked for the newspaper Etemad. She is well known for the coverage of Zahra Kazemi's murder in Evin prison. She was herself arrested and imprisoned on two occasions in 2004 During her imprisonment she shared a cell...
, in an article in Rooz, wrote about her time in prison, describing the torture and sexual violence in Iranian prisons.
Additionally, several of the prisoners died while in prison. Authorities claimed that they had "pre-existing conditions" that led to their deaths, however, examining of the bodies would show signs of torture and broken bones. At least three of the detained protesters have died while in prison at the Kahrizak detention center
Kahrizak detention center
Kahrizak detention center is a detainment facility operated by the Judicial system of Iran in southern Tehran.-Before 2009 election protests:...
. One prisoner, 24-year old Amir Javadifar was clubbed by so badly that he was taken to a hospital and treated before being taken to Evin Prison
Evin Prison
Evin House of Detention is a prison in Iran, located in Evin, northwestern Tehran. It is noted for its political prisoners' wing, where prisoners have been held both before and after the 1979 Iranian Revolution...
. He would die while in prison and his father was later called to collect his corpse. Medical reports on his body would show that he had been beaten, had several broken bones and his toenails had been pulled out. Another detainee, Amir Hossein Tufanian, who was in the Kahrizak detention center died while there. After his death, police allegedly demanded that his family pay thousands of dollars for his body. When the family protested that they had no money, they were told they could have it for free if they did not discuss it to anyone. Examinations would show that he had been tortured and had two broken arms. The mysterious death of an Iranian prison doctor on November 10, 2009, continued to raise suspicions. The doctor, Dr. Ramin Pourandarjani
Ramin Pourandarjani
Dr. Ramin Pourandarjani was an Iranian physician who examined prisoners wounded and killed during the 2009 Iranian election protests...
, was the only doctor serving at the Kahrizak detention center
Kahrizak detention center
Kahrizak detention center is a detainment facility operated by the Judicial system of Iran in southern Tehran.-Before 2009 election protests:...
. He came under scrutiny of the Iranian government when he refused to change the death certificate of Mohsen Rouhalamini
Mohsen Rouhalamini
Mohsen Rouhalamini was a graduate student in the computer engineering department at the University of Tehran. He died in July, 2009 at the Kahrizak detention center following his arrest in connection with protests of the 2009 presidential election in Iran...
, a protester detained at Kahrizakt, to meningitis rather than from torture and beatings. Conflicting reports from Iranian authorities regarding Dr. Pourandarjani's death led to massive outcries from opposition leaders.
Many prisoners were raped while detained. In Tehran, at least 37 men and women claim to have been raped by their jailers. Doctors' reports say that two males, aged 17 and 22, died as a result of internal bleeding from being raped.
There is some question as to the effectiveness of the confessions to turn public opinion in Iran. One observer has stated that "so far," the trials "have failed to accrue" the "fearsome power" of the Moscow show trials
Moscow Trials
The Moscow Trials were a series of show trials conducted in the Soviet Union and orchestrated by Joseph Stalin during the Great Purge of the 1930s. The victims included most of the surviving Old Bolsheviks, as well as the leadership of the Soviet secret police...
or earlier public confessions of Iranian secular leftists and MeK
People's Mujahedin of Iran
The People's Mujahedin of Iran is a terrorist militant organization that advocates the overthrow of the Islamic Republic of Iran....
guerrillas in 1982, due to broad public support for the prisoners' cause and the "subversive" power of parodies and criticism of the trials on the Internet.
International response
Human rights activists and Iranian intellectuals wrote a letter to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navanethem Pillay calling the trials "crimes against humanity."U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called the trials a "sign of weakness" and that it shows Iran "is afraid of its own people" in an interview with CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
. British Foreign Secretary David Miliband
David Miliband
David Wright Miliband is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for South Shields since 2001, and was the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs from 2007 to 2010. He is the elder son of the late Marxist theorist Ralph Miliband...
condemned the trial and said that accusing British Embassy staff of stoking the unrest "only brings further discredit to the Iranian regime."
The Swedish Presidency of the European Union
Presidency of the Council of the European Union
The Presidency of the Council of the European Union is the responsibility for the functioning of the Council of the European Union that rotates between the member states of the European Union every six months. The presidency is not a single president but rather the task is undertaken by a national...
expressed concern over the trial and demanded that the prisoners be released promptly, saying "The Presidency reiterates that actions against one EU country — citizen or embassy staff — is considered an action against all of EU, and will be treated accordingly."
On September 24, 2009, demonstrators from around the world gathered in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
to protest against Ahmadinejad's speech to world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly.
Further reading
- Yahya R. Kamalipour, ed. Media, Power, and Politics in the Digital Age: The 2009 Presidential Election Uprising in Iran (Rowman & Littlefield; 2010) 314 pages