Free 'Mourning Mothers' Supporters

GVF -- Human Rights Watch has said that the “Iranian Judiciary should immediately release six women arrested in January and early February 2010,” who it says were arrested “in connection with their peaceful activities on behalf of the Mourning Mothers.”

As the report published on 5 March states, “Mourning Mothers is a civil society group established in June 2009 by mothers whose children lost their lives in state-sanctioned violence following Iran's disputed June 12 election.”

"Supporters of the Mourning Mothers, like other Iranian civil society activists, are apparently being locked up for their public show of solidarity on behalf of the group," said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. "These women have now spent weeks in detention without being allowed to see their families or having access to their lawyers."

HRW adds that the “Intelligence Ministry agents arrested five supporters of the group in their homes during the evening or early morning hours of February 6 and 8. Those detained are Omolbanin Ebrahimi, Elham Ahsani, Jila Karamzadeh-Makvandi, Fatemeh Rastegari, and Leila Seifollahi.”

“A sixth supporter, Farzaneh Zeinali, was among 32 Mourning Mothers supporters arrested on January 9, when they attempted to gather in Laleh Park, where the group held its peaceful vigils. Authorities gradually released 31 of them over the following few days, but Zeinali remains in detention nearly two months later,” HRW states.

According to Mourning Mothers, until February 21 six supporters were in ward 209 of Evin Prison, which is administered by the Intelligence Ministry.

“The families of these women gather in front of Evin Prison every night from about 8 to 11 p.m., along with many other families whose loved ones have been imprisoned in Evin during the past eight months.”

Several of the families of the six arrested women were able to contact their loved ones by phone. One family member told Human Rights Watch that the phone conversations are very short and strictly monitored by guards. "She only said, 'I am well, don't be worried,'" this person said. "The conversation usually takes 1 to 2 minutes ... sometimes I ask her questions, and she simply answers yes or no."

The report by HRW states that families are often forced to go back and forth between Evin Prison and Revolutionary Court branch offices in search of any information regarding their loved ones. One family member indicated that prison authorities have prevented lawyers hired by the families from visiting the women for the purpose of signing retainer letters.

In the end, HRW points out that according to article 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Iran is a party, arbitrary detention is prohibited and states that anyone arrested should be informed, at the time of their arrest, of the reasons for their detention, should be "promptly" informed of any criminal charges, and should be "brought promptly" before a judge to review their detention. Articles which the authorities currently have total disregard for.