PUBLIC AI
Index: MDE 13/116/2006
03
October 2006
UA 265/06 Arbitrary
detention/fear for safety/possible prisoner of conscience
IRAN Keyvan
Rafi'i (m), human rights defender
Kheyrollah Derakhshandi (m), member
of the Alumni Association of Iran and former student activist
Abolfazl
Jahandar (m), journalist and former student activist
Dr
Keyvan Ansari (m), Central Council member of the Alumni Association of Iran
Keyvan Rafi’i
is the spokesman in Iran for an organization called Human Rights Activists in
Iran. He was arrested on the street on 9 July. The exact reasons for his arrest
are not known, but it is feared it may be in connection with his activities to
publicize human rights violations in Iran. On or around 25 September, he was
granted a short family visit during which he complained to his family about the
conditions in which he is being held. He has reportedly been on a hunger strike
since 23 September in protest at his continued detention without charge and
his treatment in detention.
Kheyrollah
Derakhshandi, a graduate in industrial management, and Abolfazl Jahandar were
reportedly arrested on 19 August, along with two other men who were
later released. Abolfazl Jahandar was a member of the
general council of the Office for Fostering Unity (Daftar-e Tahkim-e
Vahdat), a student organization, before his graduation and is now a
journalist who writes for the website Pooya News (www.pooyanews.com). On 29
August, Kheyrollah Derakhshandi’s father reportedly said, “we have not been
able to have any contacts with him since he was arrested. The entire family has
gathered in front of Evin prison a number of times but we were told that we
don't have permission to see him…our only information came from one of the
representatives of the Revolutionary Court who told us … that he is being held
in section 209 of Evin prison.” Since
then, Kheyrollah Derakhshandi has reportedly been granted a family
visit, but it is not clear whether Abolfazl Jahandar has received a visit from
his relatives.
Dr Keyvan Ansari was reportedly arrested on
18 September outside his house. He is a member of the Alumni
Association of Iran (Sazman-e Danesh Amukhtegan-e Iran-e Eslami [Advar-e
Tahkim-e Vahdat]). He was able to telephone his family
some time later and reportedly said that he was
being held in solitary confinement in Section 209 of Evin Prison. His family has not yet been allowed to see
him.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
On
5 September Iran's President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, gave a speech to a
selected group of students, saying, “Our education system has been
under the influence of secular and arrogant thinking for 150 years in a way
that self-belief and identity were ignored and efforts were made to promote a
secular system and secular thoughts in society… I tell young people that
changing the secular teaching regime that has dominated for 150 years is a
difficult thing … We need to do it together. Measures have been taken before,
but it is not sufficient”. A number of students have been denied permission to
return to university for the new academic year, apparently because of their
political activities.
Sayed Ali
Akbar Mousavi-Kho’ini, the Head of the Alumni
Association of Iran,
has been detained without charge in Section 209 since 12 June 2006 and has
reportedly been tortured and ill-treated (see UA 181/06, MDE 13/075/2006, 30
June 2006, and follow-up). The Alumni Association, whose
membership is open to graduates of Iranian universities, has been active in
promoting democracy and human rights in Iran. The office of the Alumni Association
was raided by security forces on 18 September, and computers and other office
equipment was seized. The association’s website, www.advarnews.com, which
posted news about the student movement and human rights, was forced to close,
but has since reopened on www.advarnews.us.
RECOMMENDED
ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible, in Persian,
Arabic, English, French or your own language:
- expressing
concern for the safety of Keyvan Rafi’i, Kheyrollah Derakhshandi, Abolfazl
Jahandar and Dr Keyvan Ansari, and seeking assurances that they are not
being tortured or ill-treated;
- calling
on the authorities to release them immediately and unconditionally if they are
held solely for their activities in defending human rights or other peaceful
political activities or otherwise to promptly charge them with a recognizably
criminal offence and to give them a fair trial;
- urging
the authorities to grant them immediate and regular access to their families,
lawyers of their choice and to any medical treatment they may require;
- urging
the authorities to end any harassment of student or human rights organizations
solely in connection with their peaceful defence of human rights or other
peaceful political activities.
Leader of the Islamic Republic
His Excellency Ayatollah Sayed ‘Ali
Khamenei, The Office of the Supreme Leader
Shoahada Street, Qom, Islamic Republic
of Iran
Email: info@leader.ir
istiftaa@wilayah.org
Salutation: Your Excellency
Minister of Intelligence
Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejeie
Ministry of Intelligence, Second
Negarestan Street, Pasdaran Avenue, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
Email: iranprobe@iranprobe.com
Salutation: Your Excellency
Head of the Judiciary
His Excellency Ayatollah Mahmoud
Hashemi Shahroudi
Ministry of Justice, Park-e Shahr,
Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
Email: Please send emails via the feedback form on
the Persian site of the website:
http://www.iranjudiciary.org/contactus-feedback-fa.html
(The text of the feedback form
translates as: 1st line: name, 2nd line: email address, 3rd line: subject
heading, then enter your email into the text box)
Salutation: Your Excellency
COPIES TO:
President
His Excellency Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
The Presidency, Palestine Avenue,
Azerbaijan Intersection, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
Email: dr-ahmadinejad@president.ir
or via website: www.president.ir/email
Speaker of Parliament
His Excellency Gholamali Haddad Adel
Majles-e Shoura-ye Eslami, Imam
Khomeini Avenue, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
Fax: +
98 21 6 646 1746
and to
diplomatic representatives of Iran accredited to your country.
PLEASE
SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY. Check with the International Secretariat, or your section office, if
sending appeals after 14 November 2006.