Amir A. Fakhravar - Siavash

CRS; U.S. Concern and Policy Responses: IRAN, December 15, 2011

Congressional Research Service: Staunch oppositionists and revolutionaries, many now favor replacement of the regime with secular democracy. Generally young and well-educated, want free and open media and contact with the West. One key bloc in this group is the Confederation of Iranian Students (CIS), led by Amir Abbas Fakhravar, who was jailed for five years for participating in July 1999 student riots. CIS, committed to non-violent resistance, is an offshoot of the Office of Consolidation Unity, which led the 1999 riots. At the time of those riots, most students were strong Khatemi supporters, but turned against him for acquiescing to hardliner demands that he crack down on the rioting. The crack down killed four students. Student leaders currently attempting, with mixed success, to gain support of older generation, labor, clerics, village-dwellers, and other segments. CIS supports imposition of severe sanctions against Iran, including a total oil sale embargo, to deprive the regime of the funds it needs to pay its security forces.

U.S. State Department reports on Iran's Human Rights & Fakhravar, 2004 - 2012

1. U.S. State Department Document - Iran, 2004:During a wave of student protests in June 2003, government-supported vigilantes beat many protestors, and police arrested approximately 4,000 persons according to government figures shortly after the protests. Although the police arrested both protestors and vigilantes, the overwhelming majority of those arrested were protestors. Approximately 130 of those arrested during these protests were still in detention as of December. The Government banned demonstrations planned for July 9 to commemorate the killing of several students by security forces in the 1999 demonstrations in both 2003 and 2004 (see Sections 1.b. and 1.f.). An unknown number of the students were still imprisoned, in addition to Ahmed Batebi, Manuchehr Mohammadi, Abbas Fakhravar, Akbar Mohammadi, and Mehrdad Lahrasbi. AI reported in March that Abbas Fakhravar had been given 19 days leave from prison and that prior to temporary release, he had been confined in "Band 325" military detention center run by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and subjected to sensory deprivation. As of November, International PEN reported that Fakhravar Fakhravar had been returned to Evin Prison.

2. U.S. State Department Report, IRAN - Human Rights 2005:Journalist Amir Abbas Fakhravar was sentenced to eight years in prison in 2002, reportedly because of his comments on the country's political leadership in the book, This Place Is Not a Ditch. In February 2003 he and Ahmad Batebi wrote an open letter criticizing the government and calling for a referendum. He was summoned to court, beaten, and transferred to Evin prison, from which he received periodic furloughs, most recently on June 10 (see section 1.c.)   In February 2004 Amnesty International (AI) reported that it had documented evidence of "white torture," a form of sensory deprivation. Amir Abbas Fakhravar (see section 1.e.), a political prisoner, was sent to the "125" detention center, controlled by the revolutionary guards. According to AI his cell had no windows, and the walls and his clothes were white. His meals consisted of white rice on white plates. To use the toilet, he had to put a white piece of paper under the door. He was forbidden to speak, and the guards reportedly wore shoes that muffled sound. The Committee against Torture has found that sensory deprivation amounts to torture.  

3. U.S. State Department Report, IRAN - Human Rights 2006: In 2004 AI reported that it had documented evidence of "white torture," a form of sensory deprivation. Amir Abbas Fakhravar, a political prisoner, was sent to the "125" detention center, controlled by the revolutionary guards. According to AI his cell had no windows, and the walls and his clothes were white. His meals consisted of white rice on white plates. To use the toilet, he had to put a white piece of paper under the door. He was forbidden to speak, and the guards reportedly wore shoes that muffled sound. The UN Special Rapporteur on Torture listed sensory deprivation among the techniques constituting torture.

Amnesty international: Prisoner of conscience, Amir Abbas Fakhravar, 2003 - 2011

Amnesty International is gravely concerned for the safety of prisoner of conscience Amir Abbas Fakhravar, following a series of incidents in which he appears to have been subjected to treatment amounting to torture.


Amnesty International, April 2011: Two members of the Confederation of Iranian Students (CIS), an independent group of current and former students, have been arrested. Shiva Kamalipour Azad was arrested in Iran’s capital, Tehran, on 26 April 2011 and Mohammad Reza Fakhravar (known as Arash) was reportedly arrested at Tehran Airport on or around 29 April. They are at risk of torture or other ill treatment.

International Pen: Day of the imprisoned Writer, November 15, 2004

Writer Amir Abbas Fakhravar, aged 26, was sentenced to eight years in prison around the 10 November 2002 . He was convicted of “defamation” for criticising the supreme leadership of Iran in his book Inja Chah Nist (‘This Place is Not a Ditch’).

English Pen, Honorary Member for Amir Fakhravar, November 2004

Sentenced by Bench 26 of the Revolutionary Court on or around 10 November 2002 to eight years in prison for criticising the supreme leadership of Iran in his book Inja Chah Nist('This Place is not a Ditch'), shortlisted for the 2001/2002 Paolo Coelho Literary Prize. Following a period of leave from Evin prison he was ordered to appear in court on 18 March for an appeal hearing. When he appeared he was denied representation by his lawyers. After an argument with the judge he was beaten in front of Bench 26 before being transferred to prison. It is thought that he may have been targeted for writing an open letter to the authorities on 4 February 2003 criticising the Iranian government and demanding a referendum on the future government of Iran.

Place of detention: Qasr prison


Pen Canada, Honorary Member for Amir A. Fakhravar, February 2004

Amir Abbas Fakhravar (Siavash) is a writer, journalist and medical student. He was arrested on November 10, 2002. Fakhravar was sentenced by Bench 26 of the Revolutionary Court to eight years in prison for criticizing the supreme leadership of Iran in his book Inja Chah Nist (‘This Place is Not a Ditch’), short listed for the 2001/2 Paulo Coelho Literary Prize. Fakhravar is reportedly held among common prisoners. He is said to have been repeatedly attacked in staged assaults by fellow inmates. In January 2004, Fakhravar was taken from Qasr prison to a military detention cen- tre for interrogation about alleged links with an opposition political organ- ization called Jonbesh-e Azadi-ye Iraniyan. He was held in solitary confinement and subjected to a technique of sensory deprivation is called “white torture.”

Network for Education and Academic Rights, March 17, 2004

Fakhravar, a medical student and a journalist for the now-banned pro-reform dailies "Mosharekat" and "Khordad", has been detained for over a year, during which time he has suffered persistent and severe ill-treatment. He was first arrested on 10 November 2002 and sentenced to eight years in prison for criticising the supreme leadership of Iran in his book "Inja Chah Nist" ("This Place is Not a Ditch"), which was short-listed for the 2001/2002 Paulo Coelho Literary Prize.

IFEX - International Freedom of Expression Exchange, March 17, 2004

Fakhravar, a writer, a journalist for the now-banned pro-reform dailies "Mosharekat" and "Khordad", and a medical student, has been detained for over a year, during which time he has suffered persistent and severe ill-treatment. He was first arrested on 10 November 2002 and sentenced to eight years in prison for criticising the supreme leadership of Iran in his book "Inja Chah Nist" ("This Place is Not a Ditch"), which was short-listed for the 2001/2002 Paulo Coelho Literary Prize.

English PEN, Prisoner of the month ( February, 2004 )

Iran: U.S. Concerns and Policy Responses, March 4, 2011

Congressional Reaserch Service, IRAN,U.S.Concerns and Policy Responses:

" ... Amir Abbas Fakhravar. A leader of the student dissidents who emerged in the July 1999 anti-regime students riots. A former medical student, he served time in Iranian prisons. ... " ( October 11, 2007 )

US State Department report on Iran's Human Rights :

  " In 2004 AI reported that it had documented evidence of "white torture," a form of sensory deprivation. Amir Abbas Fakhravar, a political prisoner, was sent to the "125" detention center, controlled by the revolutionary guards. According to AI his cell had no windows, and the walls and his clothes were white. His meals consisted of white rice on white plates. To use the toilet, he had to put a white piece of paper under the door. He was forbidden to speak, and the guards reportedly wore shoes that muffled sound. The UN Special Rapporteur on Torture listed sensory deprivation among the techniques constituting torture."

International Pen:

International Press :

Amnesty International & Human Rights :

Fakhravar, a medical student and a journalist for the now-banned pro-reform dailies "Mosharekat" and "Khordad", has been detained for over a year, during which time he has suffered persistent and severe ill-treatment. He was first arrested on 10 November 2002 and sentenced to eight years in prison for criticising the supreme leadership of Iran in his book "Inja Chah Nist" ("This Place is Not a Ditch"), which was short-listed for the 2001/2002 Paulo Coelho Literary Prize.