Evidence of the wide, planned and systematic violation of Human Rights in Iran- 21 December - 20 January 2004 by IHRG ...<More

Evidence of the wide, planned and systematic violation of Human Rights in Iran- 21st January - 20th February 2004 by IHRG ... More

Reporters Without Borders warns of unfair trial for Ensafali Hedayat and urges release of Mostafa Sabti
Reporters Without Borders has expressed fears about the fairness of the forthcoming trial of freelance journalist Ensafali Hedayat, postponed to 14 April, and condemned coercion used against him since he was detained on 16 January 2004. ... More


Torture/Ill-treatment/Fear for safety/Medical concern
IRAN Manuchehr Mohammadi (m), aged 36, student More



League for the Defence of Human Rights in Iran Iran : will the commission on human rights keep silent ?



Meeting with the press in Geneva in the margin of the UN Commission on Human Rights

14 April 2004

Geneva

Speakers:

- Shirin Ebadi, Nobel Peace Prize

- Karim Lahidji, President of the League for the Defence of Human Rights in Iran and Vice-president of the FIDH


Moderator :

Antoine Bernard, Executive Director of the FIDH




Up to now, no state tabled a draft resolution concerning the situation of human rights in Iran. However, the Commission has as a mandate to denounce human rights violations by taking into account the victims and by establishing appropriate mechanisms to prevent further violations.


“The absence of any initiative at the Commission on Human Rights is even more chocking since two UN human rights mechanisms went recently in Iran and their conclusions are overwhelming”, said Karim Lahidji, President of the League for the Defence of Human Rights in Iran and Vice-président of the FIDH. The mechanisms in question are the UN working group on arbitrary detention and the Special rapporteur on freedoms of opinion and expression.


In addition, the election of February 2004 was largely criticised by the international community since more than two thousands reformist candidates were rejected before the election.


The trial following the death of the Irano-Canadian photo-journalist Zahra Kazemi as a result of beatings while in detention is not progressing. Journalists are still in jail for having expressed their opinions. Religious minorities are victims of discrimination – in particular the largest among them – the Bahá'is.


« The yearly assessment of human rights by the Commission should be based on violations established by independent institutions and organisations, and not according to subjective political criteria. The silence of the Commission would be an insult for democrats and human rights defenders in Iran, who struggle for fundamental rights, in spite of the risks for their freedom», said Shirin Ebadi, Nobel Peace Prize and President of the Defenders of Human Rights Center.


Access to the press room will only be allowed for journalists accredited to the UN

Amnesty International
The death penalty worldwide: developments in 2003
Iran

Stays of execution were announced in the cases of two women, Afsaneh Nourouzi and Kobra Rahmanpour, who had been sentenced to death for murder. Both said they had been acting in self-defence. The stays of execution were announced following widespread public opposition to the sentences.

...

At least 108 people were executed in 2003, many in public. The death penalty was carried out on long-term political prisoners, apparently to intimidate political or ethnic groups such as Kurds and Arabs.

In February, long-term political prisoner Sasan Al-e Ken'an, a supporter of the banned Komala party, was executed. At the time of his execution his mother was in the capital, Tehran, seeking a meeting with members of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention who were visiting Iran. On her return home to the town of Sanandaj, she went to visit her son in prison. She was informed that he had been hanged and was told not to make a "fuss" but to bury him quickly.

In November, four men in northeastern Iran were sentenced to death by stoning on allegations of rape and adultery. EU officials had been informed in March that the Head of the Judiciary had called on judges not to pass sentences of stoning and to find alternative punishments. On 13 December, however, revised regulations appeared to provide instructions on the implementation of the death penalty, including stoning and crucifixion. Amnesty International is studying the regulations.

...

In December the parliament approved a bill raising to 18 the minimum age for imposition of the death penalty. At year end the bill was awaiting approval by the Guardian Council, the country's highest legislative body.

More

Amnest International

Health concern/ possible torture or ill-treatment and new concern:

fear for safety IRAN Siamak Pourzand (m), aged 74, Intellectual, Head of Majmue-ye Farhangi-ye Honari-ye Tehran (Tehran Artistic and Cultural Centre)
More

PUBLIC
AI Index: MDE 13/022/2004
06 April 2004

Further Information on UA 298/01 (MDE 13/046/2001, 27 November 2001) and follow-up (MDE 13/014/2001, 12 December 2001; MDE 13/001/2002, 1 February 2002; MDE 13/007/2002, 10 May 2002; MDE 13/011/2002, 31 July 2002) -
Health concern/ possible torture or ill-treatment and new concern: fear for safety

IRAN
Siamak Pourzand (m), aged 74, Intellectual, Head of Majmue-ye Farhangi-ye Honari-ye Tehran (Tehran Artistic and Cultural Centre)


Siamak Pourzand was allowed out of Evin prison on leave in November 2002, but rearrested in April 2003. He has been held in solitary confinement since then, in appalling conditions, and is being denied medical treatment for a condition that will leave him confined to a wheelchair if left untreated.

Around 31 March 2004, he fell into a coma. He was not treated until another prisoner went to the prison medical facility and insisted that someone examine him. The doctors allegedly told him they had given up on Siamak Pourzand over six months earlier, and would not take responsibility for anything that happened to him. When he insisted, they treated Siamak Pourzand, and after 36 hours in a coma he regained consciousness.
Siamak Pourzand is serving an 11-year sentence, handed down in 2002 after a closed trial that fell short of international standards. In a televised "confession" he admitted to a range of accusations including “having links with monarchists and counter-revolutionaries”, “spying and undermining state security” and “creating disillusionment among young people”. On 5 April 2004, Tehran’s Chief Prosecutor visited him in prison and told him that he would not be released early, reportedly telling him that if he was released he would “make too much noise”.
According to a diagnosis given on 30 July 2003 by the Pezeshk-e Qanoun, (a doctor employed by the Judiciary to carry out assessments of prisoners' health), at the Imam Khomeini hospital in Tehran, Siamak Pourzand is suffering from spinal stenosis, a narrowing of the spinal canal which causes pinching of the spinal cord: left untreated, it could lead to organ failure, notably of the bowels and bladder, and paralysis, leaving Siamak Pourzand dependent on a wheelchair. In October 2003, Siamak Pourzand’s medical records were reviewed by a doctor in the US who concluded that he required immediate surgery on his spine. To date he has not received medical treatment for this condition.
When he was released on leave in November 2002, he was able to tell members of his family about the conditions he was held in. He was rearrested in April 2003 by agents of the Edare-ye Amaken, an organisation reportedly responsible for the enforcement of accepted moral codes in companies and other offices. During interrogation he was reportedly urged to implicate film critics detained at that time in unspecified “acts against Iran”, to appear in "another television program" possibly a reference to his televised "confession", and to sign a book about singers, artists and film makers who had “acted against Iran”. He reportedly refused, and was released. While he was in custody four of his ribs were reportedly broken. Approximately two weeks after his release he was summoned to a court, where he was reportedly asked again whether he would cooperate and appear in the television program. When he refused a second time, he was taken back to Evin prison, stopping first at his sister's house to collect his personal effects, but not the medicine he requires.

RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible, in Persian, English, French or your own language:
- expressing concern for the health and safety of Siamak Pourzand;
- urging the authorities to be grant him immediate and unconditional access to the medical treatment that he needs;
- asking them to give him regular access to his family;
- seeking assurances that Siamak Pourzand is not being ill-treated or tortured in custody;
- expressing concern that Siamak Pourzand appears to be a prisoner of conscience, arrested solely for the peaceful expression of his beliefs; and if this is the case, he should be released immediately and unconditionally;
- urging the authorities to end the practice of solitary confinement, in line with recommendations made by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) following its visit to Iran in February 2003 (UN document E/CN.4/2004/3/Add.2), which noted that “such ‘imprisonment within imprisonment’ is arbitrary in nature and must be ended”;
- expressing concern that Siamak Pourzand appears to have been sentenced following a trial in which he did not enjoy effective defence, and in which he appeared to have been forced to testify against himself, in violation of Article 38 of Iran’s Constitution, which states: “All forms of torture for the purpose of extracting confession or acquiring information are forbidden. Compulsion of individuals to testify, confess, or take an oath is not permissible; and any testimony, confession, or oath obtained under duress is devoid of value and credence. Violation of this article is liable to punishment in accordance with the law. “

APPEALS TO:
Head of the Judiciary
His Excellency Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi
Ministry of Justice, Park-e Shahr, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
Telegram: Head of the Judiciary, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
Fax: +98 21 537 8827 (number may be unreliable; a recorded message in English will indicate when to send fax- please send before it gives you the tone to leave a voice message)
Or + 98 21 311 6567 (please mark ‘For the attention of HE Ayatollah Shjahroudi)
Salutation: Your Excellency

Leader of the Islamic Republic
His Excellency Ayatollah Sayed ‘Ali Khamenei
The Presidency, Palestine Avenue, Azerbaijan Intersection,
Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
Telegram: Ayatollah Khamenei, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
Fax: + 98 21 649 5880 (please mark ‘For the attention of the Office of His Excellency, Ayatollah al Udhma Khamenei, Qom)
Email: webmaster@wilayah.org (on the subject line write: For the attention of the Office of His Excellency, Ayatollah al Udhma Khamenei, Qom)

COPIES TO:
Human Rights Office, Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Ambassador Mehdi Danesh Yazdi
Director General, International Legal Affairs
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Sheikh Abdolmajid Keshk-e Mesri Avenue, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
Fax: + 98 21 390 1999

Islamic Human Rights Commission
Mr Mohammad Hassan Zia’i-Far
Secretary, Islamic Human Rights Commission
PO Box 13165-137, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
Fax: + 98 21 204 0541

and to diplomatic representatives of Iran accredited to your country.

PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY. Check with the International Secretariat, or your section office, if sending appeals after 18 May 2004