Arbitrary detention and judicial harassment of Ms. Nasrin Sotoudeh

Arbitrary detention /

Judicial harassment

Iran

June 15, 2018

The Observatory for theProtection of Human Rights Defenders, a partnership of World OrganisationAgainst Torture (OMCT) and FIDH, has received new information and requests yoururgent intervention in the following situation in Iran.

New information:

The Observatory has beeninformed by the League for the Defence of Human Rights in Iran (LDDHI) aboutthe arbitrary detention and judicial harassment of Ms. Nasrin Sotoudeh, a prominent human rights lawyer and 2012 laureateof the European Parliament’s Sakharov Prize.

According to the informationreceived, on June 13, 2018, security forces arrested Ms. Nasrin Sotoudeh at herhome in Tehran and transferred her to the capital’s Evin prison. Upon herarrest, she was presented with an arrest warrant and was told that she wasbeing taken to serve a five-year prison sentence, which had been handed downagainst her in absentia. Ms. NasrinSotoudeh was not shown the court’s ruling related to the sentence and had notbeen informed of the conviction or the sentence prior to her arrest. TheIranian judiciary has not disclosed neither the procedure by which the sentencewas issued and communicated nor the possibility given to Ms. Nasrin Sotoudeh toappeal. This is in flagrant contravention of domestic and international fairtrial standards.

In August 2015, Ms. NasrinSotoudeh was summoned for interrogation following the renewal of her lawyer’slicence a while after a nine-month sit-in she had been holding in protest againsta three-year suspension of the licence. The summons did not specify anycharges. However, she was unable to attend the interrogation due to a surgery onher foot at the time. Her husband went to the court in her place and presentedmedical documents regarding her condition and her inability to respond to thesummons.

She was then given three weeksto go to the Islamic Revolution Court. However, when she did go she was notallowed in, as a number of lawyers are barred from entering the court’sbuilding. Ms. Sotoudeh was also summoned to the Islamic Revolution Court onSeptember 4, 2016, with which she complied. However, she was neither tried nornotified of any charges.

The Observatory recalls thatMs. Nasrin Sotoudeh had already been imprisoned for her peaceful and legitimatehuman rights activities in September 2010. Following national and internationaloutcry over her detention, she was released in 2013 after serving more thanthree years of her six-year prison sentence[1].She has spoken out about different human rights issues ever since.

The Observatory expresses itsdeepest concern about Ms. Nasrin Sotoudeh’s arbitrary detention, which appearsaimed at punishing her for her legitimate human rights activities.

The Observatory urges theIranian authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Ms. NasrinSotoudeh and to guarantee her physical and psychological integrity. TheObservatory further urges the Iranian authorities to ensure that all judicialproceedings against her are carried out in full compliance with her right to afair trial.

Actions requested:

Please write to theauthorities of Iran asking them to:

i. Guarantee in allcircumstances the physical and psychological integrity of Ms. Nasrin Sotoudeh,as well as of all human rights defenders in Iran;

ii. Immediately andunconditionally release Ms. Nasrin Sotoudeh, as well as all human rightsdefenders detained in Iran, as their detention is arbitrary as it is merelyaimed at punishing them for their human rights activities;

iii. Put an end to all acts ofharassment, including at the judicial level, against Ms. Nasrin Sotoudeh, aswell as of all human rights defenders in Iran and ensure that they are able to carry outtheir activities without hindrance;

iv. Ensure that all judicialproceedings against Ms. Nasrin Sotoudeh are carried out in full compliance withher right to a fair trial, as protected under international law;

v. Conform in any circumstanceswith the provisions of the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, adopted onDecember 9, 1998 by the United Nations General Assembly, in particular itsArticles 1 and 12.2.;

vi. Ensure in allcircumstances respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms in accordancewith international human rights instruments ratified by Iran.

Addresses:

· Leader of the Islamic Republic, H.E. AyatollahSayed Ali Khamenei, Fax: + 98 21 441 2030, Email: info_leader@leader.ir;Twitter: @khamenei_ir

· President Hassan Rouhani, Islamic Republic ofIran, Fax: + 98 21 644 54811; Email: media@rouhani.ir; Twitter: @HassanRouhani(English) and @Rouhani_ir (Persian).

· Head of the Judiciary, H.E. Ayatollah SadeqLarijani, Islamic Republic of Iran, Fax: +98 21 879 6671 / +98 21 3 311 6567,Email: info@dadiran.ir / info@dadgostary-tehran.ir / info@bia-judiciary.ir

· Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mohammad JavadZarif, Islamic Republic of Iran, Fax: +98-21-66743149; matbuat@mfa.gov.ir

· Secretary General, High Council for HumanRights, Mr. Mohammed Javad Larijani, Islamic Republic of Iran. Email:info@humanrights-iran.ir

· H.E. Mr. Javad Amin-Mansour, Ambassador,Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations inGeneva, Switzerland, Fax: +41 22 7330203, Email: mission.iran@ties.itu.int

· H.E. Mr. Peiman Seadat, Ambassador, Embassy ofIran in Brussels, Belgium, Fax: + 32 2 762 39 15. Email:secreteriat@iranembassy.be

Please also write todiplomatic representations of Iran in your respective countries.

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Geneva-Paris, June 15, 2018

Kindly inform us of any actionundertaken quoting the code of this appeal in your reply.

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (theObservatory) was created in 1997 by the World Organisation Against Torture(OMCT) and the FIDH. The objective of this programme is to intervene to preventor remedy situations of repression against human rights defenders. OMCT andFIDH are both members of ProtectDefenders.eu, the European Union Human RightsDefenders Mechanism implemented by international civil society.

[1] On May 6,2011, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) issued an Opiniondeclaring Ms. Sotoudeh’s trial and detention arbitrary and illegal.