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PUBLIC AI Index: MDE 13/072/2008
22 May 2008
Further Information on UA 24/08
(MDE 13/016/2008, 25 January 2008) Fear of torture
IRAN
Jamshid Arazpour (m), ethnic Turkmen from Gomesh
Deppeh
Haji Aman Khadivar (m), ethnic Turkmen
from Chapaqli, Golestan
82 others
Jamshid Arazpour and Haji Aman Khadivar, who were among a
group of Iranians of Turkmen ethnicity detained in early January 2008, are now
known to have been charged with public order offences and tried, although the
outcomes of their trials are not known. Meanwhile, reports have emerged that
some of those detained, including children, were tortured by security forces.
Between 200 and 300 Iranian
Turkmen living in the coastal province
of Golestan,
near the city of Bandar-e
Torkman, were arrested after the killing of an
Iranian Turkmen fisherman by maritime security officers on 28 December 2007.
The fisherman was one of a group fishing without a
license in the Caspian Sea. The killing caused
severe and widespread unrest in Turkmen areas around Bandar-e-Torkman. Government buildings and other public and private
property was reportedly damaged.
Most of those detained were
released without charge in January. Eighty-four people were charged with public
order offences and released on bail, amounting to the equivalent of around
US$3,350 for each person. Most of those arrested are thought to be fishermen, labourers and students.
The trials of the 84, including Jamshid Arazpour and Haji Aman Khadivar,
were scheduled to start on 6 May. Reports from human rights defenders mention
that some of the defendants did not have access to legal assistance. The
outcomes of the trials are not yet known.
At least six of those detained in
January, students under the age of 15, were held for between seven and 12 days
by security forces. According to their testimony, they were repeatedly beaten
and kicked, and they were raped with an object. Amnesty International has
previously received reports of the practice of male rape by security officials
using, for example, glass bottles. The students say that their feet were bound
with a wire or filament and they were subjected to electric shocks. One student
claimed that the torture left him deaf for several days. Other detainees were
kept outside, in sub-zero temperatures, for several hours, and food was denied
to some prisoners. The students claim that in order to avoid being tortured,
some of the detainees accepted all that was said about their alleged
activities, even if they had nothing to do with the unrest.
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 selection
policies.
According to a statement made by
the Organisation for the Defence
of Human Rights in Turkmen Sahra, on or around 8
February, a Turkmen fisherman was injured by gunfire. On or around 5 April,
maritime security forces were reported to have seized fishing equipment and
other property belonging to Turkmen fishermen in various towns and villages
near the Caspian Sea for reasons that are not known.
The parliamentary representative
for Bandar-e Torkman, who is himself a Turkmen, has
reportedly complained to parliament on three occasions about the killing of the
fisherman 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, (or Turkmen or
Turkish to the Governor of Golestan) or your own
language:
- expressing concern at reports
that some of those detained in January 2008 following the unrest relating to
the killing of a Turkmen fisherman were tortured and that this included
children;
- calling for an immediate
investigation into reports of torture used against Iranians of Turkmen
ethnicity, with a view to bringing the perpetrators to justice;
- calling on the authorities to
review the cases of the 84 reportedly charged with public order offences in
connection with the unrest following the killing of the fisherman, to ensure
that none of those who were charged were so as a result of the threat of
torture; and to ensure that they are tried in accordance with international
fair trial standards;
-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;
APPEALS TO:
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.
Salutation: Dear Governor
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
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
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:
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 3 July 2008.
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