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PRESSRELEASE - THE OBSERVATORY

Paris-Geneva,June 3, 2016. The ongoing judicial harassment against the arbitrarilyimprisoned human rights defender Mr. Mohammad-Seddiq Kaboudvand in Iran muststop and he must be released immediately, said today the Observatory for theProtection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of FIDH and the WorldOrganisation Against Torture (OMCT).

Accordingto the information received, on May 29, 2016, Mr. Mohammad-Seddiq Kaboudvand,the imprisoned President of Human Rights Organisation of Kurdistan, lostconsciousness as a result of a drastic fall in his blood pressure followingthree weeks of hunger strike. His family members reported that his healthconditions were grave and expressed great concern about his extreme loss ofweight and his deteriorating heart and prostate conditions. Mr. Kaboudvand wastransferred to the hospital on May 22, but demanded to be returned to prisonafter doctors tried to force-feed him. On May 25, after his health conditionsdeteriorated, he was hospitalised again. Doctors at the hospital said he mightsuffer a heart attack if he continued his hunger strike.

Mr.Kaboudvand started his hunger strike on May 8, 2016 to protest against the“fabricated charges” that have recently been brought against him in a new case,and to demand the implementation of Article 134 of the 2013 Islamic Penal Codein his case, which would reduce his current prison sentence by six months.Although he has agreed to receive medical care, on June 2 he vowed to continuehis hunger strike until his demands are met.

Mr. Kaboudvand has been serving a prisonsentence totalling 10.5 years since July 1, 2007: 10 years for founding andadministering the Human Rights Organisation ofKurdistan and six months for his work as a journalist and editor of the weekly Payam-eMardom-e (Message of People of) Kurdistan.

Mr. Kaboudvand has faced frequentharassment during the past nine years in arbitrary detention. On April 17,2014, he was severely beaten along with a large number of other prisoners ofconscience, and suffered severe injuries including three broken ribs, twobroken toes and kidney bleeding[1]. He has also suffered from various diseases andhealth problems while in prison, including a heart attack, dizziness and lossof consciousness, and prostate and kidney problems[2] and has gone on hunger strike several times inprotest against his treatment.

In addition, the authorities appearto be intent on preventing Mr. Kaboudvand’s release. On July 28, 2015, theProsecutor of Tehran rejected outright the request of Evin prison’s governorwho had recommended Mr. Kaboudvand’s “conditional release”. Moreover, he isfacing new charges of “gathering and collusion to takeaction against national security” and “spreading propaganda against the State” that would prolong his imprisonment by up to sixyears. It has to be noted that Mr. Kaboudvand has been summonedto the Prosecutor’s Office three times since early March 2016 and theinterrogators threatened him with five more years in prison.

The reasons cited for the newcharges included: issuing a message of congratulations for the liberation ofthe Syrian town of Kobane from the control of ISIS forces, writing a letter tothe leader of the pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic party (HDP) in Turkey onpeace with the Turkish government, and his ongoing work on his academicdissertation about “the violation of rights of prisoners in Iran”. Mr. Kaboudvandrejected all the charges, pointing out that his dissertation is about “Turkeyand minorities” and has nothing to do with Iran.

On May 24, Mr. Kaboudvand wastaken to Branch 28 of the Islamic Revolution Court at a day’s notice and faceda brief trial without his lawyer for the charge of “spreading propagandaagainst the State”. The court has not issued its verdict yet. He told hisfamily that he might face another trial, possibly for the charge of “gatheringand collusion to take action against national security”.

The Observatory recalls that theauthorities have already pursued a similar tactic of fabricating new chargesagainst several prisoners of conscience, including human rights defenders, andcondemned them to new prison sentences to prevent their release, includingnotably Messrs. Behnam Ebrahimzadeh, member of the Committee to Pursuethe Establishment of Labour Unions (CPELU) and a child rights activist, RezaShahabi-Zajaria, Treasurer of the Syndicate of Workers of United BusCompany of Tehran, and Mehdi Farahi-Shandiz, a member of the CPELU andof the Teachers Association of Iran (TAI).

The Observatory also recalls that the United Nations WorkingGroup on Arbitrary Detention in an opinion adopted at its 65thsession (November 14-23, 2012) found Mr. Kaboudvand’s detention to be arbitraryand called on the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran to “release himforthwith and accord him an enforceable right to compensation”.

TheObservatory urges the Iranian authorities to guarantee the physical andpsychological integrity of Mr. Kaboudvand, and torelease him immediately and unconditionally since his detention is arbitrary as it only aims at sanctioning hislegitimate human rights activities. The Observatorymore generally urges the Iranian authorities to put an end to all harassment -including at the judicial level - against all human rights defenders in Iran.

TheObservatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (the Observatory) wascreated in 1997 by FIDH and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT). Theobjective of this programme is to intervene to prevent or remedy situations ofrepression against human rights defenders.

For more information, please contact:

· FIDH: Arthur Manet / AudreyCouprie: + 33 (0) 1 43 55 25 18

· OMCT: Delphine Reculeau: + 41 (0)22 809 49 39

[1] See The Observatory Press Release, May 7, 2014

[2] See Joint public statement, AmnestyInternational, FIDH & LDDHI, 17 July 2012