Punitive measures imposed on detained human rights defender must cease
THE OBSERVATORY - PRESS RELEASE
IRAN: Punitive measures imposed on detained human rights defendermust cease
Paris-Geneva,October 19, 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), strongly condemns theharassment faced by Ms. Nasrin Sotoudeh and, more generally, denounces thepolicy of subjecting jailed human rights defenders to punitive measures inprison.
Since her arbitrary arrest and detention in September 2010, Ms. Nasrin Sotoudeh, a human rights lawyer known for defending juveniles facing deathpenalty, prisoners of conscience, human rights activists and children victimsof abuse and a member of the Defenders of Human Rights Centre (DHRC), who isserving a six-year imprisonment sentence in Evin prison, has been subjected to increasingly restrictive andclearly discriminative and arbitrary conditions of detention.
In recent weeks, Ms. Sotoudeh's visiting day has been changed fromSunday to Wednesday without any legitimate ground being provided by the prisonauthorities. In addition to being deprived of face-to-face family visits, thenew measure, which contravenes the prison's rules, has made it more and moredifficult for her to receive visits from her family over the past three months.It is also to be recalled that Ms. Sotoudeh has been banned from making phonecalls since May 2011.
The Observatory recalls that punitive measures against Ms. Sotoudeh arenot new. Previously, Ms. Sotoudeh had been held for long periods in solitaryconfinement and denied contact with her family and lawyer. She also reportedlysuffered acts of torture in prison in order to force her to confess. On July11, the authorities banned her husband and her 12-year-old daughter fromtravelling abroad. This case has now been referred to the Islamic RevolutionCourt (Branch 28), which has summoned them to appear.
To protest against these measures which violate her right to receiveunhindered visits by her family, Ms. Sotoudeh started an unlimited hungerstrike on October 17, raising further concerns for her physical integrity. Itshould be recalled that she had already come close to death in 2010 after threedry hunger strikes to protest her conditions of detention and violations of dueprocess during her trial.
“The conditions of detention imposed on Nasrin Sotoudeh are unacceptableand clearly aim at imposing additional punishment on her for her human rightsactivities”, declared Souhayr Belhassen, FIDH President.
“The punitive measures against Ms. Sotoudeh while in detention once moreillustrate the relentless policy of the Iranian authorities to stifle humanrights defenders, which should be strongly condemned by the whole internationalcommunity”, added Gerald Staberock, OMCT Secretary General.
The Observatory firmly denounces the policy of harassment against Ms. NasrinSotoudeh, through arbitrary detention, judicial harassment and punitivemeasures in prison, which only aims at sanctioning her legitimate human rightsactivities. It also urges the Iranian authorities to immediately andunconditionally release her as well all other imprisoned human rightsdefenders, and more generally to conform to the United Nations Declaration on HumanRights Defenders, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and internationalhuman rights instruments ratified by Iran.
For further information, please contact:
· FIDH: Arthur Manet / Audrey Couprie: + 33 1 43 55 25 18
· OMCT: Delphine Reculeau : + 41 22 809 49 39