Latest news with #politicalprisoners
Irish Times
39 minutes ago
- Politics
- Irish Times
Growing concern about fate of Iranian political prisoners during conflict with Israel
A Dublin-based Iranian woman has called for increased attention to be focused on Iran 's political prisoners, after her brother was removed from the area of the Tehran prison where he was being held and taken to an unknown location. Aida Younesi (31), a software engineer, said her brother Ali (25), was taken from the infamous Evin Prison on Wednesday by men who reportedly said they were bringing him for questioning. Since then, her family has no idea of his whereabouts. Ali Younesi was a university student when he and his friend, Amirhossein Moradi, were arrested in 2020. They were sentenced to 16 years in prison in 2022 for charges that Amnesty International listed as 'gathering and colluding to commit crimes against national security', 'spreading propaganda against the system' and 'destruction of public property', as well as their families' 'real or perceived ties' to the People's Mojahedin Organisation of Iran (PMOI), an opposition group based outside Iran. Amnesty International has said trials in Iran are 'systematically unfair, resulting in arbitrary detentions. Due process violations included denial of the right to a lawyer from the time of arrest, admission of torture-tainted 'confessions' as evidence and summary trials.' READ MORE Aida said she believed that Ali was involved in peaceful student protests – which broke out after Iranian authorities admitted that Iran's Revolutionary Guards fired missiles at a Ukraine International Airlines passenger plane, killing 176 people – and was arrested to be made an 'example' of. Ali was a gold medal recipient in both Iran's National Astronomy Olympiad in 2017 and the International Astronomy and Astrophysics Olympiad held in China in 2018. Amnesty International said Ali and Moradi were beaten by ministry of intelligence agents and held in prolonged solitary confinement in harsh conditions to extract forced confessions. The human rights organisation has called Ali a 'prisoner of conscience'. Ali Younesi and his father, Mir-Yousef Younesi's father, Mir-Yousef, was later arrested in 2022 – she believes this was to put pressure on Ali and the rest of the family not to be vocal. Mir-Yousef (71) remains in Evin prison, to the family's knowledge. Younesi said he is suffering from various health problems, including diabetes, and that he lost hearing in one ear after he was imprisoned. She became emotional as she described her father. 'I might be biased but I think he's the kindest, best dad I could have got. You can imagine growing up in Iran ... as a woman it has complications, but when I had my dad as my supporter in every matter it felt really good, it felt safe. He's really kind, he's reliable ... He has a big heart.' She said Ali was constantly curious, with 'a good reputation for nice humour and a smiley, kind face.' Israel has been bombarding Iran for a week , with Iran retaliating using drones and ballistic missiles. On Monday, US president Donald Trump urged people in Tehran – a city of 10 million people – to evacuate. But prisoners have no way of doing that, Younesi said. 'As far as I know ... there is no shelter ... I want my dad, my brother and all political prisoners to be free. I wanted it every day. But nowadays, I want it even more ... seeing the danger that they are in.' There are no official numbers stating how many political prisoners Iran holds, though they are believed to include about 20 European nationals: foreign and dual nationals can be held by the Iranian regime as bargaining chips, rights groups say. Many political prisoners were arrested during and following the 2022 Woman, Life, Freedom protests that emerged after the death in police custody of Mahsa Amini , who was arrested for allegedly violating a headscarf law. In 2023 Iranian human-rights activist Narges Mohammadi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize while locked up in Evin Prison. She was released on medical grounds at the end of last year. 'The Middle East is in fire and blood. [Iranian supreme leader] Ali Khamenei took us to hell promising us heaven. [Israeli prime minister Binyamin] Netanyahu is doing the same – promising freedom and democracy, delivering destruction,' she said this week. On Thursday the New York-based Centre for Human Rights in Iran said 'there is growing fear that Iranian authorities may use the cover of war to carry out ... executions [of political prisoners], using them as tools of reprisal and intimidation to further silence dissent and instil fear across the population.' A report by the UN's Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, Nada Al-Nashif, found that at least 975 people were executed in Iran last year, including about 31 women and one child. In a statement , the Dublin-based organisation Front Line Defenders said that the day after Israel attacked Iran , a female human rights defender, Motahareh Gounei, was arrested in Tehran following a social-media post in which she criticised the Iranian leadership. 'As the war escalates and international actors remain silent, detained human rights defenders are at high risk,' the organisation said. Since June 13th, it said those in Evin Prison had reported limited access to calls and had 'expressed the feeling of being held in limbo while exposed to air strikes, fearing for their families and having their lives in the hands of warmongers, who have no respect for human life and rights.' It called for the immediate release of human rights defenders, naming 15, including Golrokh Iranee, Nasrin Javadi, Reza Khandan and Zia Nabavi. For Younesi, attention on this issue is urgent, particularly during a war. 'Any political, any human-rights organisation should increase their voice and their concern about political prisoners in Iran,' she said. 'Iran's regime has a really bad history of tightening control and using more force when international attention shifts away from human rights.'
Yahoo
a day ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
'Terrified': Supporters fear for prisoners trapped in Iran
As Israel presses its aerial attacks on Tehran, concern is growing over the fate of foreign nationals and Iranians seen by rights groups as political prisoners imprisoned in the capital who have no chance of fleeing to safety. Iran is believed to hold around 20 European nationals, many of whose cases have never been published, in what some Western governments describe as a strategy of hostage-taking aimed at extracting concessions from the West. Rights groups also accuse Iran of holding dozens of political prisoners whose sole offence has been to criticise the Islamic republic's clerical leadership. Most are held in Evin prison, a large, heavily fortified complex notorious among activists for rights abuses that is located in a northern district of the Iranian capital. The prisoners have no means to respond to US President Donald Trump's warning that "everyone should immediately evacuate Tehran!" For Noemie Kohler, the sister of French national Cecile Kohler, who has been held along with her partner Jacques Paris since May 2022 on espionage charges their families reject, the wait is agonising. "Since May 30, we've had no news, no sign of life from Jacques and Cecile, and the French authorities haven't been able to obtain any information either," Noemie Kohler told AFP, referring to the date of their last consular visit. "We saw that at least two strikes took place about two kilometres from where they are being held (in Evin prison), so it's extremely close. We suspect they must have heard the explosions, but we have no idea how they are doing, we have no idea what level of information they have access to." - 'Imminent danger' - Their last phone contact was on May 28, when Cecile Kohler's parents spoke to her, she said, describing the mood even then as "desperate", as they "no longer believe that they are going to be released". "We don't know if conditions in the prison have deteriorated in connection with the situation. We're completely in the dark, and we're truly terrified," she said. She called for the couple's "humanitarian exfiltration", warning that "they are in imminent danger of death". French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said in May that 20 Europeans -- a higher number than the total of publicised cases -- are held in similar circumstances in Iran, including "teachers, academics, journalists, tourists". He told parliament on Wednesday that France sent messages to the Iranian and Israeli authorities "alerting them to the presence of our two compatriots in Evin prison and to the need, as far as the Iranian authorities are concerned, to release them without delay to ensure their safety". Among other Europeans known to be held in Iran is Iranian-Swedish academic Ahmadreza Djalali, who was arrested during a visit in April 2016 and sentenced to death in 2017 on charges of spying for Israel, which his family says are false. The current conflict, which has already seen one man, Esmail Fekri, executed on Monday on charges of spying for Israel, has made Djalali's situation especially precarious. Norway-based group Iran Human Rights has warned the lives of Djalali and eight other men convicted on similar charges are at risk. "The risk of execution of these individuals is serious," said its director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, adding they had all been sentenced after "an unfair, non-transparent process, and based on the orders of security institutions". - 'My dad is in prison' - Tehran residents have fled the city en masse. The 2023 Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi, who was serving a prison sentence but was released from Evin last year on medical leave, said she had left Tehran. But Mohammadi's fellow rights activist Reza Khandan, the husband of prize-winning rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh, is still jailed in Evin. Khandan, who long campaigned for his wife while she was in jail, was himself arrested in December 2024. "My dad is in prison. Can you tell me, how can my father evacuate Tehran?" their daughter Mehraveh Khandan said in a tearful message on Instagram. The New York-based Center for Human Rights in Iran urged "all parties to fully comply with international humanitarian law and take immediate steps to safeguard civilians, including those in custody". It published a letter by legal activist Mahvash Seydal, seen as a political prisoner by rights groups, calling on authorities to grant detainees such as herself temporary release "to protect the lives and dignity of political prisoners". pau-sjw/ah/jhb
Associated Press
2 days ago
- Politics
- Associated Press
Religious leaders released from Nicaraguan prison say their experience only strengthens their faith
God's message didn't immediately make sense to pastor José Luis Orozco. But when U.S. efforts resulted in his release from a Nicaraguan prison a few months later, everything became clear. 'The Lord had told me: 'Don't be afraid, José Luis. A wind will blow from the north, your chains will break and the doors will open,'' the pastor said from his new home in Austin, Texas. By September 2024, he had spent nine months behind bars. With 12 other Nicaraguan members of the Texas-based evangelical Christian organization Mountain Gateway, he faced charges like money laundering and illicit enrichment. Just like them, other faith leaders had been imprisoned during a crackdown that organizations, such as Human Rights Watch, have said are attacks on religious freedom. Orozco thought his innocence would eventually surface. So when the U.S. government announced that it had secured his release along with other political prisoners, he wasn't completely surprised. 'That's when I understood,' the pastor said. 'God was telling me he would act through the United States.' In the hours following the announcement, 135 Nicaraguans were escorted to Guatemala, where most sought paths to settle in other countries. Why did Nicaragua imprison religious leaders? Tensions between President Daniel Ortega and Nicaraguan faith leaders began in 2018, when a social security reform sparked massive protests that were met with a crackdown. Relations worsened as religious figures rejected political decisions harming Nicaraguans and Ortega moved aggressively to silence his critics. Members of Catholic and Evangelical churches have denounced surveillance and harassment from the government. Processions aren't allowed and investigations have been launched into both pastors and priests. CSW, a British-based group that advocates for religious freedom, documented 222 cases affecting Nicaraguans in 2024. 'Religious persecution in Nicaragua is the cruelest Latin America has seen in years,' said Martha Patricia Molina, a Nicaraguan lawyer who keeps a record of religious freedom violations. 'But the church has always accomplished its mission of protecting human life.' Spreading the gospel Orozco was the first member of his family to become evangelical. He felt called to the ministry at age 13 and convinced relatives to follow in his footsteps. He began preaching in Managua, urging different churches to unite. His experience became key for Mountain Gateway's missionary work. Founded by American pastor Jon Britton Hancock, it began operating in Nicaragua in 2013. CSW had warned that religious leaders defending human rights or speaking critically of the government can face violence and arbitrary detention. But Hancock and Orozco said their church never engaged in political discourse. While maintaining good relations with officials, Mountain Gateway developed fair-trade coffee practices and offered disaster relief to families affected by hurricanes. By the time Orozco was arrested, his church had hosted mass evangelism campaigns in eight Nicaraguan cities, including Managua, where 230,000 people gathered with the government's approval in November 2023. An unexpected imprisonment Orozco and 12 other members of Mountain Gateway were arrested the next month. 'They chained us hand and foot as if we were high-risk inmates,' he recalled. 'None of us heard from our families for nine months.' The prison where he was taken hosted around 7,000 inmates, but the cells where the pastors were held were isolated from the others. The charges they faced weren't clarified until their trial began three months later. No information was provided to their relatives, who desperately visited police stations and prisons asking about their whereabouts. 'We still had faith this was all a confusion and everything would come to light,' Orozco said. 'But they sentenced us to the maximum penalty of 12 years and were ordered to pay $84 million without a right to appeal.' Preaching in prison Fasting and prayer helped him endure prison conditions. Pastors weren't given drinking water or Bibles, but his faith kept him strong. 'The greatest war I've fought in my Christian life was the mental battle I led in that place,' Orozco recalled. Guards didn't prevent pastors from preaching, so they ministered to each other. According to the pastor, they were mocked, but when they were released, a lesson came through. 'That helped them see that God performed miracles,' he said. 'We always told them: Someday we'll leave this place.' Molina said that several faith leaders who fled Nicaragua have encountered barriers imposed by countries unprepared to address their situation. According to the testimonies she gathered, priests have struggled to relocate and minister, because passports are impossible to obtain, and foreign parishes require documents that they can't request. But Orozco fared differently. He shares his testimony during the services he leads in Texas, where he tries to rebuild his life. 'I arrived in the United States just like God told me,' the pastor said. 'So I always tell people: 'If God could perform such a miracle for me, he could do it for you too.'' Laymen were targets too Onboard the plane taking Orozco to Guatemala was Francisco Arteaga, a Catholic layman imprisoned in June 2024 for voicing his concerns over Ortega's restrictions on religious freedom. 'After 2018, when the protests erupted, I started denouncing the abuses occurring at the churches,' Arteaga said. 'For example, police sieges on the parks in front of the parishes.' Initially, he relied on Facebook posts, but later he joined a network of Nicaraguans who documented violations of religious freedom throughout the country. 'We did not limit ourselves to a single religious aspect,' said Arteaga, whose personal devices were hacked and monitored by the government. 'We documented the prohibitions imposed on processions, the fees charged at church entrances and restrictions required inside the sanctuaries.' Arteaga witnessed how police officers detained parishioners praying for causes that were regarded as criticism against Ortega. According to CSW, the government monitors religious activities, putting pressure on leaders to practice self-censorship. 'Preaching about unity or justice or praying for the general situation in the country can be considered criticism of the government and treated as a crime,' said CSW's latest report. Building a new life Prison guards also denied a Bible to Arteaga, but an inmate lent him his. It was hard for him to go through the Scripture, given that his glasses were taken away after his arrest, but he managed to read it back-to-back twice. 'I don't even know how God granted me the vision to read it,' said Arteaga, who couldn't access his diabetes medicine during his imprisonment. 'That gave me strength.' He eventually reunited with his wife and children in Guatemala, where he spent months looking for a new home to resettle. He recently arrived in Bilbao, Spain, and though he misses his country, his time in prison shaped his understanding of life. 'I've taken on the task, as I promised God in prison, of writing a book about faith,' Arteaga said. 'The title will be: 'Faith is not only believing.'' ____ Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP's collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
The Independent
2 days ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Religious leaders released from Nicaraguan prison say their experience only strengthens their faith
God's message didn't immediately make sense to pastor José Luis Orozco. But when U.S. efforts resulted in his release from a Nicaraguan prison a few months later, everything became clear. 'The Lord had told me: 'Don't be afraid, José Luis. A wind will blow from the north, your chains will break and the doors will open,'' the pastor said from his new home in Austin, Texas. By September 2024, he had spent nine months behind bars. With 12 other Nicaraguan members of the Texas-based evangelical Christian organization Mountain Gateway, he faced charges like money laundering and illicit enrichment. Just like them, other faith leaders had been imprisoned during a crackdown that organizations, such as Human Rights Watch, have said are attacks on religious freedom. Orozco thought his innocence would eventually surface. So when the U.S. government announced that it had secured his release along with other political prisoners, he wasn't completely surprised. 'That's when I understood,' the pastor said. ' God was telling me he would act through the United States.' In the hours following the announcement, 135 Nicaraguans were escorted to Guatemala, where most sought paths to settle in other countries. Why did Nicaragua imprison religious leaders? Tensions between President Daniel Ortega and Nicaraguan faith leaders began in 2018, when a social security reform sparked massive protests that were met with a crackdown. Relations worsened as religious figures rejected political decisions harming Nicaraguans and Ortega moved aggressively to silence his critics. Members of Catholic and Evangelical churches have denounced surveillance and harassment from the government. Processions aren't allowed and investigations have been launched into both pastors and priests. CSW, a British-based group that advocates for religious freedom, documented 222 cases affecting Nicaraguans in 2024. 'Religious persecution in Nicaragua is the cruelest Latin America has seen in years,' said Martha Patricia Molina, a Nicaraguan lawyer who keeps a record of religious freedom violations. 'But the church has always accomplished its mission of protecting human life.' Spreading the gospel Orozco was the first member of his family to become evangelical. He felt called to the ministry at age 13 and convinced relatives to follow in his footsteps. He began preaching in Managua, urging different churches to unite. His experience became key for Mountain Gateway's missionary work. Founded by American pastor Jon Britton Hancock, it began operating in Nicaragua in 2013. CSW had warned that religious leaders defending human rights or speaking critically of the government can face violence and arbitrary detention. But Hancock and Orozco said their church never engaged in political discourse. While maintaining good relations with officials, Mountain Gateway developed fair-trade coffee practices and offered disaster relief to families affected by hurricanes. By the time Orozco was arrested, his church had hosted mass evangelism campaigns in eight Nicaraguan cities, including Managua, where 230,000 people gathered with the government's approval in November 2023. An unexpected imprisonment Orozco and 12 other members of Mountain Gateway were arrested the next month. 'They chained us hand and foot as if we were high-risk inmates,' he recalled. 'None of us heard from our families for nine months.' The prison where he was taken hosted around 7,000 inmates, but the cells where the pastors were held were isolated from the others. The charges they faced weren't clarified until their trial began three months later. No information was provided to their relatives, who desperately visited police stations and prisons asking about their whereabouts. 'We still had faith this was all a confusion and everything would come to light,' Orozco said. 'But they sentenced us to the maximum penalty of 12 years and were ordered to pay $84 million without a right to appeal.' Preaching in prison Fasting and prayer helped him endure prison conditions. Pastors weren't given drinking water or Bibles, but his faith kept him strong. 'The greatest war I've fought in my Christian life was the mental battle I led in that place,' Orozco recalled. Guards didn't prevent pastors from preaching, so they ministered to each other. According to the pastor, they were mocked, but when they were released, a lesson came through. 'That helped them see that God performed miracles,' he said. 'We always told them: Someday we'll leave this place.' Molina said that several faith leaders who fled Nicaragua have encountered barriers imposed by countries unprepared to address their situation. According to the testimonies she gathered, priests have struggled to relocate and minister, because passports are impossible to obtain, and foreign parishes require documents that they can't request. But Orozco fared differently. He shares his testimony during the services he leads in Texas, where he tries to rebuild his life. 'I arrived in the United States just like God told me,' the pastor said. 'So I always tell people: 'If God could perform such a miracle for me, he could do it for you too.'' Laymen were targets too Onboard the plane taking Orozco to Guatemala was Francisco Arteaga, a Catholic layman imprisoned in June 2024 for voicing his concerns over Ortega's restrictions on religious freedom. 'After 2018, when the protests erupted, I started denouncing the abuses occurring at the churches,' Arteaga said. 'For example, police sieges on the parks in front of the parishes.' Initially, he relied on Facebook posts, but later he joined a network of Nicaraguans who documented violations of religious freedom throughout the country. 'We did not limit ourselves to a single religious aspect,' said Arteaga, whose personal devices were hacked and monitored by the government. 'We documented the prohibitions imposed on processions, the fees charged at church entrances and restrictions required inside the sanctuaries.' Arteaga witnessed how police officers detained parishioners praying for causes that were regarded as criticism against Ortega. According to CSW, the government monitors religious activities, putting pressure on leaders to practice self-censorship. 'Preaching about unity or justice or praying for the general situation in the country can be considered criticism of the government and treated as a crime,' said CSW's latest report. Building a new life Prison guards also denied a Bible to Arteaga, but an inmate lent him his. It was hard for him to go through the Scripture, given that his glasses were taken away after his arrest, but he managed to read it back-to-back twice. 'I don't even know how God granted me the vision to read it,' said Arteaga, who couldn't access his diabetes medicine during his imprisonment. 'That gave me strength.' He eventually reunited with his wife and children in Guatemala, where he spent months looking for a new home to resettle. He recently arrived in Bilbao, Spain, and though he misses his country, his time in prison shaped his understanding of life. 'I've taken on the task, as I promised God in prison, of writing a book about faith,' Arteaga said. 'The title will be: 'Faith is not only believing.'' ____ Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP's collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
The Independent
2 days ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Leaked prison logs offer rare glimpse into Aung San Suu Kyi's life in Myanmar prison
Leaked prison logs from early 2024 have provided rare insight into the tightly controlled life of Aung San Suu Kyi, the ousted Myanmar leader spending her fourth year in solitary confinement ahead of her 80th birthday, according to a new report. The logs, from a specially built detention facility in the capital Naypyidaw, offer a glimpse into her daily routine, eating habits and health condition as she remains isolated from the outside world under the military government. Since the military overthrew Ms Suu Kyi's elected government in a 2021 coup, little information has emerged about her condition as the junta continues to strictly control the flow of news from the country. Ms Suu Kyi was detained along with dozens of elected leaders and activists and later handed a combined 27-year prison sentence on multiple criminal charges widely condemned as politically motivated. Now, prison logs covering select days in January and February 2024 show that Ms Suu Kyi wakes up at 4.30am and ends her day at around 8.30pm. Her daily routine includes over an hour of meditation, prayer using Buddhist beads and three modest meals. The logs, along with rare footage of her appearing in a court in 2022, were shared with The Guardian by People's Embrace, a group of military defectors from Myanmar. One entry states that Ms Suu Kyi ate two half-fried eggs for breakfast. Her lunch – the heaviest meal of the day – consisted of 'two spoons of rice, chicken, fish ball soup, two pieces of chocolate, and a piece of dragon fruit'. Dinner included soup and bread. She walks around her room for evening exercise and spends several hours reading, mostly English and French novels arranged by her legal team. The records heighten concern over the ousted leader's wellbeing as she's reportedly receiving just basic, symptom-focused medical care. One day, the logs note, the room temperature reached 31C, sparking fears about dehydration and heatstroke. A prison source unaffiliated with People's Embrace who saw Ms Suu Kyi in early 2024 noted a subtle but symbolic change in her way of living. The source said she had stopped wearing flowers in her hair – partly because she no longer wanted to. A video of her appearing in a courtroom shows Ms Suu Kyi sitting with former president Win Myint. They are wearing white face masks, and Ms Suu Kyi is clad in a white shirt and black pants as she briefly stands, clutching a file in her hands. Ahead of her 80th birthday on 19 June, her son Kim Aris, who lives in London, has launched a bid to collect a world-record 80,000 messages for her. As well as asking people around the world to upload voice or video messages for Ms Suu Kyi's birthday, Mr Aris is urging them to sign an e-birthday card which will help raise money for humanitarian aid for Myanmar. The messages will be stored on a disk until Mr Aris can hand them to his mother in person. Ms Suu Kyu, the daughter of Myanmar's independence hero General Aung San, who was assassinated in July 1947, spent nearly 15 years between 1989 to 2010 under house arrest. Ms Suu Kyi raised two children, Kim and Alexander, in the UK after studying at Oxford and marrying a British academic, Michael Aris. She returned to Myanmar in 1988, initially to nurse her sick mother before getting swept up in the pro-democracy movement in the country. In 2015, the junta allowed Ms Suu Kyi to become the de facto head of Myanmar following elections, but only if they controlled key ministries, including home affairs and defence, as well as the military budget. defend her country's use of military violence against the Rohingya minority, which invited criticism from human rights groups.
