KURDISH REFUGEE SPEAKS ABOUT IRANIAN TORTURE; REQUESTS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KIRKUK 000099

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

BAGHDAD FOR POL, PAO, ROL COORDINATOR, NCT, IRMO, USAID

E.O. 12958: DECL: 4/25/2016
TAGS: PINS PHUM PNAT PREF PREL PINR PGOV KDEM KCOR
KISL, IZ, IR
SUBJECT: KURDISH REFUGEE SPEAKS ABOUT IRANIAN TORTURE; REQUESTS
ASYLUM

CLASSIFIED BY: JBIGUS, PRT LEADER, REO Kirkuk, DoS.
REASON: 1.4 (b),(d)




1. (C) SUMMARY. An Iranian Kurd contacted Kirkuk Regional
Embassy Office requesting asylum. He maintained that Iranian
authorities detained him in June 2005 for writing negatively
about the government. He claimed that he was tortured by
Iranian intelligence and sent to Mariwan prison for three
months. He fled to Iraqi Kurdistan in January, when Iranian
authorities tried again to seize him. END SUMMARY.


Background and Detainment
--------------


2. (C) On April 3, Mahdeh Ahmadi, an Iranian refugee hiding in
the Iraqi Kurdistan region, contacted Kirkuk Regional Embassy
office seeking political asylum. He said he is a freelance
journalist, who writes political articles - via internet sites -
targeting the Iranian Kurd audience.


3. (C) In June 2005, Ahmadi was writing about historical
atrocities committed by the Iranian government in Kurdish
villages in western Iran. He stated that he had obtained
official documents and was publishing articles and reaching out
to human rights organizations regarding his findings. As part
of his research, Ahmadi said he had traveled to the Iraqi
Kurdistan region. On Ahmadi's return from Iraq, Iranian
officials detained him at a checkpoint between the Iranian
cities of Mariwan and Sinna, near the Iraqi border.

Tortured, Interrogated, and Imprisoned by Itla'at
-------------- --------------


4. (C) Ahmadi claims he spent the next two days in jail, where
the Iranian police tortured and beat him. Following the two
days in jail, Iranian police sent him to an Itla'at (Iranian
Intelligence) facility in Sinna for eight days of further
torture and interrogation. Ahmadi said that the Kurdistan
Democratic Party-Iran (KDP-I) by this time had written an
article, mentioning his capture. In response, Itla'at tried to
force Ahmadi to write an article denying his capture, but he
refused.


5. (C) Iranian authorities next sent Ahmadi to a large prison
in Mariwan, Iran - near the Iran-Iraq border - for the next
three months. Ahmadi said that the prison guards at Mariwan
distributed addictive drugs to the prisoners and then withheld
them as a means of torture. Ahmadi claimed that he declined the
drugs and eventually stopped eating, going on a 10-day hunger
strike. When the prison guards tried to force Ahmadi to eat, he
sewed his own mouth shut.


6. (C) After Mariwan, Ahmadi stated that he returned to the
Itla'at facility in Sinna for about 20 additional days. Itla'at
officials interrogated him on the articles he had written. They
also accused Ahmadi of a long list of activities, including:
belonging to the KDP-I, writing anti-Iranian literature,
discouraging Kurdish Iranians to vote in elections, and
galvanizing Iranian Kurds to rise up against the Government.
Ahmadi noted that during the course of his four-month captivity,
the court never examined his case. Ahmadi also claimed he was
not allowed to contact his family.

Released From Prison, But More Threats
--------------


7. (C) Iranian officials eventually released Ahmadi
approximately four months after his capture when a family friend
offered the Iranian Government as collateral a $60,000 piece of
property. Ahmadi's friend and the Iranian Government negotiated
a deal, stipulating that the land would remain with Ahmadi's
friend if Ahmadi remained in Iran; however, if Ahmadi left, the
Iranian Government could confiscate that property. According to
Ahmadi, he lived in Iran for two months after his release, but
remained under surveillance. Itla'at attempted to bribe him to
spy on the Kurdish opposition, but he refused. Ahmadi said that
Itla'at officials on 23 January 2006 returned to his home to
arrest him, but he escaped through the roof of his house,
fleeing directly to Iraqi Kurdistan. Ahmadi is hoping to apply
for political asylum in the United States.
He provided the REO with a CD containing multiple press articles
and statements about his unjust imprisonment.

Biographic Note
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8. (C) Ahmadi, an Iranian Kurd, was born in 1985 in the Gaura
village near Sinna. He attended high school and college in
Sinna. Ahmadi claims to have been a journalist in Iran for the
last five years, having worked for several Iranian newspapers.
He said that the Iranian regime shut down several of those
newspapers because they published articles that criticized the
government. Ahmadi currently writes political articles for
internet sites.

Comment
--------------


9. (C) Ahmadi told a coherent and convincing story. We assess
that he would be willing to share his story freely to the
Western press, if he were granted protection. Ahmadi showed
IPAO official documents from a U.S. State Department website
(www.usinfo.state.gov),citing Ahmadi as a human rights case in
Iran. Furthermore, British Embassy diplomats in Tehran have
confirmed to us that Ahmadi is one of their contacts and that he
shared with them a similar story he told us.
BIGUS