Iranian of the Day

CHRR: Nasser Deraz-Shamshir, an Azerbaijan civil activist, was arrested on 5 August 2011 in Jafarabad Moghan near Ardabil. Eight months after his detention, he remains inside Tabriz Central Prison without a trial and in a state of limbo.

Nasser Deraz-Shamshir spent four months inside Ardabil Prison in solitary confinement. He was then transferred to Tabriz Intelligence Office Detention Center for further interrogations and investigations, where he spent an additional two months in solitary confinement under interrogation and torture.

The Investigative Judge at Tabriz Revolutionary Court has leveled five charges against Nasser Deraz-Shamshir, including "espionage," "participation in assembly and collusion against national security," "propagating against the state," and "earning illegitimate funds," all for attending a journalism training course at Caucuses Media Investigation Center in Baku, Azerbaijan. Iran's Intelligence Ministry has determined this training session an example of "training for soft overthrow and velvet revolutions."

In the Intelligence Ministry's report and Nasser Deraz-Shamshir's indictment, he is also introduced as a member of a separatist group, The Southern Azerbaijan National Awakening Movement, GAMOH, and his arrest is mentioned as one in a series of arrests of the organization's other members during the past year.

Nasser Deraz-Shamshir has persistently rejected all these allegations throughout his interrogations.

Branch One of Tabriz Revolutionary Court did not agree with his lawyers' request for a bail ruling for his release and his trial date is unknown at this time. He suffers from acute migraine which has been exacerbated by months of interrogations and psychological pressure which have gone untreated. He has not been allowed to make telephone calls to his wife who lives in Turkey.

Nasser Deraz-Shamshir is a Ph.D. Student of International Relations at Turkey's Hajat Tappeh University. He has conducted extensive research and written several articles about Azerbaijani people's identity and their demands, which have been published in various publications and websites.