Turkish Court Rejects Temporary Release Request for Ali-Asghar Haqdar, Istanbul-Based Writer

A court in Turkey has rejected a legal request for the temporary release of Ali-Asghar Haqdar, a writer and researcher on the Constitutional Revolution, who has been detained in Istanbul since June 14 and transferred to a refugee camp. Mr. Haqdar contacted Radio Farda from the 'Arnavutköy' camp near Istanbul to inform them of this news. Saleh Afeh, Haqdar's lawyer, stated on Wednesday, July 25, that an appeal has been filed for his case, but it is unclear whether this request will be approved or when the court will respond. If the court rejects Ali-Asghar Haqdar's temporary release request a second time, the likelihood of his forced return to Iran will significantly increase. A relative of Mr. Haqdar in Turkey, who speaks with him occasionally, reports on his poor mental state. Currently, Mr. Haqdar is being held in a container at the 'Arnavutköy' camp along with many other refugees of various nationalities. He has told his relatives that they are in very poor conditions regarding hygiene, food, and outdoor access, and camp officials rarely allow detainees to go outside. Previously, Haqdar's lawyer confirmed the news of his detention, which had been published by some of his friends. According to Mr. Haqdar's account to Radio Farda, Turkish police detained many foreign nationals residing in Istanbul on June 14 by checking their passports in the street. The police cited reasons for these detentions, such as unregistered passports or nearing expiration dates. Mr. Haqdar stated that the police initially told him that his passport was nearing expiration and later said it needed to be checked for registration. However, after more than a month, the Turkish immigration court stated that this researcher did not have permission to reside in Istanbul and should have been living in the city of Qaraqal'agh. This is despite Mr. Haqdar informing Turkish police earlier that he needed to live in Istanbul for easier access to libraries for his research, to which they had said there was no problem. This writer and researcher on the Constitutional Revolution has lived in Turkey for 13 years and has collaborated with academic and cultural institutions in the country on historical matters. He left Iran in 2010 following the intensification of repression after the protests against the results of the 2009 presidential election. At that time, a pamphlet titled 'Colored Whispers' was circulated on social media, allegedly prepared in collaboration with the Ministry of Intelligence, listing several publishers, writers, and translators, including Ali-Asghar Haqdar, claiming these individuals were working in the cultural sphere to lay the groundwork for a 'soft war' in line with the 'goals of the seditionists' (a term used by government supporters for supporters of Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi). After leaving Iran, Mr. Haqdar applied for asylum at the United Nations office in Istanbul. In 2013, he received the 'Hellman/Hammett' award for freedom of expression and human rights from Human Rights Watch. He has published dozens of books and articles on the history of the Constitutional Revolution and textual criticism.