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AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

ANNIVERSARY DEMONSTRATIONS ON 14 FEBRUARY MUST BE ALLOWED TO TAKE PLACE PEACEFULLY

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
PUBLIC STATEMENT
10 February 2012
AI Index: MDE 13/005/2012
Iran: Anniversary demonstrations on 14 February must be allowed to take place peacefully
Amnesty International is calling on the Iranian authorities to respect freedom of assembly and allow peaceful demonstrations in Tehran and elsewhere in Iran on 14 February 2012, amid fears that the authorities may once again use excessive use of force to quell protests, as has happened in previous years.
The demonstrations - called by the Coordination Council of the Green Path of Hope - mark the one year anniversary of demonstrations called by opposition leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, in support of the people of Egypt and Tunisia which were brutally repressed and left at least two people dead.
Amnesty International also reiterated its call for the immediate release of Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, who have been held under unofficial house arrest since 10 and 14 February 2011 respectively. Mir Hossein Mousavi’s wife, Zahra Rahnavard, is also held, while Mehdi Karroubi is currently held on his own and has been denied any contact with his family since the day after he told his wife in December 2011 that he believed the upcoming parliamentary elections would be fraudulent.
In its call for demonstrations, the Coordination Council of the Green Path of Hope referred to worsening economic conditions and governmental mismanagement of Iran’s resources as a reason why people in Iran should protest, referring to it as “the human, legal and legitimate right of Iranians to show their protest against the state of their lives and their country”.
Amnesty International said that it was deeply concerned at increasing repression in the country in advance of the parliamentary elections scheduled for 2 March 2012 and called for the immediate and unconditional release of anyone held solely for the peaceful expression of their right to freedom of expression, association or assembly or in connection with their beliefs.
A wave of arrests targeting members of Iran’s ethnic and religious minorities, journalists, and individuals with alleged links to foreign media appears to be part of a strategy to restrict free public debate and to warn people not to protest ahead of the elections.
Reports have emerged that around 49 members of the Ahwazi Arab minority have been arrested since 10 January 2012, in at least three cities in the southwestern province of Khuzestan.
A family member of Nasser Derafshan Alboshokeh, aged 19, told Amnesty International how his relative and Mohammad al-Ka’bi, aged 34, both members of the Ahwazi Arab minority, died in Ministry of Intelligence detention facilities in Ahvaz and Shush. Both men – arrested on 26 January and 21 January respectively – were reported to have been tortured before they died.
The family of Nasser Derafshan Alboshokeh has not yet been permitted to bury him. They have reportedly been told by the local Iranian authorities to keep the memorial service private as a condition of the funeral taking place. Nasser Derafshan Alboshokeh’s family learned of his death on 30 January 2012. He is said not to have had access to legal representation nor been permitted any contact with his family during his four day detention.
Amnesty International is also concerned at reports of the arrest of at least 12 members of the Baha’i religious minority in the southern city of Shiraz. During the morning of 3 February 2012, security forces in Shiraz are said to have simultaneously entered over 30 homes belonging to members of Iran’s Baha’i community and arrested at least 11 individuals. On the evening of 6 February, security forces arrested another Baha’i. They may all be held in Detention Centre 100 in Shiraz. There are reported to be over 80 members of the Baha’i religious minority currently imprisoned or detained on account of their faith or identity as Baha’is.
Many writers, bloggers and social commentators have also been arrested in recent weeks. On 17 January 2012, Iranian authorities arrested the sister of an employee of BBC Persian - the BBC’s Persian language news service - and held her in solitary confinement in Tehran’s Evin Prison. Though she was eventually released on bail, she was forced to “confess” on camera. On 3 February, Mark Thompson, the Director General of the BBC, said that other family members of BBC Persian staff had had their passports confiscated, preventing them from leaving the country. In a report carried by the Mehr news agency on 7 February 2012, an unnamed source said that, "a number of people deceived by the lie-spreading BBC Persian network" had been arrested in Iran and accused them of having "the mission of gathering news and information, producing content in various formats, recruiting, training and preparing for the departure of Iran's elite media workers from the country". BBC Persian denied having any staff in Iran.
Previously, in January 2010, the Iranian authorities banned contact with over 60 foreign institutions, including the BBC and some other media outlets, as well as some human rights organizations. Anyone making contacts with these institutions is at risk of prosecution and imprisonment – as reiterated in the 7 February 2012 Mehr article. Such a ban appears designed to hide from the world the truth of events in Iran and to obstruct reporting from the country, including on the human rights situation.
Amnesty International calls on the Iranian authorities to release all those detained unless they are promptly charged with a recognizably criminal offence and tried in accordance with international fair trial standards. From the moment of arrest, all detainees must be permitted prompt and regular access to lawyers of their choosing, contact with their families and all necessary medical treatment, and protected from torture or other ill treatment. Independent, impartial and transparent investigation into all deaths in custody must be conducted, and anyone found responsible for abuses brought to justice, without recourse to the death penalty.
The organization is also urging the Iranian authorities to ensure that all individuals are guaranteed effective exercise of their rights to freedom of expression and assembly, both before and during the parliamentary elections. Any investigation into alleged election-related misconduct must be conducted in a full and transparent manner and must not be used as justification for preventing the exercise of the right to freedom of expression, association, and assembly in the run up to and during the elections.
Amnesty International is also concerned that the Iranian authorities may, ahead of the parliamentary elections, execute individuals convicted of political offences who are held on death row in part in order to instil fear and further repress dissent in Iran. An official Iranian news agency has reported that the Supreme Court has upheld the death sentences of Zaniar (or Zanyar) Moradi and Loghman (or Loqman) Moradi, members of Iran’s Kurdish minority. They had been convicted of “enmity against God” (moharebeh) and “corruption on earth” for allegedly murdering the son of a senior cleric in Marivan, Kordestan province, north-eastern Iran, on 4 July 2009. They have also been convicted of participating in armed activities on behalf of Komala, a Kurdish armed opposition group. The two were shown “confessing” on state TV to the murder, but subsequently said their “confessions” had been made under duress after they had been tortured.
The Iranian authorities have a history of executing individuals convicted of political offences in advance of elections, anniversaries of unrest or other times of tension. Amnesty International opposes the death penalty unconditionally as the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment and violation of the right to life and is calling for all death sentences in Iran to be commuted.
Background
In the lead-up to the February 2011 demonstrations, the authorities imposed severe restrictions on freedom of expression, including the right to receive and impart information, by blocking access to phone services, including SMS messages, foreign media and various internet and social media sites.
Over the days before the rally and on the day itself, as many as 1500 arrests were reported, along with dozens injured and two demonstrators killed and the largely peaceful demonstrations were forcibly dispersed. Another individual was killed a week later during further protests at the authorities’ repressive measures.
Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Iran is a state party, protects the right to freedom of expression. In November 2011, the UN Human Rights Committee, which oversees implementation of the ICCPR, expressed concern about restrictions in Iran on the rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly in its Concluding Observations. The Committee stated that the Iranian authorities should ensure that, “the right to freedom of assembly and association is guaranteed to all individuals without discrimination and release immediately and unconditionally anyone held solely for the peaceful exercise of this right”.
On 9 February 2012, the Council of Guardians announced that 3,320 out of 5,395 individuals who registered for the 2012 elections would be permitted to stand. The Human Rights Committee also expressed concern about the requirements for registration in election campaigns, including the right of the Council of Guardians to reject parliamentary candidates on discriminatory grounds. It further highlighted concerns about the conduct of the 2009 presidential election, including the denial of access to international election monitors, the blocking of cell phone signals and access to social networking and opposition websites, the harassment and arbitrary arrest of political activists, members of the country’s religious and ethnic minority communities, students, trade unionists and women’s rights activists, as well as the arrest of political opposition members in February 2011, and the closure by court order of two pro-reform political parties. The committee urged the Iranian authorities to reform the election law and to “take adequate steps to guarantee that elections are conducted in a free and transparent manner, in full conformity with the Covenant, including through the establishment of an independent electoral monitoring commission”.

Posted on Saturday 2012, February 11 at 23:27.46

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Iran: Further information: Increasing concerns for safety of Goudarzi

Iran: Further information: Increasing concerns for safety of Goudarzi

 
Increasing concerns for safety of GOUDARZI

A man arrested with Kouhyar Goudarzi on 31 July 2011, Behnam Ganji Khaibari, who was later released, committed suicide on 2 September 2011. Kouhyar Goudarzi’s mother, who was arrested the day after him, was brought to court on 6 September. Amnesty International is gravely concerned for the safety of Kouhyar Goudarzi.

Since Kouhyar Goudarzi’s arrest, neither his family nor his lawyer have been able to find out where he is, or even obtain official confirmation that he has been arrested. He may be in solitary confinement at Evin Prison in Tehran. Kouhyar Goubarzi is believed to have been subjected to an enforced disappearance

Behnam Ganji Khaibari, aged 22, was released from Evin Prison on 8 August 2011. Afterwards, he told a friend that he had been held in solitary confinement in Section 240 of Evin Prison and had no further contact with Kouhyar Goudarzi, though he had heard some of Kouhyar Goudarzi’s interrogations. Behnam Ganji Khaibari said that he too had been interrogated, every morning and afternoon, and pressured to make a “confession” incriminating Kouhyar Goudarzi. Amnesty International fears that he may have been tortured or otherwise ill-treated and that this may have contributed to his suicide.

Parvin Mokhtareh, Kouhyar Goudarzi’s mother, who was arrested on 1 August 2011 in Kerman, southern Iran, was tried on 6 September 2011 in the Kerman Revolutionary Court on charges said to relate to her advocacy for her son during his earlier detention in 2010. She is still held in a Kerman prison and is reported to have had no access to a lawyer since her arrest.

Please write immediately in Persian, Arabic, English or your own language.

    Call on the Iranian authorities to disclose Kouhyar Goudarzi’s whereabouts immediately, as he has been subjected to an enforced disappearance, and allow him to receive visits from his family and a lawyer of his own choosing without delay and any medical attention he may require;

    Urge them to protect Kouhyar Goudarzi and Parvin Mokhtareh from torture or other ill-treatment;

    Stress that if Kouhyar Goudarzi is held solely for his peaceful human rights activities, he is a prisoner of conscience and should be released immediately and unconditionally. If, as appears to be the case, Parvin Mokhtareh has been jailed solely for advocating her son’s release, she too should be released immediately and unconditionally.

PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 11 NOVEMBER 2011 TO:

Leader of the Islamic Republic

Ayatollah Sayed ‘Ali Khamenei

The Office of the Supreme Leader

Islamic Republic Street – End of Shahid Keshvar Doust Street, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran

Email: info_leader@leader.ir

Twitter: "Call on #Iran leader @khamenei_ir disclose whereabouts of Kouhyar Goudarzi” Salutation: Your Excellency

Head of the Judiciary

Ayatollah Sadegh Larijani

[care of] Public relations Office

Number 4, 2 Azizi Street

Vali Asr Ave., above Pasteur Street intersection

Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
Email: bia.judi@yahoo.com (In subject line: FAO Ayatollah Sadegh Larijani)

Salutation: Your Excellency

And copies to:

Secretary General, High Council for Human Rights

Mohammad Javad Larijani

High Council for Human Rights

[care of] Office of the Head of Judiciary Pasteur St., Vali Asr Ave., South of Serah-e Jomjouri, Tehran 1316814737

Islamic Republic of Iran

 

Please check with your section office if sending appeals after the above date. This is the tenth update of UA 347/09. Further information: www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/MDE13/090/2010/en

Posted on Saturday 2011, October 01 at 21:20.26

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opposition leaders still arbitrarily held

opposition leaders still arbitrarily held
ADditional Information

On or around 31 July 2011, Mehdi Karroubi was transferred to a small apartment controlled by the Ministry of Intelligence. In the letter published on Mehdi Karroubi’s website Sahamnews, Fatemeh Karroubi states that her husband requested to be moved to reduce restrictions placed on other residents of the complex where he lived, but the alternative accommodation his family had found was rejected by the Intelligence Ministry. The family are trying to find alternative accommodation acceptable to the Ministry, which has imposed stringent conditions, including that the location will not be made public. Mehdi Karroubi’s family, including his wife, son, daughter-in-law and grand-children, were allowed to visit him on the occasion of the Eid al-Fitr celebrations marking the end of the Islamic month of Ramadan which fell at the end of August.

Mir Hossein Mousavi and Zahra Rahnavard were reportedly allowed to visit their three daughters for the first time since their house arrest. The meeting took place in the house of one of the daughters.

Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi were both unsuccessful candidates in the June 2009 presidential and both protested at the announcement that incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had won the election. Until placed under house arrest, they continued to voice opposition to the government and to human rights violations by security forces. Zahra Rahnavard, a former Chancellor of Al-Zahra University in Tehran, and Fatemeh Karroubi, a former Deputy Minister of Social Affairs under former President Khatami, both campaigned on behalf of their husbands in 2009 and have spoken out against attacks on their families and others.

In the lead-up to the demonstrations called for by Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, authorities imposed severe restrictions on freedom of expression, including the right to receive and impart information, by blocking access to phone services, including SMS messages, foreign media and various internet and social media sites. The two leaders were also put under house arrest. On 10 February 2011, police officers surrounded Mehdi Karroubi’s home and his sons said that they each tried to enter the house to see their father, but were stopped from doing so. One of his sons, Ali Karroubi, was arrested and released on bail in mid-March 2011. On 14 February, Mir Hossein Mousavi and his wife were stopped from leaving their home to join the demonstration in Tehran. Communication links to and from both homes were cut. The authorities arrested journalists and political activists ahead of the demonstration to prevent them from attending. See Iran: Several Arrested Before Iran Protest (Index: MDE 13/020/2011), 18 February 2011, http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/MDE13/020/2011/en.

On 14 February, thousands took to the streets in several cities throughout Iran. The largely peaceful demonstrations were gradually forcibly dispersed and as many as 1500 arrests were reported, along with dozens injured and two demonstrators killed. On 15 February, over 220 parliamentarians signed a statement which was read out in Iran’s parliament calling for Mehdi Karroubi and Mir Hossein Mousavi to be tried and for the “most severe penalty” to be imposed. At the same time, a group of parliamentarians shouted slogans such as “Death to Mousavi, Karroubi and [former President] Khatami” and “Mousavi and Karroubi should be executed”. On 18 February, Ayatollah Jannati, the Friday Prayer Leader of Tehran called for the two men to be placed under house arrest, saying "The judiciary must cut off all contacts between the leaders of the sedition [Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi] and the people. Their houses' doors must be blocked, and their phones cut off. Their internet connections must also be cut off so that they will not be able to send or receive any messages. They must be jailed in their own homes." On 20 February 2011, hundreds, if not thousands, took to the streets in Tehran, Esfahan, Shiraz, Mashhad, Babol and other cities to commemorate the seventh day of mourning for the two demonstrators killed on 14 February 2011. Hamed Nour Mohammadi, a student, died after being thrown off a bridge in Shiraz. Others were arrested (see UA 31/11 and follow ups).

Name: Mir Hossein Mousavi, Mehdi Karroubi and Zahra Rahnavard

Gender m/f: Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi (both m)

Zahra Rahnavard (f)

Further information on UA: 49/11 Index: MDE 13/086/2011 Issue Date: 29 September 2011

Posted on Saturday 2011, October 01 at 21:14.10

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