FEAR OF ILL TREATMENT OR TORTURE FOR QASEM SHO’LEH SA’DI

LONDON (IPS) Amnesty International fears that Qasem Sho’leh Sa’di, a lawyer, may be facing torture or ill treatment in incommunicado detention following his arrest at Tehran’s international airport at 5 o’clock in the morning on 24 February, the London-based human rights Organisation warned.

Mr. Sho’leh Sa’di, a lawyer and political science professor at Tehran University, went to France on 6 December 2002, following publication of an open letter addressed to the Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khameneh’i. The letter, which respectfully questioned the basis of the Leader’s position and criticised a range of the Leader’s polices, did not incite violence or racial hatred. It was published on the writer's own website: www.sholehsadi.com. When he returned to Iran on 24 February, he was immediately detained.

At the airport, Mr. Qasem Sho’leh Sa’di was permitted a 30 second telephone call to his wife following his arrest. The next day, he informed his family in a telephone call that he was being detained at Evin Prison. He made a further call the following day but was not heard from again for six days until the morning of 4 March when he is reported to have said that he had been moved to the “public” section of the prison. This has not been confirmed and his family fears that it may not be true.

On the same day, a lawyer chosen by the family went to Evin to meet with Mr. Sho’leh Sa’di so that he could sign the agreement for him to be his lawyer. However, despite being detained in a “public” section of the prison, the lawyer was not permitted to meet with the prisoner. His family thus fears that he may not be held in Evin and that his call saying that he was may have been made under duress.

After noting that freedom of expression and association in Iran is curtailed by legal restrictions and by flaws in the administration of justice, resulting in a catalogue of unfair trials and the imprisonment of prisoners of conscience, Amnesty International says Mr. Sho’leh Sa’di was detained while members of the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention were visiting Iran.

According to his family, which claims that the attitude of the authorities has changed from “warm” to “threatening” since the departure of the UN team, Mr. Sho’leh Sa’di has started hunger strike from Monday to protest his arbitrary detention.


RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible, in English, French, Persian, Arabic or your own language:

- Urging the Iranian Judiciary to grant the family and lawyer of Mr. Sho’leh Sa’di immediate access to him, in accordance with Articles 32 and 35 of the Constitution of Iran and Article 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) to which Iran is a state party;

- Seeking assurances that Mr. Sho’leh Sa’di is not currently subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, which is prohibited by Article 7 of the ICCPR and Article 38 of the Constitution of Iran;

- Seeking urgent clarification of the charges against Qasem Sho’leh Sa’di, noting that such charges should be in accordance with internationally recognisable criminal offences;

- Stating that if the charges are connected with the views he expressed in his open letter of 6 December 2002, this would give him the status of prisoner of conscience and he should therefore be released immediately and unconditionally. ENDS AMNESTY ON SHO’LEH SA’DI 12303