Iran
29.10.01
Urgent Interventions
Iran: Legal proceedings against Nasser Zarafchan
URGENT APPEAL - THE OBSERVATORY
New information
IRN 004/0012/OBS 125.02
Legal proceedings
Iran
29 October 2001
The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of FIDH and OMCT, requests your urgent intervention in the following situation in Iran.
New information :
According to information received, the hearing of Mr. Nasser Zarafchan by the Military Court in Teheran will now take place on 3 November 2001. The hearing of 16 October was postponed.
Mr. Nasser Zarafchan is the lawyer of Mrs. Sima Pouhandeh, widow of Mohammed Djafar Pouhandeh (writer and human rights defender, abducted and assassinated by secret service agents in December 1998). He is being sued for revealing flaws in the verdict of the trial on political assassinations. He was arrested on 9 December 2000 and released on bail in January 2001.
The Observatory fears that Mr. Zarafchan's trial will not be fair and impartial, bearing in mind the situation of the judiciary in Iran and of its use for political ends. Recently, two human rights defenders received prison sentences for their opinions. Mrs. Fatemeh Govaraei, a journalist and human rights activist for Iranian women's rights, was sentenced to 6 months in prison and 50 lashes of the whip for libel against the law and order forces. Mr. Khosrow Kordpour, political activist of the reform movement, was arrested in June, accused of subversive activities against the state and, following a trial in camera, sentenced to 8 years in prison by the Revolutionary Court of Chahrédok in Iranian Kurdistan.
Reminder of the facts :
Mr. Zarafchan was arrested in December, following the publication of an article in the journal "Jomhouri Eslami" belonging to the "Guide to the Islamic Republic", in which Mr. Zarafchan was branded as an anti-revolutionary element who deserved to be stripped of his right to practice as a lawyer.
The arrest of Mr. Zarafchan is directly linked to his statements at conferences concerning the trial of the assassins of Iranian intellectuals which took place before a military tribunal in December. The verdict, rendered on 20 January 2001 was the outcome of a trial in camera. None of those under whose orders the assassinations were carried out were called on for questioning. As for the agents who were identified as having carried out the assassinations, they were sentenced to heavy prison sentences.
Mr. Zarafchan, together with the other lawyers of the victims' families protested against the flawed procedures and the partiality of the judiciary, considering, on the one hand, that according to the Iranian Constitution a military court was not competent in this case, and on the other hand, that those under whose orders the assassinations were carried out were not brought to justice.
Action requested :
You are requested kindly to write to the Iranian authorities, urging them to :
i. guarantee the independence of the judiciary and ensure that the trial of Mr. Zarafchan is fair and impartial;
ii. release Mr. Kordpour as his sentencing is arbitrary;
iii. comply with the terms of the declaration adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on 9 December 1998 "on the right and responsibility of individuals, groups and organs of society to promote and protect universally recognised human rights and fundamental freedoms" and Article 1 in particular which states that "everyone has the right, individually and in association with others, to promote and to strive for the protection and realisation of human rights and fundamental freedoms at the national and international levels";
iv. more generally, to comply with the terms of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and regional and international mechanisms concerning human rights, to which the Islamic Republic of Iran is a party.
Addresses :
· H.E. Hojjatoleslam Sayed Mohammad Khatami, President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, The Presidency, Palestine Avenue, Azerbaijan Intersection, Teheran
Fax : +98 21 649 5880 · e-mail : khatami@president.ir
Paris – Geneva, 29 October 2001
Kindly inform the Observatory of any action undertaken quoting the code of this appeal in your reply.
The Observatory, a joint programme of FIDH and OMCT is committed to the protection of Human Rights Defenders and strives to offer them concrete support in their time of need.
The Observatory was the winner of the 1998 Human Rights Prize of the French Republic.
To contact the Observatory, please call the emergency line:
Tel and fax FIDH: 33 (0) 1 43 55 20 11 / 01 43 55 18 80
Tel and fax OMCT: +4122 809 49 39 / 41 42 809 49 29
E-mail: observatoire@iprolink.ch
New information
IRN 004/0012/OBS 125.02
Legal proceedings
Iran
29 October 2001
The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of FIDH and OMCT, requests your urgent intervention in the following situation in Iran.
New information :
According to information received, the hearing of Mr. Nasser Zarafchan by the Military Court in Teheran will now take place on 3 November 2001. The hearing of 16 October was postponed.
Mr. Nasser Zarafchan is the lawyer of Mrs. Sima Pouhandeh, widow of Mohammed Djafar Pouhandeh (writer and human rights defender, abducted and assassinated by secret service agents in December 1998). He is being sued for revealing flaws in the verdict of the trial on political assassinations. He was arrested on 9 December 2000 and released on bail in January 2001.
The Observatory fears that Mr. Zarafchan's trial will not be fair and impartial, bearing in mind the situation of the judiciary in Iran and of its use for political ends. Recently, two human rights defenders received prison sentences for their opinions. Mrs. Fatemeh Govaraei, a journalist and human rights activist for Iranian women's rights, was sentenced to 6 months in prison and 50 lashes of the whip for libel against the law and order forces. Mr. Khosrow Kordpour, political activist of the reform movement, was arrested in June, accused of subversive activities against the state and, following a trial in camera, sentenced to 8 years in prison by the Revolutionary Court of Chahrédok in Iranian Kurdistan.
Reminder of the facts :
Mr. Zarafchan was arrested in December, following the publication of an article in the journal "Jomhouri Eslami" belonging to the "Guide to the Islamic Republic", in which Mr. Zarafchan was branded as an anti-revolutionary element who deserved to be stripped of his right to practice as a lawyer.
The arrest of Mr. Zarafchan is directly linked to his statements at conferences concerning the trial of the assassins of Iranian intellectuals which took place before a military tribunal in December. The verdict, rendered on 20 January 2001 was the outcome of a trial in camera. None of those under whose orders the assassinations were carried out were called on for questioning. As for the agents who were identified as having carried out the assassinations, they were sentenced to heavy prison sentences.
Mr. Zarafchan, together with the other lawyers of the victims' families protested against the flawed procedures and the partiality of the judiciary, considering, on the one hand, that according to the Iranian Constitution a military court was not competent in this case, and on the other hand, that those under whose orders the assassinations were carried out were not brought to justice.
Action requested :
You are requested kindly to write to the Iranian authorities, urging them to :
i. guarantee the independence of the judiciary and ensure that the trial of Mr. Zarafchan is fair and impartial;
ii. release Mr. Kordpour as his sentencing is arbitrary;
iii. comply with the terms of the declaration adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on 9 December 1998 "on the right and responsibility of individuals, groups and organs of society to promote and protect universally recognised human rights and fundamental freedoms" and Article 1 in particular which states that "everyone has the right, individually and in association with others, to promote and to strive for the protection and realisation of human rights and fundamental freedoms at the national and international levels";
iv. more generally, to comply with the terms of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and regional and international mechanisms concerning human rights, to which the Islamic Republic of Iran is a party.
Addresses :
· H.E. Hojjatoleslam Sayed Mohammad Khatami, President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, The Presidency, Palestine Avenue, Azerbaijan Intersection, Teheran
Fax : +98 21 649 5880 · e-mail : khatami@president.ir
Paris – Geneva, 29 October 2001
Kindly inform the Observatory of any action undertaken quoting the code of this appeal in your reply.
The Observatory, a joint programme of FIDH and OMCT is committed to the protection of Human Rights Defenders and strives to offer them concrete support in their time of need.
The Observatory was the winner of the 1998 Human Rights Prize of the French Republic.
To contact the Observatory, please call the emergency line:
Tel and fax FIDH: 33 (0) 1 43 55 20 11 / 01 43 55 18 80
Tel and fax OMCT: +4122 809 49 39 / 41 42 809 49 29
E-mail: observatoire@iprolink.ch