Free Iranian Labor Activist and Children's Rights Defender Behnam Ebrahimzadeh Sentenced to 9.5 Years In Prison!

URGENT UPDATE: JANUARY 6, 2015: Behnam Ebrahimzadeh, an imprisoned children’s and labor rights activist and father to a son battling cancer, has been sentenced by the Iranian Judiciary to 9.5 more years in prison. The latest sentencing comes at a time when Mr. Ebrahimzadeh was months shy of finishing his prison sentence of five years.

According to reports, the 9.5 years sentence is related to the brutally violent events that took place in Evin Prison’s Ward 350 in April 2014. Following the events in April Iranian authorities reportedly transferred Mr. Ebrahimzadeh to solitary confinement a total of three times, raided his home, threatened and interrogated his son and wife, and opened a new case file against him.

During the third time in solitary confinement Mr. Ebrahimzadeh reportedly launched a hunger strike in protest, Iranian authorities reacted by transferring him out of Evin to Rajai Shahr Prison in Karaj. Currently Mr. Ebrahimzadeh is still being held in Rajai Shahr – he is locked up in a ward not meant for political prisoners, but reserved for dangerous criminals.

The 9.5 years prison sentence was issued to Mr. Ebrahimzadeh on December 29th by Judge Salavati, who is notorious for his corrupt rulings. Mr. Ebrahimzadeh was charged with Gathering and Colluding…, Having relations with the PMOI (a controversial Iranian opposition group) from inside prison, Propagating against the regime through connections with Ahmed Shaheed (the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Iran) and possessing satellite dish equipment (for viewing television) at his home. Mr. Ebrahmizadeh’s family and close friends have denied accusations by Iranian authorities that the labor activist is linked to the PMOI in any way.

Mr. Ebrahimzadeh was arrested by Iranian security agents on June 12, 2010 and was originally sentenced to 20 years in prison by the Revolutionary Court before the Appeals Court changed his sentence to five years in prison.

Behnam has been on a hunger strike since December 3, 2014 in Rajai-Shahr prison in order to protest his transfer to Ward 1—a section where violent and dangerous prisoners are housed. He has stated that he will end his hunger strike as soon as he is returned to the Ward 12; the political prisoners ward. On December 19, 2014, Mr. Ibrahimzadeh commenced a dry hunger strike. Two days later on December 21st he fell unconscious and was thus transferred to the hospital infirmary. However, the prisoner would not consent to intravenous treatment until the authorities promised to look into his transfer. After he agreed to treatment he stated that he would continue his hunger strike until he is removed from the violent prisoners Ward and returned to Ward 12. On December 27th he was transferred to Ward 2 in Rajai Shahr prison which is yet another ward where dangerous criminals are housed. He therefore continued his hunger strike and as a result suffered from intestinal bleeding. He is demanding immediate attention to the legality of his case as Mr. Ibrahimzadeh has served 4 years of his 5 year sentence but the prison authorities are trying to extend his sentence by creating new charges for him. This has become common practice for the Islamic Republic of Iran regarding political prisoners: the prisoners are technically not sentenced to death but silently and slowly killed in prison by various methods such as injuries acquired by extended torture or by being housed alongside very violent offenders; thus lowering the execution rate in the country and avoiding international criticism.
http://persian2english.com/?p=25147

HERE IS BEHNAM EBRAHIMZADEH'S LETTER FROM PRISON LAUNCHING HIS HUNGER STRIKE: I, Behnam Ebrahim Zadeh – political prisoner and labour and children’s’ rights activist – am writing to people about the conditions of Rajai-Shahr prison. I am writing from Karaj prison where I am in shackles and chains, a prison where all sorts of drugs are easily purchased and sold, a prison where the political inmates are subjected to the most barbaric tortures and denied of their most basic needs.

I was arrested on June 12, 2010, my long-term solitary confinements, and the nature of my interrogations, unjust trial and heavy sentence. You may also be aware of the inspection day and the attack on ward 350 Evin Prison when prisoners were brutally attacked and I was transferred to a solitary confinement. In order to torture me further, the prison authority has made a new allegation against me. My family was under pressure and I was deprived of medical attention.

I am in prison while my son has been fighting leukaemia and is hospitalized every month to undergo chemotherapy. I also have to mention that any kind of emotional pressure and stress is harmful and dangerous for him and every father’s wish is to be with his sick child and do his best for his recovery. I have not committed theft, nor pillaged or stolen anyone’s property. I was incarcerated merely for demanding freedom and justice. I was charged mainly because I revealed injustices and defended the rights of children and workers. The prison officials have not hesitated to impose all kinds of harassment, persecution and threats on my family and I. How can a prisoner and his family – with a sick child – endure all these hardships?

When they informed me on Monday, December 1st to report to court, I refused to go. However, the dispatch section agents, Mostafa Ghiasvand and Alireza Noroozi accompanied by a few other agents resorted to force in front of two political prisoners, named: Farshid Fathi and Arash Moghaddam Aslan-pour and a few other regular prisoners. A few guards attacked me and while they were beating and insulting me, they handcuffed me from behind, forced me into the car and drove me to the court…..

In court, I was charged with “having connections with Ahmed Shaheed” by judge Ahmad-Zadeh. After I returned to prison, they did not allow me to go back to ward 12 to take my personal belongings and medication, and without any explanation, transferred me to ward 1 where all murderers, criminals and drug addicts are held. All of this happened despite the prison doctor’s emphatic instructions regarding my health care and imminent surgery.

Currently, I am in ward 1 of Hosseinieh among dangerous inmates, sleeping on a cold floor. Within the last few days, a 23 year old inmate named Mehdi Amiri lost his life due to lack of proper medical care. Also, several inmates were injured in a group fight and prison guards didn’t do anything to stop the dispute. This is only one example of the violent behaviour in this prison…… Nutrition and hygiene conditions are very bad and the prison is infested with cockroaches and lice…. Prison officials refuse to provide the minimum needs of the prisoners as stipulated and emphasized in prison regulations. This is the dreadful condition that 7000 inmates, serving long prison sentences or on death row, are kept.

I ask all human rights organizations and concerned individuals to be my voice as well as the voice of all political prisoners.

Behnam Ebrahimzadeh, Rajai-Shahr Prison- Iran, December 2014
PLEASE SIGN AND SHARE BOTH THIS PETITION AS WELL AS THE PETITION AT THE BELOW LINK:
https://www.change.org/p/catherine-ashton-to-urge-the-authorities-in-iran-to-release-labour-activist-behnam-ebrahimzadeh-immediately-and-unconditionally?utm_campaign=responsive_friend_inviter_chat&utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=share_petition&recruiter=39535530

URGENT UPDATE: SEPTEMBER 5, 2014--According to the report of Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), Behnam Ebrahimzadeh, political prisoner in Rajai Shahr prison has gone go on dry hunger strike since September 1, 2014 to protest against his illegal transfer from ward 209, Evin prison, to the horrible conditions of Rajai Shahr prison.

Mr. Ebrahimzadeh has been on hunger strike since August 8, and is in very poor physical condition. His family has also gone on hunger strike to support him.

UPDATE: MAY 21, 2014: HRANA News Agency- Behnam Ebrahimzadeh’s family were prevented from visiting him in Evin prison by the prison’s authorities.

According to the report of Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), Behnam Ebrahimzadeh was taken to the Moghadas court based in Evin prison and then was transferred to a solitary confinement cell in ward 209, on the 3rd of April of this year.

The family of this imprisoned labor activist went to Evin prison in order to visit him on April 9, but they did not succeed in meeting with him.

One of his close relatives, who wanted to remain anonymous, told to the reporter of HRANA that “Behnam’s family was informed that he is still in solitary confinement and it is not possible to visit with him”.

He added “Behnam Ebrahimzadeh was interrogated in Moghadas court at branch 2 last week and he will be put on trial again.”

Behnam Ebrahimzadeh, is a labor activist and children's rights defender whois now serving a five-year sentence on politically motoviated "security" charges of gathering and collusion by the Revolutionary court. He is spending the fourth year of his sentence. He was arrested by (intelligence) security agents on 12th June 2010 and was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment by Revolutionary court which was reduced to 5 years in the court of appeals.
https://hra-news.org/en/prison-visit-behnam-ebrahimzadeh

His son, Nima, who suffers from Leukemia, wrote the following about what is like to undergo cancer treatment at his age while his father remains in prison for defending the rights of workers:

My name is Nima Ebrahimzadeh, the son of Behnam Ebrahimzadeh, and I have a question for you.

Yes, I have a question for you: where do I have to go to find refuge? Where do I have to go to cry out about my suffering, and ask for which crime it is that I am made to suffer so much?

You tell me what I am guilty of.

Hey, you! You human beings, you with the clear conscience, you who have created organizations and claim to defend the rights of children, you who claim to be institutions that support children who are suffering from cancer, you who defend mankind and you philanthropists, you who are workers like my father: I need your help today. Tomorrow may be far too late.

In these difficult days, I turn to you to ask only one thing and nothing else: demand my father’s release!

In these difficult days of chemotherapy, I need my father by my side. I want my father to be next to me as I fight this cancer. Is that too much to ask? You tell me!

I am Nima Ebrahimzadeh. I live in Tehran. About four months ago, the doctors diagnosed me with leukemia. The doctors at Mahak Hospital have already told me a lot about its symptoms and treatment. My treatment will be extremely difficult. This is cancer; it's not as if I have the flu. This isn't a joke. There are times when all these pills and medicines make me anemic. I just feel exhausted, but again, my father, my mother, and my good friends all encourage me to keep going and tell me that I can make a full recovery. They keep recommending that I stay calm, patient, and strong!

Tell me: how could I, in these circumstances, remain calm, patient, and strong?

I don’t know whether I should be describing my own pains or my father's! Is there any difference?

Perhaps you mature and experienced adults might have a better grasp of how difficult these times are for me, and how painful each moment has become. I feel like there is no end to this pain, that there will never be an end to the suffering and hardship imposed on me.

I am constantly on the Web, studying whatever I can find about my disease. It has been determined that shock and nervous stress are one of the main causes of the emergence and spread of cancer. Although researchers cannot be sure about how much excessive stress comes into play in this disease, they know that extreme stress makes recovery longer and riskier.

Let me say this in a straightforward manner: I want to survive. I want to live. Is that asking too much?

I know that life in this world is hard, and even more so for kids like me, but the thought of leaving this damned world like this and breaking my parents' hearts is even harder for me to bear.

I don’t want the grief of losing me to further darken their days and nights. To tell you the truth, there are times when I bury my head under the pillow and sob. I weep for them. I cry because I know how much more difficult losing me will make their days and their lives.

Living through these past few months, dealing with the cancer and bearing the absence of my dear father, has made me grow up much faster and given me more experience. My father has always taught me that no one’s rights should be trampled. He has always taught me about humanity. My father speaks of the pain and suffering of the workers and the poor. He tells me about the children who have bridges for roofs and pieces of cardboard for beds. My dad has always spoken of respecting human beings.

Now I'd like to know why these logical words and this compassion should send him to prison and away from my side. I need my father. I really need my father. Whenever I'm feeling down, he starts kidding around with me, wrestling and playing with me. No matter what it takes, he wants me to be happy. Is jail the right place for a father like this?

I know that we have found many friends during this time, and they have supported us in every which way. I thank them all, because it was this kind of support that made them give my father leave from time to time and let him be by my side, so that I could feel his presence in my bones and in my being.

Every second, I hope the phone will ring and someone will tell me that my father is going to be with me forever as a free man. As if the jailers would leave us alone. Each phone call makes all three of us tremble. Today was one of those days. I don’t know whether I should feel distraught for myself or my father, who sighed into the phone, shouting: “I will return to prison, but not today! I promised my son that I would take him to the doctor!” I feel sorry for my mother, for her tears and for her cursing everything on earth.

I am asking every one of you who hears my voice and reads my words to help me and my family.

Is it asking too much to want your father free and by your side? You tell me.

Nima Ebrahimzadeh, Tuesday, June 4th, 2013, Tehran, Iran.
https://tavaana.org/en/content/story-pain-open-letter-nima-ebrahimzadeh-son-behnam-ebrahimzadeh-iranian-dissident-and-0

UPDATE APRIL 22, 2013: BEHNAM EBRAHIMZADEH, HAD ONLY A SHORT PRISON FURLOUGH TO VISIT HIS SON NIMA, WHO HAS CANCER. ON BEING FORCED TO RETURN TO PRISON AT SUCH A CRITICAL TIME, HE HAS ISSUED THE FOLLOWING APPEAL: "HOW CAN I GO BACK TO PRISON KNOWING THAT MY CHILD IS VERY ILL--AND THAT THIS INHUMANE INATTENTION TO A VERY SICK CHILD MAY EVEN SHORTEN HIS LIFE?!"

UPDATE: JANUARY 14, 2013 BEHNAM EBRAHIMZADEH, SITTING IN PRISON, HAS JUST FOUND OUT THAT HIS 13-YEAR-OLD SON, HIS BELOVED NIMA, IS IN A HOSPITAL FOR CHILDREN WITH CANCER. HE NEEDS TO GET OUT OF PRISON NOW! PLEASE SEE HIS APPEAL BELOW:

I don’t know when it was, maybe eight to nine days ago, when I heard that my only child, my 13-year old Nima, already overcome by the pain of separation from his father and all kinds of deprivation, has been admitted to Mahak Hospital, a hospital for children with cancer; a bitter experience and a shocking moment, which have pierced deep into my soul.

I don’t know about the condition of my darling child. My wife doesn’t clearly tell me, but she hopes that I would soon be given leave to come and see them. I have therefore asked for leave, which if granted would certainly have a great impact on me and my sick child. This is the only moment in the life of a father, which he doesn’t want to lose under any circumstances. So, thanks to my friends, I have come up with a property surety, and like in the past when I have asked for things, I have been given a favourable answer. But maybe this time too it will turn out to be just words.

Under these circumstances, with thousands of thoughts in my mind about my son Nima, remembering the empty promises of those in charge has turned my suffering into an excruciating pain. I have to be at the side of my sick child. This is my right. I am a political prisoner, whose anguish over his son’s illness has made everything look dark. There are several courses of action open to me, one of which is to go on a dry hunger strike. Maybe I’ll get an answer that way.

I want to choose patience and endurance, while resisting and putting pressure; however, anything can happen. First, deprivation from food, leave, proper visits, telephone, medical care, etc., and now deprivation from the right to be at the side of my sick child is what is going to break me down.

I insist on my demand for leave to visit my child; at the same time, I appeal to everyone to support the rights of my child and to help his recovery. Who would have thought that someone who for years has fought for children’s and workers’ rights, would one day be in prison for his beliefs and defence of children, and then hear that groups of compassionate people, friends and comrades are visiting his sick child, but he himself isn’t able to stroke the feverish head of his child?

I will defy and resist, as I have done up to now, but who is answerable for all this injustice and suffering? Who is responsible for the condition that my child Nima is in?

I have hope in the strong and kind hands of the doctors and nurses, hope in the support of friends, comrades, colleagues and the good and caring people of the country. I am most grateful to all those who over these past days have been asking about my child and who have visited my family and son.

I thank all the doctors and nurses of Mahak Hospital and all those who have been helping to aid the recovery of my son. In the hope of a speedy recovery for my son Nima Ebrahimzadeh and all sick children.

Behnam (As’ad) Ebrahimzadeh
Political Prisoner
Ward 35, Evin Prison
January 2013

Behnam Ebrahimzadeh, a worker at a polyethylene pipe-manufacturing factory in the outskirts of Tehran, is a member of the Follow Up Committee to Set Up Free Trade Associations and a children’s rights defender.

He reportedly suffered two broken ribs as a result of beatings during his arrest in June 2010, and is currently serving a five-year prison sentence. Behnam Ebrahimzadeh was initially sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment in December 2010 on national security charges.

This was overturned by the Supreme Court, and after a retrial he was sentenced to five years in prison after conviction of “gathering and colluding with intent to harm state security”, apparently in connection with his trade unionist activities on behalf of the Follow Up Committee to Set up Free Trade Associations. This sentence was upheld on appeal in October 2011.