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.