FCNN - 11-Apr-2009
Maryam and Marzieh are being held, along with 27 other women, in the 2nd wing of the notorious Evin prison’s detention center, and are in very distressed condition.
According to news received by the Farsi Christian News Network (FCNN) 2 newly converted women, 30 years old Marzieh Amirizadeh and 27 years old Maryam Rostam-pour, were arrested by plain clothes security officers on March 5th and after more than 35 days are still in custody at the notorious Evin prison officials.
The family and friends of these dear ones, on the occasion of the Persian New Year “No-Rooz”, approached the judiciary, security, and prison officials and requested the freedom of their loved ones. The officials involved, in search an excuse to reject such request, set the bail amount at 400 million toomans (equal to $400,000 USD).
The sister of Marzieh Amirizadeh in the company of a defense lawyer approached the government officials in order to post the bail money and seek the release of her sister, but her request was rejected by the prison officials stating that charges against Marzieh had not been determined and investigations were still ongoing. The same official stated that since the criminal file of the accused was still at the Islamic Revolutionary Court (located on Moalem Street) had not yet been received by the prison officials such bail request would be meaningless until all investigations were completed.
According to FCNN, the families of the accused, pursuant to their efforts to seek the release of their loved ones, contacted the office of Mr. Sharhoodi, the minister of Justice, and were told by his office that new information had been received in relation to these files and the set bail conditions of 400 million toomans would most likely be raised or altogether changed.
It must be mentioned that the security forces, upon the arrest of these loved ones, had transferred them to the Islamic Revolutionary Court’s second divisional detention center, located at the Vozara street, and had used excessive interrogation and psychological pressure such as prolonged sleep depravation to obtain necessary confessions and declare them, not as apostate Muslims, but “National Security Risks”.
The Christian Committee of the Association of Human Rights Activists of Iran considers actions such as continuation of detention without charge, vagueness of charges, lack of transparency in relation to these accused and their files, denying the family to visit the accused, and denying the accused of access to lawyers extremely worrisome and contrary to the 32nd principle of the Iranian constitution, which clearly explains the rights of the accused to the due process, including the access to a lawyer, clear explanation of charges, and a written copy of charges to be delivered to the accused and the retained lawyer within 24 hours from the time of such arrest. Our dear sisters have been denied such due process for the last 35 days and are still in detention center of the government without any charges brought against them.
This committee declares without any reservation, and based on this information, that the familiar sounding charges of “National Security Risk”, which is politically motivated, and the obtaining of any coerced confessions, to be totally false and without basis. The only reason these women are still in detention is only because they are believers in Jesus Christ and their arrest is religiously motivated.
In a report released by the Christian committee of the Association of Human Rights Activist in Iran, often such arrests, and specifically related to these women, the security apparatus used prolonged physical and psychological torture methods, coupled with prolonged solitary confinements, in order to obtain confessions from these newly converted Christian believers.
Even though according to the 23rd principle of the Iranian constitution spying on people’s beliefs and views are illegal and no one can be arrested for their personal beliefs and views, without any doubts these women have been arrested for adherence to Christian teachings.
The Iranian Christian communities, within and without Iran, along with pastors, ministers, and all ordinary members of Farsi speaking churches express their grave concerns over the detention of these 2 women and appeal to the officials of the government to clarify the cause of such arrests and detention and to expedite the immediate release of these women from custody.
Maryam and Marzieh are being held, along with 27 other women, in the 2nd wing of the notorious Evin prison’s detention center, and are in very distressed condition.
According to news received by the Farsi Christian News Network (FCNN) 2 newly converted women, 30 years old Marzieh Amirizadeh and 27 years old Maryam Rostam-pour, were arrested by plain clothes security officers on March 5th and after more than 35 days are still in custody at the notorious Evin prison officials.
The family and friends of these dear ones, on the occasion of the Persian New Year “No-Rooz”, approached the judiciary, security, and prison officials and requested the freedom of their loved ones. The officials involved, in search an excuse to reject such request, set the bail amount at 400 million toomans (equal to $400,000 USD).
The sister of Marzieh Amirizadeh in the company of a defense lawyer approached the government officials in order to post the bail money and seek the release of her sister, but her request was rejected by the prison officials stating that charges against Marzieh had not been determined and investigations were still ongoing. The same official stated that since the criminal file of the accused was still at the Islamic Revolutionary Court (located on Moalem Street) had not yet been received by the prison officials such bail request would be meaningless until all investigations were completed.
According to FCNN, the families of the accused, pursuant to their efforts to seek the release of their loved ones, contacted the office of Mr. Sharhoodi, the minister of Justice, and were told by his office that new information had been received in relation to these files and the set bail conditions of 400 million toomans would most likely be raised or altogether changed.
It must be mentioned that the security forces, upon the arrest of these loved ones, had transferred them to the Islamic Revolutionary Court’s second divisional detention center, located at the Vozara street, and had used excessive interrogation and psychological pressure such as prolonged sleep depravation to obtain necessary confessions and declare them, not as apostate Muslims, but “National Security Risks”.
The Christian Committee of the Association of Human Rights Activists of Iran considers actions such as continuation of detention without charge, vagueness of charges, lack of transparency in relation to these accused and their files, denying the family to visit the accused, and denying the accused of access to lawyers extremely worrisome and contrary to the 32nd principle of the Iranian constitution, which clearly explains the rights of the accused to the due process, including the access to a lawyer, clear explanation of charges, and a written copy of charges to be delivered to the accused and the retained lawyer within 24 hours from the time of such arrest. Our dear sisters have been denied such due process for the last 35 days and are still in detention center of the government without any charges brought against them.
This committee declares without any reservation, and based on this information, that the familiar sounding charges of “National Security Risk”, which is politically motivated, and the obtaining of any coerced confessions, to be totally false and without basis. The only reason these women are still in detention is only because they are believers in Jesus Christ and their arrest is religiously motivated.
In a report released by the Christian committee of the Association of Human Rights Activist in Iran, often such arrests, and specifically related to these women, the security apparatus used prolonged physical and psychological torture methods, coupled with prolonged solitary confinements, in order to obtain confessions from these newly converted Christian believers.
Even though according to the 23rd principle of the Iranian constitution spying on people’s beliefs and views are illegal and no one can be arrested for their personal beliefs and views, without any doubts these women have been arrested for adherence to Christian teachings.
The Iranian Christian communities, within and without Iran, along with pastors, ministers, and all ordinary members of Farsi speaking churches express their grave concerns over the detention of these 2 women and appeal to the officials of the government to clarify the cause of such arrests and detention and to expedite the immediate release of these women from custody.
0 responses to " "