[legal-professionals] Iran: New condemnation of a lawyer: Nasser Zarafchan

THE OBSERVATORY for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders
A joint programme of
FIDH and the OMCT

--------------------------------------------------------------------

URGENT APPEAL - THE OBSERVATORY

New Information
IRN 004/0012/OBS 125.4
Condemnation
Iran
17th July 2002

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint
programme of FIDH and OMCT, requests your urgent intervention in the
following situation in Iran.

New information :

The Observatory has been informed by the League for the Defence of
Human Rights in Iran (LDDHI) that, on July 15th, 2002, the Military
Court of Tehran confirmed the sentence of the Military Tribunal of
Tehran against Mr. Nasser Zarafchan, a human rights defender and the
lawyer of Mrs. Sima Pouhandeh, the widow of Mohammed Djafar Pouhandeh
(a writer, kidnapped and assassinated in December 1998 by public
information officers).

Mr. Zarafchan has been sentenced to 5 years of imprisonment and
condemned to 50 lashes. As an appeal before the Supreme Court would
not suspend his imprisonment, Mr. Zarafchan may be put in jail.

The Observatory considers this condemnation to be arbitrary and only
aimed at depriving Mr. Zarafchan of its right to practice. It recalls
that this sentence occurs only a few days after the condemnations of
two other lawyers, Mr. Soltani and Mr. Seyfzadeh Mohammad condemned
respectively to 4 months imprisonment and 5 years of prhibition to
practice as a lawyer, and 4 months imprisonment and 3 years of
prohibition to practice his profession (See Observatory urgent appeal
IRN 002/0702/OBS 041).

Reminder of the facts :

On March 18th, 2002, Mr. Nasser Zarafchan, had been sentenced by the
Military Tribunal of Tehran, to three years imprisonment for
"possession of firearms and alcohol". He had also been sentenced to
two years imprisonment for the opinions he had expressed during
interviews with the press, concerning the trial dealing with the
assassinations of Iranian intellectuals, which came to a conclusion
in January 2001. Mr. Zarafchan had appealed against the decision of
the Tribunal.

Mr. Zarafchan's trial had began on November 3rd, 2001, before the
Military Tribunal of Tehran. He had been first arrested on December
9th, 2000, and released on bail two weeks later. During his trial,
Mr. Zarafchan had been arrested and then released two days later.

Action requested :

Please write to the authorities of Iran urging them to :

i. guarantee the physical integrity of Mr. Zarafchan in any
circumstances;

ii. ensure Mr. Zarafchan's freedom in reason of the arbitrariness of
his condemnation;

iii. Conform with the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, adopted
by the General Assembly of the United Nations on 9 December 1998, in
particular its article 1 which states that "everyone has the right,
individually and in association with other, to promote and to strive
for the protection and realization of human rights and fundamental
freedoms at the national and international levels".

iv. Conform with the disposals of the Universal Declaration on Human
Rights and of human rights regional and international instruments
which bound the Islamic Republic of Iran.


Addresses :

- His Excellency Hojjatoleslam val Moslemin Sayed Mohammad Khatami,
President of the Islamic Republic, The Presidency, Palestine Avenue,
Azerbaijan Intersection, Tehran (Iran); E-mail: khatami@president.ir

- His Excellency Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahrudi, Head of the
Judiciary, Ministry of Justice, Park-e Shahr, Tehran (Iran); Fax: +
98 21 879 6671

- The Iranian Embassy of your country.


Paris, Geneva, 17th July 2002


*************


The Observatory, a joint FIDH and OMCT venture, is dedicated to the
protection of Human Rights Defenders and aims to offer them concrete
support in their time of need.

To contact the Observatory, call the Emergency Line:
E-mail: observatoire@iprolink.ch
Tel and fax FIDH +33 (0) 1 43 55 20 11 / 01 43 55 18 80
Tel and fax OMCT + 4122 809 49 39 / 41 22 809 49 29