Arbitrary detention and judicial harassment of Ms. Vida Movahedi
Arbitrarydetention/
Judicial harassment
Iran
April 17, 2019
The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a partnership ofFIDH and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), requests your urgentintervention in the following situation in Iran.
Descriptionof the situation:
The Observatory has been informed by the League forthe Defence of Human Rights in Iran (LDDHI) about the arbitrary detention andjudicial harassment of Ms. Vida Movahedi (widely known as Movahed), awomen rights defender who is known for being the first woman to remove herheadscarf in a public protest against the mandatory hijab laws in Iran.
According to information received,on March 2, 2019 Ms. Vida Movahed was sentenced by Branch 1091 of Ershad Judicial Complex in Tehran to one year inprison for “encouraging the people to commit immorality or prostitution”(Article 639 of the Islamic Penal Code).
The charge stems from Ms. VidaMovahed’s protest in favour of women’s rights held on October 29, 2018, duringwhich she took off her hijab. She was arrested in November 2018 and has beenarbitrarily detained in Shahr-e Rey prison outside of Tehran since then.
According to the informationreceived, Ms. Vida Movahed reportedly received an amnesty for the remainder ofher sentence and is eligible for conditional release[1]yet she remained imprisoned at the time of publication of this Urgent Appeal.
Ms. Vida Movahed first took off herheadscarf in a public protest on December 27, 2017, and was arrested on January21, 2018 and detained until January 27, 2018. She was sentenced to a fine, theamount which is not known. Under Article 638 of the Islamic Penal Code, womenappearing without hijab in public can be sentenced to a fine ranging from50,000 to 500,000 Rials (between one and 10 Euros).
The Observatory recalls that since December 2017 scores of Iranianwomen have participated in protests against compulsory hijab, by standing onboxes and removing their headscarves in public. More than 30 of those whoparticipated were subsequently arrested, detained, and prosecuted on variouscriminal charges. Human rights lawyers who defended these women, such as Ms. NasrinSotoudeh[2],were also arrested and sentenced to harsh prison terms. On March 8, 2019, somewomen who had taken off their headscarves gave flowers to other women inunderground trains in Tehran and spoke about the right to not wear the hijab.Two of them were arrested: Ms. Yassman Aryani, a drama actor, was arrested onApril 10, 2019 and her mother, Ms. Monireh Arabshahi on April 11, 2019. Thelatter is detained in Shahr-e Rey prison but the whereabouts of the daughterare not known. No information is available on the charges against them.
The Observatory welcomes the amnesty reportedlygranted to Ms. Vida Movahed and accordingly urges the Iranian authorities toimmediately and unconditionally release her and to end any act of harassment,including at judicial level, against her and all women’s rights defenders inthe country.
The Observatory further recalls that Ms. Vida Movahedshould never have been arrested in the first place, as her arrest and sentenceare aimed at punishing her for her legitimate human rights activities.
Actionsrequested:
Please write to the authorities of Iran asking themto:
i.Guarantee in all circumstances the physical integrity and psychologicalwell-being of Ms. Vida Movahed, as well as that of all other Iranian humanrights defenders;
ii.Release her immediately and unconditionally;
iii. Putan end to all acts of harassment, including at the judicial level, against Ms.Vida Movahed as well as that all other human rights defenders arbitrarilydetained in the country, and ensure they are able to carry out their activitieswithout hindrance;
iv.Conform to all the provisions of the United Nations Declaration on Human RightsDefenders adopted by the UN General Assembly on December 9, 1998, in particularits Articles 1, 6, 9, 11 and 12;
v. Ensurein all circumstances respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms inaccordance with international human rights standards and internationalinstruments ratified by Iran.
Addresses:
• Leader of the Islamic Republic, H.E. Ayatollah SayedAli Khamenei, Fax: + 98 21 441 2030, Email: info_leader@leader.ir; Twitter:@khamenei_ir
• President Hassan Rouhani, Islamic Republic of Iran, Fax: + 98 21 64454811; Email: media@rouhani.ir; Twitter: @HassanRouhani (English) and@Rouhani_ir (Persian).
• Head of the Judiciary, H.E. Hojattolislam Ebrahim Ra’eesi, IslamicRepublic of Iran, Fax: +98 21 879 6671 / +98 21 3 311 6567, Email:info@dadiran.ir / info@dadgostary-tehran.ir / info@bia-judiciary.ir
• Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mohammad Javad Zarif, Islamic Republic ofIran, Fax: +98-21-66743149; matbuat@mfa.gov.ir
• Secretary General, High Council for Human Rights, Mr. MohammedJavad Larijani, Islamic Republic of Iran. Email: info@humanrights-iran.ir
• H.E. Mr. Esmaeil Baghaei Hamaneh, Ambassador, Permanent Missionof the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland,Fax: +41 22 7330203, Email: mission.iran@ties.itu.int
• H.E. Mr. Peiman Seadat, Ambassador, Embassy of Iran in Brussels,Belgium, Fax: + 32 2 762 39 15. Email: secreteriat@iranembassy.be
Please also write to the diplomatic representations of Iran in yourrespective countries.
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Paris-Geneva, April 17, 2019
Kindly inform us of any action undertakenquoting the code of this appeal in your reply.
The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (theObservatory) was created in 1997 by FIDH and the World Organisation AgainstTorture (OMCT). The objective of this programme is to prevent or remedysituations of repression against human rights defenders. FIDH and OMCT are bothmembers of ProtectDefenders.eu, the European UnionHuman Rights Defenders Mechanism implemented by international civilsociety.
[1] Under the conditional release, if the defendant commits the sameoffence again, he will have to spend the period mitigated and in addition toserve any new sentence.
[2] SeeObservatory Urgent Appeal IRN 001 / 0618 / OBS 085.1, published on March 12,2019.