6 July 2009) With as many as two thousand individuals, including more than two-hundred prominent personalities, under incommunicado detention in Iran, serious concerns for their health and safety are growing. There are increasing reports of extensive use of solitary confinement and torture against the detainees.While the Iranian Judiciary has announced a directive to criminalize cooperation with satellite television programs and “opposition” internet communication, authorities have continued to detain individual journalists, including Masoud Bastani, who was arrested on 5 July as he inquired about the whereabouts of his wife, Mahsa Amrabadi, a pregnant journalist arrested on 14 June, according to the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran.The life of another detainee, Saeed Hajarian, a prominent politician and journalist who is paralyzed, is in danger. For the past ten days, his family have not been able to verify his condition. He may be in critical condition and hospitalized. Since his detention on 15 June, his wife has been able to see him only once for ten minutes.The Campaign called on the Iranian government to immediately and unconditionally release more than a thousand detainees who have been arrested since the 12 June election.“In view of the inhumane conditions in Iranian detentions centers and prisons, Mahsa Amrabadi’s health and that of her unborn child are at grave risk,” said Aaron Rhodes, a spokesperson for the Campai… >>>
