Description of the situation:
The Observatory has been informed by the Iranian League for the Defence of Human Rights (LDDHI) of the sentence issued against Mr. Abdolfattah Soltani, a lawyer at the Bar of Tehran and a founding member of the Defenders of Human Rights Centre (DRHC).
According to the information received, on July 16, 2006, Mr. Soltani was notified that the Revolutionary Court of Tehran condemned him to a five-year prison term and to the loss of his civic rights, for the non-respect of the preliminary investigation confidentiality in a political case in which he was the defendant�s lawyer. Mr. Soltani appealed this decision.
This sentence would be linked with the declaration Mr. Soltani made on July 25, 2005, during a hearing in the Court of Appeal of Tehran about the case of Ms. Kazemi, an Iranian-Canadian photographer who died in July 2003 from torture and ill-treatment during her detention. Mr. Soltani, lawyer of Ms. Zahra Kazami�s family, questioned the independence and fairness of the trial, pointing out that the main officials allegedly involved in the case had not been indicted by the court, including Mr. Saïd Mortazavi, Tehran Prosecutor.
The Observatory expresses its deepest concern about this arbitrary sentence, which blatantly violates Mr. Soltani�s freedom of expression guaranteed by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on December 16, 1966, as well as the provisions of the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, adopted by the UN General Assembly on December 9, 1998, in particular article 9.3(c), which provides that everyone has the right �to offer and provide professionally qualified legal assistance or other relevant advice and assistance in defending human rights and fundamental freedoms�, 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 or 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�.
Background information:
Mr. Abdolfattah Soltani was arrested on July, 30, 2005 while taking part in a sit-in at the Bar of Tehran in order to protest against the warrant for arrest issued against him by Mr. Said Mortazavi, the Prosecutor of Tehran, on July 27, 2005. Mr. Soltani was accused of �espionage�, without any other precisions.
On July 31, 2005, a spokesman for the Ministry of Justice announced that Mr. Soltani had been arrested for having illegally divulged information from one of his clients who was charged with revealing Iran�s nuclear secrets. Up to January 2006, when he was allowed to meet one of his lawyers, Mr. Soltani was detained incommunicado at the Evin Prison.
On December 3, 2005, the investigating judge in the case against Mr. Soltani decided that the latter should remain in pre-trial detention for a period of three additional months.
On March 6, 2006, Mr. Soltani was released after a bail of 100,000 euros was paid thanks to a solidarity movement.
Actions requested:
Please write to the Iranian authorities and ask them to:
i. Guarantee in all circumstances the physical and psychological integrity of Mr. Abdolfattah Soltani and all human rights defenders in Iran;
ii. Ensure that the conviction of Mr. Abdolfattah Soltani be overturned, and that the charges against him be dropped, as they are arbitrary;
iii. Put an immediate end to any kind of reprisals - including judicial harassment - against Mr. Abdolfattah Soltani and all human rights defenders in Iran;
iv. Conform 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 above-mentioned articles 9.3 and 12.2;
v. 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 / 21 774 2228 (ask fax to be forwarded to Ayatollah Khamenei), Email: webmaster@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
· Head of the Judiciary, 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 Manouchehr Mottaki, 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
· 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
· Ambassador Mr. Ahani, Embassy of Iran to Brussels, 415 avenue de Tervueren, 1150 Woluwe-Saint-Pierre, Belgium, Fax: + 32 2 762 39 15. Email: iran-embassy@yahoo.com
Please also write to diplomatic representations of the Islamic Republic of Iran in your respective countries.
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Paris - Geneva, July 19, 2006
Kindly inform us of any action undertaken quoting the code of this appeal in your reply.
The Observatory, a 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.
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