Human Rights News from Iran: 01/01/2005

Friday, January 28, 2005

SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR ON VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN TO VISIT ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN

: "SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR ON VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN
TO VISIT ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN"

World Peace Herald: Rights abusers to rule on complaints at U.N. rights panel

Reporters sans frontires - Iran Journalist has spent 5,000 days in prison

Reporters Without Borders strongly condemned the hounding by the authorities of Taghi Rahmani, who since 1981 has spent a total of 5,000 days in prison, sentenced each time in connection with his journalistic work.

Rahmani has been in jail this time for 19 months without charge and the worldwide press freedom organisation called on the Iranian authorities for his immediate and unconditional release.

With ten journalists behind bars, Iran is the Middle East's largest prison for the profession and is one of the world's ten most repressive countries in terms of press freedom.

"Under the direct orders of Supreme Guide Ayatollah Khamenei, the conservatives in power have made use of the country's courts to gag the media", the organisation said.

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UN urges Iran to halt execution of young offenders

By Stephanie Nebehay

GENEVA, Jan 28 (Reuters) - A United Nations human rights body called on Iran on Friday to abolish the death penalty as well as amputation, flogging and stoning for people who committed crimes as minors.

The U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child "deplored" the fact that during its three-week session an Iranian was executed for a killing carried out when he was 17 -- contradicting Iran's statement that it had suspended the death penalty for people accused of crimes while juveniles.

U.N. officials said Iman Farrokhi, found guilty of killing a member of Iran's security forces at age 17, was hanged in Tehran's notorious Evin prison on Jan. 20.

At least two other Iranians who committed crimes as juveniles are believed to be on death row, activists said.

The U.N. body, which has 18 independent experts, issued its findings after examining compliance by 10, including Iran, of the 192 countries to have ratified the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child.

The treaty says people under 18 should not be subjected to capital punishment, life imprisonment or corporal punishment.

The U.N. committee, in its 17-page conclusions on Iran, said it "deplores the fact that such executions have continued", and urged it to "abolish the death penalty as a sentence imposed on persons for having committed crimes before the age of 18".

It also called on Iran to suspend "the imposition and execution of all forms of torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, such as amputation, flogging or stoning for crimes committed by persons under 18".

The Convention forbids these punishments to be inflicted on juvenile criminals, but Iranian law allows it and such punishments "are systematically imposed by judicial authorities," the committee said.

It expressed deep concern over the fact that the age of majority in Iran is 15 for boys and 9 for girls, which implies that they are not protected by the Convention above these ages. This could also result in "forced, early and temporary marriages", the committee said.

It called for the children of the Baha'i and other religious minorities to be given equal access to education.

The committee said the Iranian delegation, led by Mohamad Mahdi Akhoondzadah, head of international legal affairs at the Foreign Ministry, had said that executions and floggings of people who committed crimes as minors had been suspended because a new juvenile justice bill was before parliament.

The United Nations also said that Yakin Erturk, the U.N. special rapporteur on violence against women, would go to Iran at the government's invitation from Jan 29-Feb 6. She will meet officials, non-governmental organisations and women's groups.

Wednesday, January 26, 2005

MercuryNews.com | 01/26/2005 | Iran's Internet rebels pay steep price for speaking out

Iran: Trials behind closed doors - Saqez seven (ICFTU Website)

Iran: Trials behind closed doors � Saqez seven (ICFTU Website)

Tuesday, January 25, 2005

Iran goes on cyber crackdown of bloggers

Reporters sans frontires - United States - Iran US host cuts off Iranian press agency ISNA

Reporters Without Borders said it suspected a political motive after US web host The Planet terminated its contract with the Iranian Student's News Agency (ISNA) on 14 January 2005.

The worldwide press freedom organisation has written to the US company seeking an explanation for its unilateral decision.

It pointed out that a host cannot interrupt its client's service unless it has evidently broken a clause in the contract or if the contract has expired. Even in the event of a contractual dispute, a technical provider must give reasons for its decision. It does not have the competence to decide whether or not an online publication should be banned. This is the province of a judge, it said in the letter.

Iranian Internet-users already suffer relentless government censorship, so it is all the more important for American host companies to show their respect for free expression, it added.

The ISNA is an official press agency that nevertheless provides an important source of information, particularly for foreign organisations and media, on the arrests of journalists and political dissidents in Iran, it said. The agency regularly relays information from human rights organisations, even though it does not give its sources.

In the email notifying ISNA that it was terminating the contract, The Planet said its decision was non negotiable and gave the agency 48 hours to find a new provider. Contacted by phone by Reporters Without Borders, The Planet refused to comment.

The deputy technical director of ISNA described the host's action as a "violation of international law". The agency confirmed that it had changed its host following the notification from The Planet.

Monday, January 24, 2005

Iran Focus-News - Special Wire - 649 under-14 girls arrested in Iran capital

Iran Focus-News - Human Rights - Iran student to be flogged 74 times, serve 2 years in prison

Sunday, January 23, 2005

Iran Focus-News - Special Wire - Father of political prisoner in Iran says son in solitary cell

Thursday, January 20, 2005

Reporters sans frontires - Iran Journalist and weblogger arrested

Reporters Without Borders has called for the immediate release of journalist Arash Sigarchi who was arrested on 17 January 2005, after responding to a summons from the intelligence ministry in Rashat in the north of the country.

He had been updating a weblog that has been banned by the authorities, Panhjareh Eltehab (The window of Anguish), in which he had spoken out against recent arrests of cyberjournalists and bloggers.

Wednesday, January 19, 2005

IRAN WATCH CANADA : Arash Sigarchi The editor of Gilan Emrooz newspaper and member of Reporters Without Border(RSF) has been imprisoned.

IRAN WATCH CANADA : We need to stop their execution now ! They are going to be executed on Wednesday.

IRAN WATCH CANADA : The life of few political prisoners is in danger !

I Shireen Ebadi announce to the world that ; In Iran there are "solitary confinement", and solitary confinement means there are torture.

Report on press conference in the office of the " Association of Human Rights Defender" About the existance of " solitary confinement " in Iran.

Translated by IRAN WATCH CANADA
www.moriab.blogspot.com

Iranian asylum seeker faces deportation. 19/01/2005. ABC News Online

Tuesday, January 18, 2005

Guardian Unlimited | World Latest | Ebadi Seeks Iran Solitary Confinement Ban

ABC News: Iran's Judiciary Admits Mistakes on Ebadi Case

Monday, January 17, 2005

deepikaglobal.com - Nobel winner tells Iran to ban solitary confinement

deepikaglobal.com - Latest News Detail: "Nobel winner tells Iran to ban solitary confinement"

Sunday, January 16, 2005

Human Rights Watch- Iran: Nobel Winner in Danger of Arrest

Shirin Ebadi Will Defy Summons, She Says
(New York, January 16, 2004) – An Iranian Revolutionary Court order threatening the arrest of Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi places all human rights defenders in Iran at risk, Human Rights Watch said today. Ebadi told Human Rights Watch that she does not intend to respond to the summons because she considers the order unlawful and does not recognize the Revolutionary Court’s legitimacy. On January 12, the Fourteenth Branch of the Revolutionary Court in Tehran ordered Ebadi to present herself for questioning within three days. The order did not specify the reasons for the summons, but stated that if she did not respond within the specified period, she would be arrested. Ebadi told Human Rights Watch she has appointed a team of three lawyers to represent her. “This is a blatant attempt by the Iranian government to silence one of the few remaining voices for human rights in Iran,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Executive Director of the Middle East and North Africa Division of Human Rights Watch. “If even a Nobel prize winner can be threatened, then no activist is safe.” Shirin Ebadi is the founder of the Center for Defense of Human Rights and has provided legal counsel to many political prisoners and dissidents. Last week, she became the defense lawyer for Ruzbeh Mir-Ebrahimi, the latest target of the Iranian government’s high-profile prosecution of webloggers and journalists. As Human Rights Watch has previously described, the government has detained and tortured many writers during the past few months, accusing them of “propaganda against the regime,” among other things. Ebadi is also representing the family of Iranian-born Canadian journalist, Zahra Kazemi, who died during her detention by the Iranian judiciary. Ebadi has recently renewed her calls for changes to Iran’s Islamic penal code to conform with international human rights standards. “At minimum, the Iranian government should specify the legal basis for summoning Ebadi,” said Whitson. “That’s a basic principle of due process.” Human Rights Watch is deeply concerned for the safety of Shirin Ebadi. Since receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in 2003, she has been the target of frequent threats and intimidation. In December 2003, a group of vigilantes attacked and physically harmed Ebadi while she was delivering a lecture at Al-Zahra University in Tehran. The government of Iran has an affirmative obligation to protect Ebadi and other rights advocates. The U.N. Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, which the General Assembly adopted by consensus in 1998, declares that individuals and associations have the right “to promote and to strive for the protection and realization of human rights and fundamental freedoms,” to “develop and discuss new human rights ideas and principles and to advocate their acceptance,” and to “complain about the policies and actions of individual officials and governmental bodies with regard to violations of human rights.” At the same time, states “shall take all necessary measures to ensure the protection by the competent authorities of [human rights defenders] against any violence, threats, retaliation, de facto or de jure adverse discrimination, pressure or any other arbitrary actions” as a consequence of their legitimate effort to promote human rights. “The Iranian authorities have a legal obligation to protect Shirin Ebadi,” said Whitson. “They are doing just the opposite.”

Reuter: Iran Nobel laureate Ebadi says ready for arrest

TEHRAN, Jan 16 (Reuters) Iranian Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi said today she was ready to face arrest for refusing to appear before the Islamic state's feared Revolutionary Court.The human rights lawyer, who won the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize, has defied a judiciary order to attend the court on the grounds that she was not informed of the charges she faced.Asked if she feared the judiciary would carry out its written threat to arrest her if she did not go to court by today, Ebadi told Reuters: ''In this country anything is possible.'' Ebadi, the first Muslim woman to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, said the court had now told her that her case involved a civil suit brought by a private complainant.This explanation further angered Ebadi, 57, who pointed out that the Revolutionary Court, which has jailed many intellectuals and political dissidents in the past, deals with national security issues.''It is unprecedented for the Revolutionary Court to summon someone for a private suit and (for them to) be told that failure to appear would result in his or her arrest,'' she said.''I believe the Revolutionary Court has diverted from the principle of impartiality regarding my summons and I hope it will be addressed by the judicial authorities,'' she added.A staunch defender of women's and children's rights, Ebadi is disliked by religious hardliners in Iran, who view her as a tool of the West. Her defence of high profile dissidents has also brought her into regular conflict with the authorities.The organisation Human Rights Watch strongly criticised the judiciary's move against Ebadi.''This is a blatant attempt by the Iranian government to silence one of the few remaining voices for human rights in Iran,'' said Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of the group's Middle East and North Africa Division.''If even a Nobel prize winner can be threatened, then no activist is safe.'' Reformist President Mohammad Khatami, speaking during an African tour yesterday, said Ebadi had nothing to fear.''As head of state, I personally guarantee her safety and her freedom to continue her activities,'' he told reporters in Dakar.''It is just an ordinary case and it is going to be settled pretty soon,'' he added.Ebadi said she hoped her stand against the judiciary would end the common practice of courts issuing a summons without informing the defendant of the charges.''It has also happened in the past and I hope my objection will stop such practices,'' she said.

Kurdish Media:Kurdish journalist Shamzin Jihad sentenced in Iran

The Kurdish National Congress of North America The Kurdish National Congress of North America condemns the arrest, imprisonment, and sentencing of Shamzin Jihad, a Kurdish journalist in Iran. The Iranian government continues its prosecution of Kurds who dare to express their ethnic identity. Amnesty International reports, “Judicial authorities curtailed freedoms of expression, opinion and association, including of ethnic minorities; scores of publications were closed, Internet sites were filtered and journalists were imprisoned.” In the same report, it is stated that most executions were carried out against the Kurdish minority, often in public. Numerous reports of this kind demonstrate that the Iranian congress continues to criminalize the most basic human rights and that the Iranian judicial system is completely lacking the desire and ability to apply the most basic human laws.
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Saturday, January 15, 2005

US condemns Iranian Nobel laureate's harassment : American Local News ExpressNewsline.com- ExpressNewsline.com

ABC News: Iran Nobel Laureate Refuses Court Summons

Friday, January 14, 2005

IRAN WATCH CANADA:Communique of 67 journalists and Human Rights advocates : We support Freshteh Ghazi !

We the Iranian journalists , advocates of human rights and freedom of expression , condemn the threat , arrest and torture of Freshteh Ghazi, An independent journalist who has been in recent months arrested together with tens of jornalists and blogger and we announce that the ongoing summon and threat on her while she is still recovering from the past arrest and torture, made us anxious about the possibility of her to be tortured and arrested again .
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Human RIghts Watch- World Report 2005

Respect for basic human rights in Iran, especially freedom of expression and opinion, deteriorated in 2004. Torture and ill-treatment in detention, including indefinite solitary confinement, are used routinely to punish dissidents. The judiciary, which is accountable to Supreme Leader Ali Khamene’i rather than the elected president, Mohammad Khatami, has been at the center of many serious human rights violations. Abuses are carried out by what Iranians call “parallel institutions”: plainclothes intelligence agents, paramilitary groups that violently attack peaceful protests, and illegal and secret prisons and interrogation centers run by intelligence services.
Essential Background: Overview of human rights issues in Iran (Human Rights Watch, 31-12-2004)

BBC NEWS | Middle East | US concern over Iran human rights

gooya news :: english : Torture in Iran, new resolution of European Parliament

gooya news :: english : Torture in Iran, new resolution of European Parliament: "Joint motion for a resolution on torture in Iran"

Thursday, January 13, 2005

H"Human Rights First" | End Harassment of Iranian Nobel Winner

Media Alert | January 13, 2005 | End Harassment of Iranian Nobel Winner

Iran Focus-News - Special Wire - European Parliament resolution censures Iran rights violations

TheDay.com, Iranian Pardoned In Killing Of Policeman Who Tried To Rape Her

TheDay.com, New London, CT

Mail and Guardian Online: Iranian Nobel-winner summoned by judiciary

Wednesday, January 12, 2005

IFEX :: Journalists receive death threats after testifying about their torture in detention

Seattle Post Iran judiciary denounces journalists who alleged torture

Web blogger Hanif Mazrouei, one of more than 20 journalists detained since a new crackdown on pro-reform Iranian media was launched in September, shows the blindfold he was made to wear for most of the 66 days he was kept in solitary confinement, during an interview with The Associated Press, in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, Jan. 11, 2005. My interrogator punched me in the head and stomach and kicked me in the back many times to force me confess to having illegal sex and endangered national security through my writings, Mazrouei said. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Monday, January 10, 2005

Iran Focus-News - Special Wire - Two men sentenced to be hanged in Iran

ContraCostaTimes.com | 01/10/2005 | Khatami backs probe of journalists' torture claims

Thursday, January 06, 2005

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH

Secret squads operating under the authority of the Iranian judiciary have used torture to force detained Internet journalists and civil society activists to write self-incriminatory "confession letters," Human Rights Watch said today.

Evidence obtained by Human Rights Watch confirms that secret squads of interrogators-primarily former intelligence officers purged in the late-1990s by President Mohammed Khatami but now employed by the judiciary-forced the detainees to write these "confession letters" under extreme pressure as a condition for their release on bail.

In an attempt to cover up the government's illegal detention and torture of detainees, interrogators have coerced them to write self-incriminatory letters that describe detention conditions as satisfactory and confess that civil society organizations are part of an "evil project" directed by "foreigners and counter-revolutionaries."

"The Iranian government shouldn't think for a minute that anyone will believe in the authenticity of these letters. They're fooling no one," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. "With stunts like these, Tehran is rapidly losing its already meager credibility on human rights."

Human Rights Watch has documented an extensive pattern of forced confessions by political detainees who have later retracted their statements, which they have attributed to their interrogators. The Iranian government continues to pursue a project to strangle critics and activists, one that Human Rights Watch documented in the report, "Like the Dead in Their Coffins."

In its latest phase, the government has resorted to forced "confessions" to pave the way for the prosecution of reformist politicians and leaders of civil society organizations. By obtaining self-incriminating confessions, the government is attempting to destroy individuals' reputations, sow discord among activists and ultimately shut down all independent voices and organizations.

Most recently, Human Rights Watch verified independently the contents of a document published anonymously last week by an official working for the Iranian judiciary. In his letter, the official describes the location of secret detention centers and the torture and mistreatment of detainees, including lengthy solitary confinement. The official published this letter in response to the Iranian government's denial of secret detention centers and the mistreatment of detainees.
Human Rights Watch called on the Iranian government to dismantle and prosecute secret squads operating within the judiciary, end arbitrary detentions, release all political prisoners, and comply with its human rights obligations under international treaties.

"The judiciary is more worried about protecting its secret squads from later prosecution than ensuring the rights of those detained", said Whitson.

Iran Focus-News - Human Rights - 32-year-old man hanged in public in northern Iran

Iran Focus-News - Paris exhibition: Human Rights Stoned to death in Iran

Paris exhibition: Human Rights Stoned to death in Iran

Repression Of Iranian Internet Sector Continues

Reporters Without Border condemns mistreatment of cyberjournalists and webloggers

Reporters Without Borders has condemned the mistreatment in prison of cyberdissidents and webloggers after an Iranian committee report concluded that public confessions of two of them, Omid Memarian (photo right) and Rozbeh Mir Ebrahimi (photo left), were obtained under duress.

"We fear that the authorities are succeeding in purging the web of all critical content through brutality, intimidation and censorship," the worldwide press freedom organisation said. "In a country in which weblogs and news sites have flourished in the past few years such a setback would be a catastrophe for freedom of expression."

Confirmation that Memarian and Mir Ebrahimi were mistreated after their arrests in November 2004, along with a group of other online journalist, was given on 4 January 2005 in a report from the committee for Monitoring the Implementation of the Constitution, on which both conservatives and reformists sit.

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Wednesday, January 05, 2005

Reporters sans frontires - The deadliest year for a decade : 53 journalists killed

Reporters sans fronti�res - International: " Iran routinely arrests and imprisons journalists and cyber-dissidents (about 30 were jailed during the year) and the legal system is controlled by hardliners still bent on destroying the opposition press. Political instability in the Palestinian Occupied Territories has also affected"