Iran: Mme Shiva Nazarahari et six autres défenseurs des droits humains en danger en détention

Your Excellency,

Human rights defender Ms Shiva Nazarahari and six other members of the Committee of Human Rights Reporters (CHRR), Mr Kouhyar Goudarzi, Mr Saeed Kalanaki, Mr Mehrdad Rahimi, Ms Parisa Kakaie, Mr Saeed Haeri and Mr Saeed Jalalifar are being pressurized to falsely confess that the CHRR is affiliated with the Mojahedin Khalq Organization (MKO).

On 20 December 2009, Shiva Nazarahari was arrested when the bus she was travelling on was stopped by security forces in Enqelab Square in Tehran. At the time of her arrest she was on her way to Qom to attend the funeral of Grand Ayatollah Montazeri. Following the arrest, Shiva Nazarahari went on dry hunger strike. On 1 January 2010, she was transferred to the health clinic of Evin prison’s ward 209 where she was reportedly warned that she would be executed if she continued her hunger strike. It is believed that she and the six other members of the CHRR are under pressure to falsely confess to their organization's affiliation with the MKO. Previously, during a meeting with Shiva Nazarahari’s family, the Tehran Prosecutor reportedly said that the CHRR is “associated with MKO.”

On 14 June 2009, Shiva Nazarahari was previously arrested at her home in Tehran. She was released on bail after one hundred days in detention and currently awaits trial. Prior to that, she was arrested in August 2004 while at a gathering of political prisoners’ families in front of the United Nations building. On that occasion she was sentenced to a one-year suspended prison term.

I am deeply concerned by the targeting of human rights defenders in Iran, including Shiva Nazarahari, Kouhyar Goudarzi, Saeed Kalanaki, Mehrdad Rahimi, Parisa Kakaie, Saeed Haeri, and Saeed Jalalifar, and believe that the arrests of the aforementioned human rights defenders are directly related to their peaceful and legitimate activities in defence of human rights.

I call on you to urge the Iranian authorities to:

1.Immediately and unconditionally release Shiva Nazarahari, Kouhyar Goudarzi, Saeed Kalanaki, Mehrdad Rahimi, Parisa Kakaie, Saeed Haeri, and Saeed Jalalifar, as I believe that they are being held solely as a result of their legitimate and peaceful work in the defence of human rights;

2.Carry out an immediate, thorough and impartial investigation into the arrest and detention of the aforementioned human rights defenders;

3.Refrain from arresting or detaining human rights defenders solely for conducting their legitimate work in defence of human rights or for expressing their opinions on related issues;

4.Ensure that the treatment of Shiva Nazarahari, Kouhyar Goudarzi, Saeed Kalanaki, Mehrdad Rahimi, Parisa Kakaie, Saeed Haeri, and Saeed Jalalifar while in detention, adheres to all those conditions set out in the ‘Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment', adopted by UN General Assembly resolution 43/173 of 9 December 1988;

5.Take all necessary measures to guarantee the physical and psychological security and integrity of the aforementioned human rights defenders;

6.Guarantee in all circumstances that human rights defenders in Iran are able to carry out their legitimate human rights activities without fear of reprisals, and free of all restrictions including judicial harassment.

Yours sincerely,