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Previous Action Alert - 05/29/07 - IRAN
May 31, 2007
Story Continued...
The Writers in Prison Committee of International PEN protests the two-year prison sentence handed down to Iranian Kurdish journalist Kaveh Javanmard on 17 May 2007. The charges against him have not been made known, although he is believed to be held for his legitimate professional activites as a journalist. International PEN is calling for his immediate and unconditional release in accordance with Article 19 of the United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Iran is a signatory. PEN is also seeking reassurances of his well being from the Iranian government.
According to PEN’s information, officials from the Ministry of Intelligence arrested Kaveh Javanmard, a journalist for the weekly Krafto, at his home in Sanandej on 18 December 2006. He was held incommuncado in pre-trial detention at Sanandej prison, where he was feared to be at risk of ill-treatment. The authorities have reportedly targeted other staff members of Krafto in recent weeks. Javanmard’s arrest came during a wave of arrests, bans and acts of intimidation against the media following a visit to the Kurdish north by the President and the Culture Minister in September 2006. Other journalists have since been arrested, including Adnan Hassanpour who was arrested on 25 January 2007 and is still held incommunicado (see previous alerts). International PEN is deeply concerned about an apparant pattern of repression against journalists and human rights activists in Iranian Kurdistan, which has been ongoing since unrest broke out in the Kurdish areas of Iran in July 2005, and was violently suppressed by the authorities.
Kaveh Javanmard will reportedly serve his sentence at a prison in the town of Maragheh, 300 miles from his family home. He was reportedly denied legal representation and was tried in secret. The charges against him remain unknown.
RECOMMENDED ACTION
Sample Letter of Appeal
Please send appeals:
· Protesting the detention of journalist Kaveh Javanmard, and seeking details of the charges against him;
· Expressing concern that his trial did not appear to conform with international standards;
· Calling for his release in accordance with Article 19 of the ICCPR, to which Iran is a signatory.
· Expressing concern about an apparent pattern of repression against journalists and human rights activists in Kurdish Iran.
APPEALS TO:
Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic
His Excellency Ayatollah Sayed ‘Ali Khamenei,
The Office of the Supreme Leader
Shoahada Street, Qom, Islamic Republic of Iran
Email: info@leader.ir or istiftaa@wilayah.org
Head of the Judiciary
His Excellency Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi
Ministry of Justice, Park-e Shahr,
Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
Email: via Judiciary website: Iranjudiciary.org/feedback_en.html
Salutation: Your Excellency
Minister of Intelligence
Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejeie
Ministry of Intelligence,
Second Negarestan Street,
Pasdaran Avenue,
Tehran
Islamic Republic of Iran.
Email: iranprobe@iranprobe.com
COPIES TO:
President:
His Excellency Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
The Presidency,
Palestine Avenue,
Azerbaijan Intersection,
Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
Fax: Via Foreign Ministry: +98 21 6 674 790
(mark: “Please forward to H.E. President Ahmadinejad")
Email: dr-ahmadinejad@president.ir
via website: http://www.president.ir/email