There has been yet more international condemnation for the Iranian regime’s arrest and torture of elite students Amir Hossain Moradi and Ali Younesi, along with 18 other people, for links with the Iranian opposition group, the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK Iran).

On May 5, the Iranian regime’s judiciary acknowledged the arrest of two elite students from Sharif University.

Judiciary Spokesman Esmaili said that the two young students were associated with the MEK and listed a series of vague charges against the two-star students.

The Romanian Parliamentarian Committee for a Free Iran wrote an open letter to condemn these politically-motivated arrests on May 13. The eight signatories called on the United Nations, its related organizations, and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michele Bachelet to step in to end to the torture of the detainees, prevent their execution, and secure their release.

The letter explained that over the past four decades in Iran, persecution of political opponents, including arbitrary arrests, torture, and executions, has been common, with many detainees “tortured to death during interrogation”.

For this and other ongoing human rights abuses, Iran has been condemned multiple times by international organizations, the Human Rights Council, and other relevant bodies, but this has not stopped the regime.

On April 13, Younesi and Moradi, who are both students of Sharif University of Technology and have represented their country in international science competitions, were arrested by security forces without an order from a prosecutor. During that time, security forces threatened them with arrest, murder, and rape.

Their families were not told where they were detained, how they were, or why they were arrested, until the beginning of May when judiciary spokesman Gholam-Hossein Esmaili officially announced their arrest.

Then, the (PMOI/MEK Iran). announced the names of 18 more recently arrested members, who did not have a court order against them and were also threatened with torture and execution:

Zahra Safaei, Tehran

Somayeh Bidi, Karaj

Sepehr Imam Jomeh, Tehran

Saeed Rad, Semnan

Rasoul Hassanvand, Khorramabad

Parastoo Moeini, Tehran

Nahid Fathalian, ‌ Tehran

Mohammad Reza Ashrafi Samani, Isfahan

Mohammad Mehri, Qom

Mohammad Hassani, Karaj

Mehran Qarabaghi, Behbahan

Massoud Rad, Tehran

Marzieh Farsi, Tehran

Majid Khademi, Behbahan

Kamran Rezaeifar, Tehran

Gholam Ali Alipour, Amol

Forough Taghipour, Tehran

Bijan Kazemi, Kuhdasht

The letter read: “Experience has shown that detainees are subjected to the most severe tortures, especially when arrested on charges of being affiliated with the PMOI. Therefore, this committee expresses its concern about the situation of these detainees and calls for their immediate release and demands these actions to be condemned.”

The committee urged the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to encourage the Iranian regime to release the detainees immediately, saying that arbitrary detentions and violence against detainees are clear violations of international law, and respect the rights of Iranian citizens.

The letter was written by Romeo Nicoara, the President of the Romanian Parliamentarian Committee for Free Iran, and co-signed by seven others:

• Cristina Iurișniți
• Andrei Gerea
• Ionita Antoneta
• Liviu Titus Pasca
• Daniel Budurescu
• Maria Eugenia Barna
• Mihai Deaconu