Peyvast

REZA ALINEJAD

During her February 2007 speaking tour, Nazanin Afshin-Jam received an email titled “VERY URGENT” from an unknown sender named Ali Alinejad. She was shocked to learn from Ali that his brother Reza had been imprisoned for 5 years and was now facing imminent execution for a murder he claims he committed in self-defence when he was 17 years old. Nazanin had not heard of this case and it was not reported with Amnesty International. She immediately forwarded the message to Nazanin Fatehi’s lawyer Mr. Mostafaei to see if he could help in any way. After reviewing the file, Mr. Mostafaei agreed to take on Reza’s case.

Later Mr. Mostafai sent Nazanin a letter he had written to Ayatollah Shahroudi, head of judiciary of the Islamic Republic of Iran, asking for an appeal and re-trial. In his plea, Mr. Mostafaei explained that Reza was eating with his friend on the sidewalk, in the city of Shiraz, when they were approached by two men who started harassing them with profanities. They proceeded to attack Reza and his friend with a nunchaku (a Japanese weapon used in martial arts). Reza’s friend testified that the two attackers had surrounded them and they were not able to run away. Reza was seriously injured by a blow to the head While Reza was defending himself, one of the two attackers was stabbed and killed. Another person who had witnessed what had happened testified that Reza was defending himself. The friend of the man who was killed also testified that the fight was initiated by them and that they attacked Reza and his friend with a nunchaku.

In his letter, attorney Mr. Mostafaei, concluded that the murder was unintentional. He stressed that due to the fact that Reza was only 17 years old at the time of offence, he should not be executed because Iran is signatory to UN covenants that prohibit the executions of minors for alleged crimes committed below the age 18.

Reza is one of dozens of minors on death row sentenced by the Islamic Republic of Iran. Reza needs your help. According to Mr. Mostafaei, he only has one month to live.

Please sign the petiition to save Reza and all other minors facing execution at:

www.stopchildexecutions.com

www.StopChildExecutions.com

New phone interviews with attorney and father of Delara Darabi (persian) 

AI Index: MDE 13/022/2007 (Public)
News Service No: 044
5 March 2007

Amnesty International today called for the immediate and unconditional release of over 30 women activists who were arrested on Sunday, 4 March while staging a peaceful demonstration in Tehran. The organization believes the arrests may be intended to deter activists from organizing events to mark International Women’s Day on 8 March.

The women were arrested outside Tehran’s Revolutionary Court, where they had gathered to protest at the trial of five women charged in connection with a demonstration held on 12 June 2006 to demand that women be given equal rights with men under the law in Iran. The June demonstration was violently dispersed by security forces, who arrested at least 70 people.

“Rather than arresting peaceful demonstrators, the Iranian authorities should be taking seriously women’s demands for equality before the law and addressing discrimination against women wherever it exists in the Iranian legal system,” said Irene Khan, Amnesty International’s Secretary General. “We worry that the women detained yesterday may be kept in detention until after 8 March, a day on which they were planning to campaign for their internationally recognized right to equality.”

Those arrested on Sunday, who included at least four of the five on trial, were taken to the Vozara Department for Social Corruption, a detention centre usually used for people accused of minor crimes, such as violations of the dress code. Family members of those detained are said to have gone to the Vozara Building in an attempt to gain access and secure the release of their relatives, without success. According to reports, all the women were later transferred to Section 209 of Evin Prison, which is run by the Ministry of Intelligence and is outside the control of Iran’s prison service.

Background
Those arrested in the 12 June 2006 demonstration include Fariba Davoodi Mohajer, Shahla Entesari, Noushin Ahmadi Khorassani, Parvin Ardalan and Sussan Tahmasebi. All had been summoned to appear before Branch 6 of the Revolutionary Court in Tehran on charges of “propaganda against the system”, “acting against national security” and “participating in an illegal demonstration”.

Others have also been charged in connection with the 12 June demonstration, but have not yet been summoned to court. Another, Zhila Bani Ya’qoub, a journalist who was among those arrested on 4 March, was tried and acquitted in January 2007 on a charge of participating in an illegal demonstration relating to the 12 June demonstration.

In August 2006, Iranian women’s rights activists launched a “Campaign for Equality”, aimed at collecting a million signatures from Iranians in support of changes to the law to end legalised discrimination against women. The campaign’s website has been filtered by the Iranian authorities on several occasions in recent weeks, making it difficult for people in Iran to access information about the campaign. Amnesty International is supporting this campaign and will issue a joint statement calling for equal rights for women in Iran on International Women’s Day with Iranian lawyer and prominent human rights activist Shirin Ebadi, 2003 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate.

http://www.amnestyusa.org/news/document.do?id=ENGMDE130222007