L'OBSERVATOIRE pour la Protection des defenseurs des droits de l'Homme EL OBSERVATORIO para la Proteccionde los Defensores de Derechos Humanos

URGENT APPEAL - THE OBSERVATORY
New information
IRN 003 / 0805 / OBS 074.1
Sentencing
Iran

November 16, 2005

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), has received new information on the following situation in Iran and requests your urgent intervention:

New information:

The Observatory has been informed by the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) about the condemnation of five trade unionists and the acquittal of two others by the Saqez Revolutionary Court.

According to the information received, on November 9, 2005 Mr. Mahmoud Salehi, Spokesman for the Organisational Committee to Establish Trade Unions, former President of the Saqez Bakery Workers' Union, and co-founder of the Coordinating Committee to Form Workers' Organisations, was sentenced to five years imprisonment and three years in exile in the city of Ghorveh, and Mr. Jalal Hosseini, a member of the Bakery Workers' Association of the city of Saqez, to three years imprisonment. Mr. Hadi Tanomand and Mr. Esmail Khodkam, two other members of the Saqez Bakery Workers' Union, were acquitted.

On the same day or in the following days, the Saqez Revolutionary Court has also sentenced Mr. Mohsen Hakimi, member of the Iranian Writers' Association, Mr. Borhan Divangar and Mr. Mohammad Abdipoor, members of the Saqez Bakery Workers' Union, to two years of imprisonment.

All seven were arrested and further released after having participated in peaceful May Day 2004 celebrations and subsequently charged with "association with the banned political association Komala" (see background information)

Mr. Mahmoud Salehi was reportedly found not guilty with regards to the charges pertaining to association with the banned association Komala. Despite this fact, he was sentenced according to article 610 of the Islamic Punishment Act, prescribing penalties from two to five years of imprisonment for congregating to conspire to commit crimes against national security.

The Observatory fears that Mr. Salehi, Mr. Hosseini, Mr. Hakimi, Mr. Divangar, and Mr. Abdipoor were sentenced for their sole trade union activities, especially given the fact that the initial arrests were made in connection with their participation in May Day 2004 celebrations and that charges against them were made shortly thereafter. Furthermore, during the court hearings against Mr. Salehi, his trade union activities were held against him by the prosecutor, including a meeting he had with an ICFTU delegation in April 2004.

The Observatory is deeply concerned about this condemnation of Mr. Salehi, Mr. Hosseini, Mr. Hakimi, Mr. Divangar, and Mr. Abdipoor, and considers that this blatantly violates the provisions of the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on December 9, 1998, in particular article 9.3(a), which provides that everyone has the right "to complain about the policies and actions of individual officials and governmental bodies with regard to violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms, by petition or other appropriate means, to competent domestic judicial, administrative or legislative authorities or any other competent authority provided for by the legal system of the State, which should render their decision on the complaint without undue delay".

As of the time of writing, the Observatory does not know whether Mr. Mahmoud Salehi, Mr. Jalal Hosseini, Mr. Mohsen Hakimi, Mr. Borhan Divangar, and Mr. Mohammad Abdipoor have since then been arrested and put in detention.

Background information:

On August 4, 2005, Mr. Mahmoud Salehi was arrested for one hour for participating in demonstrations in Saqez, in the Kurdish province of Iran. Indeed, following the killing on July 9, 2005, of a Kurdish opposition activist by Iranian security forces, in the town of Mahabad, demonstrations had erupted in the mainly Kurdish neighbouring towns of Sanandaj, Mahabad, Sardasht, Piranshahr, Oshnavieh, Baneh, Sinne, Bokan and Saqez. Hundreds of demonstrators were arrested subsequent to clashes with the state security forces and special anti-riots units, including Kurdish human rights defenders. Before his release, Mr. Mahmoud Salehi was warned against participating in any demonstrations and strikes in Saqez.

Moreover, on August 7, 2005, at 2 am, the Iranian security forces raided the home of Mr. Borhan Divangar. The latter was then arrested and his computer and other belongings were seized. Later that day he was charged, among other things, with membership of the "Committee to Follow up the Establishment of Free Labour Organisations", membership of the newly formed unemployed workers' organisation, managing a labour website in Iran called Tashakol (www.tashakol.com), and with participating in the demonstrations in Saqez.

Actions requested:

Please write to the Iranian authorities and ask them to:

1. Guarantee under all circumstances the physical and psychological integrity of Mr. Borhan Divangar, Mr. Mahmoud Salehi, Mr. Mohsen Hakimi, Mr. Jalal Hosseini, Mr. Mohammad Abdippoor, Mr. Esmail Khodkam, and Mr. Hadi Tanomand, and all human rights defenders in Iran;
2. Ensure that the conviction of Mr. Borhan Divangar, Mr. Mahmoud Salehi, Mr. Mohsen Hakimi, Mr. Jalal Hosseini, and Mr. Mohammad Abdippoor be overturned;
3. Ensure that all charges against Mr. Borhan Divangar in connection with his arrest on August 7, 2005 be dropped, as they are arbitrary;
4. Comply with the provisions of the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, in particular its article 1, which states that "everyone has the right, individually or in association with others, to promote the protection and realisation of human rights and fundamental freedoms at the national and international levels", and the above-mentioned articles 9.3(a) and article 12.2, which states that "the State shall take all necessary measures to ensure the protection by the competent authorities of everyone, individually and in association with others, against any violence, threats, retaliation, de facto or de jure adverse discrimination, pressure or any other arbitrary action as a consequence of his or her legitimate exercise of the rights referred to in the present Declaration";
5. Ensure in all circumstances respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms in accordance with international human rights standards and international instruments ratified by Iran.
   
   

Addresses:

• Leader of the Islamic Republic, His Excellency Ayatollah Sayed Ali Khamenei, the Presidency, Palestine Avenue, Azerbaijan Intersection, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran, Faxes: + 98 21 649 5880 / + 98 21 774 2228 (ask fax to be forwarded to Ayatollah Khamenei), Email: webmaster@wilayah.org / info@wilayah.org (on the subject line write: For the attention of the office of His Excellency, Ayatollah al Udhma Khamenei, Qom)
• President, Mr. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Presidency, Palestine Avenue, Azerbaijan Intersection, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran, Fax: + 98 21 649 5880
• Acting Head of the Judiciary ad interim, His Excellency Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahrudi, Ministry of Justice, Park-e Shahr, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran, Fax: +98 21 879 6671, Email: Irjpr@iranjudiciary.com
• Minister of Foreign Affairs, His Excellency Manoutchehr Motaki, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sheikh Abdolmajid Keshk-e Mesri Av, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran, Faxes: + 98 21 390 1999 (number may be unreliable; please mark "care of the Human Rights Department, Foreign Ministry"), Email: matbuat@mfa.gov
  
• Ambassador Mohammad Reza Alborzi, Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Chemin du Petit-Saconnex 28, 1209 Geneva, Switzerland, Fax: +41 22 733 02 03, E-mail: mission.iran@ties.itu.int
  

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Geneva-Paris, November 16, 2005