Urgent Action Appeal: Iran Translator and poet arrested

PEN International’s Writers in Prison Committee is seriously concerned about the arrest of literary translator and poet Mohammad Soleimani Nia, who has been held without charge since 10 January 2012. The reason for his detention is not known. PEN is seeking further information about his well-being and any charges against him as a matter of urgency, and it calls for his immediate and unconditional release if held solely for the peaceful exercise of his right to freedom of expression as guaranteed by Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Iran is a signatory.

According to PEN’s information, Mohammad Soleimani Nia, aged 39, was detained on 10 January 2012 after responding to a summons to report to the Revolutionary Court in Tehran. After arriving at court, he was accompanied by security guards to his home in Karaj, outside Tehran, which he shares with his parents. The guards searched the house and seized computer equipment and documents before taking him away.
According to a source close to his family, Soleimani Nia has been under pressure since late November 2011, when he was questioned by security and intelligence officers and banned from leaving Iran. According to Iranian American writer Firoozeh Dumas, who worked closely with Soleimani Nia on the translation of her book Funny in Farsi, he had been developing a website similar to ‘LinkedIn’ designed to help Iranians find work. No information about his whereabouts or any charges against  him have been made known, although his family fear that he is being held in solitary confinement in Tehran’s Evin prison, notorious for its harsh conditions. There are mounting concerns for his well -being.

The arrest of Mohammad Soleimani Nia comes during a renewed crackdown on independent and dissenting voices ahead of the parliamentary elections scheduled for March 2012. At least ten journalists have been arrested in January 2012, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

Please send appeals:

• Protesting the detention of literary translator and poet Mohammad Soleimani Nia;
• Calling for his immediate and unconditional release in accordance with Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Iran is a signatory;
• Seeking assurances of his well-being in detention.

Appeals to:
Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic
His Excellency Ayatollah Sayed ‘Ali Khamenei,
The Office of the Supreme Leader
Shoahada Street,
Qom,
Islamic Republic of Iran.

Head of the Judiciary
Ayatollah Sadeqh Larijani
Howzeh Riyasat-e Qoveh Qazaiyeh (Office of the Head of the Judiciary)
Pasteur St., Vali Asr Ave., south of Serah-e Jomhouri
Tehran 1316814737
Islamic Republic of Iran.

COPIES TO:
President:
His Excellency Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
The Presidency,
Palestine Avenue,
Azerbaijan Intersection,
Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
Fax:              Via Foreign Ministry: +98 21 6 674 790
(mark: “Please forward to H.E. President Ahmadinejad”)

If possible please send a copy of your appeal to the diplomatic representative for Iran in your country.

For further information please contact Cathy McCann at International PEN Writers in Prison Committee, Brownlow House, 50/51 High Holborn, London WC1V 6ER, Tel.+ 44 (0) 20 7405 0338, Fax: +44 (0) 20 7405 0339, email: cathy.mccann@pen-international.org

Iran: New Arrests of Labor Activists | Human Rights Watch

Overturn Convictions, Drop Charges, and Free Peaceful Union Advocates

(New York) – Iranian authorities should immediately release dozens of labor and independent trade union activists imprisoned for speaking out peacefully in defense of workers, Human Rights Watch said today. Convictions solely for the peaceful exercise of freedom of association and assembly should be quashed, and charges should be dropped against others facing prosecution for these reasons, Human Rights Watch said.

Alireza Akhavan

The latest round of arrests took place in Iran’s Tehran, East Azerbaijan and Kurdistan provinces. The authorities summoned four activists in mid-January 2012 to begin serving long sentences imposed in 2011. On January 28, authorities arrested Alireza Akhavan, a teacher and labor rights activist, in his home in Tehran. It is not know where he is currently being held.

Mohammad Jarahi

On January 18, security forces arrested Mohammad Jarahi in his home in Tabriz. Three days earlier, intelligence agents arrested Shahrokh Zamani, another Tabriz labor rights leader, and summoned two others also in Tabriz. Authorities also arrested Sheis Amani, a prominent rights activist and member of an independent trade union in the city of Sanandaj on January 16. Earlier in the month authorities detained Mehdi Farahi Shandiz and transferred to Ward 350 of Evin prison in Tehran. All those arrested are labor activists or members of independent trade unions not authorized by the government.

Shahrokh Zamani

“Independent trade unions have played a critical role in protecting workers’ rights under Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s presidency,” said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “This latest round of arrests continues a long and ugly tradition of targeting independent trade unions to enforce full state control over these groups.”

Sheys Amani

Authorities initially arrested Zamani on June 7, 2011, in connection with his activities as a member of an independent painters’ syndicate and a board member of the Committee to Pursue the Establishment of Labor Unions. Branch 1 of the Revolutionary Court in Tabriz sentenced him to 11 years in prison for “participating in the organization of an unlawful group opposing the state … with the aim of disrupting national security by way of workers’ strikes and armed rebellion,” “assembly and collusion to further illegal activities,” and “propaganda against the regime.”

Mehdi Farahi Shandiz

In the same case, the court sentenced Jarahi, who was arrested on June 20, to five years in prison for organizing an “unlawful” group called the Democratic Workers Movement, and Nima Pouryaghoub to five years on the same charge plus an additional year for “propaganda against the regime.” Sasan Vahebivash was sentenced to six months for related activities. Pouryaghoub and Vahebivash are engineering students at Tabriz’s Azad University.

Authorities freed the four defendants after they posted bail, but, in November 2011, Branch 6 of the East Azerbaijan appeals’ court confirmed the original sentences handed down by the trial court. Authorities did not summon the defendants to serve their prison terms until this year.

Sasan Vahebivash

According to Iranian media reports, Amani, a prominent labor rights activist in Sanandaj (Kurdistan province) and a board member of the Iran Free Workers’ Union (IFWU), was arrested after he went to the prosecutor’s office in Sanandaj to inquire about the status of two other activists who had been detained earlier in January.

Nima Pouryaghoub

Human Rights Watch is concerned about the well-being of several other prominent labor and trade union activists currently serving prison sentences, including Reza Shahabi, Ali Nejati, Ebrahim Madadi, and Behnam Ebrahimzadeh.

Madadi is vice-president and Shahabi is treasurer of the Syndicate of Workers of Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company (SWTSBC). Madadi is serving a three-and-a-half-year sentence on charges of endangering national security. Shahabi was arrested on June 12, 2010.

Reza Shahabi

A revolutionary court in Tehran tried him of endangering national security and “propaganda against the state” on May 25, 2011, but there has been no ruling in his case yet.

Ali Nejati

According to a source familiar with his case, Shahabi spent 18 months in Tehran’s Evin prison without charge, including several months in solitary confinement, and suffers from serious neck and back pain. Shahabi is in Imam Khomeini hospital in Tehran after ending a 30-day hunger strike on December 22 to protest his detention and the authorities’ refusal to provide proper medical care.

Ebrahim Madadi

Two other activists, Ali Nejati and Behnam Ebrahimzadeh, who are serving one and five-year prison terms, respectively, on national security charges related to their independent trade union activities, also suffer from serious medical conditions. According to information received by Human Rights Watch, both Nejati and Ebrahimzadeh asked for long-term furloughs from prison so they could seek proper medical care, but judicial officials have denied their requests.

Nejati is a former president and current board member of the Haft Tappeh Sugar Cane Workers’ Syndicate (HTSCW), and is in Ahvaz’s Dezful prison in southwest Iran. Ebrahimzadeh is in Evin prison.

Behnam Ebrahimzadeh

The IFWU and the bus workers’ and sugar cane workers’ unions, are among the largest and most active independent trade unions in Iran. Iran’s labor law does not recognize the right to create labor unions independent of government-sanctioned groups. Since 2005, authorities have repeatedly harassed, summoned, arrested, convicted, and sentenced workers who are affiliated with these independent trade unions and harassed their families.

Mansour Osanloo

Most of these arrests have taken place during International Workers’ Day celebrations or strikes the unions have called, often for back wages that have not been paid for months. Mansour Osanlou, the current president of the bus workers’ group, was sentenced to five years in prison on charges of “acting against the national security” and “propaganda against the state” following several arrests between 2005 and 2007. Authorities allowed Osanlou to leave Evin prison in June after he had served about four years of his sentence, but could still summon him to serve the rest. Human Rights Watch called on the judiciary to quash Osanlou’s sentence.

Independent unions have protested amendments to the current labor law introduced by President Ahmadinejad. The amendments, currently being reviewed by Iran’s parliament, make it easier for employers to fire workers and reduce workers’ benefits such as annual vacation days.

Article 22 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), and Article 8 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) protect the right to form and join labor unions. Iran is a signatory to both of these treaties. Iran is also a member of International Labour Organization (ILO), but has so far refused to sign covenants 87 (Freedom of Association and the Protection of the Right to Organize Convention) and 98 (Right to Organize and Collective Bargaining Convention) of the ILO treaty.

“Labor activists have been at the forefront of the struggle for freedom of association and assembly in Iran, and they have paid a heavy price,” Stork said. “Iranian law should recognize the right to organize independent unions and release activists who have committed no crime other than representing the interests of their constituents.”

via Iran: New Arrests of Labor Activists | Human Rights Watch.

https://creator.zoho.com/servisis/ipi/record-summary/Iran_Prisoner_List/236584000000311511/

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