FATHER OF IMPRISONED MOHAMMADI CALLS FOR NEW TRIAL FOR HIS SONS
PARIS 7 Mar. (IPS) In an open letter to the Judiciary Chief Ayatollah Mahmud Hashemi-Shahrudi, Mr. Mohammad Mohammadi, the father of imprisoned students Akbar and Manuchehr Mohammadi, has demanded that his sons be re-tried an open court and with the presence of the press, jury and observers.
Manuchehr, the leader of the Association of National Iranian Students (ANIS) was arrested two years ago on his return to Iran from a trip he made to Europe and the United States, where he met Iranian dissidents and held a series of lectures and conferences.
The leader-controlled Iranian justice accused him of espionage for foreign powers and activities aimed at overthrowing the Islamic Republic and sentenced to 14 years imprisonment.
His younger brother Akbar was arrested some months latter during students demonstrations held on the anniversary day of Dr. Mohammadi Mosadeq, Iran's popular Premier who nationalised the Iranian oil industries in 1953, resulting in a CIA- Intelligence Service coup that toppled him and restored Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi on his throne.
Though he was condemned to life imprisonment, but his lawyer said that in fact no charges were brought against him, as he was arrested by the police "just because he is the brother of Manuchehr".
In prison, both brothers were subject to both psychological and physical tortures and suffer from injuries to ear, lungs and kidneys. However, their sentences were reduced to 15 and six years.
In a letter written recently from his cell in Evin prison, Manuchehr Mohammadi complained that despite pledges by the Judiciary, yet prison authorities had refused him to be treated in hospitals in Tehran.
According to the lawyer, the Mohammadi brothers had been arrested and sentenced to heavy prison terms on the basis of confessions obtained under torture.
This had been confirmed by agents of the Information (Intelligence) Ministry who took part in the murder of Iranian political and intellectual dissidents.
According to a secret report prepared by some of the agents, the arrest of the elder Mohammadi was part of a larger plot to destabilise the reformists, including President Mohammad Khatami.
In his letter, the old Mr. Mohammadi, a peasant living in the northern town of Sari reminded Mr. Hashemi-Shahrudi that he had filed repeated inquiries and demands of clemency for his children, but never received an answer.
"Those who attacked the students' dormitories are still free, but my sons are not. I ask again that an open trial be started in the cases of my sons with the presence of representatives of the Iranian Bar Association and the press", he demanded.
Meanwhile, unidentified pressure groups arrested and abducted Tuesday three students members of the Iranian People's Democratic Front (IPDF), a student's organisation reported.
The three students were identified by Mr. Heshmatollah Tabarzadi, the outspoken leader of the IPDF as Kashilou, Sehati and Matin.
"They were arrested by several people, all members of pressure groups and taken away at the end of a meeting held in front of the university by the Students Committee for the Defence of Political Prisoners (SCDPP)", Mr. Tabarzadi said, adding that he hold the authorities, particularly the Judiciary and the Police responsible for the lives of his colleagues.
Pressure groups are made of lumpen islamist thugs and hooligans, controlled by the conservatives who uses them to attack meetings and functions of the reformists. ENDS MOHAMMADIS 8301