[hr-media] Iran: "Trial" of journalist a mockery of the law

(New York, March 13, 2002) The Iranian authorities have begun closed and
unannounced proceedings against a seventy-three-year-old Iranian
journalist who is being denied his basic right to a fair trial, Human
Rights Watch said today.

The journalist, Siamak Pourzand, was arbitrarily detained by security
forces outside his sister's house at 9:00 pm on November 29, 2001. His
family's efforts to find out where he is being held have been unsuccessful,
though his sister was allowed to visit him on three occasions, for short
periods of time, at the office of the Public Morals Police and the State
Inspectorate. The Inspectorate is the same place to which many Iranian
intellectuals, writers and journalists have been summoned in recent
months by a shadowy parallel intelligence apparatus.

"The judicial authorities are making a mockery of rule of law in Iran,"
said Hanny Megally, Executive Director of the Middle East and North
Africa division of Human Rights Watch. "The Iranian authorities have
given no reason to hold Mr. Pourzand, and by law they should release him
immediately."

Mr. Pourzand has had no access to lawyers or to medical assistance
during his four months of incommunicado detention.

On March 9, the official newspaper Iran Daily reported unexpectedly that
Pourzand's trial had begun in public on March 6, and that he was
represented by his lawyer. According to the same report, in the first
trial session Pourzand allegedly made a "confession" that prior to the
Islamic Revolution of 1979 he had been working for the Iranian secret
service (Savak). Pourzand's family have contradicted this information
adding that their attempts to present documentation assigning him a
lawyer were denied by the authorities. None of the charges against him
have been made public.

Megally added that judicial authorities have used incommunicado
detentions and forced confessions repeatedly in recent years against
independent activists.

On March 8, Pourzand briefly telephoned his youngest daughter in
Washington, D.C. and, according to her testimony, asked that his family
treat him as if he were dead. He also confirmed that his trial had
started the day before.

Siamak Pourzand heads the Artistic and Cultural Complex in Tehran and he
has also worked as cultural commentator with several reformist
newspapers. All of them have since been closed.

Human Rights Watch is concerned that this prosecution is a continuation
of a pattern of repression against reformist and
independent figures that has gathered momentum since February's 2000
parliamentary elections. Since then virtually every independent
newspaper has been closed down and leading editors, journalists, and
thinkers have been imprisoned. Moreover, the announcement of Pourzand's
trial came at a time when President Mohammad Khatami was visiting
Europe, following a pattern of conservative forces seeking to embarrass
the President during visits to the West.