IRAN: Prominent human rights lawyer sentenced to 13 yearsimprisonment in exile on appeal

Paris-Geneva,June 13, 2012. The Observatory for the Protection of Human RightsDefenders, a joint programme of the International Federation for Human Rights(FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), denounces the unfairsentence on appeal of Mr. Abdolfattah Soltani to 13 years in prison in exile inthe remote city of Borazjan (southern Bushehr province).

The relatives of Mr. Abdolfattah Soltani, lawyer and founding member of Defenders of Human Rights Centre (DHRC), were informed a few days ago that the Appeals Court of Tehran Province had condemned Mr. Soltani to 13 years in prison in “internal exile” in the remote cityof Borazjan (southern Bushehr province). This imprisonment in exile is contraryto Iranian laws as the latter do not provide for this type of sentence. Thelaws provide either for “imprisonment” or for “exile” in another part of thecountry. In addition, the exile to Borazjan prison willmake family visits extremely difficult, as Mr. Soltanis’ relatives will have totravel 800 km back and forth every time for a short visit. The Iranianjudiciary is thus de facto also punishing Mr. Soltani’s family.

It is to be recalled that in March 2012, Mr. Soltani was condemned inthe first instance to 18 years imprisonment in exile on charges of “propaganda against the system”, “participation in founding the Human Rights Defenders Centre”, “assembly and collusion against national security”, as well as “earning illegitimate assets”as a laureate of the Nuremberg City Human Rights prize in 2009.

Prior to the issuing of the sentenceon appeal, interrogators of the Ministry of Intelligence had reportedlypressured Mr. Soltani into incriminating himself and the DHRC in exchange forleniency, including the cancellation of the sentence of internal exile, whichhe refused.

The Observatory recalls that Mr. Soltani has been subjected to judicial harassment for many years but the harassment increased following thecontested June 2009 presidential election. Several other DHRC members have alsofaced an intense criminalisation campaign since the closure of the DHRC inDecember 2008. These include Mohammad Seifzadeh, Ms.Nargess Mohammadi and Ms. Nasrin Sotoudeh, who are serving prison sentences of 2, 6 and 6 yearsrespectively, Mr. Mohammad Ali Dadkhah, whose 9-year prison sentence wasupheld on appeal, and Mr. Abdolreza Tajik, who was forced to leave thecountry to avoid a 6-year prison sentence.

The Observatory believes that this new sentence against Mr. Abdolfattah Soltani merely aims atsilencing him and preventing him from carrying outhis human rights activities, especially in his capacity as a human rights lawyer. More generally, it should be seen in the context ofthe general repression of all human rights activities and intimidation oflawyers who stand up for human rights, as well as allhuman rights defenders in Iran.

The Observatory urges the Iranian authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Mr. Abdolfattah Soltani, put an endto any form of judicial harassment against him and all human rights defenders detained for their human rights activities, and more generally to conform to the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and international human rights instruments ratified by Iran.