Continued arbitrary detention of and denial of medical care to Mr. Reza Shahabi Zakaria / Judicial harassment and arbitrary detention of dozens of other trade unionists

IRN 004 / 0714 / OBS 061

Arbitrary detention / Judicial harassment /

Denial of medical care / Ill-treatment indetention

Iran

July 3, 2014

The Observatory for theProtection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the InternationalFederation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture(OMCT), has received new information and requestsyour urgent 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 continued arbitrary detention and denial of medical care to Mr. RezaShahabi Zakaria, Treasurer of the Syndicate of Workers of United BusCompany of Tehran, who is serving a six-year prison sentence since June 2010 aswell as the judicial harassment, arbitrary detention and ill-treatment ofdozens of other trade unionists[1].

According to theinformation received, on June 30, 2014, Mr. Reza Shahabi, who is currentlydetained in Rajaishahr prison, was in pressing need for medical care. Hiscellmates took him to the prison clinic but the clinic officials refused tooffer him the needed care and demanded him to end his hunger strike, which heturned down. Mr. Shahabi has been on hunger strike since June 1, in protest tohis illegal transfer from Evin prison to Rajaishahr prison on the same day. Ina letter to the Prosecutor of Tehran province, dated June 14, Mr. Shahabistated that he felt he had no other recourse than to go on hunger strike anddemanded “to be returned to Evin prison; to be granted sick leave from prisonto receive medical care and disc operation” and the implementation of therelevant provisions of the 2013 Islamic Penal Code that would make him eligiblefor immediate release.

TheObservatory recalls that at least 12 other labour activists and trade unionistsare currently in prison in Iran, and a number of others are facing long-termprison sentences. Those 12 unionists include:

- threemembers of the Committee to Pursue the Establishment of Labour Unions (CPELU),Messrs. Shahrokh Zamani (serving a total of 11.5 years in prison),Mohammad Jarrahi (5 years) - both also founding members ofthe Painters’ and Decorators' Union, and Behnam (Assad) Ebrahimzadeh (5 years), alsoa child rights activist;

- at leastfour members of the Coordinating Committee to Help Form Workers’ Organisations(CCHFWO), Messrs. Yousef Ab-Kharabat (2 years), Mohammad Molanaei (1 year),Vahed Seyedeh (2 years), and Afshin Nadimi (one year);

- and atleast five members of the Teachers’ Association of Iran (TAI), Messrs. MahmoodBagheri (4.5years), Rassoul Bodaghi (6 years), Mohammad Davari (6 years),Mehdi Farahi-Shandiz (3 years; also a member of the CPELU),and Abdolreza Ghabari (15 years).

- Anotherlabour and child rights activist, Mr. Saeed Shirzad, was detained in thecity of Tabriz, north-western Iran, on June 2 but the reasons for his detentionand his whereabouts are not known.

Imprisonedunionists regularly face different forms of harassment and are denied medicalcare. Mr. Ebrahimzadeh, who had spent two weeks in solitary confinement afterbeing beaten up during the April 18 attack of prison guards against Ward 350 ofEvin prison, was transferred on May 3 to solitary cells of IntelligenceMinistry-run Ward 209 in Evin prison, where he was detained for nearly twomonths. Furthermore, security forces harassed Mr. Ebrahimzadeh’s family on June29 and searched the family house confiscating their computer and other equipmentas well as identity and banking documents. Furthermore, Mr. Farahi-Shandiz wasillegally transferred to Rajaishahr prison in mid June. Messrs. Shahabi,Jarrahi and Molanaei are in pressing need of medical care, which they have beenconsistently deprived of.

Furthermore,prison sentences against Messrs Hassan Rassoulnejad, Jamal Minashiri,Hadi Tanoumand, Ghassem Mostafapour, Ebrahim Mostafapour,Mohammad Karimi, and Ghaleb Hosseini, all members of the CCHFWO,have been upheld and they are likely to be arrested and sent to prison soon.Some other members of the CCHFWO as well as some members of the TAI have alsobeen sentenced to prison terms and are awaiting the outcome of their appeals,including MessrsVafa Ghaderi, Khaled Hosseini, Ali-Akbar Baghani, MahmoodBeheshti-Langaroudi, and Alireza Hashemi.

The Observatory expresses its deep concernsabout the ongoing detention and denial of medical care to Mr. Reza Shahabi aswell as about the harassment and imprisonment of the above-mentioned tradeunionists, who are punished only for exercising theirrights to freedom of speech, assembly and association, as enshrined in theInternational Covenant for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and theInternational Covenant for Civil and Political Rights to which Iran is a Stateparty, as well as the relevant conventions of the International LabourOrganisation.

The Observatory isaccordingly calling on the Iranian authorities to release all the above-mentioned trade unionists and to stop persecution of all trade unionists,by dropping the charges against them and putting an end to the practice ofsummoning, interrogating, and prosecuting unionists.

Actions requested:

Pleasewrite to the Iranian authorities and ask them to:

i. Guaranteein all circumstances the physical and psychological integrity of Mr. Reza ShahabiZakaria, allabove-mentioned trade unionists as well as of all other human rights defenders in Iran;

ii. Provideadequate medical care to Messrs. Shahabi, Jarrahi, Molanaei and all other imprisoned human rights defenders;

iii. Release immediately and unconditionally allabove-mentioned trade unionists and other human rights defenders detained in Iranmerely to sanction their human rights activities;

iv. Putan end to any kind of harassment - including at the judicial level - against all above-mentioned trade unionists and all other human rights defenders in Iran and ensure inall circumstances that they can carry out their activities withoutany hindrances;

v. Conformin all circumstances with the provisions of the Declaration on Human RightsDefenders, adopted on December 9, 1998 by the United Nations General Assembly,in particular:

- its article 1, which states that “everyone has the right, individuallyor in association with others, to promote the protection and realization ofhuman rights and fundamental freedoms at the national and internationallevels”,

- and its article 12.2 which provides that “the State shall take allnecessary measures to ensure the protection by the competent authorities ofeveryone, individually and in association with others, against any violence,threats, retaliation, de facto or de jure adverse discrimination, pressure orany other arbitrary action as a consequence of his or her legitimate exerciseof the rights referred to in the present Declaration”;

vi. Ensurein all circumstances respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms inaccordance with international human rights standards and internationalinstruments ratified by Iran.

Addresses:

· Leader of theIslamic Republic, His Excellency Ayatollah Sayed Ali Khamenei, The Office ofthe Supreme Leader, Shahid Keshvardoost St., Jomhuri Eslami Ave., Tehran,Islamic Republic of Iran, Faxes: + 98 21 649 5880 / 21 774 2228, Email: info_leader@leader.ir; Twitter:@khamenei_ir

· President HassanRouhani, the Presidency, Palestine Avenue, Azerbaijan Intersection, Tehran,Islamic Republic of Iran, Tel: +98 21 64451; Fax: + 98 21 649 5880; Email: media@rouhani.ir; Twitter: @HassanRouhani (English) and @Rouhani_ir (Persian).

· Head of theJudiciary, His Excellency Ayatollah Sadeq Larijani, Office of the Head of theJudiciary, Pasteur Street, Vali Asr Avenue, south of Serah-e Jomhuri, Tehran,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 ofForeign Affairs, Mohammad Javad Zarif, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, SheikhAbdolmajid Kushk-e Mesri Av, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran, Fax:+98-21-66743149; matbuat@mfa.gov.ir

· SecretaryGeneral, High Council for Human Rights, Mr. Mohammed Javad Larijani, [Care of]Office of the Head of the Judicary, Pasteur St, Vali Asr Ave, South of Serah-eJomhouri, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran. Email: info@humanrights-iran.ir

· H.E.Mr. Mohsen Naziri Asl, Ambassador, Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic ofIran, Chemin du Petit-Saconnex 28, 1209 Geneva, Switzerland, Fax: +41 227330203, Email: mission.iran@ties.itu.int

· H.E. Mr. MahmoudBarimani, Ambassador, Embassy of Iran in Brussels, 15 a avenue Franklin Roosevelt, 1050 Bruxelles, Belgium, Fax: + 32 2 76239 15. Email: secreteriat@iranembassy.be

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

***

Paris-Geneva,July 3, 2014

Kindly inform us of anyaction undertaken quoting the code of this appeal in your reply.

To contact the Observatory,call the emergency line:

· E-mail: Appeals@fidh-omct.org

· Tel and fax FIDH + 33 (0) 1 43 55 25 18 / +33 143 55 18 80

· Tel and fax OMCT + 41 (0) 22 809 49 39 / + 41 22809 49 29

[1]See Observatory Press Release, April 30, 2014.