NCRI – On Tuesday, Voice of America’s Persian Service aired an interview with a resident of Camp Ashraf, whose father was arrested two weeks ago by the Iranian regime. The father, Ali Mehrnia, 70, was also a political prisoner during the 1980s. He is now one of dozens of families and relatives of Camp Ashraf residents who have been arrested in an attempt by the clerical regime in Iran to put pressure on the residents of Ashraf.
Located northeast of Baghdad, Camp Ashraf has been home to about 3,400 members of Iran’s main opposition, the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), for more than two decades.
Below is the translation of excerpts of VOA’s interview with Majid Mehrnia.
VOA: As far as you know, why have they arrested your father [Ali Mehrnia]? Where has he been taken? And, have you been able to receive any information about his situation?
Mehrnia: About two weeks ago, a little after the Ashura day [December 27] uprising, [Iranian regime agents] raided our house in Tehran and arrested my 70 year old father, who is a retired teacher. They took him to an undisclosed location without citing any reasons for doing so. … They also took my mother after a while for interrogation and to impose pressure on her, despite the fact that her physical condition, too, was rapidly deteriorating. No matter how many times my family has tried to contact them or attempted to follow up [on the arrest], they have not yet been able to receive any answers. My family has been told that they should now stop making further inquiries….
Such arrests are made on hollow grounds like “waging war against God.” During yesterday’s [January 18] kangaroo court in Tehran, too, which was supervised by Salavati, they falsely claimed that the defendants were trained by the PMOI in Iraq and European countries. It was said during the so-called trial that since the core of the PMOI has not been eradicated, it remains subject to Article 186 of the Islamic Punishment Act, according to which all the members and supporters of the PMOI are “enemies of God” even if they are not involved in its military wing.
VOA: Yesterday, videos were broadcast [on state-run TV in Iran] in which defendants were shown to be on trial on charges of membership in or sympathizing with the PMOI and other such charges, for which the state’s terminology “Monafeqin” [‘hypocrites,’ a derogatory term used by the regime to refer to the PMOI] was used. Could you not identify your father there? Was your father among the defendants in the pictures that were broadcast?
Mehrnia: The faces were completely blurred in the video and the people were not identifiable. There were no names mentioned, so I could not discern if my father was among the detainees there. The problem is I have absolutely no idea where they have taken my father and what the charges against him are. And, there is no legal recourse available. You are well aware that concepts like court of law, legal representation and due process are utterly meaningless in this regime. The regime is essentially foreign to law and Islam. And, in this regard, it shuts all the doors to everyone.
VOA: Mr. Mehrnia, was your father ever arrested prior to this?
Mehrnia: Yes, my father was a political prisoner in the 1980s after he was arrested on charges of supporting the PMOI in 1987. He spent a year in Evin prison [in Tehran] where he was subjected to brutal torture. The issue here is that the Iranian regime is implementing a plan to intimidate, arrest and execute the families of Ashraf residents or those that have previously visited Ashraf to see their loved ones.
VOA: Do you know how many families of Ashraf residents have been arrested in Iran?
Mehrnia: Based on the information that I have, about 140 relatives of Camp Ashraf residents have been arrested thus far. The situation of most of them or their locations are unknown. It is not clear what they have been charged with and there is also no legal recourse available to them. The reason for these arrests, after all these years and especially following the Ashura day uprising, is simply to create fear and terror in a bid to stop the nationwide uprising of the Iranian people against the regime. But, the more the regime suppresses and commits such crimes, the more the Iranian people’s determination and resolve will be to obtain freedom.
