Gonabadi Sufis' repression in Iran

The sad fate of Mr Behnam Mahjoubi is a vivid illustration of the pitiless treatment that befalls (religio-)political prisoners, and Gonabadi Sufis prominently among them, in the Islamic Republic. 

See:

https://www.iranhumanrights.org/2021/02/irans-political-prisoners-are-dying-due-to-denial-of-medical-care/

Center for Human Rights in Iran

Iran’s Political Prisoners Are Dying Due to Denial of Medical Care

Death of Behnam Mahjoubi Will Be Followed by Others without Urgent Action

February 22, 2021—The death of prisoner of conscience Behnam Mahjoubi, who died on February 21, 2021, after untreated medical conditions that included serious neurological issues, reflects the continued crisis in Iran’s prisons, where prisoners, especially prisoners of conscience and political prisoners, are denied proper medical treatment.

“Many prisoners in Iran are in desperate need of medical treatment and more will die without immediate care,” said Hadi Ghaemi, executive director of the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI).

“Governments worldwide should condemn Iran’s practice of denying medical care to prisoners as the torture and effective extrajudicial murder of prisoners that it represents,” Ghaemi added.

CHRI strongly urges Iranian lawmakers and the Rouhani administration to hold judicial and prison authorities accountable for denying prisoners healthcare. It also calls on the international community to forcefully speak with one voice in condemnation of Iran’s unlawful and inhuman practice of systematically denying medical care to prisoners.

Mahjoubi, a member of Iran’s persecuted Sufi Gonabadi Order, had been serving a two-year sentence on trumped up national security charges since June 2020, even though Iran’s State Medical Examiner had concluded he could not withstand incarceration. He was transferred from Evin Prison to Tehran’s Loghman Hospital on February 13, 2021, after suffering seizures, and died eight days later.

The head of the Medical Examiner’s Office in Tehran, Mehdi Forouzesh, said in a statement that the results of an autopsy carried out on Mahjoubi’s body will “subsequently be submitted to judicial authorities.”

The UN has called for “a full and transparent investigation” into Mahjoubi’s death, stating “His death is another reminder of how adequate medical treatment is repeatedly denied to detainees.”

Political Prisoners in Dire Need of Medical Treatment

Many other prisoners have either become critically ill or suffer from longstanding and serious medical conditions that have been left untreated in Iran’s prisons.

In a letter from Rajaee-Shahr Prison in Karaj to UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet, dated February 3, 2021, political prisoner Arash Sadeghi noted a number of fellow political prisoners who have been denied medical treatment, including:

Nasrin Sotoudeh: The renowned human rights lawyer has been imprisoned in Iran since 2018 despite serious medical issues including cardiac and pulmonary issues that required hospitalization.

Raheleh Ahmadi: An opponent of compulsory hijab, Ahmadi is serving a 31-month sentence in in Evin Prison, where she suffers from mobility issues; her lawyer and medical specialists say there’s a possibility she could become paralyzed.

Motalleb Ahmadian: Ahmadian is serving a 30-year prison sentence for membership in an organization opposed to the Islamic Republic. Held in Rajaee-Shahr Prison in Karaj, he suffers from a spinal injury and a blood clot in his testicles due to being beaten.

Soheil Arabi: In Rajaee-Shahr Prison serving multiple prison sentences since 2013 in connection with his social media posts and protests inside prison, he suffers from a blood clot in his testicles resulting from beatings and an untreated broken bone.

Monireh Arabshahi: Serving 5.5 years in prison in Kachuei Prison in Karaj for peacefully protesting compulsory hijab, she suffers from an inflamed thyroid gland that has led to a speech impairment.

Afshin Baymani: Sentenced to life in prison on the charge of cooperating with the banned Mohajedin Khalgh Organization (MEK), he is being held in Rajaee-Shahr Prison in Karaj, where he suffers from heart disease.

Atena Daemi: As the civil rights activist neared her July 4, 2020 release date, she was sentenced to an additional 3.7 years in prison. She has suffered multiple untreated illnesses since her arrest and currently has a lump in the chest area.

Abolghasem Fouladvand: Serving a 15-year prison sentence in Rajaee-Shahr Prison in Karaj for supporting the banned Mojahedin Khalgh Organization (MEK), he suffers from heart disease.

Zeynab Jalalian: Serving a life sentence for alleged membership in a banned Kurdish separatist organization, she is currently in prison in Yazd, southeast Iran, suffering eye complications.

Hashem Khastar: The teacher and civil rights activist was sentenced in February 2020 to 16 years in prison after signing a letter calling for Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei to step down. He suffers from heart disease.

Saeed Masouri: A physician who has been sentenced to life in prison for alleged membership in the banned Mojahedin Khalgh Organization (MEK), Masouri suffers from bleeding and urinary tract issues.

Mehdi Meskin-Navaz: Serving a 7.5-year prison sentence in connection with managing a news channel on the Telegram messaging app, the journalist suffers from spinal and leg bone complications.

Samaneh Norouz-Moradi: Held in Lakan Prison in Rasht, Gilan province, since October 21, 2020, Norouz-Moradi suffers from articular lupus, diabetes and possible breast cancer.

Fatemeh Mosanna: Serving a 15-year sentence for organizing a mourning ceremony for her father-in-law who is a member of the banned Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK) opposition group, she suffers from severe colitis; prison doctor and specialist physician have declared her unfit for incarceration.

Mohammad Nourizad: The filmmaker and dissident, imprisoned in 2019 after signing a letter calling on Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s resignation, underwent an operation to remove his gallbladder in December 2020. Due to serve at least 10 years in prison for multiple convictions on national security charges, he suffers from heart disease.

Arash Sadeghi: Since June 2016, Sadeghi has been serving a 15-year prison sentence for engaging in peaceful civil rights activism. He has been denied full medical treatment for a rare form of bone cancer that he has suffered since 2019.

Hamzeh Savari: Arrested in 2015, he has been sentenced to life in prison on the charge of waging war against the state. Held at Rajaee Shahr Prison, he suffers from a tumor in his right knee.

In addition to the above individuals, CHRI is aware of the following cases:

Ghasem Abasteh: The Kurdish political prisoner is on death row for membership in an extremist Sunni Muslim group. Held in Rajaee-Shahr Prison, he suffers from a tumor in his stomach, severe kidney problems and arthritis of the neck.

Reza Taleshian Jelodarzadeh: Serving a three-year sentence in Greater Tehran Central Penitentiary (GTCP) since January 2021, the journalist has been denied medications for seizures which have caused serious eye complications.

Khaled Pirzadeh: Serving a five-year prison sentence for “assembly and collusion against national security,” Pirzadeh is held in GTCP, where he suffers from untreated heart complications and problems with his back and knees.

Political prisoners in Iran are singled out for harsh treatment, which often includes denial of medical care. The UN has expressed serious concerns over Iran’s continued denial of appropriate healthcare to detainees, which violates the UN’s Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners.

Iran’s State Prison Regulations (Article 118) state, “Examination, and when necessary treatment, of sick convicts is the responsibility of the prison or training facility.”

Iran’s Prisons Are Breeding Grounds for Medical Illnesses

The denial of proper medical treatment is not the only urgent health problem faced by Iran’s prisoners. In addition, all prisoners, and especially inmates of prisons in Iran’s more remote regions are:

• Subjected to physical and psychological torture.
• Often not separated from violent or otherwise dangerous prisoners.
• Incarcerated in overcrowded and unhygienic prisons.
• Inadequately protected from COVID-19 in prisons, where there is scant testing of prisoners or separation of ill prisoners or new prisoners who have not been quarantined.

 

ecumenism and sectarianism

van den Bos, M. 2017. The Balance of Ecumenism and Sectarianism. Rethinking Religion and Foreign Policy in Iran [online version]. In Journal of Political Ideologies, 30 November. http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/HbpuHaZrWqq8YwiXSb5h/full.

European Shiism, Shiite Sufism pubs.

Couple more publications of mine came out in the area of European Shiism (or rather Shiism in Europe, bracketing 'European Shiism'), with Iranian institutional imprints, often, in the centre.

Haven't come around to uploading any but aim to make full-text versions available in the not-too-distant future, probably on my institutional depository, BIRON, in the first instance.

van den Bos, M. 2015. ‘Western Seminary’: On Transnational Shiite Higher Education in Britain. Social Compass 62 (2): 238-54.

—— 2015. Review of Marcinkowski, C. 2010. Shi'ite Identities. Community and Culture in Changing Social Contexts. Religion, State and Society 43 (2): 186-91.

IE3 saw fit to publish a new entry of mine in the realm of Shiite Sufism in Iran, on the Ẕoᵓr-Reyāsateyn master ᶜAbdolḥoseyn Mūnesᶜalīshāh.

van den Bos, M. 2015. ᶜAbd al-Ḥusayn Mūnis ᶜAlī Shāh. In Encyclopaedia of Islam III (eds) K. Fleet, G. Krämer, D. Matringe, J. Nawas & E. Rowson. Leiden [etc.]: Brill, pp. 2-4.

london house available, august/september

By way of exception, a private message:

House in North London available, August and September 2012

Light, spatious 3 1/2 bedroom house with sunny rooftop terrace available in beautiful green part of North London, August to September 2012. Ideal for one or two couples, or family. £1600 rent per month. 16 minutes by tube (Piccadilly Line) to King's Cross/St Pancras Station; Euston Station. Walking distance from Alexandra Park. Bicycles available. [...]

divine justice, sectarian call to universal cause

It is always difficult to tell to what degree opinions are shared within communities with strong symbolic boundaries and a sense of besieged identity. Fact is, though, that yesterday's enlightening Guardian column by Haider al-Khoei states a view that even informally, one doesn't encounter very often. And qua formal, public statement, it is one of a kind. No other statements in the Western public square come to mind where Shiite notables have been so perceptively introspective, calling upon co-religionists to break free from narrower sectarian loyalties where they stand in the way of - and clearly contradict - a key universalist tenet of the creed, namely the drive for divine justice. One hopes that al-Khoei was putting into words what had been felt by larger sections of Shiite communities, particularly in the West. Here opportunities abound for a universalist recasting of the faith but post-migration pressures toward inverse inwardness are also much in evidence. But were he not yet speaking for a silent Western Shiite majority, then at least there's the fact of a key symbolic representative from among them stating such compelling words in a concise coherent message. This will ideally have the effect of internally opening up that long overdue debate.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/apr/25/shia-persecution-middle-eat/print

Comment is free

Shia Muslims must beware of hypocrisy

Shia Muslims can no longer play the victim while turning a blind eye to crimes being committed in their name elsewhere

Hayder al-Khoei guardian.co.uk, Monday 25 April 2011 11.00 BST

Hundreds of Iraqi Shia gather in a Baghdad square to show solidarity for anti-government protesters in Bahrain. Photograph: Karim Kadim/AP

Shia Muslims, of which I am one, should not expect the world to take them seriously when they attempt to take the moral high ground regarding oppression. They should also be unflinching when it comes to self-criticism if their real goal is to achieve justice and equality.

The dilemma is that if the Shia show any signs of reluctance to admit human rights abuses carried out in their name, for whatever reason, they lose credibility when they attempt to shed light on the discrimination they are faced with across the Muslim world. More importantly, and regardless of how sincere their claims really are, they become a part of the very double standards they accuse others of.

People have a right to be angry when they see politicians enforcing a no-fly zone in Libya while doing nothing to alleviate the pain of Bahrainis, most of them Shia, who are being killed and maimed by weapons that are supplied by the west. What makes this even more striking is the fact that the foreign minister of Saudi Arabia, Saud al-Faisal, was cosying up with David Cameron at the same time as Saudi troops were in Bahrain helping another autocratic regime to violently put down a pro-democracy protest.

There is no denying that Shia Muslims are facing intolerable injustice throughout the Islamic world – even as far east as Malaysia where the state is deliberately treating them like second-class citizens and pushing many of them underground. While not detracting from their plight, it is imperative we do not forget that the Shia have also been oppressors themselves in countries such as Iraq and Iran.

In Iraq, Shia death squads and militias openly roamed the streets of Baghdad patrolling Sunni areas and targeting innocent people for simply being born with the wrong name. In what was a vicious cycle of tit-for-tat killings, many Iraqis lost their lives to this brutal sectarian war. Indeed, many of these attacks were retaliatory in nature and a response to other terrorist attacks throughout the country, but it is about time that blame is shared for the heinous crimes committed in post-2003 Iraq by all those responsible. If for nothing else, this will help in healing old, and deep, wounds for the coming generation, and lead to at least a glimmer of hope for real reconciliation.

In Iran, the events following the contested June 2009 elections were politically motivated and nothing to do with sectarianism, but it was a Shia ruling elite that desperately tried to cling on to power by unleashing its security services on pro-democracy protesters.

The largely peaceful protest was put down violently; civilians were shot in the middle of the street, run over by armoured vehicles, beaten with clubs and imprisoned for simply demanding their rights. Ironically, as is the case in Libya and Syria today, the government justified the violent crackdown on the basis that it was targeting a mass movement under the influence of an external power; Everything from America, Britain, Israel, Zionism, Mickey Mouse, imperialism to, more generally, "the west".

The sectarian identity of perpetrator and victim should not normally be so much of an issue – a crime is a crime no matter who commits it and where – but in both Iraq and Iran, many of these crimes were committed in the name of Islam and that is why it becomes even more important to condemn them publicly. The Shia can no longer play the victim card while turning a blind eye to other crimes being committed in their name elsewhere.

Shia Muslims across the world constantly invoke the memory of the battle of Kerbala, because in our belief this epitomises standing up to oppression and injustice. It is crucial to note that they may not necessarily have a sectarian agenda in doing so – the horrific slaughter of the prophet's grandson, along with his children, is etched into our memory at a very young age and symbolises an eternal fight against tyranny – but what good is this conscience if we deliberately ignore the fundamental significance of that battle? Specifically that we must stand up to oppression wherever and whenever it takes place, and at all costs.

closing in on the qotb

After several years of steadily increasing repression of Soltan‘alishahi Sufis in particular, among other Iranian Sufis – with their houses of worship closed or destroyed in a range of cities, their lawyers arrested and otherwise intimidated, affiliates molested and incarcerated on trumped up charges, and the order and its authorities alike subjected to vitriolic campaigns of stigmatisation (all of which has been painstakingly and compellingly documented in a variety of authoritative open sources) – time must now have felt ripe for their detractors in the state apparatus to start closing in on the tariqat’s spiritual axis -– an elderly man in ill health with an utterly respectable public record who has dedicated his life to the service of others.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/persian/iran/2011/04/110423_l10_daravish_tabandeh_summoned.shtml 

صدور احضاریه برای قطب دراویش گنابادی در ایران

به روز شده:  17:02 گرينويچ - شنبه 23 آوريل 2011 - 03 اردیبهشت 1390

آقای تابنده که پیروانش او را مجذوبعلیشاه می‌نامند، در سال‌های پس از انقلاب اسلامی در ایران از مقامات عالی‌رتبه دولت موقت به ریاست مهدی بازرگان بود

دراویش سلسله نعمت اللهی گنابادی از صدور احضاریه برای نورعلی تابنده، قطب این دراویش خبر می دهند.

مصطفی آزمایش، سخنگوی دراویش نعمت اللهی به بی بی سی فارسی گفت که این احضاریه را دادستانی گناباد صادر کرده و برای آقای تابنده به تهران فرستاده است.

به گفته او، مقامات قضایی پذیرفته اند که با توجه به سن بالا و جایگاه آقای تابنده، نماینده ای را برای "تفهیم اتهام" نزد او بفرستند.

احضاریه مذکور به موضوع دفن اموات در گورستان مزار سلطانی، مدفن اقطاب و مشایخ دراویش سلسله نعمت اللهی در بیدخت گناباد مربوط می شود که مقامات آن را ممنوع کرده اند و می گویند که عملی "غیر بهداشتی" است.

همزمان از بیدخت گناباد خبر می رسد که انتقال ۸ تن از دراویش به زندان وکیل آباد مشهد اعتراض پیروان سلسله را در پی داشته است.

آقای آزمایش به بی بی سی فارسی گفت که حکم محکومیت این افراد پیش تر صادر شده بود و اکنون اجرا شده است.

او گفت وکلای دراویش سه روز پیش در محل دادگستری گناباد حاضر شده و با دادستان این شهر گفت و گو کرده بودند و او ارائه پاسخ را به امروز (شنبه سوم اردیبهشت) موکول کرده بود.

اما مقامات قضایی صبح امروز اعلام کردند که حکم های مذکور قطعی و لازم الاجراست.

به دراویش هشدار داده شده است که در صورت هر گونه تجمع یا اقدام اعتراضی، با واکنش قاطع مأموران انتظامی و امنیتی مواجه خواهند شد.

فشار بر دراویش گنابادی در سال های اخیر در ایران افزایش یافته و حسینیه آنها در شهرهای قم، بروجرد و اصفهان تخریب شده است.

گروهی از روحانیان سنتی شیعه و مسئولان نهادهای مذهبی در ایران از گرایش روزافزون جوانان به اعتقادات عرفانی و صوفی گرایانه اظهار نگرانی کرده و این اعتقادات را گمراه کننده دانسته اند.

به نظر می رسد که برخورد با دراویش گنابادی ناشی از این گونه نگرانی ها باشد.

سابقه سلسله دراویش نعمت اللهی گنابادی به شاه نعمت الله ولی، عارف قرن نهم هجری باز می گردد.

پیروان شاه نعمت الله ولی در سده های اخیر به سه شاخه ذوالریاستینی (منورعلیشاهی)، گنابادی (سلطانعلی شاهی) و صفایی (صفی علیشاهی) تقسیم شده اند.

اعتقادات طریقت گنابادی نسبت به شاخه های دیگر به اهل شریعت نزدیک تر است و پیروان این شاخه مکان های تجمع خود را به جای خانقاه، "حسینیه" می نامند.

رهبر یا "قطب" فعلی دراویش گنابادی نورعلی تابنده، معروف به مجذوبعلی شاه است.

Intellectual Bamiyan

Is this even conceivable? Well, yes, worse human rights violations there are, and not in the least in Iran. It seems doubtful though if any other regime is actually on record for attempting to project control, interfering so directly and overtly in the day-to-day practice of (nationals in) foreign educational institutions. There is an almost comical aspect to these measures - essentially, Iranian students abroad, whether state funded or not, are from now on prohibited from choosing things Iranian for their thesis topics. Potential agents in the 'soft revolution', you know, but would the beloved metaphor of 'tahajom-e farhangi' perhaps have served their accusers for inspiration? Comic, for the desperation, ignorance, and paranoia behind these dictates - can a just order ever be undermined by freedom of intellectual enquiry? And ultimately, for their futility - particularising the universalising phenomenon of the human sciences, as if trying to prevent water from flowing to the sea. Comic, if only this parody of hierarchy wouldn't have such very real life effects, for the thousands of Iranian students abroad, whether or not with dual nationality, whose opinions on the Islamic Republic, inter alia, vary widely. But even some part of the system sympathisers will be upset as essentially this tells them: whether you're for us or against, the definition of this 'nezam' is none of your business. Intellectual freedom is the core value of academic life that cannot be compromised without rendering the integrity of the practice itself into danger - and it is therefore reasonable for foreign educational institutions to speak in a principled way against these developments: it is undesirable for a foreign state to dictate thesis (non-)topics of their students. This regime has not shunned great civilisation discourse since the crackdowns of 2009, and the newspeak wears thinner each day. For this is a crass attempt at intellectual Bamiyan, aimed at those of their nationals with the greatest potential for bringing Iran a brighter future.

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راديو فردا

 ۱۳۸۹/۱۲/۱۷

انتخاب پایان نامه با موضوع ايران برای دانشجويان ايرانی خارج کشور ممنوع شد

مدير کل امور دانش آموختگان وزارت علوم دولت جمهوری اسلامی ایران گفته است که دانشجویان ایرانی خارج از کشور، اجازه انتخاب موضوع رساله مرتبط با ایران ندارند و این ممنوعیت شامل تمام دانشجویان است.

محمد حسین مجلس آرا روز سه شنبه در نشست خبری معاونت دانشجويی وزارت علوم گفته است: «ممنوعيت انتخاب موضوع رساله در ارتباط با ايران هم شامل دانشجويانی که با هزينه شخصی برای ادامه تحصيل به خارج از کشور می‌روند و هم شامل دانشجويان بورسيه دولتی می شود.»

این مقام دولتی از امکان استثنا در این انتخاب گفته است: «ممکن است تنها به برخی از دانشجويانی که بورسيه وزارت علوم هستند، طرح های دولتی جهت تعالی کشور برای رساله به آنها از سوی خود وزارت علوم ارائه شود.»

خبرگزاری مهر هم از قول محمود ملاباشی، معاون دانشجويی وزارت علوم، درباره دليل ممنوع شدن انتخاب موضوع رساله در ارتباط با ايران برای دانشجويان ايرانی مشغول به تحصيل در خارج از کشور گفته است: «با توجه به اين که اطلاعات يک رساله مربوط به داخل است، بنابراين هيچ خروجی برای دو کشور در اين زمينه وجود ندارد.»

معاون دانشجویی وزیر علوم همچنین گفته است: «ضمن این که ممکن است برخی موضوعاتی که توسط دانشجويان ارائه می‌شود، تکراری باشد.»

به دنبال برگزاری انتخابات رياست جمهوری که با سرکوب فعالان سياسی و مدنی در ايران همراه شد، دستگاه قضايی ايران بسياری از اين فعالان را دادگاهی کرد که از جمله اتهام های آنها، ارتباط با موسسات و بنيادهای مطالعاتی خارجی بود.

به دنبال برگزاری اين دادگاه ها، موج حملات عليه علوم انسانی از سوی رسانه های هوادار دولت و مقام های جمهوری اسلامی ايران آغاز شد و آيت الله خامنه ای، رهبر ايران، نيز خواستار تدوين «علوم انسانی اسلامی» برای مقابله با ايدئولوژی های غربی شد.

سال گذشته، محمد مهدی زاهدی، وزير علوم وقت دولت محمود احمدی نژاد، در جمع گروهی از «دانشجويان فعال خارج از کشور» گفت که «سرنخ‌ های انقلاب مخملی» در پايان نامه‌های دانشگاهی يافت شده است.

«انقلاب مخملی» یکی از اصلی‌ترین اتهام‌های نیروهای نظامی و امنیتی جمهوری اسلامی برای بازداشت‌ها و محدودیت‌ها در ایران پس از انتخابات بوده است.

به دنبال اين تحولات، وزارت اطلاعات جمهوری اسلامی، فهرستی طولانی از موسسات علمی و تحقيقی که به گفته آن در «جنگ نرم» فعاليت دارند، منتشر کرد و خواستار عدم همکاری دانشگاهیان و دانشجویان ایرانی با آنها شد.

«لغو تحصیلات نیمه حضور در مقطع دکتری»

محمد حسین مجلس آرا، مدیرکل دانش آموختگان وزارت علوم همچنین گفته است: «بر اساس مصوبات شورای ارزشيابی دانش آموختگان وزارت علوم تحصيلات نيمه حضوری در مقطع دکتری برای دانشجويان ايرانی که برای ادامه تحصيل به خارج از کشور می‌روند از ژانويه ۲۰۱۱ (ماه گذشته میلادی) لغو شد.»

پیشتر هم گزارش هایی در مورد درخواست نمایندگان مجلس شورای اسلامی برای توقف تحصیل فرزندان دیپلمات ها و سفیران ایرانی در خارج از کشور منتشر شده بود.

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© 2011تمام حقوق این وب‌سایت بر اساس قانون کپی‌رایت برای رادیو فردا محفوظ است.