IRAN LONGEST POLITICAL PRISONER SAYS HE CONTINUES STRUGGLE

UNTIL MY LAST BREATH I SHALL DEFEND MYSELF AND ALL POLITICAL PRISONER: AMIR ENTEZAM

PARIS-WASHINGTON (IPS)

In a letter to the United Nations General Secretary Kofi Annan, some members of the Washington-based "Alliance for Iran" have
called on him for the immediate release from jail of Mr. Abbas Amir Entezam,  Iran,s, and probably one of the world's oldest political prisoner.
        A former Deputy Prime Minister, Mr. Amir Entezam was first jailed on charges of espionage for the CIA, an accusation never proved and though he was kept in prison and tortured for 17 years, he was never tried.
        Thrown out of jail in 1977 after he refused to leave prison without a "fair trial" with the presence of international press and lawyers alongside Iranians, Mr. Amir Entezam was suddenly re arrested after, in interviews with foreign-based Persian service radio stations, he gave graphic details of some of the 171 methods of tortures applied on political prisoners in Iranian Islamic jails.
        He was tried in abstentia last February, but nothing is known from the court's decision. A few weeks ago, the civilian court judging Mr. Amir Entezam ruled that it was not competent to judge charges of sedition and rebellion against state and the sacred Islamic Republic, sending the case to an Islamic Revolution Court.

Following is the letter of The Alliance to Mr Annan

Feb. 10, 1999
URGENT

The honorable Kofi Annan
Secretary General, UN
One United Nations Plaza
New York, NY     10017
 

Dear Mr. Annan,

The life of one of the most prominent political opponents of the Islamic regime of Iran , Mr. Abbas Amir Entezam who had served as deputy prime minister under the government of Mehdi Bazargan after the 1979 revolution is in grave danger.  He is the longest held political prisoner in Iran for "crimes" in defense of human rights and for advocating democracy in Iran.  His opposition to the rule of the clerics in Iran, which is shared by the majority of Iranians, has made him the prime target of assasination by the regime.  In
numerous occasions, Mr. Amir Entezam and his wife have written letters to the President of Iran, Mr. Mohammed Khatami demanding an open trial with observers from the international body and the right to select his personal attorney to defend himself against charges he is accused of.

Last week, he barely escaped an assassination attempt by the guards while in captivity.  In chains, he was transferred to a hospital and gravely ill he was brought back to prison.  The President was notified as well as other officials in the government.  However, no measure has been taken to secure his life. Iranians, residing abroad in Europe and the United States in a "solidarity" movement to echo the atrocities of the regime in Iran, are requesting the United Nations and yourself to use your power to demand the following from the Islamic regime in Iran :

1. Stop the crimes against humanity and the political assasination of opponents in Iran.

2. An open trial for the accused parties in the recent murders of the Forouhars and other political activists.

3.The freedom of all political prisoners in Iran.

The Alliance for defence of human rights in Iran received a message from the Archbishop Desmond Tutu in support of  human rights and the Iranian movement for democracy.  (copy attached).

On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the Iranian revolution, the Islamic regime has for the first time invited the American Press and Academic figures to attend lectures and conferences in Tehran and other cities.  This coincides with the most horrific crimes and murders undertaken by elements within the Islamic regime against writers, journalists, academicians and activists inside
Iran.  The Islamic regime of Iran  as a signatory to the Charter of UN Human Rights, has lost its legitimacy to represent the Iranian people and to secure the safety of its citizens.

The world and the United Nations must put pressure on the Islamic regime to accept UN observers to investigate the recent political murders.

The Alliance for defence of human rights in Iran has organised a series of lectures and conferences for Mr. Arash Forouhar, the son of the late Iranian patriots, Dariush and Parvaneh Forouhar who were brutally murdered  in Tehran in November 22nd 1998.   Mr. A. Forouhar has crucial evidence and documents which implicates the Ministry of Information of the Islamic Republic for his
parents' murder.  He will be in New York for Press Conferences and other meetings on Feb 11 and Feb 12, 1999.

We will be glad to organise an interview with Mr. Forouhar with any human rights organisations and the Press as the situation in Iran becomes volatile.

Sincerely,

cc:   President William J. Clinton
      President Jimmy Carter
      Archbishop Desmund Tutu
      Secretary Madeleine Albright
      Christopher Stevens-Iran desk The State Department Sender:
      AboutIran@aol.com
 

About Iran… has translated the following text of an open letter by Mr. Abbas Amir-Entezam, the longest held prisoner of conscience under the Islamic Republic.  The Farsi version of this letter was given to About Iran… by the Committee in Defence of Abbas Amir-Entezam in New York.  Mr. Entezam continues to be in great danger.  It is incumbent upon all international human rights
organisations to monitor his situation closely.  Please distribute this open letter as widely as possible.

Dear Compatriots, Freedom-Loving People of the World:
I am thankful to a virtuous God for once again, from his divine dispensations, presenting the opportunity [for the world] to see the rising disgrace of the Judiciary branch of the Islamic Republic for violating the legal and human rights [in my case].  This adds another chapter to the past volumes of [the Islamic Republic's] shameful acts.

As everyone is aware, it has been several months since the Judiciary system has again imprisoned me  on charges of libel for insulting Asadollah Ladjevardi, the ex-warden and ex-prosecutor of Evin Prison.  In this episode [of my ordeal], all the regime's authorities have co-ordinated to prevent me, my lawyers and defence witnesses from attending the court hearing.  Rather, in
a closed court and a private gathering, they have tried me in absentia, and once again, [they have decided to refer me to the revolutionary tribunal, and in this way], they have relegated my fate to the revolutionary tribunal.  By these tactics, they believe they can induce fear and terror within me and  force me into silence.

Freedom Loving People of Iran and the World:

Such audacity in violating the principles of human rights is unprecedented in the world.  Yet, for one who has withstood 18 years of this regime's atrocities, I raise my voice to ask the regime's authorities, if they are not afraid of my presence in the court, to allow me to be tried by a jury in an authentic court, one that is open to the people and to human rights observers.
[In such a court], I shall defend myself and I shall show that what I have tated about the barbaric and anti-human actions of Asadollah Lajdevardi, former prison prosecutor, and other authorities is neither libellous nor slanderous, but rather factual.  And this can be attested to by thousands of those who suffered in prisons.

However, I am well aware that this time, like their stonewalling of my attempts [in the past 18 years] to redeem myself from my first tyrannical conviction to life in prison by a revolutionary court, the atrocious and corrupt hands of the Judiciary branch will not allow me to defend myself in an authentic court.  They will not allow it because  they know that my [trial] revelations about the [atrocities] that have been endured by the Iranian people in the past 20 years will further inform the world about the reality of our situation under the tyrannical regime of the Vali-Faghih [i.e., the theocratic rule of the supreme religious leader].  They are apprehensive of such revelations.

Once again, from my prison cell in Evin prison, I declare that I shall continue, until my last breath,  my relentless struggle to redeem my own rights and those of millions of my compatriots who, at the outset of the 21st century, are imprisoned in the hands of the most terrifying and tyrannical regime.   I shall carry on this struggle for as long as my afflicted body, which has been subjected to 18 years of suffering and hardship in prison, will endure.  I trust in God's kindness and the support of my freedom loving compatriots and people of the world, and I bear this historical lesson well in my mind: "A country survives blasphemy, but crumbles under tyranny."

Abbas Amir-Entezam
Evin Prison [Tehran]
February 25, 1999