Latest status of political prisoners in Azerbaijan

Student committee for the defense of political prisoners

Three months after the protests in various parts of Azerbaijan, a large number of political prisoners remain in the prisons of the cities of Tabriz, Ardabil, and Urumiyeh. Many have been released on bail until their court hearings.

Most of the detainees are dissatisfied with the process and say that the prosecution has dealt with their cases unjustly and that each of them has been deprived of fair representation by a lawyer during the process of interrogation and detention. It is reported that each detainee has had to endure extensive verbal abuse as well as brutal assault and battery.

According to received reports approximately 650 people have been registered on the Tabriz prison computer database in connection with recent protests. Apart from these statistics there is reliable information that affirms that many who are in detention have in fact not been registered.

At present some of the detainees are: Chengeez Bakhtavar and Dr. Ahmad Rezaei-Heydaroghlu both of whom were until recently prisoners at the Evin prison in Tehran and were then transferred along with 13 other political prisoners to the Tabriz department of intelligence and secret police and are now being held in the political prisoners ward there.

According to the Student Committee news, the following is a short account of the status of some of the political prisoners:

1-Mohammad Hassan Hareglee, 65-year-old who worked with some members of the reformist factions is accused of disturbing public order and creating disturbances has been prosecuted and sentenced to one year in prison and 50 lashes. He was the director of the Azerbainjan music school that was shut down three months ago, following the protests.

2-Ali Golkar charged with disturbing public order and creating disturbances as well as printing and distributing announcements and manifestos; sentenced to 7 months in prison and 70 lashes.

3-Mehdi Babai-Okhtaii

4-Ali-Hussein Tahamtan charged with disturbing public order and creating disturbance; sentenced to 6 months in prison and 50 lashes.

5-Hassan Bahari-Khajeh charged with disturbing public order and creating disturbances and propaganda against the Islamic regime; sentenced to 8 months in prison with a 5-year suspended term and 74 lashes.

6-Mosslem Javad-pour, charged with disturbing public order sentenced to 6 months in prison and 50 lashes.

7-Youssef Sabri was charged with disturbing public order and creating disturbances; has not been sentenced yet.

8-Mohammad-Hussein Deevbandi charged with disturbing public order and creating disturbances; sentenced to one year imprisonment and a $3200 fine.

9-Soleymon (Ahmad) Heydary charged with disturbing public order and creating disturbances; sentenced to 7 months in prison and 50 lashes.

10-Omid Arbabi, he was charged with disturbing public order and creating disturbances; sentenced to 5 months and 1 day in prison and 50 lashes.

11-Samad Payvandi

12-Hussein Asli

13-Taghi Akbari, sentenced to six months in prison and 50 lashes.

14-Changeez Bakhtavar,

15-Dr. Ahmad Rezaei

Recent news on the status of Haydar-Gholi Soltani

Student Committee for the Defense of political prisoners

Haydar-Gholi Soltani, retired lawyer who was arrested in mid-September 2005 is now being detained in ward 350 (labor) of Evin prison; though the judiciary has issued a bail hearing for his release, the Ministry of intelligence and security has illegally deleted the judiciary’s ordinance.

The 74-year-old Soltani, who is a lifelong supporter of the Old Iranian Tudeh (KGB–run communist) party was charged with acting against the security of the country, according to article 51 of the Islamic law and penal code; according to the explicit medical commission report, Soltani must be released pursuant to the issuance of an unopposed ruling. The medical commission’s report which was forwarded to branch 26 of the revolutionary court by the medical examiner in June this year has been deliberately destroyed and therefore Soltani has been kept in prison illegally.

It is noteworthy that the medical commission was called at the referral of the Islamic revolutionary prosecutor's office.

Soltani, who fought against both the former regime of the Shah and the Islamic regime, has been arrested and imprisoned repeatedly since after Khomeini’s Islamic revolution.