Anonymous Prisoners and the Charge of Relations with MKO

Tens of those arrested in the context of post-election demonstrations were citizens who did not belong to any groups or political parties, or whose names were never mentioned in a social and political context. These prisoners remain in detention anonymously and their families’ efforts to learn about their circumstances have been fruitless. One of these individuals is a man by the name of Parviz Varmarzyari, who was arrested during the Ashura Day Protests (December 27, 2009).

Although he was arrested more than three months ago, he has not been informed of his charges, nor have any courts been convened for his trial. He is one of the prisoners spending time in the Ministry of Intelligence’s Ward 209 at Evin Prison.

A human rights source told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran that the 55-year-old man had not had any political activities in the past, but that Ministry of Intelligence agents have been trying to charge him with “relations with Mojahedeen Khalgh Organization (MKO).” Apparently his son is at Camp Ashraf in Iraq and Varmarzyari’s continued detention in prison is related to this. The mentioned source said that Varmazyari’s family and lawyer’s visits to security and judicial organizations to find out the reason for his arrest have been resulted in no clarification.

Over the past few months, some of the detainees have faced the charge of relations with the Mojahedeen Khalgh Organization, even though in most cases they have denied such relations. Even though those in charge of the cases do not have any evidence to support these charges, their efforts to find the detainees guilty for these relations continue.