[legal-professionals] Iran: Arrest of lawyers Mr. Mohammed-Ali Dadkhah and Mr. Soltani

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

URGENT APPEAL – THE OBSERVATORY

IRN 001 / 0102 / OBS 007.02
IRN 002 / 0702 / OBS 041.01
Arrests
Iran
21 January 2003

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

Brief description of the situation:

The Observatory has been informed that on 20 January 2003, Messrs. 
Mohammed-Ali Dadkhah and Soltani, lawyers of the Bar of Tehran, who are 
both engaged in the defence of Iranian political prisoners, were arrested 
at their homes and imprisoned. According to notification that they had 
received, they were in fact supposed to go to Evin prison on 21 January.

On 20 May 2002, Mr. Dadkhah was sentenced to five months' imprisonment and 
banned from practising law for ten years. The trial took place behind 
closed doors, giving rise to fears that Mr. Dadkhah did not receive a fair 
trial. In December, the sentence was upheld by a court of appeals.

Mr. Dadkhah had previously been brought before the court of Tehran on 28 
January 2002. The President of the Revolution's Court had filed a complaint 
against him for libel and false testimony. The complaint was based on a 
speech which Mr. Dadkhah had made in court in November 2001, in defence of 
various political prisoners and journalists who were arrested during two 
round-ups in March and April 2001. Mr. Dadkhah had been expelled by the 
President of the Revolution's Court in the course of his defence speech and 
was therefore unable to carry out the defence of his clients for the rest 
of the trial.

On 9 July 2002, Mr. Soltani was sentenced to four months in jail by the 
court of Tehran and will be unable to practise law for five years. Mr. 
Soltani represented a dozen political prisoners in March 2002. The main 
charge against him is that he claimed in his defence speeches that his 
clients had suffered from ill treatment while being interrogated. His own 
lawyer, Mr. Seyfzadeh, was sentenced to four months in jail and will be 
unable to practise law for three years. Both lawyers have appealed the 
rulings. The appeals are still pending.

The Observatory is extremely concerned by these imprisonments based on 
arbitrary sentences, whose only objective was to prevent freedom of 
expression and freedom to practise as a lawyer. The Observatory requests 
that Messrs. Dadkhah and Soltani be freed immediately.

On 16 January 2003, the Observatory has been informed of the acquittals of 
Ms. Chirin Ebadi, a lawyer and chairperson of a children's rights NGO, and 
another lawyer, Mr. Mohsen Rohami. They had both been given a suspended 
sentence of fifteen months' imprisonment and deprived of their civil rights 
on the charge of libelling the authorities. This sentence referred to the 
fact that they defended the students who were attacked by police forces on 
the campus of the University of Tehran in July 1999 (cf. Annual Report 2001).

Action requested:
Please write to the Iranian authorities urging them to:

i. immediately release Messrs. Dadkhah and Soltani.
ii. guarantee, under all circumstances, the physical integrity of Messrs. 
Dadkhah and Soltani as well as that of all human rights defenders in Iran.
iii. abide by the provisions of the Declaration on the Protection of Human 
Rights Defenders adopted on the 9 December 1998, by the U.N. General 
Assembly, particularly, Article 1 which stipulates that "everyone has the 
right, individually and in association with others, to promote and to 
strive for the protection and realization of human rights and fundamental 
freedoms at national and international levels," and Article 9.3.c according 
to which "everyone has the right, individually and in association with 
others, to offer and provide professionally qualified legal assistance or 
other relevant advice and assistance in defending human rights and 
fundamental freedoms."
iv. more generally abide by the Universal declaration on Human Rights and 
Covenants and international Conventions.

Addresses:

President Hojjatoleslam val Moslemin Sayed Mohammed Khatami, The 
Presidency, Palestine Avenue, Azerbaijan Intersection, Tehran, Islamic 
Republic of Iran, E-mail: khatami@president.ir

Ministere of Justice, Mahmoud Hashemi Shahrudi, Ministry of Justice, Park-e 
Shahr, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran, Fax: 98 21 879 6671

Minister of Foreign Affairs, M. Kamal Kharrazi, Ministry of Foreign 
Affairs, Sheikh Abdolmajid Keshk-e Mesri Av, Tehran, Islamic Republic of 
Iran, Fax : 98 21 390 1999

The Iranian Embassy in your country.

**************
Geneva - Paris, 22nd January 2003

Kindly inform the Observatory of any action undertaken, quoting the code 
number of this appeal in your reply.

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: Fax : 33 (0) 1 55 80 83 92
Tel. : FIDH 33 (0) 1 43 55 20 11 OMCT : + 41 22 809 49 39 E-mail 
observatoire@iprolink.ch