Sentencing of Mr. Hadi Esmaeilzadeh to a total of four years of imprisonment

Judicial harassment / Sentencing /

Reprisal for cooperatingwith the UN

Iran

July 3, 2014

The Observatory for theProtection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the InternationalFederation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture(OMCT), has received new information and requestsyour urgent intervention in the following situation in theIran.

New information:

The Observatory has beeninformed by the Defenders of Human Rights Centre (DHRC) of the sentencing ofMr. Hadi Esmaeilzadeh, a human rights lawyer and member of the DHRC.

According to theinformation received, Mr. Hadi Esmaeilzadeh was recently informed of hissentencing on May 31, 2014 by Branch 15 of the Islamic Revolution Court to atotal of four years of imprisonment, including three years for the charge of“assembly and collusion with intent to commit anti-security crimes” based onmembership of “an illegal organisation” – i.e. the DHRC – and one year for“spreading propaganda against the State.” In addition, the court banned himfrom practising as a lawyer and membership of political groups and parties fortwo years. Mr. Hadi Esmaeilzadeh is appealing the sentence and remains free inthe meantime.

The Observatory recallsthat Messrs. Abdolfattah Soltani and Mohammad Seifzadeh,two other human rights lawyers and co-founders of the DHRC, are currentlyserving long-term prison sentences in Tehran's Evin prison and Karaj’sRajaishahr prison, respectively, on charges related to their human rightsactivities. In January 2013, the United Nations Working Group on ArbitraryDetention declared that Mr. Soltani's detention was arbitrary. Mr. Soltanisuffers from serious health problems but does not have adequate access toproper medical care in detention or outside medical facilities.

The Observatory expresses its deep concern withthe ongoing judicial harassment against Mr. Esmaeilzadehand other DHRC members, and calls on theIranian authorities to end all kinds of harassment against him, including atthe judicial level and to drop all the charges against him.

Backgroundinformation:

On April 15, 2014, Mr. Hadi Esmaeilzadeh was triedby Branch 15 of the Islamic Revolution Court. During a preliminaryinterrogation on July 12, 2011, he was notified of the charges of “assembly andcollusion with intent to commit anti-security crimes” based on his membershipof DHRC, and “spreading propaganda against the State”, for allegedly writingthe monthly reports of the DHRC and sending them to human rights organisationsincluding the UN Human Rights Council, as well as his activity in the Fair,Healthy and Free Elections Committee and the Committee’s statement before the2009 presidential elections. He was also banned from travelling abroad. He wasnot allowed to read his file before the trial, but his lawyers were given theopportunity to read it. The judge told him after the trial that if he wishedthe ban on his travel abroad to be lifted, he had to “negotiate with the fileexperts”, his interrogators at the Ministry of Intelligence who prepared thefile for the court.

TheObservatory recalls that since the closure of the DHRC’s offices in 2008, Mr. Hadi Esmaeilzadeh hasfaced several interrogations by intelligence andsecurity organisations as well as pressures to resign from the DHRC. He wasalso expelled from the Higher Institute of Banking of Iran in 2009 and from theIslamic Azad University-Bam Unit in 2012 because he refused to resign from theDHRC. He served six years in prison from 1982-1988.

Actions requested:

Pleasewrite to the Iranian authorities and ask them to:

i. Guaranteein all circumstances the physical and psychological integrity of Mr. Hadi Esmaeilzadehas well as of all human rights defenders in Iran;

ii. Release immediately and unconditionally Messrs. AbdolfattahSoltani and Mohammad Seifzadeh and all human rights defenders detained in Iran merely to sanction theirhuman rights activities;

iii. Putan end to any kind of harassment - including at the judicial level - against Messrs. HadiEsmaeilzadeh, Abdolfattah Soltani and Mohammad Seifzadeh, as well as all otherDHRC members and all human rights defenders in Iran andensure in all circumstances that they can carry out their activities withoutany hindrances;

iv. Conformin all circumstances with the provisions of the Declaration on Human RightsDefenders, adopted on December 9, 1998 by the United Nations General Assembly,in particular:

- its article 1, which states that “everyone has the right, individuallyor in association with others, to promote the protection and realization ofhuman rights and fundamental freedoms at the national and internationallevels”,

- and its article 12.2 which provides that “the State shall take allnecessary measures to ensure the protection by the competent authorities ofeveryone, individually and in association with others, against any violence,threats, retaliation, de facto or de jure adverse discrimination, pressure orany other arbitrary action as a consequence of his or her legitimate exerciseof the rights referred to in the present Declaration”;

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 theIslamic Republic, His Excellency Ayatollah Sayed Ali Khamenei, The Office ofthe Supreme Leader, Shahid Keshvardoost St., Jomhuri Eslami Ave., Tehran,Islamic Republic of Iran, Faxes: + 98 21 649 5880 / 21 774 2228, Email: info_leader@leader.ir; Twitter:@khamenei_ir

· President HassanRouhani, the Presidency, Palestine Avenue, Azerbaijan Intersection, Tehran,Islamic Republic of Iran, Tel: +98 21 64451; Fax: + 98 21 649 5880; Email: media@rouhani.ir; Twitter: @HassanRouhani (English) and @Rouhani_ir (Persian).

· Head of theJudiciary, His Excellency Ayatollah Sadeq Larijani, Office of the Head of theJudiciary, Pasteur Street, Vali Asr Avenue, south of Serah-e Jomhuri, Tehran,Islamic Republic 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 ofForeign Affairs, Mohammad Javad Zarif, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, SheikhAbdolmajid Kushk-e Mesri Av, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran, Fax:+98-21-66743149; matbuat@mfa.gov.ir

· SecretaryGeneral, High Council for Human Rights, Mr. Mohammed Javad Larijani, [Care of]Office of the Head of the Judicary, Pasteur St, Vali Asr Ave, South of Serah-eJomhouri, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran. Email: info@humanrights-iran.ir

· H.E.Mr. Mohsen Naziri Asl, Ambassador, Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic ofIran, Chemin du Petit-Saconnex 28, 1209 Geneva, Switzerland, Fax: +41 227330203, Email: mission.iran@ties.itu.int

· H.E. Mr. MahmoudBarimani, Ambassador, Embassy of Iran in Brussels, 15 a avenue Franklin Roosevelt, 1050 Bruxelles, Belgium, Fax: + 32 2 76239 15. Email: secreteriat@iranembassy.be

Please also write todiplomatic representations of Iran in your respective countries.

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Paris-Geneva,July 3, 2014

Kindly inform us of anyaction undertaken quoting the code of this appeal in your reply.

To contact the Observatory,call the emergency line:

• E-mail: Appeals@fidh-omct.org
• Tel and fax FIDH + 33 (0) 1 43 55 25 18 / +33 1 43 55 18 80
• Tel and fax OMCT + 41 (0) 22 809 49 39 / + 41 22 809 49 29