NCRI – On April 5, the Iranian regime's agents savagely attacked the 60-year-old mother and sister of Mohammad Nikbakht, 32, a political prisoner in Dastgerd prison in the central city of Esfahan. Mrs. Manijeh Shefa’at and Roqieh Nikbakht (an Industrial Engineering student), mother and sister of Mohammad respectively, tried to visit him at the prison when both were assaulted by the prison guards. Later both were arrested and transferred to an unknown location. Their assailants were identified as Gorji and Banaii. Nikbakht has been in jail since 2004 and is charged with supporting the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK).
According to our information, Mr. Mansour Radpour, another political prisoner, has been transferred to a solitary confinement in Ward 8, known as the Revolutionary Guards' Ward, in Gohardasht prison, west of Tehran, since January. He has experienced physical and psychological torture in the hands of the mullahs' regime. His jail keepers are trying to break him by using threats and intimidations tactics. One of the guards is identified by his pseudonym name as, Haji.
The clerical regime has stepped up pressure on families of Ashraf residents. Mrs. Kobra Banazadeh Amir-Khizi, 56, who was arrested on January 16 by agents of the notorious Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) at Tehran Airport, is currently held in Ward 209 of notorious Evin prison. She is in poor health conditions. Banazadeh was arrested because of her trip to Camp Ashraf and visiting with her relatives. She is losing her sight since she was placed under torture. One of the henchmen torturing her was identified as Sheykhan. Despite poor health conditions, the prison warden refuses to provide her with medical treatment. Two of her brothers, Hamid and Asghar, are serving time on political charges.
In raids by MOIS agents on houses of families of Ashraf residents living in Tehran, Karaj Semnan and Tehran, on February 20, a number of people were arrested whose fate are not known. Among the detainees are Ms. Fatemeh Ziaii, 50, Messrs Hamed Yazarloo and Hassan Talaii. The latter are students who are held in solitary confinement in Ward 209 of Evin prison. Mahsa Naderi and Hassan Erfani, both students, are transferred to Ward 240 of Evin Prison.
Last November, the Iranian Resistance provided the international bodies with the names and details of 87 people, all relatives of Ashraf residents who were arrested following their trip to Ashraf.
Once again, the Iranian Resistance calls on all international human rights organizations in particular the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to adopt urgently binding measures to stop arbitrary arrests and free detainees.
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
April 6, 2009