UN EXPERT CONCERNED ABOUT CONTINUED DETENTION OF MEMBERS OF FREEDOM MOVEMENT OF IRAN, RELIGIOUS-NATIONALIST ALLIANCE

15 January 2001





The Special Representative of the Commission on Human Rights on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, Maurice Copithorne, has expressed deep concern to the Iranian Government over the continued detention of at least ten supporters of the Freedom Movement of Iran and the Religious-Nationalist Alliance, detained on 11 March and 7 April 2001, as well as over the conditions in which their trials are being held.

Some of the detainees were released on bail during the summer, but at least ten continue to be in detention, the Special Representative notes. The trials by the Revolutionary Court started on 28 November 2001 and 8 January 2002. Both trials are being held in camera and it is reported that the lawyers have been denied access to the files because they have refused to sign commitments not to disclose any details.

Some of these persons were connected with the Freedom Movement of Iran, the unregistered but long-tolerated organization founded by the first post-revolution Prime Minister, the Special Representative points out. Some of the detainees are Muslim reformers of long-standing, active in the struggle against the Shah, he continues.

In several urgent communications to the Government dated 24 July 2001, 29 October 2001 and 28 November 2001, the Special Representative has urged the Iranian Government to use all the resources at its disposal to have the detainees released and to guarantee the protection of their rights to physical and mental integrity, as well as to a fair trial.

In his letters the Special Representative has expressed his concern at the issuing of temporary detention orders in apparent disregard for the Iranian Constitution which clearly limits the cases in which judges can resort to this measure and in a situation in which no evidence has been made public in support of the charges brought against the detainees. He has also conveyed his deep concern for the denial of their right to contact their families and lawyers, and the later practice of arranging periodic meetings under stressful conditions.


The conditions in which the detainees were and in some cases continue to be held in a military camp, often in prolonged incommunicado detention, exposed to psychological and physical pressure and the denial of access to medical treatment to some of the detainees have also been a matter of great concern to the Special Representative.

In his representations the Special Representative has repeatedly referred to his conversation on 9 July 2001 with Abbas-Ali Alizadeh, Chief of the Tehran Justice District, in which he was told that all of these detainees were about to be released on bail.In the context of the beginning of the trial of the second group of defendants, the Special Representative once again is urging the Government to honour this commitment and to use all the resources at its disposal to have the detainees still being held in prison released immediately, as well as to guarantee all of these persons a fair trial.



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