Abducted on 29 November in front of her sister’s house in Tehran by unidentified plainclothes men sent by the Islamic Judiciary, Mr. Poorzand, a 71-years-old veteran journalist, is held in a secret prison, denied physical contact with his family and lawyer.

In interviews with foreign-based media, the overwhelmed family expressed deep concern about the situation of Mr. Poorzand, who has serious health problems, and regretted that no authority in the Islamic Republic, including the so-called "moderate" and "reformist" President never dared to answer their letters and queries to obtain information about the detained journalist.

However, the semi-official newspaper "Iran" suddenly reported two weeks ago that Mr. Poorzand was being tried in a court at the Tehran Mehrabad Airport Judiciary complex and defended by a lawyer, of whom the family had never heard of.

In an interview carried by the same paper last Monday after his second hearing, Mr. Poorzand confirmed all the "confessions" made in the court and pleaded guilty to all charges, including "passing information to Monarchists as well as having collaborated with SAVAK, the former regime’s secret services".

Pointing to the "parody" of Islamic justice, the family protested to the trial, noting that if the charges were correct, then Mr. Poorzand should have been tried not in an ordinary court and openly, as reported by the newspaper, but carried out in secret by an Islamic revolution court, which is competent for judging offences such as subversion and activities against the State.

Most of them opposed to the ruling Iranian Mollahrchy, these media are beaming live news and modern entertainment programmes via satellite to Iran, including interviews with Prince Reza Pahlavi, the 41 years-old son of the late Mohammad Raza Shah, toppled in 1979 by Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

As a result, the authorities decided to ban all satellite dishes.

In interviews with the Persian services of the BBC and the Prague-based Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Mrs. Kaar said though she had appointed Mr. Qolamali Riahi as defence for her husband, but he had been denied contact to the prisoner on the pretext that a counsel already defends him.

Expressing concern from the possibility that, due to his situation, her husband might loose legal procedures calling for an appeal, "meaning either because he has lost all hopes, which he has, or being so afraid and frightened, which he is, he might not protest to the oncoming verdict, or if he does, it would be a formal one, in order to finish with the ordeal", she said.

A prominent lawyer and human rights activist, Mrs. Kaar had been jailed two years ago on her return to Tehran from Berlin, where she had participated, alongside 16 other Iranian reformist and dissident personalities of all walk, at a controversial conference organised by the German government aimed at preparing the public opinion for the visit of the Iranian President, Hojjatoleslam Mohammad Khatami.

While Iranian press associations and guilds have kept silence about Mr. Poorzand’s case, international press and human rights organisations such as the Paris-based Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF, or Reporters Without Borders) and the Human Rights Watch (HRW), which is based in New York as well as the independent Rome-based independent Association of Iranian Journalist Abroad (AIJA) have vigorously protested to Iranian clerical led authorities, expressing their "grave concern" about the ill-treatment of the elderly journalist, urging his release from prison.

Noting that five journalists were recently freed from jail after large bail payments, RSF said in a communiqué it was worried about possible psychological pressure on Mr. Poorzand to confess, "as has happened in cases involving government opponents". 

It also protested against the serious failure to respect international standards at the trial, which began on 6 March, when the journalist was charged with nine offences, including "working to undermine state security" and "spying."

"Mr. Poorzand reportedly confessed at the 6 March hearing that he had worked with SAVAK, the former secret police under the regime of the Shah, overthrown in 1979, to foil subversion plots by dissident students and make propaganda in favour of the regime and the Shah personally", RSF said.

"At the second hearing on 11 March, Mr. Poorzand reportedly made more confessions, saying he had had "direct and indirect links with monarchist elements abroad."  He also told the government daily "Iran" that he accepted all the charges against him and said he had no defence", according to the press watchdog.

"As head of Teheran's artistic and cultural centre, Pourzand was also a cultural commentator for several reformist newspapers that have since been shut down", added the RSF, which, last year, "awarded" Ayatollah Khameneh'i as "one of the world’s strongest enemy of press freedom".

Describing Mr. Poorzand’s trial as a "mockery of the law", HRW said for its part that the Iranian authorities have given no reason to hold Mr. Poorzand, and by law they should release him immediately".

"The journalist, Siamak Poorzand, was arbitrarily detained by security forces outside his sister’s house on November 29, 2001 and his family’s efforts to find out where he is being held have been unsuccessful, though his sister was allowed to visit him on three occasions, for short periods of time, at the office of the Public Morals Police and the State Inspectorate", said Mr. Hanny Megally, Executive Director of the Middle East and North Africa division of Human Rights Watch.

"The judicial authorities are making a mockery of rule of law in Iran," HRW said, noting that Mr. Poorzand has had no access to lawyers or to medical assistance during his months of incommunicado detention.