Iden oal Irdictncnts for All Defex ants - roozonline ,com lttp://www .roo nlScom'englisli/news/riewsiteni/article/2OO9/august/l8. . ,
Tuesday, 18 Aug2009
report
August 18, 2009
Identical Indictments for All Defendants
The third trial session of detainees arrested since the June 12 contested presidential
election in Iran was on Saturday at the fifteenth branch of a Revolutionary Court in
Tehran. According to the indictment read out by the prosecutor's representative, the
detainees were charged with acting against national security, disseminating harmful
propaganda against the regime through participating in illegal gatherings, claiming fraud
and uncertainty in election results, disrupting public order by participating in disruptive
gatherings, participating in destruction and vandalism of public property and terrorism.
However, the indictment read at yesterday's session included serious errors that enticed
the defendants to correct them in their remarks.
The prosecutor's indictment argued that the “defendants' confessions” proved the existence of a conspiracy since
several years go to stir chaos on the streets, the recent election providing only an excuse.
I Only Threw Rocks
Unlike the two previous sessions, several defendants denied the charges against them at yesterday's session.
Mohsen Jafari, who was accused by the prosecutor of acting against national security, propaganda against the
regime, claiming fraud and uncertainty in election results and disrupting public order by participating in
disturbances and throwing rocks at officers, said in his defense, “The picture of me published in the Kayhan
newspaper was taken on Saturday, June 31 (before street clashes began).”
Judge Salavati addressed the defendant, “You announced that you viewed your picture at one of the clashes on a
satellite television network!” The detainee dismissed the claim as incorrect, noting, “If a picture of me at one of
clashes was taken, it should be available on the websites.” At another part of the session the judge claimed that the
defendant had confessed to destroying public property at one of the disturbances, but the detainee said, “I did not
participate in these gatherings.”
Confessed in Interrogation Out of Fear!
Hossein Ezami, who was accused in the indictment of having confessed to destroying public property, denied the
confession and said, “I don't accept the charge of destroying public property as I said in my interrogations.” This
prisoner, who stated that he passed out Mousavi posters only during the last two campaign days, said, “I confess
that I made a mistake by going to Mousavi's campaign office and I accept that.” Discussing the indictment's
reference to his “criminal background,” he said, “I said that out of fear and it's a lie. I said those things at the first
interrn tinn sessinn tn rniiit myself” His remark w s nn imnlirit reference tn the fact that nrisnners nre fnrced tn
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“confess” to various crimes in order to reduce the pressure imposed on them by interrogators.
The judge asked Ezami, “What do you have to say about disrupting public order especially at the Azadi avenue and
Tehran University, and also about the offer of payment of 500 thousand Tomans to you to cause unrest?” Ezami
responded, “I wasn't given an offer.”
Charge: Sending Email to BBC
Mehrdad Aslani was also put on trial for membership in the reformist voting headquarters and sending emails to the
BBC. Regarding his communication with the BBC news channel before and after the election, he said, “Because I
knew that this network was pursuing psychological warfare and unrest in Iran, I tried to communicate with them by
email to express my dissatisfaction.”
According to the prosecutor's indictment, Aslani sent one email to the BBC news network before the election, and
two emails after the election.
Payam Dehpanah was another defendant in the trial who was allegedly arrested by the police for making incendiary
bombs such as Molotov cocktails and carrying them at illegal gatherings. He is an aeronautical engineering student
and said in court that he had registered eight8 inventions.
Responding to the judge's question about sending emails to the Voice of America network, Dehpanah said, “I
didn't send an email to Voice of America, but to one of its affiliates so that they can provide me with anti-filtering
software.”
I Was Beaten and Got Angry
Fifty-year-old Mehrdad Varshoyee was charged with “assaulting Basiji officers, acting against national security and
participating in destruction and setting on fire of public property.” However, he admitted only to beating one Basiji
officer, saying, “Because I was struck with two heavy baton blows I attacked one officer whom I didn't know was
a member of the Basij.”
Another defendant at yesterday's session, Shaoolian, first referred to the indictment's errors, noting, “I was
arrested on June 13 (before street clashes began) not June 14.”
He also denied the judge's claim that “according to the officers you were one of the main culprits of the
disturbances.”
Mother defendant at yesterday's session, Majid Moghimi, was charged with several counts including,
“participation in setting fire to government and public property, creating doubt and uncertainty about election
results and removal of public trust in the government.” When he started defending himself and the judge asked him
questions, it was revealed that his only crime was storing photos of injured protesters and himself when on
Enghelab avenue on his mobile phone, which he did not share with anyone either.
Mother defendant, Mohammad Farahani, was charged with six counts of participation in illegal disturbances, three
counts of which were from June 8, 9 and 10, dating to the pre-election campaign days. When the judge told him,
“One of your charges is that you chanted slogans,” he denied and said, “I didn't chant any insulting slogans.”
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