Iran: Continued arbitrary detention and denial of medical care to Mr. Behnam (Assad) Ebrahimzadeh and other trade unionists

04/09/2014
Urgent Appeal
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URGENT APPEAL - THE OBSERVATORY

New information
IRN 004 / 0714 / OBS 061.1
Arbitrary detention / Judicial harassment /
Denial of medical care / Ill-treatment in detention
Iran
September 4, 2014

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), has received new information and requests your urgent intervention in the following situation in the Iran.

New information:

The Observatory has been informed by the League for the Defence of Human Rights in Iran (LDDHI) about the continued arbitrary detention and denial of medical care to Mr. Behnam (Assad) Ebrahimzadeh, member of the Committee to Pursue the Establishment of Labour Unions (CPELU) and a child rights activist, who has been serving a five-year prison sentence since June 2010. LDDHI has also reported the continued judicial harassment, arbitrary detention, ill-treatment, and denial of medical care to other imprisoned trade unionists [1].

According to the information received, Mr. Behnam Ebrahimzadeh, who is currently detained in Rajaishahr prison, is in pressing need for medical care. He is suffering from severe headaches, and kidney and intestinal complications, and is being denied proper medical attention.

The authorities have frequently harassed Mr. Ebrahimzadeh as well as his family. For example, Mr. Ebrahimzadeh was badly beaten up during the brutal attack by prison guards and other security agents against the prisoners detained in Evin prison’s public Ward 350 on April 17. He was then sent to solitary confinement in the Intelligence Ministry-run Ward 209 within Evin prison, reportedly returned to Ward 350 briefly on June 17, but was soon sent back to solitary cells in Ward 209.

On June 29, Iranian security forces harassed Mr. Ebrahimzadeh’s family, searching the family house and confiscating their computer and other equipment as well as identity and banking documents. Around the same date, Mr. Ebrahimzadeh was additionally charged with causing disturbances in prison. In protest to his treatment, he went on hunger strike on August 8. Subsequently, the authorities illegally transferred him to the remote Rajaishahr prison on August 14, where he is being detained with violent criminals rather than other prisoners of conscience.

On August 26, when his health conditions deteriorated, Mr. Ebrahimzadeh was taken to the prison clinic, where officials threatened to detain him in solitary confinement if he continued his hunger strike. Having no other recourse to address his ill-treatment, Mr. Ebrahimzadeh has continued his hunger strike and demanded to be provided with proper and adequate medical treatment and be returned to Evin prison. On September 1, 2014, he announced that he would go on dry (i.e. without water and other drinks) hunger strike and sew his lips shut.

The Observatory recalls that at least 15 other trade unionists are currently in prison in Iran, and a number of others are facing long-term prison sentences. Those 15 unionists include:

 Mr. Reza Shahabi Zakaria, Treasurer of the Syndicate of Workers of United Bus Company of Tehran, who is serving a six-year prison sentence and was only transferred to hospital on July 12 after a long hunger strike in Rajaishahr prison, where he had been transferred illegally on June 1, 2014;

 Two other members of the Committee to Pursue the Establishment of Labour Unions (CPELU), Messrs. Shahrokh Zamani (serving a total of 11.5 years in prison), Mohammad Jarrahi (5 years imprisonment) - both also founding members of the Painters and Decorators Union;

 At least four members of the Coordinating Committee to Help Form Workers’ Organisations (CCHFWO), Messrs. Yousef Ab-Kharabat (2 years imprisonment), Mohammad Molanaei (1 year imprisonment), Vahed Seyedeh (2 years imprisonment), Afshin Nadimi (one year), and Ghaleb Hosseini (six months imprisonment as of August 18);

 At least five members of the Teachers’ Association of Iran (TAI), Messrs. Mahmood Bagheri (4.5 years imprisonment), Rassoul Bodaghi (6 years imprisonment), Mohammad Davari (6 years imprisonment), Mehdi Farahi-Shandiz (3 years; who is also a member of the CPELU), and Abdolreza Ghabari (15 years imprisonment);

 A unionist and child rights activist, Mr. Alireza Karamati-Rad, who was sent to Rajaishahr prison on August 16 to serve a prison sentence of three months, for his conviction on charges of insulting the Supreme Leader.

 Another labour and child rights activist, Mr. Saeed Shirzad, who was detained in the north-western city of Tabriz on June 2 but the reasons for his detention and his whereabouts were not known for more than two months. Finally, on August 6, he was reportedly transferred to the Intelligence Ministry’s Ward 209 in Evin prison where he remains in detention and has been charged with assembly and collusion to take action against the State and spreading propaganda against the State.

Imprisoned unionists regularly are additionally punished by being subjected to different forms of harassment and denial of medical care. Mr. Farahi-Shandiz was also illegally transferred to Rajaishahr prison in mid June. Messrs. Bodaghi, Jarrahi, Nadimi, Ab-Kharabat and Molanaei are in pressing need of medical care, which they have been consistently denied. Furthermore, in a recurrent practice targeting certain prisoners of conscience, new charges have been brought against a number of the imprisoned unionists including Messrs. Ebrahimzadeh and Bodaghi to prevent them from being released after serving their current prison sentences.

Furthermore, prison sentences against Messrs. Hassan Rassoulnejad, Jamal Minashiri, Hadi Tanoumand, Ghassem Mostafapour, Ebrahim Mostafapour, and Mohammad Karimi, all members of the CCHFWO, have been upheld and they are likely to be arrested and sent to prison soon. Some other members of the CCHFWO as well as some members of the TAI have also been sentenced to prison terms and are awaiting the outcome of their appeals, including Messrs. Khaled Hosseini, Ali-Akbar Baghani, Mahmood Beheshti-Langaroudi, and Alireza Hashemi.

The Observatory expresses its deep concern about the ongoing arbitrary detention, deteriorating health conditions and denial of medical care to Mr. Behnam Ebrahimzadeh as well as about the harassment and imprisonment of the above-mentioned trade unionists, who are punished only for exercising their rights to freedom of speech, assembly and association, as enshrined in the International Covenant for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the International Covenant for Civil and Political Rights to which Iran is a State party, as well as the relevant conventions of the International Labour Organisation.

The Observatory is accordingly calling on the Iranian authorities to release all the above-mentioned trade unionists and to stop persecution of all trade unionists, by dropping the charges against them and putting an end to the practice of summoning, interrogating, and prosecuting unionists.

Actions requested:

Please write to the Iranian authorities and ask them to:

i. Guarantee in all circumstances the physical and psychological integrity of Mr. Behnam Ebrahimzadeh, all above-mentioned trade unionists as well as of all other human rights defenders in Iran;

ii. Provide adequate medical care to Messrs. Ebrahimzadeh, Jarrahi, Molanaei, Nadimi, Ab-Kharabat and all other imprisoned human rights defenders;

iii. Release immediately and unconditionally all above-mentioned trade unionists and other human rights defenders who are being detained in Iran merely to sanction their human rights activities;

iv. Put an end to any kind of harassment - including at the judicial level - against all above-mentioned trade unionists and all other human rights defenders in Iran and ensure in all circumstances that they can carry out their activities without interference;

v. Conform in all circumstances with the provisions of the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, adopted on December 9, 1998 by the United Nations General Assembly, in particular:

 article 1, which states that “everyone has the right, individually or in association with others, to promote the protection and realization of human rights and fundamental freedoms at the national and international levels”,

 and article 12.2 which provides 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”;

vi. 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 Office of the Supreme Leader, Shahid Keshvardoost St., Jomhuri Eslami Ave., Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran, Tel: +98 21 64411; Fax + 98214412030, Email: info_leader@leader.ir; Twitter: @khamenei_ir

• President Hassan Rouhani, the Presidency, Palestine Avenue, Azerbaijan Intersection, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran, Tel: +98 21 64451/6133; Fax: + 98 2164454811; Email: media@rouhani.ir; Twitter: @HassanRouhani (English) and @Rouhani_ir (Persian).

· Head of the Judiciary, His Excellency Ayatollah Sadeq Larijani, Office of the Head of the Judiciary, 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 of Foreign Affairs, Mohammad Javad Zarif, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sheikh Abdolmajid Kushk-e Mesri Av, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran, Fax: +98-21-66743149; matbuat@mfa.gov.ir

· Secretary General, 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-e Jomhouri, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran. Email: info@humanrights-iran.ir

· H.E. Mr. Mohsen Naziri Asl, Ambassador, Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Chemin du Petit-Saconnex 28, 1209 Geneva, Switzerland, Fax: +41 22 7330203, Email: mission.iran@ties.itu.int

· H.E. Mr. Mahmoud Barimani, Ambassador, Embassy of Iran in Brussels, 15 a avenue Franklin Roosevelt, 1050 Bruxelles, Belgium, Fax: + 32 2 762 39 15. Email: secreteriat@iranembassy.be

Please also write to diplomatic representations of Iran in your respective countries.

***

Paris-Geneva, September 4, 2014

Kindly inform us of any action 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

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