Vahid Asghari

Vahid Asghari, is an Iranian political prisoner, advocate for freedom of expression and a women’s rights activist.

He was detained by a group of Islamic Republic Guards Corps (IRGC) commandos on May 8, 2008, on his way to the Imam Khomeini International Airport, because of his human rights activities and held in solitary confinement for two years without trial.

Vahid Asghari fully explained his tortures and the pressure on him in a letter to Judge of the 15th Branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Court on December 17, 2009.

He wrote:

"I was beaten with a stick for hours and hours while blindfolded and handcuffed. With a knife against my throat, I was threatened with death and rape. I and my family were insulted. I was forced to make a confession and sign it. They then videoed my confession and broadcast the video with the national television station’s complicity although I was legally presumed to be innocent."

Vahid Asghari suffered from ear infections and a broken nose.

He was brutally and frequently beaten during an investigation in the prison.

He was sentenced to death twice by the chairman of the 15th Chamber of the Islamic Revolutionary Court, Judge Abolqassem Salavati, in 2011 and 2012, without participating in the court proceedings and without the freedom to choose his own lawyer.

International human rights organizations are following Asghari’s case as he remains in custody.

In January 2013, Asghari wrote a letter to Ahmed Shaheed and explained his situation.

But in punishment for writing the letter, he was denied visitation rights for a long period of time, and a new case was opened against him.

Reporters Without Borders reported that confessions obtained by torture will be used in court against Vahid Asghari and that his only crime is supporting opposition websites.

Reporters Without Borders consequently demanded his unconditional release.

Both verdicts were canceled by the Supreme Court of Iran in December 2014 on the basis that the death penalty verdict was invalid and the libel accusation false.

The chairman of the 28th Chamber of the Islamic Revolutionary Court, Mohammad Mogheyseh, sentenced him to 18 years of imprisonment on December 7, 2014.

He received a final verdict, after being held in temporary detention for several years.

He developed carpal tunnel syndrome and had his teeth broken during a violent raid in political ward 350 by Iranian security servicemen on 17 April 2014.

He was released in April 2016.

He was accused of disseminating propaganda against the Iranian regime; libel; management of the Shabtaz Human Rights News Agency; the creation of a dissident website; support for dissident websites; the provision of financial and technical support to anti-regime websites; the creation of a national plan against censorship by the government; the provision of communication and technical assistance to the Persian

BBC; the administration of more than 200 opposition websites; the establishment of an international campaign to promote gender equality; and online training for the Color Revolution of Iran.

He calls the whole human rights activities off the punishment and he requested his unconditional release.

This web journalist, in addition to his position as editor of Shabtaz news agency, Cinema, an English-language news website, and political news websites critical of the Iranian regime, has been tried as a journalist, with journalism related indictments like Roorback, writing articles, and writing articles against gender inequality in Iran.

Authorities also opened two new cases against him with the accusations of women's rights activities and defending freedom of expression.

His other journalistic activities include online training for the Color Revolution by writing subversive articles; editorial support for and management of human rights news agencies; establishing anti-revolutionary news websites; and creating an online database of world newspapers by country.

This defender of freedom of speech was summoned to the 2nd Chamber of the Evin Prison Security Court, where they opened a new case against him.

The total number of cases opened against him because of his activities and statements like a letter to Ahmed Shaheed the UN special rapporteur on Iran, publishing systematic torture details and establishing a gender equality development campaign from inside the prison is 5 cases.

He issued statements on defending freedom of expression from ward 350 of Evin Prison and was a co-founder of the fight to unconditional adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as law by Iran.

One of his human rights statements is for World Food Day: he called for the participation and co-operation of every member of the UN's World Food Programme to eliminate poverty.

As a women’s rights activist, he established the Women's Rights section of a news agency for the first time in the Persian media, before his arrest.

He continually showed his concern about the condition of women in Iran, and raised awareness about the need for more open woman's rights activists in the country; he also demanded that the police of Iran not intervene in mandatory veiling and respect the freedom of choice of clothing of Iranian women.

He issued a statement on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.

The Islamic court thus summoned him and opened a case against him for establishing and running the International Campaign for the Promotion of Gender Equality.

He has sued the IRGC media Fars News because of the lies, libel and false accusations they made against him, as well as the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) for TV interviews under torture.

He repeatedly refused to appear in Islamic court for denying his basic human rights and for the torture he has suffered at the hands of the state (among other reasons).

Vahid Asghari sustained psychological and bodily injury during his detention.

He was also forced to make a self-confession on TV.

These confessions aired despite the fact that he wasn't charged with or convicted of any of them, charges that were later rejected by the Courts and himself.

He experienced and faced taser guns, batons, whips, pepper spray, tear gas, cable wire, noose, foot canes, nail-removers, a yoke, knuckle dusters, knife and karambit, a blade that was held to his throat and wrists, handcuffs and shackles, and even a loaded Colt that was held to his head, to force him to confess to crimes he didn’t commit.

His lawsuit against IRCG military interrogators and judges has not received any answers from the military court, media court, or judges' court.

Ahmed Shaheed, the UN special human rights rapporteur on human rights in Iran, wrote in his report to the UN that Vahid Asghari has been tortured into confession.