Stop rape and torture in Iran's prisons

international | gender and sexuality | press release Thursday August 27, 2009 18:16 by Mina Ahadi - Women's campaign against rape and torture in the Islamic Republic of Iran's prisons czanan88 at googlemail dot com 004917680027094

Demonstrators arrested in the recent uprisings, particularly those in Kahrizak Prison have been gang-raped and the prison guards have put them under medieval tortures. Many of the detainees, female or male, have died in rape rooms as a result of being repeatedly raped, due to rupture of uterus or rectum and intestinal bleeding. Still others, in or out of prison, are suffering from the resulting physical and psychological traumas of these acts of violence. We know that the torture and raping of prisoners are not confined to Kahrizak and to the recent events. Executions and murder of prisoners, rape and torture in the Islamic regime’s prisons are as old the regime itself.

The Islamic Republic is denying that rape is happening in its prisons because they fear facing the people in Iran and the public opinion in Western countries. The spread of the news of the rape and torture of the recent detainees has led to a wave of disgust and hatred against the Islamic regime in Iran and across the world. Exposure of and the fight against rape and torture in prisons are important tasks for the freedom demanding movement of the people of Iran.

In the prisons of the Islamic Republic many women have been raped and murdered and those who have survived are now suffering from severe physical and psychological injuries. Zahra Bani Yaghoub, Azar Al Cana'an and Roya Toloui are some of these people. But also detained young boys and adolescents have been raped by the Islamic regime of Iran. Students who were arrested for protesting have been raped, or sexually abused with objects such as bottles.

We condemn these crimes. We have to prevent such atrocities by widespread protests. In this revolutionary situation we should make sure that the victims of these medieval tortures are able to expose these crimes through their testimonies and indictments. We will publish the accounts and cases of these terrible crimes and submit them all to relevant international organisations, legal bodies and committees against torture. We will not allow this crime in Iran to be forgotten as it has happened in Yugoslavia, Vietnam, Bangladesh or Japan through the passing of time or for it to become a taboo to speak about.

The immediate demands of our campaign are as follows:

1. We demand that torture and rape by the Islamic Republic be condemned as crimes against humanity;

2. We demand that those responsible for and those carrying out the rape, torture, murder and violence in the prisons of the Islamic Republic in recent times and over the last thirty years be put on trial;

3. We demand that all the torturers, interrogators and rapists in the prisons of the Islamic Republic be publicly identified;

4. We demand the release of all political prisoners and the closing down of all public and secret prisons and detention centres;

5. We demand the medical treatment of all prisoners who have been victims of torture and rape, and the provision of the highest possible medical care and treatment facilities for their physical and psychological rehabilitation;

6. We demand the abolition of the death penalty and stoning and the revoking of the Islamic Republic's penal code and the punishments contained therein;

7. We demand the recognition of the right to life and citizens’ immunity against any physical or psychological abuse;

8. We demand a system of justice in which violation of the human body and mind, child abuse and violence against women is regarded as a more severe crime with more severe penalties than crimes against property and property rights.

Join our campaign! This campaign belongs to all freedom-demanding people regardless of border and gender distinctions. Help us to expose and follow up the recent crimes. We will be informing people in our subsequent announcements about planned demonstrations, meetings and campaign actions.

This statement is also available in :

Italian: http://rrinitalian.blogspot.com/2009/08/iran-blogging-i....html

French: http://rrinfrench.blogspot.com/2009/08/campagne-des-fem....html

Contact number and email:

004917680027094 czanan88@googlemail.com

Signatories to this appeal:

Mina Ahadi, Mersede Qaedi , Mehrnoush Mousavi, Maryam Namazie, Shahnaz Morattab, Farideh Arman , Mahin Alipour, Afsaneh Vahdat, Nazanin Boroumand, Nina Taban, Mahin Darvish Rohani, Maryam Sadeghi, Pouran Azimi, R*** B*******, Azar Mousavi, Fariba Karimi, Farideh Karimi, Khanom Karimzadeh, Shahla Khabbaz Zadeh, Parvin Mo'azi, Fahimeh Ghotbi, Soheila Kiani, Shamsi Zakeri, Kolsoum Khoshbakht, Zari Asli, Parvin Salimi, Farzaneh Derakhshan, Farnaz Qobadi, Fariba Abolhosseini, Hava Bazr Afkan, Golnaz Shahryari, Sima Aram, Nasrin Abdi, Mitra Kamdin, Sima Bahari, Giti Aqajani, Azadeh Aqajani, Parisa Salimi, Marjan Vaez, Azar Pouya, Roxana Bahreini, Farangis Shadravan, Farzaneh Shadravan, Manijeh Etmami, Andishe Alishahi, Soheila Khosravi, Anita Farzaneh, Dariush and Hana Afshar, Mehran Mahboubi, Mohammad Mousavi, Fariba Davoudpour, Najibeh Fatehi, Sattar Mohammadi, Sabri Amir Hosseini, Fatemeh Kalvani.