HRW's letter to M.H.Shahroudi

H. E. Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi-Shahroudi
Head of the Judiciary
Tehran,
Islamic Republic of Iran

Your Excellency:

Human Rights Watch condemns the arbitrary and harsh sentences handed
down by a Revolutionary Court in Tehran on Saturday January 13, 2001
against seven of the seventeen defendants being tried for attending an
international conference in Berlin, Germany, in April 2000.

We believe there is no basis to the charges that they "conspired to
overthrow the system of the Islamic Republic" and that they are victims
of a politically-motivated prosecution intended to discredit the cause
of political reform, to punish leading reformists, to intimidate
independent thinkers, and to chill dissent.

The defendants participated openly in an international conference at
which they contributed information concerning developments in Iran. In
so doing, they were exercising their fundamental right to freedom of
expression and to impart and receive information, rights that are
protected under international treaty law to which Iran is a state
party.  Article 19 (2) of the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights (ICCPR) states:

Everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall
include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all
kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print,
in the form of art, or through any other media of his choice.

There has been no suggestion that the participants from Iran attending
the Berlin conference had any part in protests against the Iranian
government that took place at that time. Their statements at the
conference were reported in the Iranian media at the time.

In an open letter sent to Your Excellency on November 2, 2000, Human
Rights Watch expressed concern that the defendants would not receive a
fair trial in accordance with Article 14 of the ICCPR.  These concerns
have not been allayed.  Many of the hearings in this trial took place in
secret, and defense lawyers were not provided with information about the
prosecution case.

Human Rights Watch is particularly concerned by the severity of the
sentences handed down on these seven non-violent independent activists.
Investigative journalist, Akbar Ganji, received a ten-year sentence to
be followed by five years of internal exile in the south of Iran.  His
jailing appears designed to punish him for his activities as a
journalist exposing the alleged involvement of leaders of the Islamic
Republic in acts of gross violations of human rights.

Two translators employed by the German Embassy, Saeed Sadr and Khalil
Rostamkhani, received ten and nine-year sentences respectively.  Mr.
Rostamkhani did not even attend the Berlin conference, although he was
involved in its preparation.  His wife, Roshanak Darioush, a prominent
translator of German literature into Persian, served as a translator at
the conference, but has not returned to Iran to face charges.

Other prominent reformist figures subjected to prison terms include
student leader Ali Afshari, five years; veteran politician Ezzatollah
Sahabi, four and a half years. Both of them were already detained  last
month on new charges relating to their criticism of government policy.
Their families are unaware of their places of detention.

Two women's rights activists, publisher Shahla Lahidji and lawyer
Mehrangiz Kar, each received four year sentences.  Ms. Kar, recently
diagnosed with breast cancer, has sought to leave the country in order
to obtain treatment but has been banned from travel.

Another accused participant in the Berlin conference, Hojatoleslam
Hassan Youssefi Eshkevari, remains in prison awaiting sentencing by a
Special Court for the Clergy on charges of apostasy, which may carry the
death penalty. Two other writers, Changiz Pahlevan and Kazem Kardavani,
have not returned to Iran from Germany, having been informed that
charges have been prepared against them also.

Three other defendants were fined or given suspended sentences. Seven
were acquitted. The ten convicted defendants thus received highly
divergent sentences for essentially the same offense, indicating that
the court employed arbitrary criteria in deciding on sentences.

In conclusion, the charges against these individuals are transparently
political and should never have been lodged against them. Their
conditions of pretrial detention and the trials themselves were
conducted in flagrant violation of international standards. For these
reasons, Human Rights Watch urges Your Excellency you to rectify this
travesty of justice by ensuring that  these convictions are appealable
to a  higher body whose procedures comply with international standards
and thus allow these unjust convictions and sentences by the
Revolutionary Court to be overturned.  We further call on Your
Excellency to put an end to the manipulation of Iran's judiciary for
political ends, and to ensure that individuals are not persecuted for
exercising their protected right to freedom of expression.

Sincerely,
/S/
Hanny Megally
Executive Director
Middle East and North Africa Division