'Spies' report back to Tehran on pro-democracy activists | The Australian

AS POSTED HERE 'Spies' report back to Tehran on pro-democracy activists | The Australian

ASIO and Queensland police are investigating complaints that agents of the Iranian regime connected to Tehran's embassy in Canberra have been harassing and spying on pro-democracy activists in Australia.

The group Queensland Supporters of Democracy for Iran, which staged a protest in Brisbane on Saturday, says at least four Iranian-Australians have been detained and interrogated during visits to Tehran in recent months as a result of their involvement in the pro-democracy movement in Australia.

About 80 QSDI members rallied in Brisbane's Queens Park to protest against the execution of five political dissidents in Tehran earlier this month. QSDI convenor Mehran Rafiei says the turnout was smaller than for previous events because of fears that pro-regime "spies" within the Iranian-Australian community were reporting back to Tehran.

"Many people in the Iranian community are scared to turn up," Mr Rafiei said.


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"They rang me and told me: 'We're scared, we want to go to Iran and we don't want to be arrested.'

"I told them the best way was to turn out and protest, but they're scared -- it's a brutal regime."

One Iranian-Australian detained and interrogated in Tehran recently was shown photographs of himself attending an earlier rally in Brisbane and given a list of names that included the leaders of QSDI and other pro-democracy campaigners in Australia. The man was told their activities constituted the crime of "moharebeh", which means enmity against God and can carry the death penalty in Tehran. Mr Rafiei says his wife and daughter are now afraid to return to Tehran to visit his wife's mother.

The rally was held to protest against the execution in Tehran on May 9 of five political dissidents accused of "moharebeh" for their involvement in banned groups. Amnesty International says the five were denied fair trials; three had been tortured and two had confessed under duress.

The five included a woman, 28-year-old Shirin Alam Holi, who was accused of belonging to another group, The Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan.

In a letter from prison before her execution, she described being beaten on the soles of her feet, kicked in the stomach and force-fed through nasal tubes when she went on a hunger strike. She said she had made a confession after she was hospitalised and given an injection.

Amnesty International says the executions were a blatant attempt to intimidate dissidents in the lead-up to the first anniversary of last year's June elections, when Mahmoud Ahmadinejad claimed victory in a result believed to have been rigged. The anniversary on June 12 is expected to prompt a new wave of pro-democracy activity.

Amnesty International has recorded more than 80 executions in Iran so far this year.