URGENT ACTION
PUBLIC AI Index: MDE 13/118/2006
11 October 2006
UA 273/06 Arbitrary Arrest/ Prisoners of conscience/ Fear of torture and
ill-treatment
IRAN Mostafa Evezpoor (m),
aged 25
Mohammad Reza Evezpoor (m), aged 14, his brother
More than 13 others
Mostafa Evezpoor and his
14-year-old brother Mohammad Reza Evezpoor, both
members of the Iranian Azerbaijani minority, were reportedly arrested on 21
September, two days before the start of the new academic year in Iran on 1 Mehr
(23 September). Iranian Azerbaijani activists had called for a boycott of the
first day of the school year and for demonstrations to be held calling for the
right for Iranian Azerbaijani children to be educated in their own language.
They are among more than 15 people reportedly detained before and after the
boycott (see AI Public Statement,
http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGMDE131082006?open&of=ENG-IRN). All of
those detained are at risk of torture and ill-treatment.
According to reports, Mostafa and Mohammad Reza Evezpoor, along with their
brother Morteza, aged 16, were arrested at their home
in
province, northwestern
of Intelligence officials. The officials reportedly beat the boys' father when
he questioned his sons’ arrests. The house was searched and books and the
family computer were confiscated.
On or around 9 October, Morteza Evezpoor
was reportedly released, but reports
suggest that Mohammad Reza remains in a Ministry of Intelligence detention
facility in Tabriz, whilst Mostafa
has been transferred to Tabriz Central
Prison after going on hunger strike. They have not been granted legal access
nor family visits.
Amnesty International believes that Mostafa and
Mohammad Reza Evezpoor and
others detained in relation to the boycott and associated demonstrations may be
prisoners of conscience, detained solely on account of their peaceful activism
for the rights of the Iranian Azerbaijani minority in
case, they should be immediately and unconditionally released. Otherwise, they
should be promptly charged with a recognisably criminal offence and given a
prompt and fair trial.
Mostafa, Morteza and
Mohammad Reza Evezpoor had previously been arrested
in
April 2006, and Mohammad Reza was reportedly tortured (see UA 120/06, MDE
13/047/2006, 5 May 2006:
http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/ENGMDE130472006?open&of=ENG-IRN
and follow-up, MDE 13/068/2006, 20 June 2006:
http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGMDE130682006?open&of=ENG-IRN).
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Iranian Azerbaijanis, who are mainly Shi’a Muslims,
are the largest minority in
are located mainly in the north and northwest of
subject to as much discrimination as minorities of other religions, and are
well-integrated into the economy, but there is a growing demand for greater
cultural and linguistic rights, including the right to education through the
medium of Azerbaijani Turkic. A small minority advocate secession of Iranian
Azerbaijan from the Islamic Republic of Iran and union with the
viewed with suspicion by the Iranian authorities, who often accuse them of
vague charges such as "promoting pan-Turkism".
which states: "No child shall be deprived of his or her liberty unlawfully
or
arbitrarily. The arrest, detention or imprisonment of a child shall be in
conformity with the law and shall be used only as a measure of last resort and
for the shortest appropriate period of time." The CRC also states that
"every
child deprived of liberty shall be treated… in a manner which takes into
account the needs of persons of his or her age [and] shall have the right to
maintain contact with his or her family through correspondence and visits, save
in exceptional circumstances."
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which provides for the right to
freedom of expression and association.
Under international law, people belonging to minority groups 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 to 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.
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AI Index: MDE 13/118/2006 |
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11 October 2006 |