Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders Annual Report 2005 - Iran

Release of Mr. Hassan Youssefi-Echkevari³⁹

In February 2005, Mr. Hassan Youssefi-Echkevari, a journalist arrested in 2000 for exercising his right to freedom of expression and sentenced to seven years in prison in October 2002, was granted an early release. He was detained at the prison of Evin and his health condition had alarmingly deteriorated during 2004.

Obstacles to the freedom of movement of and judicial proceedings against Mr. Emadeddin Baghi⁴⁰

On 4 October 2004, Mr. Emadeddin Baghi, president of the Society for the Defence of the Rights of Prisoners and editor of the national daily newspaper the Jomhouriyat – the publication of which has been prohibited since September 2004 – had his passport confiscated and had been forbidden to leave Tehran. He was to go to Montreal (Canada) to participate in the 2nd World Conference Against the Death Penalty, organised by the associations Penal Reform International and Together Against the Death Penalty (Ensemble contre la peine de mort), from 6 to 9 October 2004.

By the end of 2005, the case of Mr. Baghi was still pending. He was still not allowed to leave the country and his passport had not been returned to him. In December 2005, he was awarded the Human Rights Prize of the French National Consultative Commission on Human Rights (Commission nationale consultative des droits de l'Homme), but was not allowed to go to France to receive the prize.

Threats of judicial proceedings and of arrest against Mrs. Shirin Ebadi⁴¹

Mrs. Shirin Ebadi, 2003 Nobel Peace Prize and secretary general of the Defenders of Human Rights Centre (DHRC), was summoned on 12 January 2005 by the Revolutionary Public Prosecutor's office of Tehran. The summons that had been sent by the examining judge did not specify any official reason, but indicated that if Mrs. Ebadi did not present herself within three days, she would be arrested.

At a press conference on 18 January 2005, the spokesperson for the judiciary, Mr. Jamal Karimirad, admitted that the summon of Mrs. Shirin Ebadi before the Revolutionary Court was illegal and that the case would be dropped.

Deterioration of the health condition of Mr. Nasser Zarafchan, in arbitrary detention⁴²

The health condition of Mr. Nasser Zarafchan, a lawyer and founding member of DHRC, imprisoned since August 2002, seriously worsened in 2005, insofar as he did not, on several occasions, have access to the medical treatment he required for pulmonary problems and a nephritic attack.

On 7 June 2005, Mr. Zarafchan started a hunger strike after he had been refused hospitalisation outside the Evin Prison. On 21 June 2005, when he was transferred into a confinement cell, apparently to punish him for his hunger strike, he lost consciousness. He was immediately taken to Labbafinejad Hospital.

On 4 July 2005, Mr. Zarafchan was temporarily released in order to receive medical treatment for his kidney stones, and was then able to undergo a surgical operation, before being sent back to prison on 23 July 2005.

On 10 September 2005, he underwent a medical examination in prison, and another at Labbafinejad Hospital in Tehran, which confirmed that he had stones in his right kidney, which required another treatment. His family demanded that he have access to additional specialised treatment, but these requests went without response from the authorities. By the end of 2005, his wife could visit him once a week at the Evin Prison.

Mr. Zarafchan, lawyer of Mrs. Sima Pouhandeh, widow of Mr. Mohammed Djafar Pouhandeh, a writer and a human rights defender, murdered in 1998, had been sentenced to three years' imprisonment by the Military Court of Tehran, on 18 March 2002, for "possession of firearms and alcohol". He had also been sentenced to two additional years of imprisonment and fifty whiplashes for his statements to the press regarding the trial of the alleged murderers of Iranian intellectuals, which ended in January 2002. This verdict had been confirmed in appeal by the Military Court of Tehran on 15 July 2002.

Arbitrary detention and deterioration of the health condition of Mr. Akbar Ganji⁴³

Mr. Akbar Ganji, a journalist at the daily newspaper Sobhe-Emrooz, detained since 2000 at the Evin Prison in Tehran for having written numerous articles denouncing the involvement of the Iranian regime in the assassination of political opponents and intellectual dissidents in 1998, was hospitalised at the Milad Hospital in Tehran on 17 July 2005 after more than two months on hunger strike, to which he finally put an end in the night of 20 to 21 August 2005. His wife, Mrs. Massoumeh Shafii, who had not been allowed to visit him since 1 August 2005, could meet with him on 21 August 2005. During his hospitalisation, he was beaten for two days by his guards, with the aim of making him give up his views and promise his allegiance to the Supreme Leader, the Ayatollah Khamenei. As he refused, he was sent back to prison on 3 September 2005, whereas he remained extremely weak both physically and psychologically. During his transfer in a car, Mr. Ganji was blindfolded and one of his escorts faked to strangle him to frighten him.

He was placed in confinement in a special wing of the Evin Prison, where he might be subjected to acts of torture.

On 12 July 2005, following an appeal launched by 400 intellectuals, hundreds of people met in front of the Tehran University, demanding the release of political prisoners, including Mr. Akbar Ganji. The police launched an attack on the demonstration and numerous protesters were beaten and arrested.

Arbitrary detention of Mr. Abdolfattah Soltani⁴⁴

On 30 July 2005, Mr. Abdolfattah Soltani, a lawyer at the Bar of Tehran and a DHRC member, was arrested while participating in a sit-in in the offices of the Bar of Tehran to protest against the arrest warrant issued against him by the Prosecutor of the city, Mr. Saïd Mortazavi, on 27 July 2005.

Since then, Mr. Soltani, accused of spying, has been detained at the Evin Prison in Tehran.

The arrest is believed to be related to Mr. Soltani's statement, made on 25 July 2005 during a hearing in camera in Mrs. Kazemi's case, an Irani-Canadian photographer who died in July 2003 following acts of torture and ill-treatment inflicted to her during her detention. During the hearing, Mr. Soltani, as a lawyer of Mrs. Kazemi's family, questioned the independence and fairness of the trial, pointing out that officials involved in these acts of torture had not been indicted by the court.

On 3 December 2005, Mr. Saïd Mortazavi decided to replace the judge responsible for the investigation in the case against Mr. Soltani, who had just announced to Mr. Soltani's lawyers that he would recommend his release on bail. The newly nominated judge decided, on the same day, that Mr. Soltani should remain in custody for a further period of three months.

At the beginning of January 2006, Mr. Soltani could finally, for the first time, meet with one of his lawyers.

Arbitrary arrest of several defenders and trade unionists in the Kurdish province⁴⁵

On 2 August 2005, Mrs. Roya Tolouï, editor of the cultural monthly magazine Rassan, and leader of the Association of Kurdish Women for the Defence of Peace and Human Rights, was arrested at her home in Sanandaj, in the Kurdish province of Iran. She was charged with "disturbing the peace" and "acting against national security". She was released on 5 October 2005, after having been seriously tortured.

On 2 August 2005, the security forces also arrested Mr. Azad Zamani, a member of the Association of the Defence of Children's Rights, at his home.

On 4 August 2005, Mr. Mahmoud Salehi, spokesperson for the Organisational Committee to Establish Trade Unions and former president of the Saqez Bakery Workers' Union, was detained during one hour for participating in protests in Saqez, in the Kurdish province of Iran, following the assassination, on 9 July 2005, of a Kurdish opposition activist by the Iranian security forces in Mahabab. Before being released, Mr. Salehi was warned to stop participating in protests or strikes in Saqez.

On 7 August 2005, the Iranian security forces raided the home of Mr. Borhan Divangar, a member of the same trade union. He was then arrested, and his computer and other belongings were seized. He was charged, among other things, with membership of the Committee to Follow Up the Establishment of Free Labour Organisations, membership of the newly formed unemployed workers' organisation, managing the labour website Tashakol, and with participation in the Saqez demonstrations. Mr. Borhan Divangar was subsequently released. On 9 November 2005, Mr. Mahmoud Salehi was sentenced by the Saqez Revolutionary Court to five years in prison and three years of exile in Ghorveh village and Mr. Jalal Hosseini, a Saqez Bakery Workers' Union member, was sentenced to three years in prison. Mr. Hadi Tanomand and Mr. Esmail Khodkam, two other members of the union, were acquitted.

At about the same time, the Saqez Revolutionary Court also sentenced Mr. Mohsen Hakimi, a member of the Iranian Writers' Association, Mr. Borhan Divangar, and Mr. Mohammad Abdipoor, another member of the Saqez Bakery Workers' Union, to two years in prison.

These seven persons had been arrested and then released after having participated in the peaceful celebrations of 1 May 2004, before being charged with "sympathising with the banned political party Komala [for an Iranian Kurdistan]".

Mr. Mahmoud Salehi was reportedly found not guilty with regards to this charge. But despite this fact, he had been accused according to Article 610 of the Islamic Punishment Act, prescribing penalties from two to five years of imprisonment for congregating to conspire to commit crimes against national security. During the hearings, the trade union activities of Mr. Salehi were held against him, as well as a meeting that he had had with an ICFTU delegation in April 2004.

[Refworld note: This report as posted on the FIDH website (www.fidh.org) was in pdf format with country chapters run together by region. Footnote numbers have been retained here, so do not necessarily begin at 1.]

39. Idem.

40. Idem.

41. See Urgent Appeal IRN 001/0105/OBS 003.

42. See Annual Report 2004 and Urgent Appeals IRN 004/0012/OBS 125.7 and 125.8.

43. See Annual Report 2004, Urgent Appeals IRN 001/0004/030.3, 030.4, 030.5, 030.6, 030.7, 030.8 and 030.9 and Open Letter to the Iranian authorities, 28 October 2005.

44. See Urgent Appeals IRN 002/0705/OBS 055, 055.1, 055.2 and 055.3 and Press Release, 30 September 2005.

45. See Urgent Appeals IRN 003/0805/OBS 074 and 074.1.