Sepideh Gholian
| Sepideh Gholian | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1995 |
| 🏡 Residence | Ahvaz |
| 🏳️ Nationality | Iranian |
| 💼 Occupation | civil rights activist Political prisoner |
| Known for | 2018–2019 Iranian general strikes and protests |
Sepideh Gholian (Persian: سپیده قلیان, born 1995) is an Iranian civil rights activist, journalist and prisoner of conscience from the city of Ahvaz.
Activitsm
On November 18, 2018 Sepideh Gholian, who had worked with several publications as a citizen journalist before [1] was reporting on a labor protest organized by the Workers Union of Haft Tappeh Sugarcane Agro Industrial Company (Persian: شرکت نیشکر هفتتپه), when she was arrested by the Iranian security forces. Esmail Bakhshi, the spokesman for the union, and a dozen other trade unionists were also arrested during the protest.[2][3] All of those arrested, except Gholian and Bakhshi, were released within days. Gholian and Bakhshi were held without charge or legal representation for 30 days and were eventually released on bail.[4][5]
Torture
On November 29, 2018 while Gholian and Bakhshi were still detained, The Vahed Syndicate, a trade union representing over 17,000 transit workers, revealed in a statement that Esmail Bakhshi had been briefly hospitalized due to torture he had suffered while in government custody.[2] Immediately upon release, Gholian confirmed that both her and Bakhshi had been subjected to torture by the security forces.[6] Following their release on bail, Bakhshi and Gholian gave Amnesty International an account of the torture they suffered while in custody of police and ministry of intelligence officials in the cities of Shush and Ahvaz. They told Amnesty that they had been beaten, slammed against walls and shoved to the ground, humiliated with flogging, and threatened with sexual assault and murder. Gholian stated that during her daily interrogation sessions, which started around 10am and lasted until the early hours of the following morning, intelligence officials repeatedly subjected her to sexual insults, calling her a “whore”, accused her of having sexual relationships with workers, and threatened to make sure that her family would receive such information that would make them murder Sepideh for "honor".[7] This revelation led to immense public backlash especially on Iranian social media.[8] In response to public outrage various Iranian state organizations issued denials of Gholian's accusations and characterized her and Bakhshi as instruments of foreign interest.
On January 19, 2019 the Iranian state television broadcast what it claimed to be a documentary showing that Gholian, Bakhshi, and other activists have connections to the Trump administration, communist groups and other Iranians in diaspora who pursue overthrowing of the Iranian regime. [9] The broadcast, recorded during their detention, contained videos of a visibly distraught Gholian and Bakhshi confessing to their crimes against the state. Gholian responded on Twitter that this broadcast is by itself further proof of torture.[10] Bakhshi’s lawyer, Farzaneh Zilabi, described broadcasting of these statements by his client as a violation of the law. “Broadcasting of this documentary is unjustifiable and unacceptable. Now that the confidential investigations in this fake case have been made public through a deceptive, selective and unfair documentary, Mr. Bakhshi wants an open and transparent trial,” She added that the broadcasting of the program was a violation of Article 96 of Iran’s Criminal Procedures Regulations, which makes it a crime to publish the identity and image of the accused before they’ve been convicted of a crime.[11][12]
Rearrest
Gholian and Bakhshi were arrested again[13][14] on January 20, 2019.[15] According to Amnesty International, the timing of their arrest strongly suggests it is an attempt to silence and punish them for speaking out about the abuse they suffered in custody.[16] In a phone interview, Gholian's father told a reporter: "At 7 in the morning, 12 male and 2 female officers violently raided my home, broke my son's teeth, assaulted me and my wife, and told us they'd kill our daughter."[17][18]
Abolfazl Ghadyani, A former veteran Islamic revolutionary turned dissident, singled out Ali Khamenei as the main culprit behind all wrongdoings and injustices against Bakhshi and Gholian.[19]
See also
References
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- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HGmZEzgM3E BBC Persian reportage برنامه خبرنگاران؛بی بی سی فارسی. برنامه ۶ بهمن ۱۳۹۷
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Labor Activists Say Detained Worker Tortured, Sent To Hospital". RFE/RL. Retrieved 2019-01-21.
- ↑ "Union activists tortured in Iran as strike wave spreads". IndustriALL. 2018-12-06. Retrieved 2019-01-21.
- ↑ https://ir.voanews.com/a/iran-human-rights/4751102.html ماجرای بازداشت دوباره «سپیده قلیان» بعد از پخش اعترافات اجباری
- ↑ Lipin, Michael (January 28, 2019). "Britain-based Transport Union Urges Iran to Free Detained Labor Activists". VOA. Retrieved 2019-01-30.
- ↑ "Amnesty Criticizes Iran's Mass Arrests as US Frees Reporter". The New York Times. 2019-01-24. Retrieved 2019-01-28.
- ↑ "Labour rights activists punished for speaking out on torture". www.amnesty.org. Retrieved 2019-01-22.
- ↑ "#سپیده_قلیان hashtag on Instagram". www.instagram.com. Retrieved 2019-01-30.
- ↑ https://www.instagram.com/p/Bs0wYqThJW2/ 'Burned Plan' TV Broadcast by IRIB.
- ↑ https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/01/24/iran-prominent-labor-activist-rearrested Human Rights Watch report on January 24, 2019 2:00AM EST Iran: Prominent Labor Activist Rearrested
- ↑ "Iran: Release Labor Activists Re-Arrested For Revealing They'd Been Tortured". Center for Human Rights in Iran. 2019-01-22. Retrieved 2019-01-22.
- ↑ BBC Persian, Sepideh Gholian speaking before re-arrest (Special BBC), retrieved 2019-01-30
- ↑ "Iran: Prominent Labor Activist Rearrested". Human Rights Watch. 2019-01-24. Retrieved 2019-01-28.
- ↑ "Iran arrests Ahwazi activist allegedly tortured in prison". Middle East Monitor. 2019-01-21. Retrieved 2019-01-22.
- ↑ "Iran arrests labour protest leader". France 24. 2019-01-21. Retrieved 2019-01-21.
- ↑ "Labour rights activists punished for speaking out on torture". www.amnesty.org. Retrieved 2019-01-22.
- ↑ Alinejad, Massih (January 20, 2019). "Peyke Iran". پیک ایران. Archived from the original on February 9, 2023. Retrieved January 20, 2019.
- ↑ "Iran TV broadcasts activists' forced confessions, re-arrests them". Iran News Wire. 2019-01-20. Retrieved 2019-01-30.
- ↑ "Former Supporter Says Khamenei Behind Mistreatment Of Detainees". RFE/RL. Retrieved 2019-01-22.
