Iran's ordinary post-election detainees reach out for help

A group of post-election detainees issued a letter to draw public attention to the ordeal of ordinary post-election prisoners who do not have the support and advocacy that is naturally given to prominent faces amongst the detainees.

In the letter, they state that for the mere crimes of “receiving or sending a text message or email, watching the protests or joining in the silence of election protesters,” they are now being charged with “enmity against God (moharbeh), insulting government officials, propaganda against the regime and collusion.”

In the past nine months, thousands of election protesters have been arrested. While there may be hundreds of well-known social and political activists amongst these detainees, there are also thousands of ordinary citizens languishing in prisons for joining the protests against the presidential elections which according to the opposition was rigged to secure Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s re-election.

The letter published in Kalameh website says: “We are simple protesters to the outcome of the elections and there has been no media outlet to write a single word about us.”

According to the information contained in the letter, some of these detainees have been tried without a defense lawyer or even the prosecutor’s representative, and they have been handed sentences of over six years in prison.

The letter contends that the authorities keep accusing them of ties to various opposition groups or foreign organizations and spy agencies.

The detainees writing the letter ask: “How is it that embezzlers, smugglers, traders of University exams and organizers of bawdy houses are eligible for acquittals, leaves and release but no one even spares us a thought?”

In the weeks before Iranian New Year, a number of post-election prisoners were temporarily released on heavy bails. Most of the released prisoners were well-known political and social activists.