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Table
2
Communication on Mr. Seid Metinpur
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The
Special Representative of the Secretary-General on human rights defenders
Office
of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
United
Nations
1211
Geneva
10,
Switzerland
FAX:
(41 22) 917 90 06
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1.
Information regarding the alleged victim
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1.1
Full name
Seid Metinpur (His name was also transcribed by
Amnesty International from the Arabic script according to Farsi, as
Said Metinpour)
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1.2
Age
20
September 1975
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1.3
Sex
Male
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1.4
Profession
or occupation
Journalist
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1.5
Place
of residence (or origin, if relevant to the violation suffered)
The Southern Azerbaijani city of
Zengan
, in
Iran
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1.6
The
victims affiliation, if any, with an organization, association or group
engaged in human rights work:
Please refer to the attachment
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1.6.1
Name of the organization,
association or group
Please
refer to the attachment
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1.6.2
Name of the person
heading the organization, association or group
The victim is a human right defender and a webblog writer. He is
independent and as far as we know he is not affiliated to any organisation
because any organisation not affiliated to Hezbullah is normally
persecuted in
Iran
, especially in
Southern Azerbaijan
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1.6.3
Nature of human rights
work the individual performs
1. He was outspoken in
defence of Rza Abbasi (see our Communication: Ref: 433/2007 on 3 January
2007-02-28)
2. He is an arduous
campaigner for the mother language of Azerbaijani Turkic, see the attached
list
3. He was detained recently,
see our Communication Ref.: 446/2007 on 4 March 2007
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1.7
If the alleged violation is against an organization:
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1.7.1
Name of the organization
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1.7.2
Nature of the human rights work/activities it is engaged in
An
important theme in victims activities is the defence of mother language
and promoting the Turkic identity of Southern Azerbaijanis against
monolithic Farsi identity spearheaded by racist policies of the government
of
Iran
for the last 80 years.
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1.7.3
Territorial scope of its work (national, regional, international)
His
activities cover the whole of
Southern Azerbaijan
and in particular his own
region of Zengan
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1.7.4
Affiliations with other human rights organizations, if any
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1.7.5
Name of person(s) heading the organization
Not Applicable
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1.7.6 Additional information on the history of the work
the individual or organization has performed, if submitted, may be helpful
in assessing the complaint/allegation.
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2.
Nature of the alleged violation
All relevant information regarding the violation allegedly
committed against the human rights defender, or organization, association
or group, including:
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2.1
Date
25 May 2007, night time
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2.2
Place
A
street in Zengan
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2.3
Description
of the events/incident
The
victim was arrested together with his wife. He was taken to a detention
facility in Zengan but his was taken to their house, where the agents of
the Ministry of Information had searched the house for some two hours
ending with the confiscation of his computer, books and other material.
The agents had warned the victims wife not to campaign for her husband.
Source information: http://matinpoor.blogfa.com/post-5.aspx
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2.4
Nature of violation suffered or
threatened (The information must indicate the connection of the alleged
violation to human rights activities performed.)
The
victim is an outspoken human right defender and apparently the agents were
trying to arrest him since 22 May 2007. The authorities characteristically
cover up all their activities and therefore there is no official communiqué.
For instance, they have deprived the victims wife of any information,
see: http://matinpoor.blogfa.com/post-7.aspx.
In support of the victim, the Iranian Alumni Organisation has issued an
statement (http://matinpoor.blogfa.com/post-8.aspx) stating that the act of the arrest in the mid-night was rough and in
violation of Articles 22, 32 and 39 of the Iranian Constitution. The
details on the mannerism and the act of arrest are sparse but one can be
quite sure that it would have been full of bullying acts and intimidations.
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2.5
If the
violation involves or includes the arrest and/or imprisonment of an
individual or group of human rights defenders, information is required on:
In
general, there is
reliable information that the victim has been transferred to the infamous
Evin prison and has been tortured (http://matinpoor.blogfa.com/post-14.aspx)
.
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2.6
Identity of the authority involved (individual
and/or ministry and/or department)
It is invariably the Ministry of Intelligence
involved with these types of illegal acts. The names of the individual
agents/police committing the act of arrest are not known.
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2.7
Date
and place of arrest
25 Maay 2007, a street in Zengan
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2.8
Any
circumstances under which the arrest was made that are relevant to the
violation
We
present the circumstance using the information by Amnesty International
(MDE
13/068/2007)
on
7 June 2007 Throughout
May 2007, Iranian Azerbaijanis demonstrated to mark the first anniversary
of protests against the publication in a national newspaper of a cartoon
which was offensive to many Iranian Azerbaijanis. In the course of the May
2006 demonstrations, up to 19 individuals were reportedly killed and
hundreds arrested.
During
the May 2007 demonstrations, which asserted Azerbaijani linguistic and
cultural rights, demonstrators shouted slogans such as Türk
dilinde medrese olmalıdır her kese (Schooling in
Azerbaijani Turkic for all). The events resulted in a considerable
increase in tension in a range of the areas where Iranian Azerbaijanis
live. The authorities have increased the security presence in mainly
Azerbaijani cities and Amnesty International has received reports of
scores of arrests, harassment of demonstrators and passers-by in cities
such as
Tabriz
.
According to the Committee for the Defence of Azerbaijani Political
Prisoners (Azerbaycan Siyasi Mahpuslarını Müdafaa Komitesi,
ASMEK) website, more than 500 political activists have been detained or
have been the victims of enforced disappearance in recent weeks. On 7 May,
the Minister of the Interior was summoned to parliament to respond to
concerns over the use of force and violence against demonstrators,
expressed by parliamentarians from Azerbaijani regions.
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2.9
Nature
of charges, if any, and the legal statute invoked
There is no imputed charge, as the Iranian
authorities religiously cover their track to hide the heinous face of
their racist acts.
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2.10
Potential
penalties the individual or group faces
The
charges against Southern Azerbaijani activists when emerge from the
underworld of Iranian disinformation, are normally nonsensical and Amnesty
International has made this very point in many occasions. Despite the
arbitrariness of the charges, penalties are nearly always are severe and
sometimes even reaches as much of punitive one year of jail sentence
together with hefty fines and the infamous act of flogging.
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2.11
Place of detention,
if known
It
is gathered to be Wing 209 of Evin prison,
Tehran
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2.12
Term of detention
No information has emerged from the underworld of Iranian
disinformation system.
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2.13
Information on the
provision of access to legal counsel and family members
As
far as we know, Mr. Metinpur had no access to a lawyer and this is typical.
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2.14
Steps taken to seek administrative or judicial
remedy, nature of the remedy sought, legal entity before which proceedings
have been taken, and stage or result of such proceedings
The
campaign for safeguarding the victims human rights is strong, including
an Urgent Action by Amnesty International, a report by the Borderless
Reporters, and Iranian Alumni Organisation.
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2.15
If the defender is being prosecuted in the courts
for any activity in defence of human rights or related activity, or as a
consequence of such activity:
No information has been released by the officials and therefore we
do not know of the intentions of the officials.
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2.15.1
The date and location of the trial
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2.15.2
The court hearing the case
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2.15.3
The relevant appeal procedures
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2.15.4
The penalties the group or individual faces
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