Iran
23.03.06
Urgent Interventions
Iran: Judicial harassment against Mr. Abdolfattah Soltani
Press release
Paris-Geneva, 23 March 2006. The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), expresses its deepest concern about the judicial harassment against the Iranian lawyer and human rights defender Mr. Abdolfattah Soltani.
Mr. Abdolfattah Soltani, a founding member of the Defenders of Human Rights Centre (DHRC), will be tried before the Revolutionary Tribunal of Tehran on April 5, 2006. The Observatory is extremely worried as Mr. Soltani has still not been informed of the charges against him, and his lawyers have not accessed to the file yet. The Observatory believes that those proceedings are actually motivated by his role as a defence lawyer in the Ms. Zahra Kazemi case, a photographer who died in 2003 following acts of torture and ill-treatment inflicted to her during her detention.
The Observatory recalls that Mr. Abdolfattah Soltani was released on bail on March 6, 2006 after the 100,000 euros bail were paid thanks to a solidarity movement. He had been detained in the Evin prison, in Tehran, since July 30, 2005, in solitary confinement. Mr. Soltani could only meet one of his lawyers more than six months after his arrest, in January 2006. These extremely serious violations of the fair trial guarantees should obviously entail the nullity of the whole proceedings against Mr. Soltani (See Observatory Annual Report 2005).
Indeed, under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, ratified by Iran, “The right to be informed of the charge “promptly”… must arise when in the course of an investigation a court or an authority of the prosecution decides to take procedural steps against a person suspected of a crime or publicly names him as such… The information indicates both the law and the alleged facts on which it is based”. In addition, “The accused must have adequate time and facilities for the preparation of his defence and to communicate with counsel of his own choosing… the facilities must include access to documents and other evidence which the accused requires to prepare his case, as well as the opportunity to engage and communicate with counsel”*.
The Observatory calls upon States to send observers to the 5 April hearing, and in particular EU member states, based on the EU Guidelines on human rights defenders which expressly provide for the possibility for EU missions of “attending and observing, where appropriate, trials of human rights defenders”.
The Observatory reiterates its call to the Iranian authorities to immediately drop the charges against Mr. Abdolfattah Soltani as they are arbitrary and aim at sanctioning his role as a defence lawyer and a human rights defender.
The Observatory also denounces the fact that Mr. Soltani received a letter from the Judiciary rejecting his election as a board member of the Bar Association of Tehran, explaining that as he was in prison during the election, his candidacy was not valid. The Observatory recalls that Mr. Soltani has not been deprived of his civil and political rights and is to be presumed innocent until proved guilty and that “it is, therefore, a duty for all public authorities to refrain from prejudging the outcome of a trial” .
* UN Human Rights Committee, General Comment No. 13: Equality before the courts and the right to a fair and public hearing by an independent court established by law (Art. 14): 13/04/84.
Iran : Immediately stop judicial harassment against Abdolfattah Soltani!
Paris-Geneva, 23 March 2006. The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), expresses its deepest concern about the judicial harassment against the Iranian lawyer and human rights defender Mr. Abdolfattah Soltani.
Mr. Abdolfattah Soltani, a founding member of the Defenders of Human Rights Centre (DHRC), will be tried before the Revolutionary Tribunal of Tehran on April 5, 2006. The Observatory is extremely worried as Mr. Soltani has still not been informed of the charges against him, and his lawyers have not accessed to the file yet. The Observatory believes that those proceedings are actually motivated by his role as a defence lawyer in the Ms. Zahra Kazemi case, a photographer who died in 2003 following acts of torture and ill-treatment inflicted to her during her detention.
The Observatory recalls that Mr. Abdolfattah Soltani was released on bail on March 6, 2006 after the 100,000 euros bail were paid thanks to a solidarity movement. He had been detained in the Evin prison, in Tehran, since July 30, 2005, in solitary confinement. Mr. Soltani could only meet one of his lawyers more than six months after his arrest, in January 2006. These extremely serious violations of the fair trial guarantees should obviously entail the nullity of the whole proceedings against Mr. Soltani (See Observatory Annual Report 2005).
Indeed, under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, ratified by Iran, “The right to be informed of the charge “promptly”… must arise when in the course of an investigation a court or an authority of the prosecution decides to take procedural steps against a person suspected of a crime or publicly names him as such… The information indicates both the law and the alleged facts on which it is based”. In addition, “The accused must have adequate time and facilities for the preparation of his defence and to communicate with counsel of his own choosing… the facilities must include access to documents and other evidence which the accused requires to prepare his case, as well as the opportunity to engage and communicate with counsel”*.
The Observatory calls upon States to send observers to the 5 April hearing, and in particular EU member states, based on the EU Guidelines on human rights defenders which expressly provide for the possibility for EU missions of “attending and observing, where appropriate, trials of human rights defenders”.
The Observatory reiterates its call to the Iranian authorities to immediately drop the charges against Mr. Abdolfattah Soltani as they are arbitrary and aim at sanctioning his role as a defence lawyer and a human rights defender.
The Observatory also denounces the fact that Mr. Soltani received a letter from the Judiciary rejecting his election as a board member of the Bar Association of Tehran, explaining that as he was in prison during the election, his candidacy was not valid. The Observatory recalls that Mr. Soltani has not been deprived of his civil and political rights and is to be presumed innocent until proved guilty and that “it is, therefore, a duty for all public authorities to refrain from prejudging the outcome of a trial” .
* UN Human Rights Committee, General Comment No. 13: Equality before the courts and the right to a fair and public hearing by an independent court established by law (Art. 14): 13/04/84.