{"id":9889,"date":"2018-10-01T16:10:50","date_gmt":"2018-10-01T14:10:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/?p=9889"},"modified":"2018-10-01T16:13:46","modified_gmt":"2018-10-01T14:13:46","slug":"iran-open-letter-to-president-hassan-rouhani-stop-the-persecution-of-hrds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/2018\/10\/iran-open-letter-to-president-hassan-rouhani-stop-the-persecution-of-hrds\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran: Open letter to President Hassan Rouhani: Stop the persecution of HRDs"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Paris-Geneva, September 28, 2018
\nRE: Stop the persecution of human rights defenders<\/p>\n

Mr. President,
\nThe Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a partnership of FIDH and the
\nWorld Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), is writing to you to express its deepest concern
\nover the ongoing wave of arbitrary arrests, prosecutions, persecution and judicial harassment
\nof human rights defenders in Iran, including women\u2019s rights defenders.
\nThe Observatory is particularly concerned over the arrest of Mr. Reza Khandan, human rights
\nactivist and husband of lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh; Ms. Rezvaneh Mohammadi, Ms. Hoda Amid,
\nMs. Najmeh Vahedi and Ms. Maryam Azad, four women\u2019s rights defenders involved in various
\ncampaigns for the defence of women\u2019s rights, including against the imposition of the hijab; and
\nof Mr. Farhad Mayssami, also involved in the promotion of human rights and opposition to the
\nimposition of the hijab.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Mr. Reza Khandan<\/strong>
\nMr. Reza Khandan was arrested on September 4, 2018, at his home in Tehran by agents of the
\nMinistry of Intelligence and subsequently taken to Branch 7 of the Prosecutor\u2019s Office in the
\ncapital\u2019s Evin prison. He was detained on charges of \u201cgathering and colluding against national
\nsecurity\u201d (Article 610 of the Penal Code), \u201cspreading propaganda against the system\u201d (Article
\n500 of the Penal Code), and propagating and promoting disregard for hijab in the society. The
\nProsecutor\u2019s Office ordered him to deposit bail to the amount of 7,000 million Iranian rial
\n(approximately 55,000 Euros). To date, Mr. Reza Khandan has refused to pay the bail, arguing
\nthat he did not commit any offence, and remains detained in Evin prison.
\nMr. Reza Khandan has been consistently raising human rights concerns, including the
\nimprisonment of human rights defenders and the prosecution of women who have campaigned
\nagainst the imposition of the hijab. He had previously been arrested several times, including
\non June 13, 2018 for a few hours, while protesting the arbitrary detention of his wife, human
\nrights lawyer Ms. Nasrin Sotoudeh, in front of Evin prison.<\/p>\n

Ms. Rezvaneh Mohammadi<\/strong>
\nMs. Rezvaneh Mohammadi was arrested on September 3, 2018, at her home in Tehran by the
\nsecurity forces of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) and taken to the IRGC-run
\nSection 2A, within Evin prison. Her phone and other electronic devices were confiscated and
\nher family was not informed of her whereabouts for two days. The authorities did not provide
\na reason for her arrest and she has since been denied family visits.
\nMs. Rezvaneh Mohammadi is a gender studies student who has been promoting gender
\nequality online and participating in gender equality workshops. This is not the first time she
\nsuffers judicial harassment. A few months ago, Ms. Rezvaneh Mohammadi was also arrested
\nby the Gorgan city morality police force for not wearing \u201cIslamic clothing\u201d. She was held for one
\nnight in a police detention centre and released on bail. She was then acquitted by the Gorgan
\ncity court.<\/p>\n

Ms. Hoda Amid and Ms. Najmeh Vahedi<\/strong>
\nHuman rights lawyer and women\u2019s rights defender Ms. Hoda Amid, was arrested on September
\n1, 2018, at her home in Tehran. Ms. Najmeh Vahedi, another women\u2019s rights defender, was
\nalso arrested a few hours later on the same day. The authorities did not provide reasons for
\ntheir arrests. The two women\u2019s rights defenders are known for jointly organising educational
\nworkshops on topics related to marriage, women\u2019s rights and the legal status of women in
\nIran. They have been involved in various campaigns for the defence of women\u2019s rights. They
\nare being held incommunicado in the IRGC-run Section 2A of Evin prison. Ms. Vahedi spent the
\nfirst 10 days of her detention in solitary confinement. The authorities have not disclosed the
\ncharges against the two women, who have also been denied access to lawyers. While Ms.
\nVahedi has been allowed once to meet her mother, Ms. Amid has been denied family visits to
\nthis date.<\/p>\n

Ms. Maryam Azad<\/strong>
\nA women human rights defender very active in the promotion of gender equality from the city
\nof Shiraz, Ms. Maryam Azad was arrested on September 25, 2018, after she boarded a flight at
\nTehran airport bound for Turkey. The authorities did not provide any reasons for her arrest or
\ndisclose charges against her. She is believed to be under incommunicado detention with no
\naccess to lawyer in Ward 2A within Evin prison.<\/p>\n

Mr. Farhad Mayssami<\/strong>
\nMr. Farhad Mayssami was arrested on July 31, 2018, at his office in Tehran, following an order
\nof the Prosecutor\u2019s Office Branch 2 and taken to the Ministry of Intelligence-run Ward 209
\nwithin Evin prison. On August 1, Mr. Mayssami started a hunger strike to protest against his
\ndetention. He was kept in solitary confinement for 20 days before being transferred to a
\ndormitory ward. A friend of Ms. Nasrin Sotoudeh, Mr. Farhad Mayssami was arrested for being
\nin possession of copies of two books – \u201cSmall Acts of Resistance\u201d by Steve Crawshaw and John
\nJackson, and a book on human rights translated by Mohammad Jafar Pouyandeh, a translator
\nand writer assassinated by Ministry of Intelligence agents in 1998 \u2013 and a number of badges
\nreading \u201cI am opposed to forced hijab.\u201d He has been charged with \u201cgathering and colluding
\nagainst national security\u201d (Article 610 of the Penal Code), \u201cspreading propaganda against the
\nsystem\u201d (Article 500 of the Penal Code), and insulting the hijab as one of the essential
\nsanctities of Islam. Mr. Mayssami was not given access to a lawyer and the authorities refused
\nto allow Mr. Arash Kaykhosravi to act as his lawyer, before the latter was arrested in front of
\nthe Parliament on August 18, 2018. [1] The authorities have also refused to allow another
\nlawyer of his choosing, Mr. Mohammad Moqimi, to have access to him. Mr. Mayssami is
\nreportedly still on a hunger strike and his health is deteriorating. On September 26, 2018, he
\nwas forcibly transferred by force to Evin prison\u2019s clinic and is being kept incommunicado.
\nThe Observatory calls on you to ensure the immediate and unconditional release of the
\naforementioned human rights defenders. In the meantime, Iranian authorities should
\nguarantee their physical and psychological integrity. The Observatory also calls on you to
\ninstruct the relevant authorities to cease the repression and prosecution of all human rights
\ndefenders in Iran.<\/p>\n

Lastly, the Observatory urges you to ensure that authorities conform to the provisions of the
\nDeclaration on Human Rights Defenders adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on
\nDecember 9, 1998, to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and to all other international
\nhuman rights instruments to which the country is a state party.<\/p>\n

We thank you for your attention to this important matter.<\/p>\n

Yours sincerely,<\/p>\n

Dimitris Christopoulos Gerald Staberock
\nFIDH President OMCT Secretary General<\/p>\n

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (the Observatory) was created in
\n1997 by FIDH and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT). The objective of this programme
\nis to prevent or remedy situations of repression against human rights defenders. FIDH and OMCT
\nare both members of ProtectDefenders.eu, the European Union Human Rights Defenders
\nMechanism implemented by international civil society.<\/p>\n

To contact the Observatory, call the emergency line:<\/strong>
\nE-mail: Appeals@fidh-omct.org
\nTel and fax FIDH +33 (0) 1 43 55 25 18 \/ +33 1 43 55 18 80
\nTel and fax OMCT +41 (0) 22 809 49 39 \/ +41 22 809 49 29
\n[1] See the Observatory Urgent Appeal n\u00b0 IRN 003 \/ 0818 \/ OBS 10<\/p>\n

SOURCE FIDH<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a partnership of FIDH and the World Organisation Against Torture is writing to you to express its deepest concern over the ongoing wave of arbitrary arrests, prosecutions, persecution and judicial harassment of human rights defenders in Iran, including women\u2019s rights defenders.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9890,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[64,63,90,89,85,43,7,65,50,53,88,49],"tags":[128],"class_list":["post-9889","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-armanshahropen-asia","category-calls-and-statements","category-editor-selection","category-events","category-human-rights","category-human-rights-online-library","category-iran","category-others","category-political-civil-economic-social-and-cultural-rights","category-prison-prisoners-and-enforced-disappearance","category-slider","category-womens-rights","tag-human-rights-defenders","country-iran"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9889","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9889"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9889\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9894,"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9889\/revisions\/9894"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9890"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9889"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9889"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9889"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}