Advar members arbitrarily detained
Paris – Geneva, 6 November 2009: The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) express their profound concern over the arbitrary arrest and detention of peaceful activists in Iran. Both organisations fear that they are at risk of torture and other ill-treatment while in detention.
FIDH and OMCT have been informed by the Iranian League for the Defense of Human Rights about the arbitrary detention of Messrs. Hasan Asadi Zaidabadi and Mohammad Sadeghi, members of the Central Council of the student alumni group Advar, as well as of Messrs. Kohzad Esmaïli and Hojat Sharifi, members of the group, and Ms. Nafiseh Zarekohan, journalist and wife of Mr. Sharifi. Mr. Hasan Asadi Zaidabadi is also Spokesperson of the Committee to Investigate Arbitrary Detentions.
According to the information received, on November 3, 2009 at 8.30 p.m., Mr. Hasan Asadi Zaidabadi was arrested at his home in Tehran, on the basis of a summons issued by the Revolutionary Court and then taken to Evin prison, ward 209. Messrs. Mohammad Sadeghi, Kohzad Esmaïli and Hojat Sharifi as well as Ms. Nafiseh Zarekohan were also arrested between November 3 and 4, 2009. However, no further information could be obtained on the exact circumstances of their arrest and their current whereabouts.
Advar had recently called for a participation in demonstrations on November 4, 2009 – the anniversary of the students' movement in 1977 and of the storming of the United States embassy in Tehran in 1979 – in a context where the authorities warned Iranian citizens not to use the protests as a pretext for expressing rejection of the June 2009 election results and opposition to the Government.
FIDH and OMCT underline that Mr. Hasan Asadi Zaidabadi had already been summoned on a number of occasions, together with Advar General Secretary Mr. Ahmad Zaidabadi, and Advar Spokesperson Mr. Abdollah Momeni, both detained since June 2009 and reportedly subjected to ill-treatment, in order to obtain false confessions.
FIDH and OMCT express their deepest concern about the arbitrary detentions of Messrs. Hasan Asadi Zaidabadi, Ahmad Zaidabadi, Abdollah Momeni, Mohammad Sadeghi, Kohzad Esmaïli, Hojat Sharifi and Ms. Nafiseh Zarekohan, as they seem to merely aim at further curbing their peaceful activities. Both organisations are all the more concerned since the practice of torture and other forms of ill-treatment is common in Iranian prisons.
FIDH and OMCT call upon the Iranian authorities to guarantee in all circumstances the physical and psychological integrity of the above-mentioned activists, and to release them immediately and without conditions.
Contact:
- FIDH: Karine Appy: Tel. +33 1 43 55 14 12
- OMCT: Alexandra Kossin: Tel. +41 22 809 49 39