Kouhyar Goodarzi: “I Won’t Be Released Anytime Soon.”

International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran

Quoting the General and Revolutionary Courts of Tehran, IRNA News Agency reported on Sunday that the case file of Kouhyar Goodarzi, member of the Committee of Human Rights Reporters has been submitted to the courts along with his indictment. Mina Jafari, Goodarzi’s lawyer told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran that she has not been able to have access to her client’s case information. She said that Goodarzi’s file was initially at the Evin prison court branch and she was not able to review it. In her later followups, however, it turned out that his case file had been sent to Branch 15 of the Islamic Revolutionary Court, presided by Judge Salavati, for trial scheduling.
Mina Jafari told the Campaign: “In my follow-ups so far, I went to the Computer Unit of the Revolutionary Courts where I was told to go to Branch 7 of Investigations. But Branch 7 of Investigations disavowed any knowledge of the case. In the end, I realized that my client’s case has been taken to Evin prison’s court branch. Considering the current circumstances, my client and I have been deprived of access to the file and the ability to review its contents. Such treatment highlights the denial of even the most fundamental elements of justice and the possibility of a fair trial.”
Kouhyar Goodarzi, a human rights activist, was transferred to ward 350 of Evin prison. Prison authorities did not allow him to visit with his mother on Thursday, 8 April 2010. His mother, Parvin Mokhtare, told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran that she went to Evin prison last Thursday to visit her son, but she was not permitted to see Goodarzi. Earlier, there were reports about the poor conditions of ward 350 due to congestion and lack of medical and hygienic care.
In his last telephone contact, Goodarzi said that he is being allowed to make more telephone calls. Previously, and during his more than 100 days’ detention, he was only allowed three telephone calls to his mother, one of which she was not home to receive.
Goodarzi’s transfer to ward 350 took place after being moved to six different cells in recent weeks. Parvin Mokhtare told the Campaign: “As soon as my son gets used to a new environment, they switch his cell. This treatment is a form of ‘torture.’” Also, according to Mokhtare, it is not clear where Goodarzi’s cellmate, Jafar Panahi, has been moved.
Despite the release of several political prisoners in the days leading up to Iranian New Year (21 March 2010), not only was Goodarzi not released, pressure on him seems to have increased. Goodarzi’s mother said that prison authorities refused to accept clothes and books for him even though most other prisoners are allowed to have these items.
Answering the question of whether Goodarzi might be released on bail soon, Parvin Mokhtare replied: “During his telephone call, Kouhyar said that even after his trial session he will not be released and that the probability of his release is very low.”In recent months and after the arrests of several Committee of Human Rights Reporters members, heavy charges such as moharebeh and relations with foreign organizations have been raised by case interrogators against prisoners. Mokhtare called these charges baseless and unfounded.
The human rights activist’s mother commented on her last visit with her son and how she was treated by Evin prison officers. “I asked the officer to return the visitation request form to me. I told him I collected them. He said that bad memories do not warrant a collection. I said but we collect bad memories, too. He replied by asking me whether I thought my son was a source of national pride for being in prison, making the forms worthy of a collection. I said yes, I think my son is a source of national pride.”
Kouhyar Goodarzi’s mother expressed concern about her son’s indeterminate state and said that he has not been interrogated in the past month and remains in detention without a trial date.
Background:
On Sunday, 20 December 2010, a bus with several social activists and families of political prisoners on board, heading for Ayatollah Montazeri’s funeral in Qom, was stopped at Enghelab Square by security forces. After 45 minutes of searching and confiscating identification cards and cellular phones of the passengers, Kouhyar Goodarzi, Shiva Nazar Ahari, Saeed Haeri, and Mahboubeh Abbasgholizadeh were arrested.
Last October, through pressure by security forces, Goodarzi, an aerospace student at Sharif Industrial University, was expelled. The journalist and human rights activist was formerly a member of the Sharif University Islamic Students Association, an editor for the Committee of Human Rights Reporters, a producer for Radio Zamaneh, a member of The Human Rights Committee of Advar-e Tahkim-e Vahdat Alumni Association (Office to Foster Unity), and a member of the Allameh Faction of the Association.