Security forces raid home of student activist- Abed Tavancheh

Student News

Agents of the Arak Prosecutor's Office entered the home of Abed Tavancheh, a former student activist, and threw out the residents intending to seal the house shut.

Abed Tavancheh is a former member of the Islamic Association of Amir Kabir University who was sentenced to one year of prison by the Revolutionary Court last December. But the Revolutionary Court refrained from giving him his written sentence and as a result, Tavancheh and his lawyer Naser Zarafshan did not sign the sentence which was orally announced to them. The judge presiding over the case then illegally sent this sentence to the Prison Sentence Implementation Department without first referring it to a court of review.

After this illegal measure, Dr. Zarafshan immediately filed a complaint against the judge but with pressure from the Arak Intelligence Agency, the Prosecutor's office considered the sentence confirmed and the agents of the Prison Sentence Implementation Department raided this student's home in an attempt to arrest him (even on the countdown to the New Iranian Year).

Finally, today, these agents came to his home, (the ownership document of his home had been pledged for Tavancheh's temporary release from prison) and gathered the home belongings to seal it shut. These agents temporarily ceased their action after they were met with resistance from the residents of the house but they threatened that they will seal the house as soon as possible because they had an evacuation warrant.

The Tavancheh family is currently in a poor mental state and security forces constantly call their home demanding that they hand over their son to security forces



Back ground ingterview of Zarafshan with Speigel


SPIEGEL: Your client Abed Tavancheh was supposed to have been arrested last Tuesday. What do the authorities in Iran accuse him of having done?

Naser Zarafshan: Abed Tavancheh fights for freedom of expression and democracy. He had already been arrested four times and sentenced to eight months' imprisonment. A part of the current allegations against him relate to these activities. The primary charge, though, has to do with an interview he did with SPIEGEL in September about the tense atmosphere in the universities. The state prosecutor says that by doing this he spread "propaganda against the holy order of the Islamic Republic" and that he "incited unrest."

SPIEGEL: How did the authorities become aware of the interview?
Zarafshan: Immediately after the publication of the interview, a "special report" was published in a large, extremely conservative daily newspaper. The report labeled SPIEGEL a "Zionist magazine" and Tavancheh was harshly attacked as a "US-oriented left winger." Subsequently the state prosecutor summoned him.

SPIEGEL: Did the case go to trial?

Zarafshan: The interrogation was followed by three hearings before a revolutionary tribunal. I was even not summoned to two of the hearings. One cannot hope for justice there. We cited the right to freedom of expression which is guaranteed in our constitution. Nevertheless the court considered the interview to be a "violation of national security." For this, Tavancheh got a new prison sentence of one year.
SPIEGEL: Did your client accept the verdict?

Zarafshan: No, we don't recognize this verdict, which wasn't even given to us in writing. Because my client assumed he would be arrested, he quickly left the courtroom.

SPIEGEL: Now the authorities are looking for Tavancheh. Does he now regret having given the interview?

Zarafshan: My client knew what he was getting into. He stands by every sentence.