ROOZONLINE
Ten days into the arrest of women’s rights activists Mahboubeh Abassgolizadeh and Shadi Sadr, disturbing news are heard about the their fate: New charges and possible use of psychological pressures to extract fake confessions from them . On the other hand there are also reports that senior judiciary officials have been approached for the release of these two women. Rooz Online spoke with Abassgolizadeh’s daughter, Maryam on the latest developments. Read the excerpts below.
Rooz Online (R): Do you have any direct news from your mother?
Maryam Abassgolizadeh (MA): 8 days have passed and I have not heard from her directly, which makes us very worried. Shadi Sadr has been in contact with her family twice during this period, which raises alarms regarding my mother. In view of my mother’s earlier arrest and what happened in that incident, we are concerned that she may be under torture as a way to extract fake confessions from her, or that she is in such bad health that cannot even talk. The last time she was in prison, she spent some 20 days in solitary confinement and a few more days in the general ward. While officials said she was in the general ward, we learned later on her release that she was actually in solitary confinement under very degrading conditions. But even in that incident, she got in touch with us (over the phone) soon after her detention. But this long silence is very suspicious and disturbing.
R: Do you have any news on the charges that have been brought against her and her interrogation procedures?
MA: Initially there were three charges made against her, the same ones that were made against all thirty one arrested women. But in his meeting with the defense lawyers, Judge Haddad added two new charges, which according to the defense attorneys are illegal. One of them is that interrogations begin on the assumption of guilt. During interrogations, they try to fish for other charges to be made against my mother. So they arrested my mother on the pretext of the sit-in of these women activists, but then used their detention to find other things to charge them with. Because they threatened my mother during her previous arrest, we are now afraid they are doing the same thing again. We are afraid that some authorities may succeed in cutting of the support that my mother is currently receiving for her release and that they may trump up new charges against her. Haddad expressly made two new accusations, in the hope of retaining the initial ones.
R: Has any official contacted you? Any contacts regarding bringing a guarantee for the release of your mother?
MA: Nothing. They summoned us to the judiciary to explain some questions. We refused arguing that we would not go unless there was a formal request. They then threatened to arrest us if we did not go there.
R: Do you know whether they asked detainees questions about other people, including your mother?
MA: Yes. The interrogators have tried to divide and rule. They did ask what relationship they had with others. Or whether they or we engaged in any activity for them. They asked why did we even go to their offices.
R: Why do you think the interrogation phase is taking so long?
MA: Two years ago, after repeated acts of torture and cruelty were committed, ayatollah Shahrudi (head of Iran’s Judiciary Branch) dismissed my mother’s case, as he did the case belonging to the web-bloggers. But some authorities keep returning to the same methods in order to accomplish what they could not attain in the previous incident. When the head of the judiciary of a country rules people to be innocent, then officials should not be pursing revenge over the case. They should accept their mistakes. In the previous incident, it was decided that the wrong-acting interrogators would be punished. But in reality, the same people are now again in charge of interrogations. They will not succeed because the women’s calls and their movement are not politically motivated, and they are not part of the opposition movement. In fact its activists all love their country, who will work with any government for justice and equal rights. I am certain that Mr. Shahrudi knows what is going on.
R: How are the other members of the family doing?
MA: My sister’s morale is very low and she is depressed. She has to study for her national university entrance exam, but she can’t concentrate because of my mother’s situation. I am a student in the town of Zanjan but have had to return to Tehran because of all of this. My sister is sitting next to the phone, but hopes that my mother will walk in through the door. Nights are difficult and we cannot sleep. My father does not live with us, so this makes us alone and we are constantly afraid that the police will storm into our house like the Gestapo.
R: How did the meeting between your family and Mrs. Sadr go when you met Mr. Karubi?
MA: I did not go. Other family members did and they said that he welcomed them with full arms. He promised to write a letter to senior judiciary officials. But ward 209 of Evin prison is not under the jurisdiction of Mr. Shahrudi, so a telephone call is not going to change anything. But he is following up the case, as are others such as Mr. Baghi from the Association for the Defense of Prisoners, the Bar Association, etc. The Bar Association is also pursuing Shadi Sadr’s case because she was arrested after performing her duties as a lawyer. We love our country. I think that under the current political circumstances that have come up because of the nuclear issue, and when various opposition groups are actively at work, instead of attacking those who are trying to improve the image of the country, officials should be thinking about the country. I cannot remain silent. The press has been silenced. The only places where my message is relayed are the foreign based radio stations. This is not something that I want, but I have no choice because they are not allowing me to make myself heard.
R: Do you think the current media silence and the absence of media coverage of the recent arrests is directed events?
MA: I am sure of this. I spoke with a few journalists who had reported the event, and they said that after their reports, they were told to completely censor the event and not cover it. It is not true that newspapers do not wish to publish. The fact is that they are not allowed to do so. News agencies too publish scattered news under fear. This is going on despite the fact this is an important event. Today, Marzie Mortezai from the Jebhe Mosharekat (Participation Front) said that while a tree is a national resource and there is so much talk about trees, they do not want to talk about these two individuals who remain behind bars. She said that when they were in prison, they learned that they were making preparations for these two activists to ensure that when they are released, they will not be able to continue their work. And this despite the fact that what they have been doing has been for the good of the Iranian woman.
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