PUBLIC AI Index: MDE 13/046/2006
4 May 2006
Further
Information on UA 219/05 (MDE 13/046/2005, 24 August 2005) and follow-up (MDE
13/067/2005, 04 November 2005) - Fear
for safety/fear of torture or ill-treatment/unfair trial/possible prisoner of
conscience
IRAN
Hojjatoleslam Ezimi Qedimi, aged about 32
Hojjatoleslam Ezimi Qedimi was returned to prison on 26 March 2006 after an appeal against a one-year prison sentence was rejected on 20 February 2006 by Branch 2 of the Special Court for the Clergy.
Hojjatoleslam
Ezimi Qedimi was reportedly tried in January 2006 by Branch 5 of the
Special Court for the Clergy in Tabriz under Articles 19,20,48 and 500 of the
Penal Code, Article 42 of the Code of Criminal Procedures and Articles 42 and 48
of the Special Code for the Clergy. He was sentenced to one year’s
imprisonment for propagandising in favour of groups and organizations against
the system, five years’ exile from all Azerbaijani provinces in Iran (East and
West Azerbaijan, Ardebil and Zenjan), banned from wearing the clothes of a
religious scholar for 10 years for bringing the clergy into disrepute, and was
forbidden to leave the country for 5 years.
He was also sentenced to three months’ and one day’s imprisonment for
contempt of court relating to a previous conviction in 2004. This was related to
a sit-in at the Sarcheshme (Qarabagh) mosque in Ardebil in protest at the
Iranian government’s cultural
and economic policies towards the Azeri Turkish minority, after which he was
sentenced to two year’s internal exile to be spent in the city of Qom.
During
his trial, which was reportedly held in closed session and
during which he is believed to have had no access to a lawyer of his choice,
Hojjatoleslam Ezimi Qedimi was apparently not allowed to defend himself in
his mother tongue of Azeri Turkish. The charges against him were said to relate to leading an
illegal gathering at the Baghir Khan
mausoleum; giving an interview published on the Shams-e Tabriz website;
giving an interview to Ana Yurdu television station; "opposition to
the Islamic Republic"; aiding the setting up and distribution of the
publication Rasul; and misleading young religious students in the city of
Qom.
Amnesty International is concerned that the charges of which Hojjatoleslam Ezimi Qedimi was convicted do not appear to constitute recognizably criminal charges, but rather appear to infringe his internationally recognized right to freedom of expression and association and to non-discrimination as laid down in Articles 19,21,26, and 27 of the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights to which Iran is a State Party. If this is the case, then Hojjatoleslam Ezimi Qedimi may well be a prisoner of conscience, held solely on account of his peaceful beliefs and activities on behalf of the Azeri Turk community in Iran. If so, he should be released immediately and unconditionally.
Hojjatoleslam Ezimi Qedimi told AI in Sweden in December 2005 “I am very
grateful for the campaign which Amnesty started for my sake.
I heard about the action while I was imprisoned.
After I was released I saw letters while I was being interrogated by the
security service. Your letters meant
very much to me.”
The
Special Court for the Clergy is an extraordinary court, which operates outside
the framework of the judiciary, established
by the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran in 1987 in order to try members
of the Shi’a religious establishment in Iran.
Its procedures fall short of international standards for fair trial.
(For further information on this court, please see Iran: Human Rights
Violations against Shi’a Religious Leaders and their Followers AI Index MDE
13/018/1997)
- expressing concern at the imprisonment of Hojjatoleslam Ezimi Qedimi who may be a prisoner of conscience, detained solely on his peaceful beliefs and activities on behalf of the Azeri Turk community in Iran, in violation of his internationally recognized right to freedom of expression and association and to non-discrimination as laid down in the ICCPR, to which Iran is a State Party. If so, he should be released immediately and unconditionally,
-
expressing concern that his trial in the Special Court for the Clergy did not
meet international standards for fair trial.
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
istiftaa@wilayah.org
Salutation:
Your Excellency
President
His Excellency Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
The Presidency, Palestine Avenue,
Azerbaijan Intersection, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
Fax:
Via
foreign affairs: +98 21 6 674 790 and ask to be forwarded to H.E Ahmadinejad
Email:
dr-ahmadinejad@president.ir
via website: www.president.ir/email
Head of the Judiciary
His Excellency Ayatollah Mahmoud
Hashemi Shahroudi
Ministry of Justice, Park-e Shahr,
Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
Email:
irjpr@iranjudiciary.org (mark "Please forward to His Excellency
Ayatollah Shahroudi")
via the judiciary website: www.iranjudiciary.org/feedback_en.html
Salutation:
Your Excellency
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 16
June 2006.