IRAN Weekly HR report (March 10, 2012) : (Prison)

Prison

Prison sentence

Iran sentences lawyer to 18 months of prison and 20 year ban on practicing law
Lawyer Abdolfateh Soltani was sentenced to 18 months of prison and exile to the town of Berazjan. Soltani, who was representing a large number of political, media and civil rights activists, was charged with ‘propagating, assembling and conspiring against the government’.
According to reports, the 28th branch of the Revolutionary Court headed by Judge Pir Abbasi issued and announced this sentence to this lawyer on March 4.
According to this sentence, he was also sentenced to a 20 year ban on practicing law.
Soltani has been detained in Evin Prison since September 10, 2011. He is basically guilty of forming the Center for Human Rights Defenders, receiving the Nuremberg Human Rights Prize in Germany, and giving interviews to the media about his clients. These charges have been officially announced as ‘propagating against the government, establishing the Center for Human Rights Defenders, assembling and conspiring against the government, and acquiring illegal property”. (Committee of Human Rights Reporters, Radio Germany Website – Mar. 4, 2012)

Iran: Overturn jail sentence and release human rights lawyer
Iranian human rights lawyer Abdolfattah Soltani has been sentenced to 18 years in prison on politically motivated charges.
As one of Iran’s most prominent and most courageous human rights defenders, there can be little doubt that Abdolfattah Soltani is being persecuted for his legitimate work as a defence lawyer.
Ann Harrison, interim Deputy Middle East and North Africa Programme Director at Amnesty International
Mon, 05/03/2012
The Iranian authorities must overturn an 18-year jail term recently handed down to prominent human rights lawyer Abdolfattah Soltani and release him immediately and unconditionally, Amnesty International has urged.
It is not known whether the defendant has been notified of the Tehran Revolutionary Court’s ruling, which his family and lawyer learned about on Sunday.
Arrested on 10 September 2011, the charges against Abdolfattah Soltani include “spreading propaganda against the system”, “setting up an illegal OPPOSITION group” and “gathering and colluding with intent to harm national security.”
He also faced charges of “accepting an illegal prize and illegal earnings” relating to his acceptance of the Nuremberg International Human Rights Award in 2009.
Amnesty International has previously recognized the 58-year-old lawyer - a founding member of the Centre for Human Rights Defenders - as a prisoner of conscience, held solely for the peaceful exercise of his right to freedom of expression and association, including his work as a defence lawyer and in the Centre.
“As one of Iran’s most prominent and most courageous human rights defenders, there can be little doubt that Abdolfattah Soltani is being persecuted for his legitimate work as a defence lawyer,” said Ann Harrison, interim Deputy Middle East and North Africa Programme Director at Amnesty International.
“It is a sad state of affairs when defence lawyers join their clients in prison cells. The Iranian authorities must overturn this sentence and release him immediately and unconditionally”.
Under the court ruling, Abdolfattah Soltani is now banned for 20 years from exercising his profession and is to be transferred from Tehran’s Evin Prison to a prison in the remote city of Borazjan, some 620 miles south-west of the capital which will make it hard for his family to visit him.
His family have told the media he plans to appeal the ruling.
Prior to his trial, Ministry of Intelligence officials had threatened Abdolfattah Soltani with 20 years of imprisonment.
In November 2011, Mohammad Javad Larijani, an Iranian Judiciary official, told a UN press conference that Abdolfattah Soltani was being held on suspicion of “relations with terrorist groups” that had been responsible for killing 10,000 people in Iran.
The lawyer’s family told Amnesty International afterwards that he flatly denies this allegation and hoped to lodge a judicial complaint against Mohammad Larijani over the claim.
Abdolfattah Soltani has been arrested on a number of occasions in the past. In 2005, he spent seven months behind bars, but was eventually acquitted of all charges. He also spent two months in detention in 2009.
In a report released last week , Amnesty International documented a dramatic escalation in the Iranian authorities’ crackdown on freedom of expression in the run up to parliamentary elections, which were held on Sunday.
In recent years, harassment, arrest and imprisonment of human rights defenders, including women’s rights defenders, has intensified and several NGOs have been shut down, including the Centre for Human Rights Defenders.
At least nine other defence lawyers remain behind bars, including Nasrin Sotoudeh, Mohammad Seyfzadeh, Javid Houtan Kiyan and Mostafa Daneshju. Most if not all are recognized as prisoners of conscience by Amnesty International.
“A rise in harassment and punitive measures for human rights lawyers and others with dissenting points of view in Iran is yet another sign of the country’s overall deteriorating human rights situation,” said Ann Harrison.
“Human rights defenders - including defence lawyers - seek to protect rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly for all. When they are put in prison for their peaceful activities, it sends a chilling message to anyone who wants to speak out against the government”. (Amnesty International - Mar. 5, 2012)

Iran sentences newspaper editor in chief to prison for ‘propagating against government’
Ahmad Gholami, writer and editor in chief of Sharq Daily, was sentenced to one year of suspended prison by the 15th branch of the Revolutionary Court presided over by Abolqasem Salvati.
According to reports, Ahmad Gholami was charged with propagating against the government and based on this was sentence to one year of prison which has been suspended for five years based on article 500 of the Islamic Penal Code.
This sentence was announced to this journalist by the head of the 15th branch of the Revolutionary Court.
Mr. Gholami was arrested on December 7, 2011 along with Ali Khodabakhsh, Keivan Mehregan and Farzaneh Rostayi after security forces stormed the Sharq office building. He was released on a heavy bail on December 29. (ISNA state-run News Agency – Mar. 9, 2012)

زندان

حكم زندان

به تحمل ۱۸ سال زندان محکوم شد

عبدالفتاح سلطانی، وکیل دادگستری، به تحمل ۱۸ سال زندان و تبعید به برازجان محکوم شد. سلطانی که وکالت بسیاری از فعالان سیاسی، مطبوعاتی و مدنی را برعهده داشته متهم به ”تبلیغ، اجتماع و تبانی علیه نظام“ شده است.

  به گزارش خانه حقوق‌بشر ایران (رهانا) و سایت کلمه حکم ۱۸ سال زندان عبدالفتاح سلطانی، وکیل دادگستری، از سوی شعبه ۲۸ دادگاه انقلاب به ریاست قاضی پیرعباسی صادر شده و روز یکشنبه (۱۴ اسفند / ۴ مارس) به وکلای وی ابلاغ شده است .

بر اساس این حکم وی هم‌چنین به ۲۰ سال محرومیت از حرفه وکالت محکوم شده است. عبدالفتاح سلطانی از تاریخ ۱۹ شهریور ۱۳۹۰ در زندان اوین به‌سر می‌برد. اساس اتهامات علیه وی، شرکت در تأسیس ”کانون مدافعان حقوق‌بشر ایران“، دریافت جایزه حقوق‌بشر شهر نورنبرگ آلمان و مصاحبه با رسانه‌ها درباره وضعیت موکلانش است. به گزارش خانه حقوق‌بشر ایران اتهامات وی ”تبلیغ علیه نظام، تشکیل کانون مدافعان حقوق‌بشر، اجتماع و تبانی علیه نظام“ و ”تحصیل مال حرام“ اعلام شده است. (رهانا، سایت رادیو آلمان- 14/12/1390)

حبس وکیل حقوق‌بشر را لغو و وی را آزاد کنید [تکمیلی]

عفو بین‌الملل، 5مارس، 2012 - آن هریسون (ann harrison) معاون موقت عفو بین‌الملل در خاورمیانه و شمال آفریقا  گفت عبدالفتاح سلطانی به‌عنوان یکی از برجسته‌ترین و شجاع‌ترین مدافعان حقوق‌بشر، به‌خاطر کار قانونی به‌عنوان یک وکیل مدافع تحت اذیت و آزار قرار گرفته است...

  او هم‌چنین به‌خاطر پذیرش جایزه غیرقانونی و دریافت غیرقانونی درآمدها  مربوط به پذیرش جایزه بین‌المللی حقوق‌بشر نورنبرگ در 2009 متهم شده است...

در سالهای اخیر اذیت و آزار، دستگیری و زندانی کردن مدافعان حقوق‌بشر از جمله مدافعان حقوق زنان تشدید شده و بسیاری از ان.جی.او (نهادهای غیردولتی) بسته شده‌اند… (سایت عفو بین‌الملل- 16/12/1390)

محكوميت احمد غلامي، سردبير روزنامه‌ي شرق به يک سال حبس

احمد غلامي، سردبير روزنامه‌ي شرق و نويسنده، از سوي شعبه‌ي ۱۵ دادگاه انقلاب اسلامي به رياست ابوالقاسم صلواتي به يک سال حبس تعليقي محکوم شده است.

به گزارش ايسنا، اتهام احمد غلامي فعاليت تبليغي عليه نظام بوده و بر همين اساس، به استناد ماده‌ي ۵۰۰ قانون مجازات اسلامي به يک سال حبس محکوم شده که اين محکوميت به‌مدت پنج سال به حالت تعليق درآمده است.

اين حکم از سوي رييس شعبه ۱۵ دادگاه انقلاب به اين روزنامه نگار ابلاغ شده است.

آقاي غلامي روز شانزدهم آذر ماه سال جاري و در پي يورش ماموران امنيتي به ساختمان شرق همراه علي خدابخش، کيوان مهرگان و فرزانه روستايي بازداشت شده بود. وي هشتم دي ماه با توديع وثيقه‌ي ده ميليون توماني از زندان آزاد شد. (ايسنا – 19/12/90)