Iranian of the Day

Keleme: On pretense of transferring him to a hospital, Evin Prison officials deceived political prisoner Seyed Mohammad Ebrahimi to appear at his trial session. Ebrahimi had stated earlier that he refuses to attend the court session because he does not recognize the Revolutionary Court as legal or fair. Judge Moghisseh of Tehran Revolutionary Court's Branch 28 ordered Ebrahimi's transfer.

After Ebrahimi's responses in court were recorded and written and handed to him for his signature and fingerprint, he tore them up and re-stated his belief about the court's illegality.

At the end of the session, Judge Moghisseh and Ebrahimi engaged in a verbal confrontation after the Judge insulted political prisoners and Green Movement leaders.

Ebrahimi has spent 17 months in Evin prison on "temporary detention" orders, without due judicial process. Last week he refused to attend his 11 April trial session at the Revolutionary Court.

Intelligence Ministry forces arrested Ebrahimi on 12 December 2010 on charges of "acting against national security," 'insulting the Supreme Leader," and "soft war against the regime." He was barred from having visitors for eight months during which time his family were unaware about his detention location. The eight months he spent in solitary cells inside Evin Prison's Intelligence Ministry Wards of 209 and 240, under severe physical and psychological torture, led to his mental breakdown and he was transferred to Amin Abad psychiatric hospital in Tehran, where he remained for two months.

Ebrahimi is considered a case of severe torture at Evin Prison who has also been referred to in the UN Special Rapporteur Ahmed Shaheed's report.

Excerpt of a Rooz Online report about Seyed Mohammad Ebrahimi: "Seyed Mohammad Ebrahimi was arrested in December 2010 on charges of "assembly and collusion and acting against national security. He was the liaison between Mir Hossein Mousavi and mourning families who had lost their children and family members in the post-elecion protests.

A relative of Ebrahimi's said, "Mohammad's only sin was that he visited families of those who had lost loved ones and helped them. If they had some need, he would follow up and take care of it and tried to be by their side. This is why he was arrested and now he has been in prison for months, as if in our country, sympathy and help for mourning mothers is a crime."