Savalan Sesi

The State Department’s 2007 Reports on Human Rights Practices in Iran

savalansesi-en — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 17:57:18 GMT

The State Department’s 2007 Reports on Human Rights Practices in Iran

Ethnic Azeris composed approximately one-quarter of the country’s population, were well integrated into the government and society and included the supreme leader. However, Azeris complained of ethnic and linguistic discrimination, including banning the Azeri language in schools, harassing Azeri activists or organizers, and changing Azeri geographic names. The government traditionally viewed Azeri nationalism as threatening, particularly since the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the creation of an independent Azerbaijan. Azeri groups also claimed that there were a number of Azeri political prisoners jailed for advocating cultural and language rights for Iranian Azerbaijanis. The government has charged several of them with “revolting against the Islamic state.”

After couple of months, Three South Azerbaijani activists were freed with unusual bails

savalansesi-en — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 13:06:37 GMT

After couple of months, Three South Azerbaijani activists were freed with unusual bails

Savalan Sesi (Translated by Oyrenci):

Today, 27th February, three south Azerbaijani political prisoners including Saeid Matinpour, human rights activist and journalist, Jalil Ghanilou, journalist, and Alireza Matinpour, activist of Azerbaijani culture, were freed from Evin prison with 500,000 USD, 80,000 USD, and 100,000 USD bails respectively.

Mr. Saeid Matinpour from 25 May 2007, Jalil Ghanilou from 26 May 2007, and Alireza Matinpour from 28 August 2007 had been detained by Iranian intelligent services in north-western city of Zanjan and had been transferred to the Evin prison.

These three prisoners have passed more than half of their detention in sporadic cells of the section 209 of Evin prison under vision and torture of Iranian intelligent services. Worthy to say, they were not allowed to access to any advocatory in this time period.

From the other side, according to the received news, bail amount of Mr. Behrouz Safari and his wife has been changed to 120,000 USD and 80,000 USD respectively. Iranian official asked their family to prepare mentioned bails to free them.

Oyrenci-News congratulates freedom of South Azerbaijani prisoners in Zanjan to Azerbaijan nation, and hopes other Azerbaijani prisoners also be freed as soon as possible.

One more activist of Azerbaijani movement in Iran arrested

savalansesi-en — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 13:03:52 GMT

One more activist of Azerbaijani movement in Iran arrested

Today Azerbaijan:

Hojat-ul-Islam Abdulaziz Azimi Gadim, one of the activists of the movement for restoration of the rights of Iranian Azerbaijanis, has been sentenced to one year of imprisonment.

According to movement activists, the decision was passed by the court of Gum city, Iran.

The decision states that A.Gadim failed to fulfill the requirements of the decision, passed on him two years ago, by taking part in the meetings near Sattarkhan and Bagirkhan^s graves, as well as a march to the Babek fortress in a garment of a clergymen, which contradicts the rules set in Iran for clergy.

For this reason, A.Gadim was prohibited to put on religious garments along with being sentenced to one year imprisonment. Yet, now the court, referring to Gadim^s failure to fulfill the second paragraph of the decision, sentenced him to imprisonment again.

Moreover, Gadim will be sent to exile to one of Azerbaijani provinces of Iran.

In 2006 A.Gadim was imprisoned for 6 months for his socio-political activity.

Tabriz Revolutionary Court Decision: 1 Year Jail for 7 Nationalist Activists

savalansesi-en — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 13:02:43 GMT

Tabriz Revolutionary Court Decision: 1 Year Jail for 7 Nationalist Activists

Savalan Sesi (Translated By Oyrenci-News):

Revolutionary Court No.2 in Tabriz, sentenced Khosro Derakhshi, Yusef Lotf Hagh, Mehdi Afsari, Mohammad Ali Javadi, Javad Kanaani and Hasan Asadi, charged with "membership in Islamic Republic^s opponent group "GAIP" (south Azerbaijan Independence Party) to 1 year actual imprisonment. Besides, Taher Mahdavi blamed due to "propagation against Islamic regime" and sentenced to 1 year imprisonment.

According to article 25 of Islamic Criminal Law, 8 months of these indictees^ punishments, except Hasan Asadi, is suspended for three years.

This decision has been issued by judge Hamlbar, the highest judge in Tabriz Revolutionary Court No.2.

These activists have been detained and subsequently released on bails, last year (2007)

Voice of America: Pressures and confinements to continue for Azerbaijani activists

savalansesi-en — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 13:01:14 GMT

Voice of America: Pressures and confinements to continue for Azerbaijani activists

Translated By Oyrenci-News:

According to reports issued by ASٍMK (committee to protect Azerbaijani political prisoners rights), Iranian special court for clergy crimes, sentenced Azerbaijani clergyman and nationalist activist, Abdolaziz Azimi, to one year jail. Hosein Bahrami, high judge in Ghom clergy crimes court, has blamed clergyman Azimi for "provoke anti-national feelings". Musavat newspaper has reports that Mr. Azimi has been detained several times because of his pursuits for Azerbaijani nation requests. Previously, Amnesty International had issued three statements advocating his activities.

Furthermore, in accord with student committee to defend human rights reports, Hadi Hamidi Shafigh, jailed in prison of Urmia due to vague charges such as "illegal protest" and "insult national unity", has been tortured when he was kept in detainment center of Intelligence Ministry. Hamidi Shafigh has been sentenced to 10 months in primitive court, but reviewal court increased to 17 months.

Province court to persist in jail and lash for seven Azerbaijani activists

savalansesi-en — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 12:59:06 GMT

Province court to persist in jail and lash for seven Azerbaijani activists

Savalansesi (Tran. By Oyrenci):

Lash and imprisonment sentences for seven activists, participated in demonstrations in northwestern city of Ahar on 26 may 2006 in protest at offensive cartoon published by the state-owned daily newspaper Iran, confirmed by reinvestigation court of East Azerbaijan Province.

Reinvestigation court of East Azerbaijan No. 2, confirmed primitive sentences, actual 6 months imprisonment and 70 hits of lash, for Afshin Bazzaz Ghadim, Karim Kargar, Mortaza Shokri Serqini and Avaz Hasanpoor, accused of disturbance in public order by participating in illegal demonstration.

Parviz Ghaneh and Reza Salmanzadeh who appealed too, sentenced to six months imprisonment and 50 hits of lash, wich suspends for 5 years.

Besides, Farhad Heydari who convicted in primitive court trial and sentenced 2 years actual imprisonment for destruct of public properties and six months actual imprisonment and 74 hits of lash for disturbance in public order, commuted his sentence to 6 months jail and 70 hits of lash which are actual.
Omid Seyfi, Reza Soleymani and Jalal Esfandyari, impeached in recent file, were excused by province court.

Reviewal sentence has been issued by judge and prosecutors of reinvestigation court No.2 in East Azerbaijan Province.

Further Information on UA 61/07 (MDE 13/027/2007, 09 March 2007) and follow-up (MDE 13/067/2007, 7 J

savalansesi-en — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 12:54:18 GMT

PUBLIC AI Index: MDE 13/035/2008

7 February 2008

Further Information on UA 61/07 (MDE 13/027/2007, 09 March 2007) and follow-up (MDE 13/067/2007, 7 June 2007) - Prisoners of conscience/Torture

IRAN Jelil Ghanilou (m) ]

Released: Esma'il Javadi (m), aged 31, journalist ]

Ebulfezl Alilu (m) ]

Ramin Sadeghi (m) ] Azerbaijani cultural and linguistic

Qahreman Qanbarpour (m) ] rights activists

Adel Allahverdipour (m) ]

Safar Ali Kho'ini (m) ]

Ja'far Haqnazari (m) ]

All of those named above, except Jelil Ghanilou have been released. Safar Ali Kho'ini was released on 11 March 2007 on bail totalling around the equivalent of US$325,000. It is not known whether he has been charged or tried. Esma'il Javadi and Ebulfezl Alilu were released on 12 March and on 30 April respectively after a judge dismissed a case against them. Ramin Sadeghi was released on 15 March 2007. However he was sentenced on 20 October 2007 by Branch 14 of Ardabil Revolutionary Court to 50 lashes and a fine of the equivalent of, roughly, US$325. It is not known whether the flogging sentence was carried out. Qahreman Qanbarpour, Adel Allahverdipour and Ja'far Haqnazari have also been released. Amnesty International has no further information concerning them.

Azerbaijani cultural and linguistic rights activist Jelil Ghanilou continues to face torture and interrogation following six months' arrest and ongoing interrogation, while being moved between prisons in two different cities. He has neither been charged nor given access to legal representation. He has however been allowed to meet with and speak with family members. Amnesty International believes that Jelil Ghanilou is a prisoner of conscience, detained solely for the peaceful exercise of his right to freedom of expression.

Jelil Ghanilou was arrested in Zenjan in February 2007 in connection with his participation marking International Mother Language Day. He was released around 10 days later but on 28 May 2007 he was re-arrested following demonstrations marking the anniversary of the publication in May 2007 of a cartoon seen by many Iranian Azerbaijani activists as offensive. It appears that he was then moved to incommunicado detention, prompting a statement by the National Movement of Azerbaijan - Zenjan (Harakat-e Melli-ye Azerbaijan - Zenjan) on 2 June 2007, entitled "Where are Sa'id Metinpour [another Azerbaijani activist] and Jelil Ghanilou?" Amnesty International has now learned that from June 2007, he was repeatedly been moved between Evin Prison in Tehran and a Ministry of Intelligence detention facility in Zenjan and that he continued to face both interrogation and torture throughout the latter part of 2007 and into 2008.

Amnesty International has learned that Jelil Ghanilou was permitted one family visit in September 2007. By then he had reportedly been deprived of sleep for long periods and faced 24-hour interrogation. Officials also threatened that members of his family could be harmed. He is reported to have required medical treatment several times and when family members apparently tried to post the bail that officials demanded, they were turned away. They reportedly had irregular telephone contact with him in the latter part of 2007, though if he spoke Azerbaijani Turkic, the line was sometimes cut, when conversations in Persian were allowed to continue. Guards watched over him during his telephone conversations.

Jelil Ghanilou has been held in the Ministry of Intelligence-run Section 209 of Tehran's Evin Prison since 4 December 2007. On 3 February 2008, flanked by guards, he is reported to have said in a telephone conversation that he had been held in solitary confinement for 6 months and that he continued to face torture. Jelil Ghanilou allegedly added that he is no longer afraid to say over the telephone that the psychological pressures of uncertainty, misleading information; of repeated interrogations and threats from the authorities are wearing him down. Secret detention has been shown to facilitate torture and ill treatment. Prolonged incommunicado detention can itself be a form of cruel inhuman and degrading punishment.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Iranian Azerbaijanis speak a Turkic language and are mainly Shi'a Muslims. The largest minority in Iran, they live mainly in the north and north-west of the country, and in the capital, Tehran. Many Iranian Azerbaijanis demand greater cultural and linguistic rights, including implementation of their constitutional right to education in Azerbaijani Turkic. Article 15 of Iran's Constitution states that Persian is the official language of Iran and that “official documents, correspondence and texts, as well as textbooks, must be in this language and script.” It adds that “the use of regional and tribal languages in the press and mass media, as well as for teaching of their literature in schools, is allowed in addition to Persian.”

RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible, in English, Farsi, Arabic, French your own language:

- calling on the authorities to halt any torture that Jelil Ghanilou may continue to face, and ensuring that any such reports are fully investigated and, if necessary, the perpetrators brought to justice;

- urging the authorities to promptly charge Jelil Ghanilou with a recognisably criminal offense and try him in a fair trial or release him;

- expressing concern that Jelil Ghanilou has been detained without charge or access to a lawyer of his choice for over six months, and that prolonged Secret detention has been shown to facilitate torture and ill treatment;

- pointing out that if he is detained solely for the peaceful exercise of his right to freedom of expression, Amnesty International would consider him a prisoner of conscience, and would call for his immediate and unconditional release.

Sa’id Metinpour (m), journalist, Azerbaijani cultural rights activist and Elirza Metinpour

savalansesi-en — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 12:10:23 GMT

PUBLIC AI Index: MDE 13/019/2008
30 January 2008

Further Information on UA 137/07 MDE 13/068/2007, 7 June 2007 and follow-up (MDE 13/106/2007, 23 August 2007) - Concern for safety/Torture, Ill-Treatment

IRAN Sa’id Metinpour (m), journalist, Azerbaijani cultural rights activist and Elirza Metinpour (brother)

Sa’id Metinpour was arrested on 25 May 2007, in the north-western city of Zenjan, and is held in Section 209 of Evin prison, Tehran. In attempts to obtain a videotaped confession the authorities tortured him. On 28 August, the Ministry of Intelligence summoned and arrested his brother, Elirza Metinpour, who was also transferred to Evin prison and subsequently tortured. The brothers are not known to have been formally charged with any offence.

Atiye Taheri, Sa'id Metinpour's wife, visited him on 17 December. She described his health as being very poor and said that he had lost a lot of weight and that much of his hair had fallen out. He has been in solitary confinement for most of his detention. His bail has been set at the equivalent of approximately US $540,000, a sum which his family cannot afford.

Amnesty International believes that Sa’id and Elirza Metinpour are prisoners of conscience, held solely on account of their peaceful activities on behalf of the Iranian Azerbaijani community. The brothers had previously been arrested for taking part in protests against the restrictions imposed by the authorities on education being delivered in Azerbaijani Turkic. Sa’id Metinpour is an advocate of linguistic and cultural rights for Iranian Azerbaijanis and has criticized the Iranian authorities’ repression of the Azerbaijani minority in articles published in the daily newspaper Merdom-e-nov and other local publications.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Iranian Azerbaijanis speak a Turkic language and are mainly Shi’a Muslims. As the largest minority in Iran, they make up 25-30% of the population; they live mainly in the north and north-west of the country and in Tehran. They are demanding greater cultural and linguistic rights, including implementation of their constitutional right to education in Azerbaijani Turkic. Article 15 of Iran’s Constitution states that Persian is the official language of Iran and that “official documents, correspondence, and texts, as well as textbooks, must be in this language and script.” It adds that “the use of regional and tribal languages in the press and mass media, as well as for teaching of their literature in schools, is allowed in addition to Persian.”

A small minority want Iranian Azerbaijani provinces to break away from Iran and join with the Republic of Azerbaijan. In recent years the authorities have grown increasingly suspicious of Iran's minority communities, many of which are situated in border areas, and have accused foreign powers such as the US and UK of stirring unrest among them. Those who seek to promote Azerbaijani cultural identity and linguistic rights are often charged with vaguely worded offences such as "acting against state security by promoting pan-Turkism".

In May 2006, there were massive demonstrations in towns and cities in north-western Iran in protest at a cartoon published on 12 May by the state-owned daily newspaper Iran, which many Iranian Azerbaijanis found offensive. Hundreds were arrested during and after the demonstrations. Other waves of arrests have occurred around dates significant to the Azerbaijani community, such as a boycott of the start of the academic year in September 2006; after demonstrations in February 2007 on the occasion of International Mother Tongue day; and on the anniversary of the May 2006 demonstrations.

RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible, in English, French, Farsi, Arabic or your own language:

- calling on the authorities to release Sa’id and Elirza Metinpour immediately and unconditionally, as they are prisoners of conscience, held solely on account of their peaceful activities on behalf of the Iranian Azerbaijani community;

- calling on the authorities to allow Sa’id and Elirza Metinpour immediate and regular access to their family and a lawyer of their choice, and to any medical treatment they may require.

- calling on the authorities to order an immediate investigation into reports that Sa’id and Elirza Metinpour have been tortured, and for anyone found responsible for abuses to be brought to justice;

- reminding the authorities that the use of confessions extracted under duress is prohibited by Article 38 of the constitution of Iran.

APPEALS TO:

Leader of the Islamic Republic

His Excellency Ayatollah Sayed ‘Ali Khamenei, The Office of the Supreme Leader

Islamic Republic Street - Shahid Keshvar Doust Street

Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran

Email: info@leader.ir

Salutation: Your Excellency

Minister of Intelligence

Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejeie

Ministry of Intelligence, Second Negarestan Street, Pasdaran Avenue, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran

Salutation: Your Excellency

Head of the Judiciary

Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi

Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Justice Building, Panzdah-Khordad Square, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran

Fax: +98 21 3390 4986 (please keep trying)

Email: info@dadgostary-tehran.ir (In the subject line write: FAO Ayatollah Shahroudi)

Salutation: Your Excellency

COPIES TO:

President

His Excellency Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

The Presidency, Palestine Avenue, Azerbaijan Intersection, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran

Email: dr-ahmadinejad@president.ir

via website: www.president.ir/email

Salutation: Your Excellency

Speaker of Parliament

His Excellency Gholamali Haddad Adel

Majles-e Shoura-ye Eslami, Baharestan Square, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran

Fax: +98 21 3355 6408

Email: hadadadel@majlis.ir

and to diplomatic representatives of Iran accredited to your country.

PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY. Check with the International Secretariat, or your section office, if sending appeals after 11 March 2008.

http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/MDE13/019/2008

Behrouz Seferi (Safari in Azerbaijani Turkic) (m), Iranian Azerbaijani Layla Heydari

savalansesi-en — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 12:07:29 GMT

PUBLIC AI Index: MDE 13/015/2008

25 January 2008

UA 21/08 Torture/possible prisoners of conscience/medical concern

IRAN Behrouz Seferi (Safari in Azerbaijani Turkic) (m), Iranian Azerbaijani Layla Heydari (f), his wife

Iranian Azerbaijani Behrouz Seferi, who has campaigned for Iran’s Azerbaijani minority to be given greater rights to use their mother tongue, is now known to have been detained without charge or trial since late May or early June 2007. His wife, Layla Heydari, has been detained since 28 August. Both are held in Tehran's Evin Prison, where they have allegedly been tortured. Neither has been allowed to consult a lawyer.

Behrouz Seferi was arrested shortly after demonstrations around the first anniversary of the publication of a cartoon in an Iranian newspaper which many Iranian Azerbaijanis found offensive. He was held in his home town of Zanjan until 4 December, when he was moved to Evin Prison.

Layla Heydari ran a shop selling Azerbaijani books, music and other cultural material until the authorities closed it down in 2006. She obeyed official warnings not to publicise her husband's arrest, but on 28 August she was summoned to visit him at the Ministry of Intelligence detention centre where he was held at the time, and was arrested. She too was moved to Evin Prison on 4 December.

Their families were allowed to visit them on 31 December, and say they think both have been tortured to make them give “confessions”. Layla Heydari is apparently in poor health, suffering from severe headaches, but has been given very little medical help. She has also reportedly suffered from heart problems, and has had to be treated on the medical wing, whose staff apparently recommended that she be allowed medical treatement outside prison

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Iranian Azerbaijanis, who live mainly in the north and north-west of the country and are mainly Shi’a Muslims, are the largest minority in Iran (at least 25-30% of the population). They are increasingly demanding greater cultural and linguistic rights, including the right to education in Azerbaijani Turkic. A small minority want Iranian Azerbaijani provinces to break away from Iran and join with the Republic of Azerbaijan. The Iranian authorities view those who seek to promote Iranian Azerbaijani cultural identity with suspicion, and often charge them with vaguely worded offences such as "acting against state security by promoting pan-Turkism".

In May 2006, there were massive demonstrations in towns and cities in north-western Iran in protest at a cartoon published on 12 May by the state-owned daily newspaper Iran, which many Iranian Azerbaijanis found offensive. Hundreds were arrested during and after the demonstrations. Other waves of arrests have occurred around dates significant to the Azerbaijani community, such as a boycott of the start of the academic year in September 2006; after demonstrations in February 2007 on the occasion of International Mother Tongue day; and on the anniversary of the May 2006 demonstrations.

In recent years the authorities have grown increasingly suspicious of Iran's minority communities, many of which are situated in border areas, and have accused foreign powers such as the US and UK of fomenting unrest among them.

RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible, in Persian, English, Arabic, French or your own language:

- expressing concern that Behrouz Seferi and his wife, Layla Heydari, have been detained without charge for some months, and asking why they were arrested;

- calling on the authorities to release them immediately and unconditionally if they are held solely for their peaceful activism on behalf of Iran’s Azerbaijani minority, or else charge them with recognisably criminal offences and try them promptly and fairly;

- urging them to investigate reports that Behrouz Seferi and Layla Heydari have been tortured, and bring anyone found responsible for abuses to justice;

- reminding the authorities that the use of confessions extracted under duress is prohibited by Article 38 of the constitution of Iran.

APPEALS TO:

Leader of the Islamic Republic

His Excellency Ayatollah Sayed ‘Ali Khamenei

The Office of the Supreme Leader, Islamic Republic Street - Shahid Keshvar Doust Street

Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran

Email: info@leader.ir

Salutation: Your Excellency

Head of the Judiciary

Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi

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

Email: info@dadgostary-tehran.ir (In the subject line write: FAO Ayatollah Shahroudi)

Salutation: Your Excellency

Minister of Intelligence

Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejeie

Ministry of Intelligence, Second Negarestan Street, Pasdaran Avenue, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran

Salutation: Your Excellency

COPIES TO:

President

His Excellency Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

The Presidency, Palestine Avenue, Azerbaijan Intersection, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran

Email: dr-ahmadinejad@president.ir

via website: www.president.ir/email

Speaker of Parliament

His Excellency Gholamali Haddad Adel

Majles-e Shoura-ye Eslami, Baharestan Square, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran

Fax: +98 21 3355 6408

Email: hadadadel@majlis.ir (Please ask that your message be brought to the attention of the Article 90 Commission)

and to diplomatic representatives of Iran accredited to your country.

PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY. Check with the International Secretariat, or your section office, if sending appeals after 7 March 2008.

http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/MDE13/015/2008

Turkmen

savalansesi-en — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 12:01:18 GMT

PUBLIC AI Index: MDE 13/016/2008

25 January 2008

UA 24/08 Fear of torture

IRAN Jamshid Arazpour (m), ethnic Turkmen from Gomesh Deppeh Haji Aman Khadivar (m), ethnic Turkmen from Chapaqli, Golestan 200-300 others

The two men named above were detained in the first week of January, during or after unrest that followed the killing of a Turkmen fisherman by the security forces. They are believed to be held incommunicado in Bouyeh Prison by officials from Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence in the city of Gorgan, the capital of the north-eastern province of Golestan. They are at risk of torture.

On 28 December, an 18-year-old Turkmen fisherman, Husamettin Khadivar, was killed by maritime security officers. He had been fishing without a license in the Caspian Sea off the city of Bandar-e Torkman. Three other fishermen taking part in the unauthorised fishing were arrested.

It is not known where Jamshid Arazpour was arrested. Haji Aman Khadivar, older brother of the dead man, was detained while taking part in mourning and commemorative events for his brother, outside the family home in Chapaqli. Both men, and others detained in the course of protests which followed Husamettin Khadivar’s death, are said to have been tortured by three security officials while being transported in a minibus from Bandar-e Torkman to prison in Gorgan. Following the arrests, Bouyeh prison in Gorgan was said to have been so crowded that shackled detainees were forced to stand, possibly for hours, in freezing temperatures in the prison’s courtyard, before they were put in cells.

An Iranian body, the Turkmen Human Rights Group is said to have taken up the arrested men^s case with the authorities.

On 30 December people from Turkmen fishing villages including Chapaqli and Khoja Nafas went to the military base near Chapaqli to seek information and to protest at the killing. Some also tried to lodge complaints at the office of the security chief of Bandar-e Torkman, but were turned away. Protests followed which are said to have led to broken windows and cars set on fire near the offices of the district governor, the security forces and the maritime security office. The protests are said to have continued until around 6 January, when the authorities received reinforcements. Dozens of Turkmen protesters are said to have been injured, and 200-300 were arrested in villages in the region, including at least two from Gomesh Deppeh (Gomeshiyan in Persian), 20 from Chapaqli and 75 from Bandar-e Torkman. The detainees were reportedly not given any reason for their arrest, nor told what was going to happen to them. Their families have not been told where they are held, nor allowed to contact them.

Scores, if not hundreds, of Turkmen have reportedly been taken to Zahedan in Sistan-Baluchistan province, possibly to make it harder for families to find out what has happened to them. One report suggested that these people were arrested at night and taken, in whatever they were wearing, to a detention centre where they received clothing and, in many cases, were taken from the region.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

The Turkmen of Iran number around 2.2 million (no more than 3% of the population), and speak a Turkic language. They are Sunni Muslim and live in the north-west of the country. They are allowed no education or social services in their mother tongue, though a small number of newspapers are allowed to publish in Turkmen. Turkmen cannot obtain senior positions in even local government, under discriminatory gozinesh, or selection policies.

According to Turkmen sources, at least two other fishermen have been killed in the past two years, in a region marked by poverty and up to 40% unemployment. Fishing has reportedly recently been transformed into a state enterprise, effectively banning individual fishermen from their traditional livelihood.

The parliamentary representative for Bandar-e Torkman, himself a Turkmen, has reportedly complained to parliament on three occasions about the killing of Husamettin Khadivar and the subsequent mass arrests of his constituents. In one of his statements he is reported to have said that, "One cannot tell poor villagers that they should continue to live in hunger."

RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible, in Persian, English, Turkmen or your own language:

- expressing concern at the reports of the incommunicado detention of up to 300 Turkmen, including Jamshid Arazpour and Haji Aman Khadivar following the killing of Husamettin Khadivar;

- calling on the authorities to ensure that none is tortured or ill-treated;

-calling on the authorities to allow all those detained to be granted immediate and regular access to their families and lawyer of their choice and to be granted any medical treatment they may require;

- reminding the authorities of their obligation under international human rights law to charge the detainees with recognisably criminal offences and to try them promptly and fairly, or else release them.

APPEALS TO:

Head of the Judiciary

Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi

Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Justice Building, Panzdah-Khordad Square,

Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran

Email: info@dadgostary-tehran.ir (In the subject line write: FAO Ayatollah Shahroudi)

Salutation: Your Excellency

Minister of Intelligence

Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejeie

Ministry of Intelligence, Second Negarestan Street, Pasdaran Avenue, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran

Salutation: Your Excellency

COPIES TO:

Leader of the Islamic Republic

His Excellency Ayatollah Sayed ‘Ali Khamenei, The Office of the Supreme Leader

Islamic Republic Street - Shahid Keshvar Doust Street, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
Email: info@leader.ir

Governor of Golestan province
Governorate of Golestan (Ostandari-ye Ostan-e Golestan)
Gorgan, Islamic Republic of Iran

Email: via website: http://www.golestanstate.ir/layers.aspx?quiz=contact

Put your name in the top field and your message in the last field. Click the grey box beneath to send.

COPIES TO: diplomatic representatives of Iran accredited to your country.

PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY. Check with the International Secretariat, or your section office, if sending appeals after 6 March 2008.