 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
||
|
||||||
 |
 |
 |
|
|||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
|
||||||
|
|
|
|
|||
  |
URGENT APPEAL - THE OBSERVATORY
IRN 004/0012/OBS 125.03
Iran
Detention
28th November 2003
The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint
programme of the FIDH and the OMCT, requests your urgent intervention
in the following situation in Iran.
New informations:
The Observatory has been informed that Mr. Nasser Zarafchan's appeal
to the Supreme Court was dismissed on November 25, 2003. With this
decision, the Court confirmed M. Zarafchan's five years' imprisonment
sentence, which aimed at sanctioning his activity as a lawyer of the
families of the Iranian intellectuals murdered by intelligence
services agents in 1998.
He is still being held at Evin prison, and could not meet neither his
counsel Mrs. Chirin Ebadi, nor Mr. Ligabo, Special Rapporteur of the
United Nations on freedom of expression who visited Iran in November
2003.
On March 18th 2002, Mr. Zarafchan was sentenced to three years in
jail by the Military Tribunal of Tehran for " weapons and alcohol
possession ". He was also sentenced to two years of imprisonment for
his statements to the press regarding the lawsuit of the alleged
murderers of Iranian intellectuals, which ended in January 2002. This
decision was confirmed in appeal by the Military Court of Tehran on
July 15, 2002.
The Observatory considers Mr. Zarafchan's condemnation and detention
as arbitrary, and recalls that the procedure is in contradiction with
the principles of a fair and impartial trial.
Action requested:
Please write to the authorities of Iran, urging them to:
i. Proceed to Mr. Zarafchan's immediate release in the absence of any
charges against him, and to guarantee his physical and psychological
integrity in all circumstances.
ii. Guarantee in all circumstances the physical and psychological
integrity of Mr. Nasser Zarafchan, as well as any human rights
defenders in Iran.
iii. Conform with the Declaration on Human Rights Defenderd, adopted
by the United Nations' General Assembly on 9 December 1998, in
particular its article 1, which states that " everyone has the right,
individually and in association with others, to promote and to strive
for the protection and realization of human rights and fundamental
freedoms at the national and international levels ".
iiii. Conform with the disposals of the Universal Declaration on
Human Rights, and with the regional and international instruments
which bound the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Addresses:
- His Excellency Hojjatoleslam val Moslemin Sayed Mohammad Khatami,
President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, The Presidency, Palestine
Avenue, Azerbaijan
Intersection, Tehran (Iran); E-mail: [email protected]
- His Excellency Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahrudi, Head of the
Judiciary, Ministry of Justice, Park-e Shahr, Tehran (Iran); Fax: +
98 21 879 6671
- The Iranian Embassy of your country
Paris, Geneva, the 28th of November 2003
Kindly inform us of any action undertaken quoting the code of this
appeal in your reply.
The Observatory, a joint FIDH and OMCT venture, is dedicated to the
protection of Human Rights Defenders, and aims to offer them concrete
support in their time of need.
To contact the Observatory, call the Emergency Line:
E-mail: [email protected]
Tel and Fax: FIDH: +33 (0) 1 43 55 25 18 / 01 43 55 18 80
OMCT: +41 22 809 49 39 / 41 22 809 49 29
