Concerns of 200 Activists Over Continued Detention of Several National, Civil, and Political Activists

About 200 Azerbaijani activists and campaigners signed a statement criticizing the continued detention of several "national-civil and political activists" in several cities, including Tabriz, demanding their release. They referred to the "wave of arrests that began more than two months ago in various cities of Azerbaijan," stating: "Unfortunately, official authorities have not yet announced the reasons for these arrests." Among those mentioned in the statement are Morteza Nourmohammadi Nadarli, Davood Shiri, Araz Ebrahimnejad, Javad Soodbar, Amir Hossein Aghaei, Ali Babaei, Mohammad Reza Movahed, Mehrdad Ghaderi, Hossein Azadi, Ebrahim Avazadeh, Nasser Razmjou, Saber Hosseinzadeh, Roya Zakeri, Ayat (Yurosh) Mehrali Bigloo, and Hamed Yeganehpour. A relative of Davood Shiri told VOA that he was arrested on September 13 in front of his home in Tabriz in the presence of his wife and two daughters, aged 19 and 9, and is currently imprisoned in the intelligence detention center in Tabriz. He added that since his arrest, Mr. Shiri has only had three phone calls with his family, limited to greetings, and this lack of information along with his continued detention has caused concern for his family. This source mentioned that the accusations against Davood Shiri have been contradictory. Initially, they claimed it was related to weapons, but later said he received money from a foreign country, and recently the family learned that he was charged with "membership in a group." Yilmaz Mehrali Bigloo, brother of Ayat (Yurosh) Mehrali Bigloo, told VOA that he was arrested on November 7 while visiting a mechanic to retrieve his car. He noted that his brother had only one opportunity to contact his family on November 23, adding: "Currently, all we know is that Yurosh is imprisoned in the intelligence detention center in Tabriz." Yilmaz Mehrali Bigloo pointed out that this lack of information has caused concern for his family, and added: "Because the accused do not have the right to access a lawyer during initial interrogations, we are more worried about my brother's situation and that of other detainees." He also mentioned that Ayat (Yurosh) Mehrali Bigloo's 5-year-old daughter is restless and asks about her father daily for various reasons. The signatories of the statement noted that "what has added to the concerns is the unconventional and illegal behavior of the detaining authorities, which we have rarely witnessed before." The statement refers to the "long-term detention and repeated extensions of the temporary detention of the detainees, along with restrictions and prohibitions on their phone contact with their families." It states that many detainees were unable to contact their families in the early days of their detention, and in one case, the release of Morteza Nourmohammadi Nadarli was prevented despite a bail order being issued at the last moment. The signatories wrote that "despite the repeated visits of the families of the detainees and their protests against these illegal practices, judicial authorities evade accountability, raising fears that such pressures are being used to extract confessions and fabricate heavy charges against them." They expressed concern about the repeated arrests and transfers of Roya Zakeri, a protesting girl from Tabriz, to the intelligence detention center and the Razi psychiatric hospital in Tabriz, and the lack of transparency from judicial authorities regarding the reasons for her detention, the detaining authority, and her health status. They also expressed concern about increasing pressures on Armita Paveer, another detainee from last year's protests in Tabriz, who is again in Tabriz prison and reports of her hunger strike have surfaced. Previously, the Azerbaijani Political Prisoners Defense Association (ADAP) reported that Hamed Yeganehpour, who has been in detention since November 7, has been deprived of access to medical facilities. Relatives of Mr. Yeganehpour told ADAP that he stated in a phone call that doctors had determined after an echocardiogram and thorough examination that he urgently needs medical care for his heart condition, but intelligence agents, indifferent to the doctors' diagnosis and his critical physical condition, returned him from the hospital to prison. These Azerbaijani activists and campaigners demanded that the judicial and security authorities of the Islamic Republic put an end to "unconventional and illegal behaviors that constitute a violation of human rights and the civil rights of detainees." They concluded the statement by calling for the release of all political and ideological prisoners in Iran. Among the signatories of the statement are Ebrahim Jafarpoor, Ahmad Ebrahimpoor, Ahmad Joulani, Omid Ramin, Amir Chamani, Amir Mokhtarzadeh, Eyvaz Bayat, Arash Reza Pour, Aysan Farjzadeh, Babak Pournajaf, Babak Choobdar, Behzad Hamidnia, Behnam Pournajaf, Parviz Haqgoo, Pariyosh Delir, Jalal Chavoshian, Hossein Farajzadeh, Saeed Matinpour, Mohammad Ali Ghafarian, Marzieh Tabaan, and Nasrin Firdous.