Endangered Scholars Worldwide

The information in this quarterly print report is current as of May 21, 2019. The situation of scholars and students around the world changes on a daily basis. For the most up-to-date information and ways in which you can be involved in calling for the freedom of endangered scholars and students, please visit us online at www.endangeredscholarsworldwide.net or follow us at www.facebook.com/ endangeredscholars. In these pages we introduce new cases that have come to our attention over the past three months and provide basic information about continuing cases—a description of charges and potential or actual reported sentences. If you are aware of a scholar or student whose case you believe we should investigate, please contact us at esw@newschool.edu.

SPECIAL REPORT

Iranian Student Prisoner Parisa Rafiee Reveals Female Political Prisoners' Suffering

On May 9, 2019, Iranian student activist Parisa Rafiee, who is serving a seven-year sentence, published an open letter revealing the suffering of female political prisoners and prisoners of conscience in Iran. Rafiee, 22, was arrested on February 25, 2018, by Iran's Intelligence Ministry for allegedly attending the protests that swept through Tehran and other Iranian cities in December 2017 and January 2018. She was accused of "assembly and collusion against national security" and "propaganda against the Islamic Republic." Rafiee was later sentenced to seven years behind bars by Tehran's Revolutionary Court on charges of "crimes against national security," "propaganda against the regime," and "disrupting public order."

In Rafiee's letter, she wrote:

Today, nearly a year and a half after the wave of detentions in January 2018, during which hundreds of students as well as dozens of student activists and free-education activists were sentenced to flogging and imprisonment, we are still hearing the cries of student activists for justice, but the forces of suppression have not decreased their pressure and attacks in the slightest bit. … I decided to write this letter knowing full well that revealing such recollections can have dire consequences for those who make such revelations, affecting their ongoing legal and court proceedings.

But in light of the importance of defending the human rights of our student friends, journalists, and the thousands of political prisoners held in Iran, we cannot keep silent. We face a situation in which numerous dangerous restrictions, the possibility of being rearrested, and the probability of continued repression have always hindered those arrested from revealing what they lived through….

I am one of a number of independent student activists who has suffered from lack of transparency in regard to my case with justice and security officials. Regarding the virtual indifference and silence of the media and public opinion to the catastrophic situation of the political detention centers in Iran, I would like to point out two different cases of abusive acts done by the security forces during my own detention that show how the security forces, the Ministry of Intelligence officials, and IRGC intelligence division degrade and harass prisoners, particularly female detainees. The use of violence along with psychological games for the purpose of forcing political activists to confess to their alleged crimes is rampant. (We have repeatedly witnessed officials threatening political detainees with publishing their confessions.)

I hope that exposing these tactics will hinder the process of imposing these illegal and inhumane mechanisms by judicial and security forces. I hope that these revelations will help break the silence about the persecution by the repressive institutions and prevent further illegal and brutal acts and pressures on those detained on International Labor Day and Teacher's Day.

1. During my entire detention (with the exception of the last two days, when my bail was being considered), I was interrogated every single day. I spent 21 days in solitary confinement at a detention center without knowing the name of the place at which I was being held. This is one of the most practiced and serious forms of inhumane tortures that must be confronted and eradicated. In addition to the imposition of a few days to several months of solitary confinement on detainees, another issue that...