|
PUBLIC AI Index: MDE 13/083/2008
13 June 2008
UA 166/08 Fear of torture and
ill-treatment/ Fear of death penalty
IRAN Fathollah Manouchehri
Fouladvand (aka Foroud Fouladvand) (m)
Alexander Valizadeh (aka Kourosh
Lor) (m)
Nazem Schmidtt (aka Simorgh) (m)
Foroud Fouladvand,
the leader of the group Anjoman-e Padeshahi-e Iran (API), which
advocates the restoration of the Iranian monarchy, may be held by the Ministry
of Intelligence in Tehran. Two other members of the same group, Kourosh Lor and
Simorgh, may also be held in Tehran. If so they are at risk of torture or other
ill-treatment, and may even be sentenced to death.
The three men were
apparently abducted on 17 January 2007 in Yüksekova, a district of Hakkari
Province in Turkey, near the border with Iran. Amnesty International has learnt
that Foroud Fouladvand may currently be held in Tehran, in a detention centre
run by the Ministry of Intelligence. He is said to have been charged with Efsad
fil Arz (corruption on earth) and moharebeh (being at enmity with
God), which can carry the death penalty.
Foroud Foulavand is
an Iranian national who was granted refugee status in the United Kingdom. He
travelled with his two supporters Alexander Valizadeh, an Iranian/ US citizen,
and Nazem Schmidtt, an Iranian/ German citizen, to Turkey, where they met with
people pretending to support API but who may have been Iranian Intelligence
officers. The hire car used by the three men was later found abandoned, its
windows broken, its wiring cut and without its number plates.
There is no further
information relating to the whereabouts of Alexander Valizadeh (aka Kourosh
Lor) and Nazem Schmidtt (aka Simorgh) or any trial proceedings relating to
their cases.
API advocates
restoration of the constitutional monarchy in Iran, which was abolished by the
Islamic Republic. It broadcasts on the satellite channel “Your TV” that has
been operating in London, UK, since 2002.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
The practice of abduction
of Iranian nationals outside Iran by Iranian security forces has previously
been documented by Amnesty International. Ali Tavassoli, a former political
opposition leader, disappeared in Baku, Republic of Azerbaijan in September
1995. The Iranian authorities denied reports that Iranian security forces had
been responsible for his abduction. Ali Tavassoli had been taken to Iran, where
he had been held for several years apparently without charge or trial, in a
secret detention centre(see: Iran: Amnesty International concerned about
possible government involvement in deaths of Iranian nationals, AI Index
MDE 13/07/96, 28 February 1996).
In another case,
Amnesty International received information in 2000 that Mohammad Maliki, a
recognized refugee, was abducted in February 1999 in Baku. He was said to have
been taken back to Iran and sentenced to six years‘ imprisonment by a
Revolutionary Court in Tabriz, north western Iran.
RECOMMENDED
ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible, in
Persian, English, Arabic or your own language:
- calling on the
authorities to clarify the whereabouts of Foroud Fouladvand, Alexander
Valizadeh and Nazem Schmidtt;
- should they be held
in Iran, calling on the authorities to ensure that they are not subjected to
torture and other ill-treatment, and to allow them immediate access to a lawyer
of their own choosing, and any medical treatment they may require;
- asking for
clarification of the circumstances surrounding their apparent arrest; what
charges, if any, have been brought against them; and when any trial will begin;
- calling on the
authorities to release them unless they are to be charged with a recognizably
criminal offence and given a prompt and fair trial.
APPEALS TO:
Head of the
Judiciary
Ayatollah Mahmoud
Hashemi Shahroudi
Howzeh Riyasat-e
Qoveh Qazaiyeh
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:
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
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 25 July 2008.
|
