IRAN:Open Letter to President Hassan Rouhani

Paris-Geneva, September 28, 2018

RE: Stop the persecution of human rights defenders

Mr. President,

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a partnershipof FIDH and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), is writing to you toexpress its deepest concern over the ongoing wave of arbitrary arrests,prosecutions, persecution and judicial harassment of human rights defenders inIran, including women’s rights defenders.

The Observatory is particularly concerned over the arrest of Mr. RezaKhandan, human rights activist and husband of lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh; Ms. Rezvaneh Mohammadi, Ms. Hoda Amid,Ms. Najmeh Vahedi and Ms. Maryam Azad, four women’s rightsdefenders involved in various campaigns for the defence of women’s rights,including against the imposition of the hijab; and of Mr. Farhad Mayssami,also involved in the promotion of human rights and opposition to the impositionof the hijab.

Mr. Reza Khandan

Mr. Reza Khandan was arrested on September 4, 2018, at his home inTehran by agents of the Ministry of Intelligence and subsequently taken toBranch 7 of the Prosecutor’s Office in the capital’s Evin prison. He wasdetained on charges of “gathering and colluding against national security”(Article 610 of the Penal Code), “spreading propaganda against the system”(Article 500 of the Penal Code), and propagating and promoting disregard forhijab in the society. The Prosecutor’s Office ordered him to deposit bail tothe amount of 7,000 million Iranian rial (approximately 55,000 Euros). To date,Mr. Reza Khandan has refused to pay the bail, arguing that he did not commitany offence, and remains detained in Evin prison.

Mr. Reza Khandan has been consistently raising human rights concerns,including the imprisonment of human rights defenders and the prosecution ofwomen who have campaigned against the imposition of the hijab. He hadpreviously been arrested several times, including on June 13, 2018 for a fewhours, while protesting the arbitrary detention of his wife, human rightslawyer Ms. Nasrin Sotoudeh, in front of Evin prison.

Ms. Rezvaneh Mohammadi

Ms. Rezvaneh Mohammadi was arrested on September3, 2018, at her home in Tehran by the security forces of the Islamic RevolutionGuards Corps (IRGC) and taken to the IRGC-run Section 2A, within Evin prison.Her phone and other electronic devices were confiscated and her family was notinformed of her whereabouts for two days. The authorities did not provide areason for her arrest and she has since been deniedfamily visits.

Ms. Rezvaneh Mohammadi is a genderstudies student who has been promoting gender equality online and participatingin gender equality workshops. This is not the first time she suffers judicialharassment. A few months ago, Ms. Rezvaneh Mohammadi was also arrested by theGorgan city morality police force for not wearing “Islamic clothing”. She washeld for one night in a police detention centre and released on bail. She wasthen acquitted by the Gorgan city court.

Ms.Hoda Amid and Ms. Najmeh Vahedi

Humanrights lawyer and women’s rights defender Ms. HodaAmid, was arrested on September 1, 2018, at her home in Tehran. Ms. NajmehVahedi, another women’s rights defender, was alsoarrested a few hours later on the same day. The authorities did not providereasons for their arrests. The two women’s rights defenders are known forjointly organising educational workshops on topics related to marriage, women’srights and the legal status of women in Iran. They have been involved invarious campaigns for the defence of women’s rights. They are being heldincommunicado in the IRGC-run Section 2A of Evin prison. Ms. Vahedi spent the first 10 days of herdetention in solitary confinement. The authorities have notdisclosed the charges against the two women, who have also been denied accessto lawyers. While Ms. Vahedi has been allowed once to meet her mother, Ms. Amidhas been denied family visits to this date.

Ms.Maryam Azad

A womenhuman rights defender very active in the promotion of gender equality from thecity of Shiraz, Ms. Maryam Azad was arrested on September 25, 2018, after sheboarded a flight at Tehran airport boundfor Turkey. The authorities did not provide any reasons for her arrest ordisclose charges against her. She is believed to be under incommunicadodetention with no access to lawyer in Ward 2A within Evin prison.

Mr. Farhad Mayssami

Mr. Farhad Mayssami was arrested onJuly 31, 2018, at his office in Tehran, following an order of the Prosecutor’sOffice Branch 2 and taken to the Ministry of Intelligence-run Ward 209 withinEvin prison. On August 1, Mr. Mayssami started a hunger strike to protestagainst his detention. He was kept in solitary confinement for 20 days beforebeing transferred to a dormitory ward. A friend of Ms. Nasrin Sotoudeh, Mr.Farhad Mayssami was arrested for being in possession of copies of two books -“Small Acts of Resistance” by Steve Crawshaw and John Jackson, and a book onhuman rights translated by Mohammad Jafar Pouyandeh, a translator and writerassassinated by Ministry of Intelligence agents in 1998 – and a number ofbadges reading “I am opposed to forced hijab.” He has been charged with“gathering and colluding against national security” (Article 610 of the PenalCode), “spreading propaganda against the system” (Article 500 of the PenalCode), and insulting the hijab as one of the essential sanctities of Islam. Mr.Mayssami was not given access to a lawyer and the authorities refused to allowMr. Arash Kaykhosravi to act as his lawyer, before the latter wasarrested in front of the Parliament on August 18, 2018.[1]The authorities have also refused to allow another lawyer of his choosing, Mr.Mohammad Moqimi, to have access to him. Mr. Mayssami is reportedly still on ahunger strike and his health is deteriorating. On September 26, 2018, he wasforcibly transferred by force to Evin prison’s clinic and is being kept incommunicado.

The Observatory calls on you to ensurethe immediate and unconditional release of the aforementioned human rightsdefenders. In the meantime, Iranian authorities should guarantee their physicaland psychological integrity. The Observatory also calls on you to instruct therelevant authorities to cease the repression and prosecution of all humanrights defenders in Iran.

Lastly, the Observatory urges you to ensure that authorities conform tothe provisions of the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders adopted by theUnited Nations General Assembly on December 9, 1998, to the UniversalDeclaration of Human Rights, and to all other international human rightsinstruments to which the country is a state party.

We thank you for your attention to this important matter.

Yours sincerely,

DimitrisChristopoulos GeraldStaberock

FIDH President OMCT SecretaryGeneral

The Observatory for theProtection of Human Rights Defenders (the Observatory) was created in 1997 byFIDH and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT). The objective of thisprogramme is to prevent or remedy situations of repression against human rightsdefenders. FIDH and OMCT are both members of ProtectDefenders.eu, the European Union Human Rights Defenders Mechanism implemented byinternational civil society.

To contact the Observatory, call the emergencyline:

· E-mail: Appeals@fidh-omct.org

· Tel and fax FIDH +33 (0) 1 43 55 25 18 / +33 1 43 55 18 80

· Tel and fax OMCT +41 (0) 22 809 49 39 / +41 22 809 49 29

[1] See theObservatory Urgent Appeal n° IRN 003 / 0818 / OBS 106