At the end of July, Akbar Mohammadi died in Iranian prison after having been severely tortured. He is one of many students being imprisoned in their fight for a democratic Iran.
Since the presidential election in 2005 when the conservative Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won over the reformist Mostafa Moeen, the conditions for those fighting for human rights in Iran have become a lot worse.
One of the reasons is the country’s attempt to enrich uranium. The severe critics from the U.S. against the attempts may result in the regime mobilising against an extern enemy, advocates Nazem Tahvilzadeh, doctoral student in public administration and a member of the Iranian students’ association in Gothenburg.
– The fear of war makes it more difficult to level criticism against the leaders. Through a constantly impending threat of war, the demand for a united nation grows. The polarization has rendered the work for human rights more difficult, he says.
Nazem Tahvilzadeh advocates that it is important that the rest of the world shows consideration for the situation that the critics of the reform find themselves in due to the conflict.
Sentenced to death
Students have long played a leading role in the political fight in Iran.
They participated in the demonstrations in the end of the 1970’s, which led to ayatollah Khomeynis seizure of power and the Islamic republic.
But it was also students, tens of thousands of them, who streamed out in the summer of 1999 to protest against the closing-down of a number of newspapers and to demand democratic reforms. One of the students being arrested was Akbar Mohammadi. He was sentenced to death in the autumn of 1999 in a trial where he was denied a lawyer. But after severe international pressure his sentence was changed into 15 years in prison.
-It is not surprising that Mohammadi was arrested. He had a leading role in the fight for human rights. When doing large-scale arrests, they took the chance to take him in, says Nazem Tahvilzadeh.
Denied hospital treatment
The 31st of July this year, Akbar Mohammadi died in prison. He had then been on a hunger strike for nearly a week in protest against the regime’s decision not to allow him hospital treatment for the grave injuries he suffered from due to long time torture.
According to his lawyer, Mohammadi was also severely beaten by the prison guards during the last days of his life.
Amnesty International fears that the death of Mohammadi is just the beginning of an escalation of the violence in Iranian prisons. The organisation fears for the life of other imprisoned demonstrators from 1999, amongst them the brother of Akbar Mohammadi, Manuchehr.
Several arrested this spring
Other activists have been imprisoned in the past few years. Human rights’ fighter Ali Akbar Mousavi Khoini was arrested during a demonstration in Teheran only a fem months ago. Since then, he is supposed to have been repeatedly tortured but has not yet been told which crimes he is being accused of.
Even if students still are demonstrating the students’ movement is today shattered. There are around four hundred organisations in Iran of which many work with matters regarding the human rights.
– The students are a very disparate group. Each one has their own goals and basis for their commitment and it can be difficult to come to terms within an organisation. As it is now, there is no general basis. One group flourishes, prospers and dies out, says Nazem Tahvilzadeh.
Human rights forgotten
Since 1999, the protests have also changed form. The largest part of the Iranian students’ struggle takes place at forums and on blogs on the Internet.
– The students’ movement has gone underground and it is difficult to get a clear insight into what’s going on, but we are doing our best. It doesn’t make it easier to know what is happening now that the media seems to care more about uranium than human rights, says Nazem Tahvilzadeh.
Translation: Emmy Kafle
