Human Rights News from Iran: 05/01/2005

Tuesday, May 31, 2005

The Peninsula On-line: Qatar's leading English Daily: Iran dissident calls for release of jailed activists

The Peninsula On-line: Qatar's leading English Daily

Petition urges Iranian Judiciary to unconditionally release journalist Akbar Ganji

Reporters sans frontires - Iran. Detained journalist let out of prison temporarily to receive medical treatment

Reporters sans fronti�res - Iran

Saturday, May 28, 2005

Reporters sans frontires - Iran: Call to EU foreign ministers and Javier Solana to put pressure on Iran in Akbar Ganji case

Reporters sans fronti�res - Iran

The Globe and Mail: New hope for the victims of torture

New hope for the victims of torture
A new UN ruling means Canada must rewrite its laws to
allow torture victims to sue their torturers, says
human-rights lawyer DAVID MATASs

By DAVID MATAS
The Globe and Mail - Thursday, May 26, 2005 Page A21

At the United Nations, breakthroughs are hard to
achieve but, just last week, the UN Committee against
Torture reached a pioneering conclusion, a conclusion
of global significance.
The context and the cause was Canada. Houshang
Bouzari, an Iranian-born businessman, was abducted and
tortured while on a trip to Iran in 1993 after he ran
afoul of the son of the country's president. Mr.
Bouzari became a Canadian permanent resident in 1998
and a citizen in 2001. He sued Iran in Canadian courts
in 2000 for compensation for his torture, but without
success.
The courts held that Canada's State Immunity Act was a
bar to Mr. Bouzari's lawsuit. The act, which provides
that states are not subject to other state's
jurisdictions, has certain exceptions, but liability
for torture is not one of them, the courts ruled.
But Canada is a signatory to the UN Convention against
Torture. The Convention obligates signatories to
provide victims of torture with a right to
compensation. In his lawsuit, Mr. Bouzari argued that
this obligation meant Canadian courts had a duty to
give him a right to compensation against Iran.
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The Canadian courts disagreed, holding that the duty
to compensate for torture set out in the Convention
applied only to torture inflicted in Canada, not to
torture inflicted abroad.
Now all that is changed.
Last Friday, the UN Committee against Torture released
its latest comments and conclusions about Canada's
compliance with the Convention against Torture.
The committee was well aware of what had happened to
Mr. Bouzari, and stated its concern at "the absence of
effective measures to provide civil compensation to
victims of torture in all cases." It recommended that
"the state party (i.e., Canada) should review its
position under Article 14 of the Convention to ensure
the provision of compensation through its civil
jurisdiction to all victims of torture." (Article 14
sets out the right to compensation for torture.)
Note the reference to "all cases" and "all victims of
torture." It is plain that what the committee had in
mind, especially in light of the Bouzari case, was
victims of torture inflicted abroad.
This is the first time in the history of this UN
committee that this point of view has been expressed,
not just about Canada but about any country. It is not
just a statement about what Canada should do. It is a
statement about what all countries should do, about
what the Convention against Torture means. And what it
means is that the obligation to provide a right to
compensation for torture does not just refer to
torture inflicted at home -- it applies to torture
anywhere. As a result, an individual such as Mr.
Bouzari should be able to successfully obtain a
judgment against a state such as Iran (and then have
such a court order executed against Iranian property
in Canada).
By its conclusions, the committee has made clear that
state immunity is no bar to such a proceeding. The
duty to provide a right to compensation trumps state
immunity. Canada cannot allow Iran to get away from a
lawsuit for torture by claiming sovereign immunity.
Individual torture victims in Canada can petition the
Committee against Torture and ask it to find Canada in
violation of the Convention against Torture when
Canada fails to provide a remedy for torture inflicted
abroad. Given that the committee has just written in
its conclusions about the Canadian situation, there is
little doubt what the committee's answer to such a
question would be.
Now that the Canadian courts have ruled that our State
Immunity Act does not allow for compensation for
foreign torture, Canada must change the act to allow
an exception for compensation for foreign torture.
Otherwise, Canada would be violating a human-rights
treaty it has promised to uphold.
Every other country that is party to the Convention
against Torture must do the same. Every country that
has signed and ratified the Convention against Torture
must allow victims of torture to seek redress for
torture inflicted abroad.
All of this could have a profound effect on other
cases of compensation for torture, including that of
Maher Arar, as well as that of Zahra Kazemi, the
murdered Canadian photojournalist, whose estate might
now be able to sue Iran.
Canadian foreign policy is based on promotion of
respect for human rights. Canada cannot, at one and
the same time, ask other states to combat torture and
ignore the committee's conclusion that Canada must
ensure the provision of compensation to "all victims
of torture," wherever they may have been tortured.
David Matas, a Winnipeg lawyer, represented Houshang
Bouzari in his lawsuit against Iran.

Thursday, May 26, 2005

IFEX :: Court summons against journalist Emadoldin Baghi cancelled

IFEX :: Imprisoned blogger on hunger strike

Wednesday, May 25, 2005

Amnesty International Report 2005 Speech by Irene Khan at Foreign Press Association - Amnesty International

Many millions feel betrayed and let down by the failure of governments and the international community to uphold human rights.

The Amnesty International Report 2005 reflects the voices of many individuals from 149 countries across the world. The report reveals a familiar pattern of abuse and impunity across many different situations: from old fashioned repression in places like Algeria, Iran, Myanmar and the Maldives to new forms of restrictions against internet users in China and Vietnam; from long-festering conflicts in Colombia, DRC, Israel and the Occupied Territories, to new outbreaks of violence that occurred in 2004 in Cote d’Ivoire and Haiti.
More

Iran - Amnesty International Annual Report

Covering events from January - December 2004

Scores of political prisoners, including prisoners of conscience, continued to serve prison sentences imposed following unfair trials in previous years. Scores more were arrested in 2004, many in connection with press articles or publications both in print and on the Internet which were alleged to “endanger national security” or defame senior officials or religious precepts. Many of the families of those arrested also faced intimidation.

Independent human rights defenders were harassed. At least two individuals died in custody and 159 people were executed, including one minor. At least two of the 36 people who were flogged reportedly died following the implementation of the punishment; no investigations were carried out into these deaths. The true number of those executed or subjected to corporal punishment was believed to be considerably higher.

Iran - Amnesty International

Reuters AlertNet - Iran: Judiciary Stonewalls on Journalist's Death

Rights group slams Iran

Tuesday, May 24, 2005

Akbar Ganji started a hunger strike on May 18th, 2005 at 19:00

For your information and action
IHRAG (Iranian Human Rights Activist Groups in EU and North America)
Phone: 1 - 514 - 365 9212 (Canada) or 46 -704 124 500 (Sweden)
Address: K.F.M.R.I, BOX 5047, 165 10 Hässelby, Sweden
Human Rights News from Iran
http://ihrgint.blogspot.com

Akbar Ganji started a hunger strike on May 18th, 2005 at 19:00
For being refused a transfer request to a medical facility outside of the prison despite the recommendation of the health clinic inside Evin prison

Political dissident and journalist *, Akbar Ganji became an enemy of the Iranian regime in the year 2000 for naming members of political power hierarchy in Iran as being responsible for the killing of dissidents and intellectuals

* Akbar Ganji is an Honorary Member of the Canadian, English and Lichtenstein PEN Centers. He is also a recipient of the Canadian Journalists for Free Expression 2000 International Press Freedom Award

Monday, May 23, 2005

Iran News - Convicted rapist hanged publicly in Iran

Iran News - Convicted rapist hanged publicly in Iran: "LONDON, May 23 (IranMania) - An Iranian man convicted of raping a female student was hanged in public on Sunday in southeastern city of Zahedan, in the Sistan-Baluchestan province, according to Iran's State News Aagency (IRNA).
Rahmatollah Ghanbarzehi Gorgich, 20, was convicted of raping a university student he had picked up at a bus terminal in September 2004. The report said he was hanged at the same place.
So far this year Iran has executed at least 26 people, according to an AFP tally based on witness and press reports.
In 2004 at least 159 people were executed in Iran, the highest rate in the world after China, according to human rights watchdog Amnesty International.
Iran's capital offences include murder, rape, armed robbery, apostasy, blasphemy, serious drug trafficking, repeated sodomy, adultery or prostitution, treason and espionage."

Payvand's Iran News: Imprisoned Iranian journalist Akbar Ganji goes on hunger strike

Imprisoned Iranian journalist Akbar Ganji goes on hunger strike
Journalist Akbar Ganji announced yesterday in a statement issued through his lawyer, Youssef Molai, that he has begun "an unlimited hunger strike" to protest against his imprisonment, the Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA) reported.

Reporters Without Borders reacted by warning the Iranian authorities that they will held responsible for any deterioration in his already poor state of health.

"It is insane that a hunger strike is the only recourse for imprisoned journalists who are trying to obtain their rights as detainees, including the right to make phone calls or to be let out of the prison for short periods," the press freedom organization said. "Ganji's case is serious because he has not even been able to have the treatment which is required by his condition and which has been recommended by his doctors."

Ganji said in his statement : "I protest against my illegal and unjust imprisonment, all the more so because I cannot even pursue my treatment outside Evin prison. I am beginning an unlimited hunger strike this evening. No one should be imprisoned - not even for a second - for expressing an opinion."

22.04.2005 - Akbar Ganji is seriously ill after five years in prison

Iranian journalist Akbar Ganji, who completes his fifth year in Tehran's Evin prison tomorrow, is seriously ill and should be granted an immediate and unconditional release, Reporters Without Borders said today.

"Ganji is one of Iran's leading journalists and, at the same time, the one who has been imprisoned for the longest period," the press freedom organization said. "We call on the judicial authorities to stop ignoring the prison doctors, who have been saying for three years that he needs to be let out of prison for treatment. His condition requires immediate hospitalization and the Iranian authorities will be held responsible for their criminal attitude."

Reporters Without Borders added : "Ganji was imprisoned five years ago and is being denied his rights as a prisoner now because he criticised the impunity prevailing in Iran in his articles and because he participated in the pro-reform debate."

Ganji, who worked on the daily paper Sobh-e-Emrooz, was arrested on 22 April 2000 after appearing before the press court accused of writing that leading figures, including former President Hashemi Rafsanjani and former intelligence minister Ali Fallahian, had been involved in the murder of opponents and intellectuals in late 1998. He was also accused of taking part in a conference in Berlin about reform in Iran which the government charged was "anti-Islamic."

He was sentenced on 13 January 2001 to 10 years in prison but the appeal court reduced this to six months on 15 May 2001. However on 15 July 2001, the supreme court quashed the May sentence on technical grounds and imposed a six-year jail sentence.

He is being held in solitary confinement and, unlike other political prisoners, is not allowed to phone his wife, and is rarely allowed to leave the prison, although the law permits this. In the course of his five years in prison, he has been allowed only 40 day-passes, most of them for medical appointments. Hospital doctors have recommended that he be hospitalized for back problems and asthma, which has got worse because of his prison conditions, but the judicial authorities continue to block this. His lawyer, Nobel peace laureate Shirin Edabi, has voiced great concern about his state of health.

The repression meanwhile continues in Iran. Several journalists were summoned for questioning in March by different judicial and security authorities. Kivan Samimi, the editor of the monthly Nameh, was summoned on 30 March by a Tehran court. Mohamad Javad Roh of the daily newspaper Shargh was summoned several times and was threatened over his articles about the elections.

A human rights organization recently formed by journalists in the western province of Kurdistan has reported a major crackdown on the press there and said 14 journalists were summoned by courts in the city of Sanandaj.

Those who were summoned are Mohammad Sadegh Kabovand, Ejlal Ghavami, Tonya Kabovand, Namo Hedayati, Yosef Azizi, Kaveh Hosinpanahi, Jahangir Hashemi, Jamshid Vaziri, Hasan Amini and Majid Mohamadi of the weekly Payam-e mardom-e Kurdestan, Roya Tolou, the editor of the weekly Resan, Abdolah Sohrabi, the publisher of the weekly Rouj Halat, and Saman Solimani, its editor, and Hossin Ahmadinyazi, the editor or the weekly Asoo.

They have all been accused of "publishing false news and publicity against the regime" and "attacking national security."

Over 15 years ago, Reporters without Borders created its "Sponsorship Programme" and called upon the international media to select and support an imprisoned journalist. More than two hundreds news staffs around the globe are thus sponsoring colleagues by regularly petitioning authorities for their release and by publicising their situations so that their cases will not be forgotten. Currently, Akbar Ganji is sponsored by Le Devoir, Nice-Matin, La Montagne

The Globe and Mail: Back off on Kazemi, Iran tells Canada

Montreal Gazette - canada.com network: Lives at risk, Kazemi's son warns

Iranian witnesses in jeopardy. Doctor who examined slain photojournalist disappears night before bid to reopen case
MORE

Sunday, May 22, 2005

The Globe and Mail: MD who treated Kazemi reportedly held in Iran

OTTAWA -- A doctor who treated Montreal photojournalist Zahra Kazemi in the intensive care unit of a Tehran hospital has reportedly been arrested by Iranian Revolutionary Guards.

The doctor's life may be in jeopardy because he can testify about the severity of the head wounds and other injuries the photojournalist suffered while she was in the custody of Iranian authorities, Stephan Hachemi, Ms. Kazemi's son, said yesterday

MORE

Iran: Exiled Armed Group Abuses Dissident Members (Human Rights Watch, 18-5-2005)

Pour votre Infomation et Action / For your Information and Action :
Selon les informations que nous avons reçu, Mr. Hadi Sepehrlou agé de 32 ans, capitaine dans les gardes revolutionnaires (Pasdaran) et technicien, spécialiste des appereils respiratoires ICU à l'Hopital de Baghiatolah a été kidnapé chez lui le 14 mai 2005.
Baghiatolah est l'Hopital où Zahra kazemi a eté transporté après avoir été torturé sauvagement. À ce jour, nous n'avons reçu aucune nouvelle de lui.

According to the information that we received, Mr. Hadi Sepehrlou, 32 years old, the revolutionary guard (Pasdaran) captain and ICU respiratory equipments specialist at Baghiatolah hospital, was kidnapped from his home Saturday night, May 14, 2005. Baghiatolah is the hospital where Zahra Kazemi was transported after she was tortured. To this date, there has been no news of him.

Hossein Mahoutiha
1-514-365 9212

Most Iran Reform Candidates Disqualified | theledger.com

WTNH.com - Iranian hard-liners bar reformists candidates from presidential election

WorldNetDaily: Iranian pastor could get death penalty

Hamid Pourmand (Photo: Compass Direct)

WorldNetDaily: Iranian pastor could get death penalty

Friday, May 20, 2005

news - Iran: Reporters Without Borders calls on the international community to support the Canadian government's efforts in the Kazemi dossier

news : BRITISH AHWAZI FRIENDSHIP SOCIETY: Public execution of Ahwazi Arabs in Iran

news : BRITISH AHWAZI FRIENDSHIP SOCIETY

Wednesday, May 18, 2005

Guardian Unlimited | World Latest | Canada to Limit Iran Diplomatic Contact

RADIO FREE EUROPE/ RADIO LIBERTY:Iran Says Slain Journalist's Case Still Open

RADIO FREE EUROPE/ RADIO LIBERTY

Iran Focus-News - Special Wire - Iran: Woman sentenced to stoning, man to execution

Iran Focus-News - Special Wire - Iran: Woman sentenced to stoning, man to execution: "Iran Focus

Tehran, May 18 � An Iranian woman was sentenced yesterday to death by stoning in Tehran, according to a state-run daily.

The young woman, only identified by her first name Fatemeh, 25 years old, was given two death sentences, for murder and having an affair.

The Etemaad daily reported that a Tehran court found Fatemeh guilty of strangling to death a 22-year-old neighbour, whom she allegedly also had an affair with. The court also sentenced her husband to prison time for taking part in the murder.

The first death sentence was issued for the murder, while the stoning to death sentence was issued for the alleged affair.

Separately, a man, identified as Hossein Gholi, was sentenced to death by execution in Tehran, for the murder of a friend whom he suspected of having an affair with his wife. Hossein Gholi denied that he had murdered his friend; however the court ruled that he was guilty and sentenced him to execution.

Late last month the European Parliament adopted a resolution, calling on Iran to end its increasing human rights violations.

It condemned �the serious increase in human rights violations, particularly the increasing number of reports of public executions, and floggings�.

The EP called �on the Council (of Europe) and the Commission to closely monitor the implementation of commitments made by Iran to moratoriums in the three key areas of stoning, execution of minors and amputations�.

The EP resolution said that it was �very concerned that the human rights situation has deteriorated in the last two years and calls on the Iranian authorities to make a serious commitment to reversing this trend�.

It expressed alarm at �the hi"

The Globe and Mail: Pettigrew turns up the heat over Kazemi case

JTW News - Canada 'constrains' ties with Iran over Kazemi

Christian Today > Iranian Pastor Facing Possible Death Sentence

IFEX :: Journalist Emadoldin Baghi faces imminent arrest, possible imprisonment

IFEX :: Journalist Emadoldin Baghi faces imminent arrest, possible imprisonment: "RSF/IFEX) - RSF has voiced concern about the court summons received by journalist Emadoldin Baghi on 8 May 2005. The journalist was ordered to appear before a Tehran Revolutionary Court on 12 May.
'We are extremely worried by this summons, which means that Emadoldin Baghi is to be arrested again, and we call on the European countries who have started a dialogue with Iran to closely follow the case of this ardent defender of free speech,' RSF said.
'We point out that the head of the Iranian judiciary, Ayatollah Mahmud Hashemi Shahrudi, recently accused the courts and the police of exceeding their authority and of abusing the law in some of the summonses they issued and the ensuing arbitrary arrests,' the organisation added. "

IFEX :: Human Rights Watch calls for journalist's release; foreign and Iranian journalists barred from visiting Khuzistan province

IFEX :: Human Rights Watch calls for journalist's release; foreign and Iranian journalists barred from visiting Khuzistan province: "Iran: Reports of Ethnic Violence Suppressed
Journalist Arrested; Others Barred From Visiting Khuzistan Province

(New York, May 11, 2005) - The Iranian government should immediately release Yusuf Azizi Banitaraf, an Iranian journalist of Arab descent, and allow independent journalists and human rights monitors to report on a government crackdown on protests in the southern province of Khuzistan, Human Rights Watch said today.
Plainclothes agents arrested Banitaraf, who has written 20 books on ethnic minorities in Iran, in Tehran on April 25 during a press conference held by the nongovernmental Center for the Defense of Human Rights. During this event, Banitaraf publicly criticized the government's violent suppression of protests by ethnic Iranian-Arabs in Khuzistan's capital, Ahwaz. He spoke out about the killing of local residents during the protests, which began on April 15. According to government critics, at least 50 people were killed by the government's security forces. "

IFEX ::International PEN welcomes the release of Iranian writer, Maldives cyber-dissident, Bangladeshi writer and Tibetan monk

International PEN's Writers in Prison Committee has learned of the release of two writers in the past two weeks. All had been subject to PEN appeals. Their release is testimony to the commitment and dedication of writers world wide who have campaigned for their freedom. A third writer has been released on bail, and a fourth on expiry of his sentence.

Iranian writer Ardeshir Gholipour, held in an Australian refugee detention centre since his arrival in May 2000, was finally freed on 29 April. A writer who had been involved in the democracy movement, Gholipour had fled Iran in March that year, fearing for his life. Several writers, including one with whom Gholipour had worked, had been murdered during the previous years at the hands of Iranian police. In Australia, Gholipour lived under constant threat of forced return to Iran, and his physical and psychological health deteriorated, leading him to attempt suicide in prison. PEN members in Australia rallied to his support, lobbying the government, visiting him in prison and raising publicity. PEN's advocacy was central to the decision to release Gholipour.

IFEX ::

Monday, May 16, 2005

Iranian lawyers appeal over slain photojournalist

: "Monday, May 16, 2005 9:18:40 AM ET
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Human rights lawyers on Monday accused Iran's hardline judiciary of permitting an illegal trial that acquitted a government agent of the killing of a Canadian photojournalist.
However, a judge gave the lawyers' arguments short shrift and indefinitely postponed giving his verdict on their appeal, one of the human rights team said.
Zahra Kazemi, 54, died of a brain hemorrhage in Iranian custody in July 2003 after her skull was split by a blunt object. She had been arrested for taking photographs of Tehran's feared Evin prison, home to many political dissidents.
Iran's judiciary last July acquitted an Intelligence Ministry agent of killing Kazemi and said she died in an accident, striking her head when she fainted.
But lawyer Mohammad Ali Dadkhah, representing the family of the Montreal-based reporter, launched an appeal on Monday, saying the court which acquitted the agent did not have jurisdiction to rule on such a case.
'Because the case involves a deliberate murder only a provincial court can investigate the case but neither this court nor the earlier ones in her case were provincial,' he told Reuters.
Despite assurances they would be admitted, reporters were turned away from the closed appeal session.
Kazemi's death severely damaged Tehran's diplomatic relations with Canada.
Dadkhah, who is fighting the Kazemi case with three other lawyers, said he had raised objections to the way his team's objections had been ignored in the past.
'The whole world is watching this case,' Dadkhah said he told the court. But it made little impact.
'The judge did not see eye-to-eye with us,' he said. "

Times of Oman:Iran dissidents call for presidential poll boycott

Times of Oman

Reporters sans frontires - Iran Imprisoned blogger goes on hunger-strike

Reporters sans fronti�res - Iran: "Reporters Without Borders today called on bloggers throughout the world to post messages in support of Iranian blogger Mojtaba Saminejad, who has been in prison since 12 February and who began a hunger-strike on 14 May.
'The life of this young blogger is in danger as he is being held in a prison where several detainees have died or have been injured in violence between inmates,' the press freedom organization said.
'You must talk about him on the Web and in the media in order to put pressure on the Iranian authorities,' the organization said, adding, 'all bloggers must feel concerned about his fate and that of his two colleagues who are also imprisoned.'
According to his family, Mojtaba initially tried to file a complaint about mistreatment but his interrogators replied they were going to put him in a detention centre where he would 'regret having complained.' He is currently held in Gohar Dashat prison (in a Tehran suburb), which has a reputation for mistreatment of detainees. He shares his cell with non-political prisoners.
Mojtaba's father, Sfar Saminejad, told the student news agency ISNA, 'I wrote several letters to the authorities to complain about the unacceptable conditions in which my son is being detained, but no one replied.'
Mojtaba's hands and feet were in chains when he appeared in court on 11 May. "

Friday, May 13, 2005

Court Frees Dissident Who Said Iranians Wanted Better Ties With U.S. - New York Times

Iran: Too little, too late -- Afsaneh Norouzi�s death sentence and pardon - news.amnesty - Amnesty International

Iran: Too little, too late -- Afsaneh Norouzi�s death sentence and pardon - news.amnesty - Amnesty International: "There is no criminal justice system in the world that can claim infallibility in determining guilt or innocence. However, in any democratic society, the justice system must make every effort to ensure fairness. A justice system must not only strive to be accurate, but must also recognize its imperfections and account for them. This means that it must allow for the possibility of error by admitting them when they are found and by compensating the innocent.
The 36-year-old Iranian woman, Afsaneh Norouzi, who was recently spared the death penalty and finally released from prison, deserved her freedom and her right to life. But, like her unfair trial that resulted in her wrongful capital murder conviction, her 'too little, too late' pardon was also grossly unfair and offered no compensation whatsoever for the litany of injustice she has endured since her detention eight years ago.
Afsaneh Norouzi was arrested on 10 July 1997 in Tehran along with her husband, Mostafa Jahangiri, three days after the body of Behzad Aghdam Moghadam was found in his duplex villa in Kish Island, a vacation and free trade zone in southern Iran. Behzad Aghdam Moghadam's bare naked body was found stabbed in his children's bedroom. His penis was partially cut off. Bloodied walls and disarray suggested a struggle. The police immediately suspected a sex-related killing. Less than a month later, five detectives and forensic experts confirmed that the killing was an act of self-defense against rape by a woman. By then, Afsaneh Norouzi, an incommunicado detainee in police custody, had also repeatedly confessed to stabbing Behzad Aghdam Moghadam with kitchen knives to protect herself from rape. "

Thursday, May 12, 2005

Ahwazi: Alarm over Ahwazi Asylum Seeker's Treatment in Australia

RADIO FREE EUROPE/ RADIO LIBERTY: Rights Group Urges Iran To Free Journalist

RADIO FREE EUROPE/ RADIO LIBERTY

IHRAG: Letter to Angelika Beer, Chair of the Delegation for relations with Iran about repression of Iranian writers

May 7, 2005
To: Angelika Beer, Chair of the Delegation for relations with Iran
Re.: Repression of Iranian Writers

IHRAG (Iranian Human Rights Activist Groups in EU and North America) is a non-profit network formed in the fall of 2001 by the independent Iranian associations based in Europe and North America.
IHRAG activities are based on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as well as UN’s Human rights conventions.

The General assembly of the Iranian Writers' Association was scheduled to be held last Tuesday, May 3, 2005, as announced by the society. However, for the third time, the Islamic Republic of Iran has banned the assembly. This has occurred, while the Iranian government’s own organ ``Nameh Kanoon`` as well as its monthly journal ``Karnameh`` which was banned from publication by the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance.

The Iranian regime’s report card, regarding the widespread, planned and systematic violation of Human Rights, especially toward writers, is not generated by an impartial body. In fact, it is the official bodies of the regime such as the Ministry of Intelligence, who systematically crush cultural and literary activities in the country, silencing the voices of Iranian intellectuals and writers.

We, the Iranian Human Rights Activist Groups in EU and North America (IHRAG), oppose the historical censorship and assassination of writers, journalists and intellectuals like Mohammad Mokhtari, Mohammad Jafar Pooyandeh, Ghaffar Hossieni, Majid Sharif, Ali Akbar Saeeidi Sirjani, Ahmad Tafazzoli, Ahmad Mir Alaie and Saeed Soltanpoor. We express our support for the legitimate demands of the Iranian Writers' Association to hold its annual general assembly, and to seek safety for its members.

We request that:

1- You focus solely on the principles of human rights in your dealings with the Iranian government and that you do not sacrifice humanitarian issues for economical and political reasons
2- Condition your meetings with the Islamic Republic of Iran on the premise of their adherence with minimum human rights standards
3- United Nations condemn the Islamic Republic of Iran if it refuse to adhere to these minimum human rights standards

Sincerely,

Iranian Human Rights Activist Groups in EU and North America (IHRAG)
E-mail: IHRNENA@gmail.com
Phone: 1 - 514 – 365 9212 (Canada) or 46 -704-124-500 (Sweden)
Address: BOX 5047, 165 10 Hässelby, Sweden

Wednesday, May 11, 2005

Iran Focus-News - Human Rights - Convicted murderer hanged in Iran

Iran Focus-News - Special Wire - Rome: Trial begins for Iran official in dissident assassination

Iran Focus-News - Special Wire - Rome: Trial begins for Iran official in dissident assassination: "Rome, May 11 - Rome�s Criminal Court started this morning the trial in absentia of an official of the Iranian government accused of taking part in the killing of the representative of the opposition National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) in Italy.

Mohammad Hossein Naghdi, who defected to the NCRI when he was the Iranian charge d'affaires in Italy in 1981, was murdered by a gunmen allegedly working for Iran's notorious Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS), on March 16, 1993."

Reporters sans frontires - Iran Journalist Emadoldin Baghi faces possible imprisonment again

Reporters sans fronti�res - Iran: "Reporters Without Borders voiced concern today about a court summons received on 8 May by journalist Emadoldin Baghi, who has been imprisoned in the past. Baghi has been ordered to appear before a Tehran revolutionary court tomorrow.
'We are extremely worried by this summons, which means that Emadoldin Baghi is to be arrested again, and we call on the European countries who have began a dialogue with Iran to closely follow the case of this ardent defender of free speech,' the press freedom organization said.
'We point out that the head of the Iranian judiciary, Ayatollah Mahmud Hashemi Shahrudi, recently accused the courts and the police of exceeding their authority and of abusing the law in some of the summonses they issued and the ensuing arbitrary arrests,' the organization added.
Baghi was tried by a Tehran revolutionary court on 9 November 2004 for writing articles for the pro-reform press and the following month was given a suspended sentence of one year in prison. After Tehran prosecutor Said Mortazavi objected, it was changed to a year in prison with no suspension of sentence. "

Tuesday, May 10, 2005

Iran: Reports of Ethnic Violence Suppressed (Human Rights Watch, May 10, 2005)

Iran: Reports of Ethnic Violence Suppressed (Human Rights Watch, May 10, 2005): "Iran: Reports of Ethnic Violence Suppressed
Journalist Arrested; Others Barred From Visiting Khuzistan Province "

Monday, May 09, 2005

Human Rights Watch - Blog for Human Rights

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Human Rights Watch - Blog for Human Rights: "Iran
In 2004, more than 20 bloggers and journalists were detained on the orders of Tehran�s chief prosecutor. The detainees were held in solitary confinement and were routinely tortured and forced to make false confessions. The authorities hoped to silence and intimidate activists who rely on the Internet to communicate their viewpoints. Human Rights Watch campaigned actively to expose the ill-treatment of the detainees and called for their immediate release. In December 2004, the detainees were released following intense international protests. However the judiciary continues to persecute bloggers. On Feb. 22, 2004, a well-known blogger, Arash Cigarchi, was sentenced to 14 years in prison for his writings. Charges brought against Cigarchi included �insulting the leader.� He has appealed his sentence. Another blogger, Mojtaba Samii Nezhad, is currently in custody with no charges brought against him. Samii Nezhad has spent more than 88 days in solitary confinement"

Sunday, May 08, 2005

IHRAG: Letter to Louise Arbour, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, about the repression in Khouzistan

La répression de la protestation pacifique d’Ahvaz

Madame Louise Arbour,
Haut Commissaire des Nations Unies aux Droits de l'homme

IHRAG est un réseau à but non lucratif formé en automne 2001 par des associations Indépendantes de groupes d’activistes iraniens des Droits de l’Homme en Europe ainsi qu’en Amérique du Nord. IHRAG, fonde ses activités sur la Déclaration Universelle des Droits de l’Homme ainsi que sur les différentes conventions connexes.

Selon les informations provenant de sources officielles et officieuses, les autorités iraniennes ont sévèrement réprimé la protestation pacifique des citoyens d’origine Arabe d’Ahvaz contre une lettre attribuée à l’ancien vice-président iranien, évoquant explicitement l’idée de restreindre l’influence des Arabes au Khouzistan.

Dans les six derniers jours plusieurs personnes ont été blessé notamment dans les villes de Mahshahr et Ahvaz. Selon les informations officielles entre 3 à 6 personnes ont été tuées, 310 personnes arrêtées et 30 personnes ont été blessées.

Ainsi nous vous demandons de faire les efforts nécessaires afin que :
• Toutes les personnes arrêtées soient libérées. Il est à noter que les prisonniers n’ont pas eu la permission de consulter un avocat et de plus, leurs familles ne connaissent pas leurs lieux de détention.
• Les blessés soient traités et que leurs poursuites soient arrêtées.
• Les corps des personnes tuées soient livrés à leurs familles et qu’elles puissent avoir le droit d’organiser des funérailles.
• Une commission d’enquête de l’ONU soit envoyée sur les lieux.

Groupes d’activistes iraniennes de la défense des Droits de l’Homme en Europe et en Amérique du Nord (IHRAG)

Human Rights News from Iran : http://ihrgint.blogspot.com/
E-mail : IHRNENA@gmail.com
Phone: 1 - 514 - 365 9212 (Canada) or 46 -704 124 500 (Sweden)
Address: BOX 5047, 165 10 Hässelby, Sweden

World Press Freedom Day: Virtual conference

World Press Freedom Day
Iranian Human Rights Activist Groups in EU and North America ( IHRAG) present :
Virtual conference in Farsi with Reza Moeini - Rporter Witout Border representative
Sunday 18 may 2005 at 18:00 Paris time
PALTALK: By Language/Nationality/Other / IRAN-Hoqhooqhe Bashar/Matbouhat dar Sale 83"

Friday, May 06, 2005

IFEX :: Cyber-dissident gravely ill in prison; holy city of Qom is "hell for bloggers," says RSF

IFEX :: Cyber-dissident gravely ill in prison; holy city of Qom is "hell for bloggers," says RSF: "RSF/IFEX) - RSF has condemned the latest crackdown on cyber-dissidents and bloggers in the southern city of Qom. Mojtaba Lotfi, who is serving a prison sentence in the city for articles he posted on the Internet, is gravely ill. Local courts in Qom are also harassing bloggers Farid Modaressi and Mohamad Reza Fathi. "

VOA News - Iran Suppresses Minorities

VOA News - Iran Suppresses Minorities: "Iranian security forces recently clashed with ethnic Arab Iranian protestors in the southwestern province of Khuzestan. News organizations reported that the cause of the unrest was a purported plan by the Iranian government to move ethnic Arabs out of the oil-rich area. Iranian officials deny the existence of such a plan.
The human rights organization Amnesty International said that more than one-hundred thirty people were arrested by Iranian security forces 'and are at risk of torture.' Amnesty International also said that there are 'unconfirmed reports that at least twenty-nine people have been killed in the disturbances, and up to five-hundred injured.' U.S. State Department deputy spokesman Adam Ereli commented on the issue: "

Iran News - Five convicted murderers hanged in Iran

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Iran's top judge attacks police

Xinhua - English Iranian official admits human rights violations in detention centers

Xinhua - English

Wednesday, May 04, 2005

Reporters sans frontires - Iran:Holy city of Qom is hell for bloggers

Reporters Without Borders today condemned a crackdown on cyber-journalists and bloggers in the southern city of Qom where Mojtaba Lotfi, who is serving a nearly four-year sentence for articles he posted on the Internet, is gravely ill in prison and where local courts are harassing two bloggers, Farid Farid Modaressi and Mohamad Reza Fathi.

"Writing about politics or even social issues is an act of bravery in Iran, especially as the local authorities are now taking over the role of gagging bloggers from the central government," the press freedom organization said.

"For this reason, we hail the human rights report which has just been adopted by the European parliament and which condemns Iran's 'abject policies' towards journalists and cyber-dissidents," the organization added.

More: "Holy city of Qom is hell for bloggers"

IFEX :: Several journalists summoned and charged; journalist Akbar Ganji gravely ill after five years in prison

IFEX :: Several journalists summoned and charged; journalist Akbar Ganji gravely ill after five years in prison: "Several journalists summoned and charged; journalist Akbar Ganji gravely ill after five years in prison"

Iran News - Convicted murderer hanged publicly in Iran

Tuesday, May 03, 2005

Reporters sans frontires - Iran - 2005 annual report

Reporters sans frontires - Iran - 2005 annual report: "Area : 1,648,200 sq.km.
Population : 68,920,000
Language : Persian
Head of state : Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (Supreme Guide)
Head of government : President Mohammad Khatami

Iran - 2005 annual report
Press freedom shrank daily during 2004 in Iran, one the world's 10 countries most repressive of the media. Countless threats hang over journalists and they are beaten when thrown in jail. The country has for years been the Middle East's biggest prison for journalists.
Since the massive crackdown in 2000 which resulted in the justice ministry closing down nearly 100 reformist newspapers supporting President Mohammad Khatami, the ruling hardliners and mullahs have hammered away at press freedom.
Journalists are threatened or summoned to the justice or intelligence ministries, sometimes unofficially. Many buy their freedom by paying enormous bail that often forces their families into debt or to sell their belongings. Even then, they remain the target of prosecution or under threat of suspended jail sentences.
Parliament has been dominated since 20 February 2004 by the hardliners and President Khatami has effectively yielded power to the country's conservative Supreme Guide, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Dangerous topics for the media to raise include relations with the United States, nuclear matters, Islam, religion, morals and dissident mullahs. The presidential elections due in mid-2005, as well as rivalry between reformists and hardliners and also within each camp make the political climate very poisonous. Journalists must walk a difficult tightrope between the shifting political divisions. "

RADIO FREE EUROPE/ RADIO LIBERTY:Free Press Struggling In CIS, Mideast, And South Asia (Part 3)

RADIO FREE EUROPE/ RADIO LIBERTY: "RSF press spokesman Reza Moini told Radio Farda that there were more journalists in prison in Iran in 2004 than in any other country in the region.

'In this region the situation is deplorable; it can be explained in a few words; first of all Iraq with the [high] number of dead. Then we can point to pressure and censorship and jailing of journalists. In this region during the last year 27 journalists were arrested and about half of the arrests took place in Iran.' "

Press Freedom Day: Human rights in the Blogosphere - news.amnesty - Amnesty International

Press Freedom Day: Human rights in the Blogosphere - news.amnesty - Amnesty International: "Bloggers in Iran set out ideas and advocate policies that are widely regarded to be a step ahead of current social, political and human rights debates. Bloggers' sites addressing women's rights in Iran provide a platform -- or tribune -- for pushing forward women's social, political and economic rights. The persistent pressure exerted by bloggers in the case of Afsaneh Norouzi, who was convicted of murdering a high-ranking security and intelligence official who had tried to rape her, played no small part in her recently being spared the death penalty and finally released from prison after more than seven years' detention.
They also provide a means for other bloggers to get in touch with this burgeoning community in Iran. Blogs by members of Iran's ethnic minorities and their organisations, such as the Association for the Defence of Children's Rights, in Sanandaj, Kordestan, help advance this field of rights in a region where awareness is hampered by fewer outlets to international standards and meaningful ways of transmitting the information to the people who live there in their own language.
Electronic civil disobedience is not without risk. In both Iran and China, the authorities have increasingly targeted bloggers to stifle dissent. Bloggers are sometimes arrested and sites discussing political or social issues shut down or redirected to entertainment forums. In one recent case highlighted by Reporters sans fronti�res, an Iranian blogger, Mohamad Reza Abdollahi, was sentenced on appeal to six months in prison and a fine of 1 million rials for supposedly insulting the country's leaders and making anti-government propaganda. Police subsequently arrested his wife, another blogger whom they accused of 'defending her husband too openly'. Najmeh Oumidparvar, who was f"

Monday, May 02, 2005

Shirin Ebadi says national laws should respect freedom of Iranian journalists

BosNewsLife News | Iran Postpones Execution Trial Against Christian Convert After Media Leak

BosNewsLife News | World News | Breaking News | Hard Hitting Stories: "TEHRAN, IRAN (BosNewsLife)-- Iranian authorities reportedly ended preliminary hearings against Christian convert Hamid Pourmand before an Islamic sharia court in Tehran after news of his trial was leaked to the international press, BosNewsLife monitored Sunday, May 1. "

Human Rights News from Iran