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In
the name of the Almighty God
The
Honourable Chief of the Judiciary, Ayatollah Shahroudi,
I
would respectfully like to bring to your attention that my son, Hemid
Valai, was summoned to present himself to the office of the Ministry of
Information in Tebriz by repeated by telephone calls and direct calls of
security agents to our home. I personally accompanied him to the said
office on 16 July 2008, where after preliminary interrogations he was put
under detention. As a graduate
of Faculty of Law, Hemid has written many articles on legal and social
topics. Also, despite his success in professional examinations for
lawyers, he was branded as unsuitable to practice in legal profession by
orders from the Ministry of Information.
Following
his detention, all attempts by our family members, including myself, were
in vain to learn of his whereabouts and the charges brought against him.
One exception was that, a very brief telephone contact was made by him on
18 July 2008 in which, we only managed to ask him how he generally felt
since the arrest.
In
spite of our repeated attendance to the enquiry section of the office of
the Ministry of Information in Tebriz asking for clear information, no
steps were taken by the officials, in a background where the time passed
day-by-day but we remained unaware of Hemid’s mental and physical state
and of the charges brought against him, as well as we kept reading very
worrying information about him in the Internet.
The
Honourable Chief of the Judiciary,
In
accordance with Article 3 of Citizenship Rights which clearly states “no
one will be arbitrarily charged without adequate reasons and proper
indictment,” we hold that there ought to be avoidance of the detention
of the individuals, especially when there is insufficient information and
no charges. Therefore, how can it be explained that the office of the
Ministry of Information and the Ministry of Justice, which is under your
control, have avoided the indictment of my son and kept me and our lawyer
in dark? Is not obvious that as the security agents have no grounds and
evidence for arresting the accused, but they are putting him under
pressure in order to force him to confess to things that he has not
committed and arbitrarily make a court case against him?
In
accordance with the law of “Respecting Legitimate Freedoms of the
Citizen” conferred on 5 May 2003 and Ratified by the Council of
Protectors on 6 May 2004, any form of torture for obtaining information
from the accused is illegal and therefore, the confessions obtained by
such methods are void both on legal and religious grounds. However,
regrettably according to the information received from reliable sources,
now we know that at least in this occasion Hemid lost consciousness under
physical and mental torture. We hold that, disallowing us to visit him was
indicative of the severity of his physical condition inflicted by torture.
Furthermore, as Hemid personally turned himself in to the custody of the
office of the Ministry of Information while accompanied by myself, we hold
this office fully responsible for his safety, be it mental or physical.
Thus we hold that we will raise complaints to both authorities in the
country and to international authorities, should anything happen to him.
During
our meeting with the Prosecutor and his assistant in Tebriz, on the one
hand he did not take any steps towards our concern and stated that,
Hemid`s dossier did not contain any charges brought against him, but on
the other hand he stated that: Hemid is not cooperating with security
agents! If in the opinion of the above mentioned gentlemen, not
cooperating with the agents means forcing to confess to things not
committed by him, then this explains that the emerging news that he is
under torture leading even to the loss of consciousness. Mr Shahrudi, this
kind of investigation and forming dossier (or court cases) is illegal and
void in accordance with international laws, the legal system in the
country, Universal Human Rights Declarations, the law of Respecting
Legitimate Freedoms of the Citizen and finally, according to your byelaws
on
Citizens
Rights.
The
honourable Chief of the Judiciary, during last few days we were contacted
by international and human rights organisations and foreign medias to
participate in interviews which we have rejected as we were hoping that
the usual procedures will come to an end and Hemid will be freed. But
unfortunately and as we expected, the present situation proves otherwise.
Therefore, we would like to request you to order the termination of the
illegal procedures of the dossier and release immediately Hemid Valai from
your arbitrary treatments, who always have been a law abiding citizen.
Clearly should this situation continue, particularly if we remain
unaware of his mental and physical state, we will have no option but to
participate in interviews and contact international organisations.
Yours
sincerely
Family
of Hamid Valai
28
July 2008
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