Iran Election Stories From Friends and Family

From Shiraz today:

November 19, 2009 Shiraz University Update

News is so sparse these days; people are so afraid to talk; IRIB (Iran’s TV station) is useless; international news focuses on the nuclear issue and not enough on the humanitarian crisis going on here – which is what is important to the people here. The mowjcamp website is a good place to go to find out what happened in Iran on November 4 (and is happening on any other day). If you can read Farsi, it is a good sight to find out about prisoners; deaths and executions around the country – names and cities. International news tends to focus on Tehran news and does not get the big picture of the rest of the country. Students all over Iran demonstrated on November 4 and many continue to do so even now – under the threat of harsh punishment from university administrations and the government security forces. In some universities students are holding hunger strikes in the names of their fellow students who are currently in prison. Most universities witnessed vicious beatings and student imprisonments. While students have been released, a significant number are being held incommunicado and people do not even know the whereabouts of a number of them.

Shiraz University students are unsettled and many are a mess as their friends have been imprisoned – some whose location is still not known. A night or two ago though, a number were yelling Allah-u-Akbar from the dorms again, in defiance of the administration and the government.

According to mowjcamp here is the shake down on Shiraz University students. 20-30 were imprisoned on November 4. It is said that a number are going to be held in prison until the 16 of Azar (Dec. 7th), University Students’ Day passes. Students are being threatened by the administration that they’d better not make a ‘peep’ on 16 of Azar or they will face severe disciplinary measures from the University. One of the punishments the administration can impose (besides having them hauled off to prison) is to prevent them from continuing their education for a certain amount of months (or forever).

Of the imprisoned students about 20 are being held in the horrible prison of Adel Abad and 10 in the ‘Intelligence Ministry” (secret service) prison. One of the 10 is Kazem Rezai, who started a hunger strike last week and is in very bad shape (as of the last report). Another student, Yahya Tavoos, who tried to follow up on the whereabouts and condition of Kazem Rezai, was also arrested and imprisoned in the Intelligence Ministry prison. Other students in prison (whose names are known) are: Ali Salehpour (who was arrested on November 7th after being called in to the university administration office); some of the students arrested on November 4 are: Saeed Rezai, Ahmad Aref, Kheybar Safarpour, Ayoub Pourfathi, Ehsan Poursoltan, Abulehrari. The names of the others are not known to mowjcamp yet, although university personnel (not the administration) have identified them and informed their parents’ of their arrests.