Iran regime arrests, tortures families of PMOI members

Friday, 04 April 2008

NCRI – Iranian regime arrests and tortures families of members of the main Iranian opposition group, the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) for meeting their relatives in Iraq, the PMOI said in a statement on Tuesday, April 1.

In recent months, there have been widespread arrests of families of PMOI members who had visited their relatives in Ashraf City, home to thousands of members of PMOI in northeast of Baghdad, Iraq, the statement added.

The PMOI has called on competent international bodies, the UN Secretary General and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to take immediate measures to save the lives of families of the PMOI members in Iran.

The PMOI statement detailing some of the accounts said: "Mrs. Zahra Assadpour, 50, and her daughter Fatemeh, 22, were picked up by Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) agents at Karaj’s Sassan Square on February 5, 2008. She was kept in Evin prison under the most inhuman conditions in the cold winter without having the basic minimum requirements. For 30 days she was blind folded, tortured physically and mentally. During this period she had no contacts with her daughter.

"Fatemeh was taken to Gohardasht prison in Karaj and held together with dangerous criminals. She was beaten up by prison guards or prisoners provoked by the guards.

"They were not allowed any visits by their family for five weeks. Despite payment of a heavy bail the regime continues holding them in prison," the statement said.

The harassment of families of the PMOI members follows the repeated failures of the clerical regime in its plots against Ashraf City.
In an explosion on February 8, the terrorist agents of the Iranian regime's Qods Force destroyed the water supply pumping station of Ashraf City. The installation was located 25 km to the west of Ashraf City. As a result, supply of water to Ashraf and 20,000 Iraqis living in the area were cut off.

The bombing sparked a wave of strong condemnations by International and local political and human rights organizations.
Jean Ziegler, the Special Rapporteur on the right to food, issued a statement voicing deep concern about the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Ashraf City.

Mr. Ziegler said that he had received reports that the explosion may have been intended to increase the pressure on an estimated 3,000 members of the PMOI who are residing in Ashraf city.