REPORT by DL : Collection of HR appeals by NGOs in past weeks

The Following is a collection of HR appeals , statements and reports by NGOs and Human Right organisations and the press, following the violations of RIGHTS in Iran by the regime.
You are welcome to use the collection.

Daughters of LIGHT



Zahra Bahrami
Location: Evin prison
Age:45
Date condemned: Pending as of 25 August 2010
Charge: Moharabeh
http://iran.elple.net/node/64
Notes: Zahra Bahrami is a Dutch Iranian woman who was arrested after participating in Ashura (December 27, 2009) protests against the Iranian regime. She has been held in Evin Prison in Tehran since her arrest, and showed signs of torture. Ms. Bahrami was in Iran visiting her children, but is a Dutch citizen. She was charged with setting up an anti-government organization, membership in an unnamed monarchist organization, and spreading anti-regime propaganda. She was denied legal representation and the Dutch foreign minister in Tehran is not permitted to offer her any assistance.
The Foreign Ministry at the Hague confirmed that Ms. Bahrami does hold a Dutch passport, and had changed her name to Sahra Baahrami, which caused initial confusion about her status. She has reportedly been a resident of the UK for several years. As of 24 August, Dutch representatives to the EU have called on EU foreign minister Catherine Ashton to address Zahra Bahrami's detention with Iranian authorities.
That the Islamic Republic is permitted to torture, detain, and execute Ms. Bahrami is an outrage. Although Iran is not recognizing dual citizenship, Zahra Bahrami is a Dutch citizen, and is protected under United Nations conventions to which Iran is a signatory. Not only is the Islamic Republic refusing to honor its own commitments to international law, to human rights, to its own citizens, but it is going to murder a Dutch citizen for alleged political affiliation. Ms. Bahrami is reported to have suffered infection and lung complications as a result of torture and the appalling conditions in Evin prison. She is permitted no visitors and is reported to be suffering from depression. She has also been forced to confess, which is often done through torture and intimidation. These confessions have been aired on state-affiliated television programs. Her daughter says Ms. Bahrami has never been a member of a political party. Even if she were, this is absolutely no justification for execution, and certainly not of a foreign citizen.
Among others, Iran is violating Article 9 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and Article 9(1) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). Both of these UN conventions protect Ms. Bahrami against arbitrary detention. Iran is violating Article 6(2) of the ICCPR, which states that, in countries where it has not been abolished, the death penalty can be imposed only for the most serious crimes. There is no rational justification for considering political participation a serious crime. Article 14 of the ICCPR guarantees the right to legal representation and prohibits forced confession. Finally, both Article 5 of the UDHR and Article 7 of the ICCPR forbid torture.




EU parliament welcomes suspension of Iran stoning sentence
By Martin Banks - 9th September 2010
http://www.theparliament.com/latest-news/article/newsarticle/eu-parliament-welcomes-suspension-of-iran-stoning-sentence/

MEPs have given a cautious welcome to the decision of the Iranian authorities to suspend the death sentence on a woman accused of adultery.

The move comes after commission president Jose Manuel Barroso this week branded the proposed stoning to death of Sakineh Mohammadi-Ashtiani as “barbaric beyond words.”

The European parliament has tried to put pressure on Tehran to lift the sentence and on Wednesday unanimously adopted a resolution strongly condemning the judgement.

Leading the MEP reaction on Thursday was parliament’s president Jerzy Buzek who said he “cautiously welcomed” the announcement.

Buzek said, "This development would appear to be a step in a positive direction. We will remain vigilant and want to have an open and full dialogue with Iran about human rights.

“It is clear that Iran should also introduce a moratorium on executions pending the abolition of the death penalty as well as de-criminalising ‘adultery’ and consensual sexual relations between adults.

“The EU strongly opposes the death penalty in all circumstances. A sentence of death by stoning can never be justified or accepted."

British ALDE deputy Sarah Ludford described the decision as “excellent”, adding that “pressure by the international community, including parliament” had contributed to the decision.

But Ludford, the Liberal Democrat spokesman on justice affairs, went on to warn, “This has caused a massive outcry but we must not relax pressure on the Iranian authorities because they have played cat-and-mouse on this.”

Barroso made his comments about the case during his first state-of-the-union address to MEPs in Strasbourg on Tuesday.

No-one voted against the parliamentary resolution although there were 22 abstentions.

Irish MEP Seán Kelly said that execution by stoning was “so revolting, barbaric and nauseating” that he felt he had to do something.

He said that was why, for the first time in his career, he wore a political T-shirt in the debate which urged that Sakineh Mohammadi-Ashtiani be saved.

Fine Gael colleague Mairéad McGuinness also spoke on the resolution, noting many more people have been sentenced to death in Iran and convicted on charges of “war with God” when all they had done was protest at the situation there.

The resolution, backed by 658 MEPs, said a sentence of death by stoning can never be justified and noted that Iran is one of a small number of countries, including Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan and Nigeria, which practice stoning.

Parliament also urged the Iranian authorities to reconsider the case of Zahra Bahrami, an Iranian-Dutch national, and of 18-year-old Ebrahim Hamidi.

Deputies called on Iran to apply a moratorium on executions pending abolition of the death penalty and also asked that it decriminalise adultery and consensual sexual relations between adults.

They said Iran should release all those held "solely because of their involvement in peaceful protests and for using their basic right of freedom of expression."



MEPs want action on Dutch Iranian woman
Tuesday 24 August 2010
http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives/2010/08/meps_want_action_on_dutch_iran.php
Dutch members of the European parliament have called on EU foreign minister Catherine Ashton to raise the jailing of Dutch Iranian woman Zahra Bahrami with the authorities in Teheran, the Telegraaf reports on Tuesday.
Bahrami, 45, was arrested in December while visiting one of her children in Iran and accused of taking part in an anti-government demonstration.
Human rights groups say she has been held in solitary confinement and tortured.



Lawyer: Iran woman could be stoned to death soon
The Associated Press
Monday, September 6, 2010; 5:30 PM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/06/AR2010090601014.html

TEHRAN, Iran -- The lawyer for an Iranian woman sentenced to be stoned on an adultery conviction said Monday that he and her children are worried the delayed execution could be carried out soon with the end of a moratorium on death sentences for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
In an unusual turn in the case, the lawyer also confirmed that Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani was lashed 99 times last week in a separate punishment meted out because a British newspaper ran a picture of an unveiled woman mistakenly identified as her. Under Iran's clerical rule, women must cover their hair in public. The newspaper later apologized for the error.
With the end of Ramadan this week, the mother of two could be executed "any moment," said her lawyer, Javid Houtan Kian.
The sentence was put on hold in July after an international outcry over the brutality of the punishment, and it is now being reviewed by Iran's supreme court.
Ashtiani was convicted in 2006 of having an "illicit relationship" with two men after the murder of her husband the year before and was sentenced at that time to 99 lashes. Later that year, she was also convicted of adultery and sentenced to be stoned, even though she retracted a confession that she says was made under duress.
"The possibility of stoning still exists, any moment," Kian told The Associated Press. "Her stoning sentence was only delayed; it has not been lifted yet."
Italy is among several countries pressing for Iran to show flexibility in the case. The country's foreign minister, Franco Frattini, said the Italian ambassador in Iran met with authorities in Tehran who "confirmed to us that no decision has been made" about the stoning sentence.
"I interpret that in the sense that the stoning, for now, won't take place," Frattini said in an interview on Italian state TV.
After putting the stoning sentence on hold, Iran suddenly announced that the woman had also been brought to trial and convicted of playing a role in her husband's 2005 murder. Her lawyer disputes that, saying no charges against her in the killing have ever been part of her case file.
In early August, Iranian authorities broadcast a purported confession from Ashtiani on state-run television. In it, a woman identified as Ashtiani admits to being an unwitting accomplice in her husband's killing.
Kian says he believes she was tortured into confessing.
In the latest twist, authorities are said to have flogged her for the publication of a photo of a woman without her hair covered in the Times of London newspaper. The woman in the photo was misidentified as Ashtiani.



Iran stoning woman's son fears execution after Ramadan
September 06, 2010
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iEMXOAWa92JbtAtA5NwnxEi8EWkA
PARIS — The son of an Iranian woman sentenced to be stoned to death for adultery said Monday that he fears she will be executed shortly after this week's end to the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani's 22-year-old son Sajjad Mohammadi Ashtiani was speaking by telephone to a news conference organised in Paris by the French philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy.
"Ramadan is coming to an end and, according to Islamic law, executions can resume," the young man warned. The Islamic calendar varies a little around the world, but Ramadan is due to come to an end everywhere this week.
Sajjad said he had had no contact with his 43-year-old mother since her August 11 televised "confession", which her lawyers believe was coerced from her by Iranian authorities.
"Weekly visits have been halted. We heard that she had received 99 lashes in prison," the young Iranian said, speaking to Levy and assembled reporters in Persian through a French translator.
Mohammadi-Ashtiani was sentenced to death for adultery and has since also received a 10-year jail term for participating in her husband's murder.
Her case has generated a worldwide uproar, with international governments and human rights bodies denouncing stonings as barbaric, and some questioning whether she received a fair trial.
"This woman faces the most barbaric of executions in the coming days," warned Levy, a prominent French intellectual and media star who has gathered a petition of 80,000 names calling for her release.
"We have sworn to remain mobilised for as long as justice has not been done, that's to say for as long as Sakineh has not been pardoned and freed," he added.
Sakineh's son expressed confidence that international pressure would help and called for the support of Turkey and Brazil, who have friendly relations with Iran.
Shahnaz Gholami, a female journalist who in 2008 was held for several months in the same prison as Sakineh in the northern city of Tabriz, said she was with Sakineh at the moment she was sentenced.
"Sakineh speaks a Turkish dialect and did not understand her conviction which was spoken in Persian with the word for stoning in Arabic. She signed her conviction without understanding it," said Gholami at the gathering in Paris.
"The director of the prison explained to her that she had been sentenced to be stoned."
Gholami added: "Sakineh is the symbol of all the women who are tortured and assaulted in prison in Iran. I hope international support, as well as obtaining Sakineh's liberation, will open the way to a change in this situation."
Mina Ahadi, head of an international campaign against stoning, said her organisation listed 150 stonings of people in Iran over 30 years.
"Stoning is a political act to frighten women in Iran," she said.



Iran arrests Baha'i for "illicit" relations - report
Mon Sep 6, 2010
http://in.reuters.com/article/idINIndia-51311420100906
TEHRAN (Reuters) - An Iranian Baha'i missionary has been arrested in northern Iran for allegedly having an "illicit sexual relationship", the semi-official Fars news agency said on Monday without giving a source.
The man, identified by Fars only as P.P., is accused of seducing women to have illicit sexual relationships with him, the agency said, a punishable offence in Iran which implements strict sharia, Islamic law.
"The man is an active Baha'i missionary ... His case is being investigated by the judiciary," it said. Judicial officials were not available to comment.
The Baha'i faith was founded in Iran in the 19th century and activists say more than 300,000 adherents live in Iran today. Iran's Shi'ite government considers the faith a heretical offshoot of Islam.
Exiled Bahai leaders say hundreds of followers have been jailed and executed since the 1979 Islamic revolution. The Iranian government denies it has detained or executed people for their religion.
Baha'i activists said in August that an Iranian court had sentenced seven leaders of the faith, five men and two women, to 20 years in prison after charging them with espionage and engaging in propaganda against Islam.
Iranian media reported in January that the seven, arrested in 2008, had gone on trial on charges of spying and collaborating with Israel, an enemy of the Islamic Republic.
The international Bahai community denied the charges.




Iran hangs serial rapist: Fars
September 17, 2010
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jYy4cp0N_WUiNIFLkGNtN7p2DPJg
TEHRAN — Iran has hanged a man convicted of raping several young girls in the town of Varamin, south of the capital Tehran, Fars news agency reported on Friday.
Amir Bilchi Kangarlu, also known as the "blue-eyed rapist," was hanged on Thursday in Varamin, Fars said, without specifying whether the execution was carried out in prison or in public.
The latest hanging brings the number of executions in Iran to at least 110 this year, according to an AFP count based on media reports. Last year, at least 270 people were hanged.
Iran says the death penalty is essential to maintain public security and is applied only after exhaustive judicial proceedings.
Murder, rape, armed robbery, drug trafficking and adultery are all punishable by death in the Islamic republic.


French Foreign Minister Pledges To Help Save Iranian Woman
September 06, 2010
http://www.rferl.org/content/French_Foreign_Minister_Pledges_To_Help_Save_Iranian_Woman/2150223.html
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said he was willing to "do anything" to save an Iranian woman sentenced to death on an adultery conviction.

Kouchner spoke to reporters today after meeting with one of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani's lawyer's, Mohammad Mostafei, in Paris.

He said her case has become a "personal cause" for him.

"This is a punishment, an act that is impossible to even imagine," Kouchner said. "It is the height of barbarity and a return to the Middle Ages."

Iran has lifted the stoning sentence for the 43-year-old mother of two after an international outcry, but the mother of two could still be hanged.

Her 22-year-old son, Sajjad Mohammadi Ashtiani, said today he fears she will be executed shortly after this week's end to the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.



Iranian Pastor Facing Execution
10 September 2010
http://www.preachingpoints.com/2010/09/iranian-pastor-facing-execution/
TEHRAN, IRAN (Worthy News)– A well-known Iranian pastor faces execution after two judges agreed to make him “liable to capital punishment,” as part of a crackdown on the growing Protestant church movement in the Islamic nation, Worthy News and its parner agency BosNewsLife learned Tuesday, July 13.
Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani was detained in June along with wife Fatemeh Pasandideh in the city of Rasht in northwestern Iran because of their Christian activities, Iranian Christians said.
A senior pastor of the Church of Iran movement, which includes house churches across the country, told Worthy News that judges had “already signed” an Islamic order that would potentially allow a death sentence for Nadarkhani, pending further investigations. The pastor usually speaks on condition of anonymity to BosNewsLife amid security concerns.
News of the execution overshadowed joy over the release of two Church of Iran Christians, a man and a woman, and the expected release this week on bail of two other members, who the movement only identified as “brothers Mehdi and Afshin.”
MORE DETENTIONS
They were part of a group of eight Church of Iran members detained June 18, the senior pastor said. One of them, a pastor’s wife identified as Fatemeh Kojouri Tork, remained in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison Tuesday, July 13, while her husband, Behrouz Sadegh Khanjani, was kept in isolation in a security prison in the southwestern city of Shiraz, the Christian leader said.
“We still do not hear from Reverend Behrouz Khanjani…” Iranian Christians have also expressed concerns about reports of other detentions, including last month’s capture of Pastor Behnam Irani in the city of Karaj, 20 kilometers (12.5 miles) west of Tehran.
Several believers have allegedly been mistreated. “We have learned that information that [security forces] have been using substances to extract confessions from Christians,” the senior pastor said.
Iranian officials have not commented on the cases.

AUTHORITIES CONCERNED
Rights groups have linked the crackdown to concern among authorities about growing churches and the spread of Christianity among Muslims in the country.
Church sources say the number of Christians in Iran has grown from 500 known believers in 1979 to at least 100,000 today.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has reportedly said the government needed to halt the growing movement of house churches across Iran.
Under Iran’s strict interpretation of Islam, “apostasy” — or the formal renunciation of religion– is punishable by death.


Press freedom violations recounted in real time (from 1st July 2010)
Published on 9 September 2010
http://en.rsf.org/iran-press-freedom-violations-recounted-09-09-2010,37863.html
Lawyer for several imprisoned journalists, Nassrin Soutodeh, who was arrested on 5 September for alleged anti-government propaganda and plotting against the regime, was yesterday able to call her family from Evin prison. She told them that she is being held in solitary confinement, her lawyer, Mina Jafari, confirmed to Agence France-Presse.
The reformist weekly Nasir Bushehr, published in Bushehr province in the south of the country for the past 11 years, was banned on 7 September for “publishing articles contrary to the principles of Islam and the Islamic Republic” and “insulting regime leaders by publishing articles, photos and cartoons.” The ban was the decision of Iran’s Commission for press authorisation and surveillance, the censorship arm of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Orientation.
Cyber-feminist Jila Bani Yaghoob was summoned on 30 August by the 76th chamber of the Tehran court for “insulting the president”, her lawyer, Farideh Gheirat said. She was tried and convicted on the same charge on 8 June this year, and sentenced to one year in prison and a 30-year ban on working as a journalist by the Tehran revolutionary court’s 26th chamber. The prosecutor appealed the verdict and called for Yaghoob to be sentenced for her articles critical of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. It is the third time the journalist and women’s rights activist had been brought before the courts in less than a year.
Jila Bani Yaghoob and her husband Bahaman Ahamadi Amoee were both arrested on 20 June 2009 along with around 20 other journalists during demonstrations that followed the disputed re-election of Ahmadinejad as president. She was freed on 24 August but her husband was jailed for five years.
________________________________________
30 July 2010 - Woman journalist freed on bail after being held for eight weeks
Azam Vismeh, an online journalist who works for Parlemannews, the official website of the pro-reform parliamentarians, was released on 21 July after paying 70 million toman (7,500 euros) in bail. Arrested at her home on 1 June, she had been held in Section 209 of Tehran’s Evin prison.
________________________________________
2nd July 2010 - Two released and one freed on licence
Narges Mohammadi, journalist and spokesperson for the Defenders of Human Rights Centre, was released today on bail of 50 million tomans (40,000 euros). Intelligence ministry agents arrested the journalist, who works with Nobel peace prize laureate, Shirin Ebadi, at her home on the evening of 10 June 2010.
Reporters Without Borders also learned of the release on bail on 26 June, of Mahbobeh Khanssari, who works for the agency Cultural Heritage. She was arrested at her home on 1st June. On the other hand, Azam Vismeh, online journalist with Parlemannews (official website of parliamentary reformists), who was arrested at the same time as her, is still being held in solitary confinement and has been banned from receiving visitors.
Judicial authorities on 24 June allowed a release on licence to seriously ill journalist and documentary maker Mohammad Norizad. He worked for several years as an editorialist on the daily Kayhan, the conservatives leading press organ. Following the disputed re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as president on 12 June 2009, the journalist, who also ran the blog http://mohammadnurizad.blogfa.com/, began to be openly critical of Iran’s Supreme Leader as well as the government and the country’s justice system. The 54th chamber of Tehran’s appeal court on 29 May confirmed his sentence of three and a half years in prison and 50 lashes for “publicity against the regime and insulting the authorities”.
Abdolreza Tajik, journalist and member of the Circle for the Defenders of Human Rights, was arrested on 12 June 2010. His family still has not been informed either of the place he is being detained or the reasons for his arrest.



EU parliament welcomes suspension of Iran stoning sentence
By Martin Banks - 9th September 2010
http://www.theparliament.com/latest-news/article/newsarticle/eu-parliament-welcomes-suspension-of-iran-stoning-sentence/
MEPs have given a cautious welcome to the decision of the Iranian authorities to suspend the death sentence on a woman accused of adultery.

The move comes after commission president Jose Manuel Barroso this week branded the proposed stoning to death of Sakineh Mohammadi-Ashtiani as “barbaric beyond words.”

The European parliament has tried to put pressure on Tehran to lift the sentence and on Wednesday unanimously adopted a resolution strongly condemning the judgement.

Leading the MEP reaction on Thursday was parliament’s president Jerzy Buzek who said he “cautiously welcomed” the announcement.

Buzek said, "This development would appear to be a step in a positive direction. We will remain vigilant and want to have an open and full dialogue with Iran about human rights.

“It is clear that Iran should also introduce a moratorium on executions pending the abolition of the death penalty as well as de-criminalising ‘adultery’ and consensual sexual relations between adults.

“The EU strongly opposes the death penalty in all circumstances. A sentence of death by stoning can never be justified or accepted."

British ALDE deputy Sarah Ludford described the decision as “excellent”, adding that “pressure by the international community, including parliament” had contributed to the decision.

But Ludford, the Liberal Democrat spokesman on justice affairs, went on to warn, “This has caused a massive outcry but we must not relax pressure on the Iranian authorities because they have played cat-and-mouse on this.”

Barroso made his comments about the case during his first state-of-the-union address to MEPs in Strasbourg on Tuesday.

No-one voted against the parliamentary resolution although there were 22 abstentions.

Irish MEP Seán Kelly said that execution by stoning was “so revolting, barbaric and nauseating” that he felt he had to do something.

He said that was why, for the first time in his career, he wore a political T-shirt in the debate which urged that Sakineh Mohammadi-Ashtiani be saved.

Fine Gael colleague Mairéad McGuinness also spoke on the resolution, noting many more people have been sentenced to death in Iran and convicted on charges of “war with God” when all they had done was protest at the situation there.

The resolution, backed by 658 MEPs, said a sentence of death by stoning can never be justified and noted that Iran is one of a small number of countries, including Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan and Nigeria, which practice stoning.

Parliament also urged the Iranian authorities to reconsider the case of Zahra Bahrami, an Iranian-Dutch national, and of 18-year-old Ebrahim Hamidi.

Deputies called on Iran to apply a moratorium on executions pending abolition of the death penalty and also asked that it decriminalise adultery and consensual sexual relations between adults.

They said Iran should release all those held "solely because of their involvement in peaceful protests and for using their basic right of freedom of expression."




Demand Release of human rights lawyer
09 September 2010
http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/MDE13/087/2010/en/cd5acb4a-2258-421d-8881-ee53c49454d0/mde130872010en.html
Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh was arrested on 4 September after her house and office were searched on 28 August and she was summoned to appear in court. She is currently in solitary confinement in Evin prison in Tehran. Amnesty International considers her to be a prisoner of conscience who is at risk of torture or other ill-treatment.
Nasrin Sotoudehhas defended many high profile human rights campaigners and political activists, as well as juvenile offenders on death row. She has spoken publicly about shortcomings in the rule of law and administration of justice in the course of judicial proceedings against her clients. Her clients include Nobel Peace Laureate Shirin Ebadi, who has several cases pending against her. In recent months, Nasrin Sotoudeh has been warned she could face reprisals for her continued advocacy for her clients, and her husband, Reza Khandan, has also received threats warning him to stop his wife from defending Shirin Ebadi or she would risk arrest.
Nasrin Sotoudeh is not known to have been formally charged, but the reasons stated on the summons include suspicion of “propaganda against the system” and “gathering and colluding with the aim of harming state security”. She has not yet been granted access to her lawyer. She has not yet been able to see her family but is reported to have called them briefly on 8 September. She has two children, aged 10 and three years.




Iran stoning sentence suspension not enough

http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/iran-stoning-sentence-suspension-not-enough-2010-09-08
8 September 2010
Amnesty International welcomes an Iranian official’s statement that Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani's sentence of stoning to death has been temporarily suspended but urged the authorities to overturn the death sentence against her entirely.

"This news does not go far enough," said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Deputy Director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Amnesty International.

"We hope this is not merely a cynical move by the authorities to deflect international criticism, as this temporary suspension by the Head of the Judiciary could be lifted at any time, leaving Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani at risk of execution, particularly if the current judicial review of her case results in a confirmation of her sentence.

“The Iranian authorities must immediately take the necessary steps to ensure that her death sentence is overturned once and for all."

On Wednesday 8 September, Iranian state-run Press TV reported that Ramin Mehmanparast, a Foreign Ministry spokesman, had said that Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani's execution for adultery had been "stopped".

He also reiterated that her case was being reviewed, but said that "her sentencing for complicity in murder is in process".

Amnesty International is also concerned that the Iranian authorities may be preparing to bring what appear to be fresh charges against her in relation to the death of her husband, Ebrahim Qaderzadeh, although her state-appointed lawyer told the organization earlier that she had been acquitted of the murder.

The organization has been unable to obtain any court documents relating to the investigation of his death.

"In August 2010, Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani was forced to confess under duress on TV to adultery and involvement in her husband's death," said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui. "If the judicial authorities now charge and sentence her on this basis, yet another layer of injustice would be added to the travesty of her case."



Lawyer who defends detained journalists is herself arrested
Published on 7 September 2010
http://en.rsf.org/iran-lawyer-who-defends-detained-07-09-2010,38292.html
Reporters Without Borders condemns the arrest of free speech defender Nasrin Sotoudeh, a lawyer who has represented many imprisoned journalists. She was arrested on 5 September on charges of anti-government propaganda and conspiring against the regime after responding to a summons from a revolutionary court prosecutor’s office located inside Tehran’s Evin prison.
“Nasrin Sotoudeh has for the past year been the spokesperson of the victims of injustice, of those the regime is trying to silence,” Reporters Without Borders said. “Detained journalists and other political prisoners are denied their most basic rights. Lawyers cannot visit their detained clients or see their case files. Now the repression is being stepped up a notch. By arresting lawyers, the regime is trying to gag the last dissenting voices. Lawyers’ organisations throughout the world must demand this courageous lawyer’s immediate release.”
The prominent political prisoners defended by Sotoudeh include journalists Issa Saharkhiz and Mohammad Sadegh Kaboudvand, who are both seriously ill (http://en.rsf.org/iran-health-of-prisoners-of-conscience-16-07-2010,37962.html). Despite being interrogated and threatened on several occasions, she has never stopped denouncing the arbitrary and illegal arrests that have been taking place since June 2009’s disputed presidential election.
When Sotoudeh’s office was searched and closed on 28 August, she said: “Their aim is to rid the country of its human rights defenders.”



Arbitrary arrest of Ms. Nasrin Sotoudeh
http://www.fidh.org/Arbitrary-arrest-of-Ms-Nasrin-Sotoudeh-IRN-006
7 September 2010

The Observatory has been informed by the Iranian League for the Defense of Human Rights of the arbitrary arrest of Ms. Nasrin Sotoudeh, prominent human rights lawyer, known for defending juveniles facing death penalty, prisoners of conscience, human rights activists and children victims of abuse.
The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), requests your urgent intervention in the following situation in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

According to the information received, on September 4, 2010, Ms. Nasrin Soutoudeh went to Evin prison court, where she had been summoned by the Revolutionary Prosecutor’s Office on charges of « propaganda against the State » and « collusion and gathering with the aim of acting against national security ». After her questioning by a magistrate, Ms. Sotoudeh was arrested. Her lawyer was not permitted to be present during the questioning. To date, Ms. Soutoudeh is reportedly detained in Evin prison.

A few days before her arrest, she had reported to the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran how the authorities were using tax harassment against human rights lawyers in order to limit their working conditions. She gave the example of Ms. Shirin Ebadi who was subjected to the payment of a tax bill of hundreds of thousands of dollars on the money she had been granted for her Nobel Peace Prize.

On August, 28, 2010, Ms. Soutoudeh’s office and home were searched by members of the services of intelligence and her assets frozen.

The Observatory expresses its deep concern about Ms. Nasrin Sotoudeh’s arbitrary detention and about the judicial harassment against her, which seem to merely aim at sanctioning her human rights activities, in a context of constant harassment against human rights lawyers and activists in Iran. The Observatory therefore calls upon the Iranian authorities to immediately and unconditionally release her, as well as all human rights defenders presently detained in the country.


Planned execution of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani (September 6, 2010)
http://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/en/country-files_156/iran_301/human-rights-and-iran_6490/death-penalty_6491/iran-planned-execution-of-sakineh-mohammadi-ashtiani-06.09.10_14200.html?xtor=RSS-1
Statement by Bernard Kouchner during his joint press conference with Bernard-Henri Levy, and Mohammad Mostafaei, Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani’s lawyer.
(Excerpts)
"(...) This woman has been accused of adultery, of murdering her husband and sentenced to stoning. It’s an intolerable punishment and act, impossible even to imagine, it’s the height of barbarity and a return to the Middle Ages. I have to set this sentence in the context of the oppression, arrests, sentences and executions which followed the Iranian electoral process culminating in the election of President Ahmadinejad.
After this election, there was a particularly tough crackdown on the Green protest movement. But, if you don’t mind, let’s focus on Sakineh.
I know, Sir, that you defend a lot of defendants and dedicate your life to their freedom and defending human rights. In France, thanks to Bernard-Henri Lévy and his friends, Sakineh’s case has led to a huge protest by civil society, since this morning we reached 100,000 signatures. On our side, the whole French political system has been alerted. There has been a huge number of protests, including, in the first place, by President Sarkozy, Mme Sarkozy and politicians on all sides.
We have alerted the whole of Europe, as well as many other countries across the world. As they did last Saturday, this Monday the 27 European Union countries will be talking about the course of action to take and what can be done to save Sakineh. We’re making it a national cause. President Sarkozy has said that France was acting as guarantor, that she had to defend Sakineh; as far as I’m concerned, I’m making it a personal cause and am ready to do everything to try and save her. And if I have to go to Tehran, I’ll go to Tehran. (...)"


Iranian journalist and human rights defender set to face trial
3 September 2010
http://www.amnesty.org/en/for-media/press-releases/iranian-journalist-and-human-rights-defender-set-face-trial-2010-09-03
AI Index: PRE01/304/2010
An Iranian journalist and human rights defender set to face trial tomorrow on a series of charges must be released immediately and unconditionally, Amnesty International said today.
Shiva Nazar Ahari, a member of the Iranian organization, the Committee of Human Rights Reporters (CHRR), has been detained since 20 December 2009.
Shiva Nazar Ahari appears to be facing three vaguely worded charges of "assembly and collusion to commit a crime", "propaganda against the state" and mohabereh (enmity against God) for her reporting and activism.
No formal written charges have been presented to her lawyer.
“Such vague charges do not amount to a recognizable criminal offence. The Iranian authorities must immediately release Shiva Nazar Ahari and drop any charges brought against her solely for the peaceful exercise of her rights to freedom of expression and association,” said Philip Luther, Deputy Director of Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Programme.
“This trial seems to be more about the Iranian security forces seeking to justify the continuation of the clampdown on dissent and human rights defenders than about a genuine process towards obtaining justice.”
Shiva Nazar Ahari’s lawyer, Mohammad Sharif, told Amnesty International today that he was not permitted to challenge her continued detention and had only been permitted one face-to-face meeting with her to help prepare her case.
“Not granting Shiva Nazar Ahari regular access to her lawyer, or her family, not only dramatically increases the potential for her to be exposed to torture and other ill-treatment, but has also undermined the integrity and fairness of the whole trial,” said Philip Luther.
Shiva Nazar Ahari’s mother told Amnesty International today that she was concerned that the hearing on Saturday would not be fair, adding that both she and her husband hoped to attend, as the judge said that it would be an open trial.



Release Rights Activist; Guarantee a Fair Trial
Shiva Nazar Ahari Faces Serious Charges in Upcoming Trial
September 1, 2010
http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2010/09/01/iran-release-rights-activist-guarantee-fair-trial
(New York) - Iran's Judiciary should ensure that human rights activist Shiva Nazar Ahari receives a fair trial, Human Rights Watch said today, including full access to a lawyer, adequate time to prepare her defense, and the ability to challenge evidence presented against her. The Judiciary should also release her from pre-trial detention, where she is being held in violation of international and Iranian law, Human Rights Watch said. The trial is scheduled to begin on September 4, 2010.
Security forces arrested Ahari and two colleagues from the Committee of Human Rights Reporters (CHRR) - Koohyar Goodarzi and Saeed Haeri - on December 20, 2009. The three were preparing to take a bus to Qom to attend the funeral of Grand Ayatollah Montazeri, a prominent dissident cleric. Prosecutors charged Ahari with "assembly and collusion to commit a crime" (article 610 of the Islamic Penal Code), "propaganda against the regime" (article 500), and moharebeh, a vaguely defined offense meaning "enmity against God" (articles 183, 186, and 190-91) that carries the death penalty and is often reserved for persons accused of belonging to an organization that takes up arms against the state.
"Targeting Shiva Ahari and numerous other activists is proof positive of the deteriorating human rights situation in Iran," said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. "She faces extremely serious charges, and the very least the government can do is to guarantee her a scrupulously fair trial."
Mohammad Sharif, who is representing Ahari along with his colleague Afrooz Maghzi, told Human Rights Watch that he was allowed to review his client's case file for the first time approximately two weeks before Ahari's first - and so far only - trial session, on May 23. Sharif said that the moharebeh charge relates to Ahari's alleged involvement with the Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK), an exile opposition group. Prosecutors often accuse human rights and opposition activists, including members of the Committee of Human Rights Reporters, of ties to the exile group. The accusation often leads to the charge of moharebeh - but rarely, if ever, have prosecutors actually met the burden of proof that such ties exist.
Ahari denies any links to the group, and Sharif told Human Rights Watch that Ahari's file contained no evidence indicating that his client was in any way affiliated with the group or that she took up arms against the state. Sharif has said that the other national security charges generally relate to her human rights activities with the Committee of Human Rights Reporters.
A member of that group told Human Rights Watch that during the first hearing Judge Pir-Abbasi of Branch 26 of the Revolutionary Courts sent the file back to the Prosecutor's Office and requested, among other things, that they clarify Ahari's alleged relationship with the Mojahedin-e Khalq and set the next trial date for September 4. Earlier this year, a member of the human rights group told Human Rights Watch that interrogators were pressuring Ahari and her colleagues to admit to links with the exile group, and government-controlled media have mounted a steady campaign since Ahari's arrest, accusing her and her colleagues of ties to the opposition group.
Authorities are holding Ahari in the general women's ward of Evin Prison. Prison authorities have allowed Ahari's family brief prison visits in recent months. A rights activist who is close to the family told Human Rights Watch that "sanitary conditions inside the women's ward are extremely poor."
"There is no warm water," this person said, "and because of the lice everyone is forced to wash their hair with laundry detergent."
Since the May 23 court hearing, authorities have not allowed Sharif to meet with Ahari.
"Meetings with political prisoners, unlike other situations where the lawyer can simply go to the prison and submit his retainer letter and meet his client, require judicial permits," Sharif said. "Unfortunately, [the Judiciary] has not issued such a permit in my case."
Sharif also told Human Rights Watch that under Iranian law, his client's "temporary detention" should be reviewed and renewed every two months, and the Judiciary should have allowed her to appeal any decision to prolong the detention and provide a basis for why it should continue.
Koohyar Goodarzi, who authorities detained with Ahari, was convicted in June 2010 by Branch 26 of the Revolutionary Court of "propaganda against the regime" and other security-related offenses and sentenced to one year in prison. He and 16 other prisoners were put in solitary confinement in July after staging a hunger strike to protest mistreatment by prison authorities. Saeed Haeri, also arrested with Ahari, was released on March 2010.
Iran is a state party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). Article 9 states, "Anyone arrested or detained on a criminal charge shall be brought promptly before a judge or other officer authorized by law to exercise judicial power and shall be entitled to trial within a reasonable time or to release." The article also says that "it shall not be the general rule that persons awaiting trial shall be detained in custody," though release may be subject to guarantees to appear for trial. Detainees "shall be entitled to take proceedings before a court, in order that the court may decide without delay on the lawfulness of his detention and order his release if the detention is not lawful."
Article 14 requires that authorities allow a detainee "adequate time and facilities for the preparation of his defense and to communicate with counsel of his own choosing," and "to be tried without undue delay."
"By subjecting her to prolonged pretrial detention in poor conditions, charging her with vaguely worded but serious offenses, and denying her access to her lawyer, the Iranian government has violated Ahari's fundamental rights to a fair hearing," Stork said. "The only just course of action is to release her and allow her to meet with her lawyer so that she can prepare her defense."


Iran: The UN Committee on Racial Discrimination condemns pervasive discrimination against minorities
31 August 2010
http://www.fidh.org/Iran-The-UN-Committee-on-Racial-Discrimination

On 27 August 2010, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), a UN body composed of independent experts, issued its concluding observations regarding the implementation of the UN Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination by the Islamic Republic of Iran. The Committee has notably urged the Iranian authorities to bring domestic laws into compliance with the provisions of the Convention on racial discrimination, notably by reviewing its definition of racial discrimination contained in the Constitution.
FIDH and its Iranian member organizations, as stated in their alternative report submitted to the Committee, consider that both legislation and practices must change in Iran in order to ensure equal rights for ethnic and religious minorities in Iran.

The UN experts expressed also concern at “the limited enjoyment of political, economic, social and cultural rights by, inter alia, Arab, Azeri, Baluchi, Kurdish communities and some communities of non-citizens, in particular with regard to housing, education, freedom of expression and religion, health and employment, despite the economic growth in Iran [the State party]”. They also stressed the “lack of sufficient measures to enable persons belonging to minorities to have adequate opportunities to learn their mother tongue and to have it used as a medium of instruction”. They censured the low level of participation of persons from ethnic and religious minorities in public life, and discrimination in the field of employment of state officials and employees. The UN body expressed further concern that language barriers create an obstacle in access to justice for ethnic minorities.

“The CERD is supposed to examine to which extent the States who ratified the UN Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination respect and promote it. This exercise appears to have been particularly difficult regarding Iran because of the lack of information provided by the authorities on the de facto situation of minorities in the country”, declared Karim Lahidji, Vice-president of FIDH and President of LDDHI. The CERD deplored in particular the absence of any statistics on the ethnic composition of the population, the lack of economic and social indicators on the Iranian population disaggregated by ethnicity, as well as the absence of statistical information on complaints lodged, prosecutions launched and penalties imposed in cases of offences relating to racial or ethnic discrimination. “How can the Iranian authorities pretend to fight discrimination if there is not even an effort to collect factual information on the current situation?”, questioned Dr. Lahidji.

FIDH and LDDHI call upon the Iranian authorities to implement fully the CERD recommendations and will issue in the coming weeks a full report on the situation of ethnic and religious minorities in Iran, which will be available on FIDH website.



IRAN: Courts confirm two more stoning sentences on adultery charges
August 31, 2010
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyond/2010/08/iran-two-more-persons-sentenced-to-stoning-for-adultery.html
Amid the controversy and international outcry sparked by the stoning sentence handed down to a 43-year-old Iranian mother of two, Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, Iran's supreme court reportedly has sentenced two more people to stoning on charges of adultery.
The court's decision came just days after the Iranian judiciary revealed fresh details about Ashtiani's case.
According to Iran's Human Rights Activists News Agency, the court approved on Aug. 28 a verdict of stoning to death for Vali Janfeshani and Sariyeh Ebadi, convicted of having an extramarital affair.
Janfeshani and Ebadi have been held in the central prison of Orumiyeh in Iran's West Azarbaijan governorate since 2008, according to HRANA. The group said the sentences came out of a "vague and ambiguous judicial process" and that Janfeshani and Ebadi were not granted the right to choose their own defense lawyers.
The decree of death by stoning for Ashtiani, a sentence that Iran appears uncertain about carrying out, has sparked international anger and drawn widespread criticism of the Islamic Republic. Over the past weeks, human-rights activists have staged demonstrations in dozens of international cities against the sentencing.
Iran lashed back, reportedly telling Western nations not to stick their noses into the matter and that the Islamic Republic would not tolerate interference in the case. A statement by the judiciary that appeared in Iranian newspapers over the weekend said Ashtiani was being executed for the 2005 murder of her husband as well as for having an affair with the killer. Ashtiani's children have insisted she had nothing to do with the slaying.
"Though the judiciary branch is not obliged legally to reveal the content of the dossier prior to the conclusion of the investigation," the statement said, "and each verdict is issued away from any hubbub and any influence from the atmospheric condition ... the human-rights headquarters of the judiciary branch has decided to issue a statement to enlighten the public opinion."
Ashtiani's husband, Ebrahim Qaderzadeh, 44, was found dead on his bathroom floor in a town called Meshkinshahr in northwestern Iran. According to the statement, Ashtiani then confessed to having had an extramarital affair with the killer, Eisa Taheri, and said she had seduced him and tried to convince him to marry her. The judiciary said she also confessed to having planned the murder in collaboration with Taheri.
The court then sentenced Sakineh to stoning on a charge of adultery based on several articles of the Islamic judiciary code, a verdict endorsed by the supreme court and upheld by the human-rights headquarters of the judiciary, led by the well-connected Mohammad-Javad Larijani, whose brothers include Iran's speaker of parliament and judiciary chief.
A separate court also sentenced Ashtiani to death based on the principle of gheisas, which refers to the biblical concept of an eye for an eye. Meanwhile, Taheri was handed a 10-year sentence, according to the statement.
A hardline newspaper, Kayhan, described the wife of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, singer-actress Carla Bruni, as a "prostitute" for weighing in on the case.



Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani subjected to mock execution
Tuesday 31 August 2010
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/31/sakineh-mohammadi-ashtiani-mock-execution-stoning
Her son Sajad says she was told she would be hanged at dawn on Sunday and visits by her family and lawyer have been denied
Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, the Iranian woman sentenced to death by stoning, was told on Saturday that she was to be hanged at dawn on Sunday, but the sentence was not carried out, it emerged tonight.
Mohammadi Ashtiani wrote her will and embraced her cellmates in Tabriz prison just before the call to morning prayer, when she expected to be led to the gallows, her son Sajad told the Guardian.
"Pressure from the international community has so far stopped them from carrying out the sentence but they're killing her every day by any means possible," he said.
The mock execution came days after prison authorities denied family and legal visits to Mohammadi Ashtiani. Her children were told she was unwilling to meet them while she was told, also falsely, that no one had come to visit her.
Sajad, 22, heard the latest evidence of psychological pressure on his mother when he spoke to her by phone yesterday. "They are furious with the international outcry over my mother's case so they are taking revenge on her," he said. "The more the pressure comes from outside Iran, the more they mistreat her."
Protest rallies highlighting her plight were held in 100 cities on Saturday.
Mohammadi Ashtiani, a 43-year-old mother of two, was flogged 99 times for having an "illicit relationship outside marriage" in 2006 but another court reviewed her case after her husband was murdered. She was acquitted of murder but found guilty of adultery and sentenced to death by stoning.
Since her case has captured world attention, Iranian officials have claimed she was an accomplice to the murder of her husband although her government-appointed lawyer, Houtan Kian, has accused the government of inventing charges against her.
Sajad said he believes the only reason his mother is still alive is because of the international campaign for her release. "I beg everybody in the world to continue their support for my mother. That is the only way she might be spared from the death sentence," he said.
In a visit to Iran's judiciary office in his home town today, Sajad was told that the file on his father's murder case has been lost. "They are lying about the charges against my mother. She was acquitted of murdering my father but now the government is building up their own story against her."
Last week, Kian's house was ransacked by plain-clothes officials and his documents, including one which shows Sakineh was acquitted of her husband's murder, were confiscated. Since then, they have been unable to find a copy of the sentence."They are destroying all our evidence," Sajad said. "They were not unusual documents and evidence. They were just the official documents of my mother's sentence. They want to destroy them all because they know there are lots of discrepancies and contradictions in them."
Among them is the fact that no-one has been named as being involved in her putative extramarital relationship.
Mina Ahadi of Iran Committee against Stoning (ICAS) said: "Look how easily they are accusing and insulting Carla Bruni-Sarkozy and you would realise how bad they are treating Sakineh and women in general in Iran and how they can build up dossier against people out of nothing and sentence them to death by stoning."
France, meanwhile, protested to Iran over a hardline newspaper which described Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, wife of President Nicolas Sarkozy, as a "prostitute." Bruni-Sarkozy had condemned Mohammadi Ashtiani's sentence.
The foreign ministry in Paris said it was "unacceptable" for Keyhan to have said she was "proud of her immoral acts" and "deserved to die". Iran's foreign ministry spokesman urged the media to avoid "inappropriate and insulting words."



Urgent action
Journalist may face death penalty
23 August 2010
http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/MDE13/086/2010/en/fb1e8acd-6f0a-45f2-a47a-8ab049ccad53/mde130862010en.html
Journalist and human rights defender Shiva Nazar Ahari appears to have been charged with moharebeh (enmity with God), which can carry the death penalty. Her next hearing is scheduled for 4 September 2010. She is a prisoner of conscience, held solely for the peaceful exercise of her rights to freedom of expression and association.
Shiva Nazar Ahari, who is a member of the Iranian organization, the Committee of Human Rights Reporters (CHRR), has been detained since 20 December 2009. Apparently charged with of moharebeh, under Article 186 of the Iranian Penal Code, she has also been charged with "assembly and collusion to commit a crime" (Article 610) and "propaganda against the Regime" (Article 500). Amnesty International fears that such vague charges do not amount to a recognizably criminal offence. She is being tried in Branch 26 of the Revolutionary Court in Tehran. Judicial officials and pro-government news agencies have publicly accused the CHRR and Shiva Nazar Ahari of contacting a banned group, the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI) , The CHRR and Shiva Nazar Ahari have strenuously denied these accusations. According to her mother, in April 2010, Shiva Nazar Ahari was charged with "causing unease in the public mind through writing on the CHRR's website and other sites" and "acting against national security by participating in [anti-government] demonstrations on 4 November 2009 and 7 December 2009.". Shiva Nazar Ahari denied attending the demonstrations, saying that she had been at work on those days.
She has been in solitary confinement for much of the time. In February 2010 she told her family by phone that she had been placed in a "cage-like" solitary confinement cell where she could not move her arms and legs. She has had only limited access to her family.


PLEASE WRITE IMMEDIATELY in Persian, Arabic, English, French or your own language:
• Calling on the Iranian authorities to release Shiva Nazar Ahari immediately and unconditionally, as she is a prisoner of conscience, held solely for her peaceful human rights activities;
• Urging them to ensure that she is protected from torture and other ill-treatment, and is granted immediate and regular access to a lawyer of her choice, her family and any medical attention she may require;
• Calling on the authorities to drop any charges brought against Shiva Nazar Ahari in connection with her peaceful exercise of her rights to freedom of expression and association, which are guaranteed by the UN Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to with Iran is a state party.

PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 15 September 2010 TO:
Leader of the Islamic Republic
Ayatollah Sayed ‘Ali Khamenei
The Office of the Supreme Leader
Islamic Republic Street – End of Shahid Keshvar Doust Street, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
Email: info_leader@leader.ir
via website: http://www.leader.ir/langs/en/index.php?p=letter (English)
Salutation: Your Excellency


Head of the Judiciary in Tehran
Mr Ali Reza Avaei
Karimkhan Zand Avenue
Sana’i Avenue, Corner of Alley 17, No 152
Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
Email: avaei@Dadgostary-tehran.ir
Salutation: Dear Mr Avaei

And copies to:
Director, Human Rights Headquarters of Iran
His Excellency Mohammad Javad Larijani
Bureau of International Affairs, Office of the Head of the Judiciary, Pasteur St., Vali Asr Ave. south of Serah-e Jomhouri, Tehran 1316814737,
Islamic Republic of Iran
Email: bia.judi@yahoo.com
Fax: + 98 21 5 537 8827 (please keep trying
Also send copies to diplomatic representatives accredited to your country. Please check with your section office if sending appeals after the above date. This is the fifth update of UA 347/09 (MDE 13/132/2009). For more information see: http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/MDE13/132/2009/en