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
According
to reports, Mostafa and Mohammad Reza Evezpoor, along with their brother Morteza,
aged 16, were arrested at their home in Tabriz, Azerbaijan province,
northwestern Iran, in the early morning of 21 September, by Ministry 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 Iran. If this is the 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.
Iranian
Azerbaijanis, who are mainly Shi’a Muslims, are the largest minority in Iran,
believed to constitute between 25 and 30 per cent of the population. They are
located mainly in the north and northwest of Iran. As Shi’a, they are not
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 Republic of
Azerbaijan. Those who seek to promote Iranian Azerbaijani cultural identity are
viewed with suspicion by the Iranian authorities, who often accuse them of vague
charges such as "promoting pan-Turkism".
Iran
is a state party to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), 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."
Iran is also a state party to the International 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.
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 Mostafa and Mohammad Reza Evezpoor, who may
be held incommunicado;
-
expressing concern for some 13 other detainees held in relation to the 1
Mehr boycott and associated demonstrations called for by Iranian
Azerbaijani activists, and seeking assurances that none of those detained
are being tortured or ill-treated;
-
calling for all the detainees to be given immediate access to lawyers of their
own choosing, their families and any medical treatment they may require;
-
calling on the authorities to release them immediately and unconditionally,
unless they are to be promptly charged with a recognizably criminal offence;
-
reminding the authorities of their obligations under the ICCPR and the UN
Convention on the Rights of the Child.
APPEALS
TO:
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
OR 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
Email:
hadadadel@majlis.ir
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 22
November 2006.