PUBLIC
AI Index: MDE 13/067/2006
16 June 2006
UA
171/06
Fear of "disappearance"/fear for safety/health concern/possible
prisoner of conscience
IRAN
Saleh Kamrani (m), lawyer and human rights defender, aged about 34
Azeri Turkish lawyer Saleh Kamrani is
feared to have been abducted by the security forces on 14 June, and to be in
unacknowledged detention where he would be at
risk of torture. He reportedly needs medication for a heart condition. He may be
held solely for his work as a lawyer and human rights defender, in which case
Amnesty International would consider him a prisoner of conscience.
He reportedly called his wife at their
house in Tehran at around 3pm on 14 June to say that he was on his way home. He
should have arrived by 4.30 or 5pm, and when he did not she tried to call him,
but found his mobile phone switched off, which was unusual for him. She called
all the hospitals and police stations in Tehran but did not find any trace of
him. In the evening, she called Ministry of Intelligence officials who have
reportedly refused to confirm whether they are holding her husband.
Saleh Kamrani has
practised as a lawyer since 1999 and has defended a number of Iranian Azeri
Turks (who sometimes refer to themselves as Iranian Azerbaijanis) who have been
detained in connection with their political or cultural activities. One of his
clients, activist Saleh Malla Abbasi was arrested on 17 April (see UA 115/06,
MDE 13/045/2006, 3 May 2006). Saleh Kamrani has also defended members of other
ethnic groups. He has reportedly suffered harassment at the hands of the Iranian
security forces, including phone calls threatening him with arrest, and in 2005
was detained for three days with his brother in the town of Oromieh. He has also
reportedly written articles on human rights and has helped to organise training
in human rights for lawyers and students. Saleh Kamrani's brother, Maharam
Kamrani, was arrested on 30 March, and reportedly tortured during his 19 days in
detention (see UA 86/06, MDE 13/039/2006, 12 April 2006).
In May 2006, massive
demonstrations took place in towns and cities in north-western Iran, where the
majority of the population is Azeri Turkish, in protest at a cartoon published
on 12 May by the state-owned daily newspaper
Iran which many Azeri Turks found offensive. Hundreds were arrested
during or following the demonstrations (see UA 151/06, MDE 13/055/2006 and UA
163/06, MDE 13/063/2006). Some of those detained have allegedly been tortured,
with some requiring hospital treatment. Publication
of the newspaper was suspended on 23 May and the editor-in-chief and the
cartoonist were arrested. Azeri sources have claimed that dozens were killed and
hundreds injured by the security forces. The security forces have generally
denied that anyone was killed, although on 29 May a police official acknowledged
that four people had been killed and 43 injured in the town of Naqada.
Iranian security forces
frequently hold people, for days or weeks, sometimes in secret detention centres,
before acknowledging that they are in custody or allowing them to contact their
families. Student activist Abed Tavancheh was thought to have “disappeared”
when he did not contact his family for over a week: on 5 June he was able to
call them from Tehran's Evin prison to say that he had been arrested on 26 May (see
UA 165/06,MDE 13/065/2006, 9 June 2006).
- expressing concern
at reports that Saleh Kamrani, an Iranian Azeri Turkish lawyer, may have been
abducted by the security forces on 14 June 2006;
- calling on the
authorities to say whether he is in custody, and if so, where he is held and why
he was arrested, including any charges against him;
- if he is in
custody, calling on the authorities to ensure that he is not tortured or
ill-treated, and to allow him immediate access to his family and a lawyer of his
own choosing, and to any medical treatment he may require
- if he is in
custody, calling on the authorities to release him immediately and
unconditionally if he is not to be charged with a recognizably criminal offence.
Leader of the Islamic Republic
His Excellency Ayatollah Sayed ‘Ali Khamenei
The Office of the Supreme Leader, Shoahada
Street, Qom, Islamic Republic of Iran
Fax:
+ 98 251 774 2228 (mark "FAO the Office of His Excellency, Ayatollah
al Udhma Khamenei")
Email:
info@leader.ir
istiftaa@wilayah.org
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
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
President
His Excellency Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
The Presidency, Palestine Avenue,
Azerbaijan Intersection, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
Fax:
+ 98 21 6 649 5880
Email:
dr-ahmadinejad@president.ir
via website: www.president.ir/email
Speaker of
Parliament
Gholamali Haddad
Adel, Majles-e Shoura-ye Eslami (Parliament)
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 28 July 2006.