News
< New Rudolfo Anaya Kid's Book Chosen for Land of Enchantment Book Award | Main | Last Week's Freedom to Write Action Alert-China >
Urgent Request for Action: Death Sentence Confirmed Against Iranian-Kurdish Journalist
August 08, 2007
The Writers in Prison Committee of International PEN reiterates its concern about the death sentence handed down to Iranian Kurdish journalist, writer and human rights activist Adnan Hassanpour on 16 July 2007, which was reportedly confirmed by an appeals court on 31 July 2007. Hassanpour, who was arrested on 25 January 2007, is believed to have been convicted of being a mohareb (enemy of God) possibly for expressing his views on the Kurdish issue.
Story Continued...
According to PEN’s information, Adnan Hassanpour, journalist and advocate of cultural rights for Iranian Kurds, was detained on 25 January 2007 in Marivan, a small city in the northwestern province of Kurdistan. He was reportedly held incommunicado without charge in a Ministry of Intelligence facility in Marivan, and transferred to Marivan prison on 26 March 2007. He appeared before the Islamic Revolutionary Court in Sanandaj on 12 June 2007, in the presence of his lawyer.Adnan Hassanpour was reportedly taken from Marivan prison to an unconfirmed place of detention, possibly the detention facility run by the Ministry of Intelligence in Sanandaj, the capital of Kurdistan province, early in the morning of 15 July 2007. On 16 July 2007 he was told that he had been sentenced to death on charges of espionage and Moharebeh (being at enmity with God). The sentence was confirmed on appeal on 31 July 2007, and must now to be further confirmed by the Supreme Court. In April 2007, the Mehr News Agency, which is said to have close links with Iran’s judiciary, apparently alleged that Adnan Hassanpour had been in contact with Kurdish opposition groups and had helped two people from Khuzestan province, who were wanted by the authorities, to flee from Iran. However, in an interview carried by the online publication Rooz, Hassanpour’s lawyer, Saleh Nikbakht, said that the charges related to a phone conversation he had with a staff member of Radio Voice of America (see: http://www.roozonline.com/english/archives/2007/07/006302.php).
Adnan Hassanpour is a former member of the editorial board of the Kurdish-Persian weekly journal, Aso (Horizon), which was closed by the Iranian authorities in August 2005 following widespread unrest in Kurdish areas. He had previously been tried in connection with articles published in the journal. He is a member of the Kurdish Writer’s Association. Hassanpour’s cousin, environmentalist Abdolwahed (known as Hiwa) Butimar was also tried with Hassanpour on the same charges, and handed down the death penalty.
On 23 July 2007, four Kurdish intellectuals were arrested for their activities in support of Hassanpour and Butimar, including journalist Ako Kurdnasab, a Board member of the weekly Karaftu, Behzad Kordestani, a well-known poet and writer from Marivan, and Bakhtiyar Rahimi, a journalist from Marivan. Behzad Kordestani was released without charge on 24 July 2007, but Ako Kurdnasab and Bakhtiyar Rahimi will reportedly remain in jail for at least two months, and are feared to be held incommunicado.
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. Several other Iranian-Kurdish journalists are currently detained, including Kaveh Javanmard, Mohammad Sadiq Kabudvand and Ejlal Qavami (see previous alerts).
RECOMMENDED ACTION
Please send appeals:
· Expressing dismay at the death sentence handed down to journalist Adnan Hassanpour, and fears that he is being held in violation of Article 19 of the ICCPR.
· Expressing concerns at reports that he has been ill treated in detention, and seeking reassurances from the Iranian authorities that Adnan Hassanpour’s wellbeing is guaranteed.
· Expressing concern about an apparent crackdown on Iranian-Kurdish journalists and writers, and calling for the immediate and unconditional release of all journalists and writers detained in Iranian Kurdistan solely for the peaceful expression of their views.