AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
Public Statement
AI Index: MDE 13/108/2006 (Public)
News Service No: 250
25 September 2006
Amnesty International is greatly concerned
by new arrests and detentions in
Amnesty International is calling on the Iranian authorities immediately to
cease arrests and harassment of those peacefully exercising their rights,
including human rights defenders, and to ensure that all persons in detention
are protected from torture or other ill-treatment.
Clampdown on Iranian Azerbaijanis
More than 15 members of the Iranian Azerbaijani community are reported to have
been detained in recent days in connection with a call for students to boycott
schools on the first day of the new academic year - 1 Mehr
(which this year fell on 23 September 2006). Similar boycott calls have been
made in previous years. Those detained include Esedullah
Selimi, 52, who was reportedly arrested on 9
September 2006 while travelling to
Ali Akbar Mousavi-Kho’ini
On 21 September, the Iranian authorities permitted prisoner of conscience Ali
Akbar Mousavi-Kho’ini to attend a memorial
gathering for his father forty days after the latter’s death. This was
the first time that he had been allowed out of Evin
Prison, where he is detained in Section 209, since he was arrested on 12 June
during a demonstration in Tehran calling for legal reforms to end
discrimination against women in Iran (see Urgent Action 181/06, AI Index MDE
13/075/2006). At the memorial ceremony, during which he was heavily guarded, he
is reported to have had visible bruising and a wound on his head and to have
complained of ill-treatment in detention. He is reported to have said:
“Tell everybody that I am under pressure and they interrogate me about
five times a day,” and to have complained that he was subject to both
mental and physical ill-treatment, stating “I sleep with handcuffs and
shackles on my feet every night and they have deprived me of every
facility”. He said that he was under pressure to write a letter of
repentance to state officials expressing regret for his past actions. After the
memorial he was returned to Evin Prison. He has not
been permitted access to his lawyer since his arrest, and has had only limited
access to his family.
Ali Akbar Mousavi-Kho’ini, a former student
leader and former member of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, the Majles (
Anti-death penalty arrests
On 24 September at least 10 people were detained while
demonstrating peacefully outside the United Nations office in
Amnesty International’s concerns
Amnesty International is concerned that many, if not all, of those whose cases
are reported here appear to have been detained solely for the peaceful exercise
of their right to freedom of expression and association, in which case they
should be released immediately and unconditionally. Otherwise they should be
released unless they are charged with a recognizably criminal offence and
brought to trial promptly and fairly. They should be granted immediate and
regular access to the outside world, including lawyers and family members. The Iranan authorities should end the practice of harassing
those peacefully exercising their right to freedom of expression and
association.
Amnesty International is also concerned that those detained may be at risk of
torture or ill-treatment. It is repeating its calls for the immediate and
unconditional release of Ali Akbar Mousavi-Kho’ini,
and for a prompt and impartial investigation into his claims that he is
undergoing torture or other ill-treatment in Evin
Prison in order to force him to write a letter of repentance.
Background
Iranian Azerbaijanis, who live mainly in the north-west of
Under international law, persons belonging to minorities have the right to use
their own language, in private and in public, freely and without interference
or any form of discrimination. States cannot deny the right to use one’s
own language.
While the state provides education in the state’s official language(s)
for the majority population, members of minorities have a right to establish
and maintain schools where education is provided in their own language,
provided that they conform with the minimum
educational standards laid down by the state. Parents have a prior right to
choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children. This
includes the right to choose for their children institutions other than those
established and maintained by the public authorities.
State authorities should take positive measures: (a) so that, wherever
possible, persons belonging to minorities may have adequate opportunities to
learn their mother tongue or to have instruction in their mother tongue; (b) in
order to encourage knowledge of the language of the minorities existing within
their territory.
Mass demonstrations broke out in towns and cities in north-west