New information
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), requests your urgent intervention in the following situation in Iran.
New information :
The Observatory has been informed by the Iranian League for the Defence of Human Rights (Ligue pour la défense des droits de l’Homme en Iran - LDDHI) that Mr. Nasser Zarafchan, a human rights lawyer who was imprisoned in August 2002, started a hunger strike on June 7, 2005 to protest against the fact that he was denied hospitalisation outside the Evin prison.
Since December 2004, Mr. Nasser Zarafchan’s family, along with his lawyers, have been asking that he be hospitalised outside the prison, in vain. He urgently needs adequate medical treatment.
Background information :
Mr. Nasser Zarafchan, who is the lawyer of Mrs. Sima Pouhandeh, the widow of Mr. Mohammed Djafar Pouhandeh - a writer and human rights defender assassinated in 1998 -, was sentenced to three years in jail by the Tehran military court on March 18, 2002, for " possession of firearms and alcohol ". He was also sentenced to two additional years of imprisonment and fifty whiplashes for his statements to the press regarding the lawsuit of the alleged murderers of Iranian intellectuals, which ended in January 2002.
As Mr. Nasser Zarafchan’s health seriously deteriorated because of lungs problems and a nephritis attack, he was hospitalised on December 2, 2004, in the Evin prison. He was brought back to his cell three days later.
Action requested :
Please write to the Iranian authorities, urging them to :
i guarantee in all circumstances the physical and psychological integrity of Mr. Nasser Zarafchan and ensure that he be immediately provided with adequate medical treatment requested by his state of health, outside the Evin prison ;
iii release Mr. Nasser Zarafchan immediately, since his detention only aims at sanctioning his human rights activity ;
iv put an immediate end to all acts of harassment against Iranian human rights defenders ;
v conform with the provisions of the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders adopted by the UN General Assembly on December 9, 1998, in particular its article 1 which provides that " every person has the right, individually or collectively, to promote the protection and fulfilment of human rights and fundamental liberties at the national and international levels ", as well as its 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 " ;
vi conform more generally with the provisions of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and with the other international instruments ratified by the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Adresses :
– 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, His Excellency Hojjatoleslam val Moslemin Sayed Mohammad Khatami, the Presidency, Palestine Avenue, Azerbaijan Intersection, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran, Fax : + 98 21 649 588, E-mail : khatami@president.ir
– 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 Kamal Kharrazi, 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 7330203, E-mail : mission.iran@ties.itu.int
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Paris - Geneva, June 10, 2005
Kindly inform the Observatory of any action undertaken quoting the code number 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.
The Observatory was the winner of the 1998 Human Rights Prize of the French Republic.
To contact the Observatory, call the emergency line :
Tel and fax : FIDH : +33 (0) 1 43 55 20 11 / 33 1 43 55 18 80
Tel and fax : OMCT : + 41 22 809 49 39 / 41 22 809 49 29
E-mail : observatoire@iprolink.ch