|
|
Free
expression groups call on Iran to open door to UN rights experts
February 17, 2010, Geneva – Organisations supporting journalists,
writers and publishers in Iran have called on Tehran officials to open the
door to the United Nations’ special rapporteurs on human rights –
including its expert on freedom of expression Frank la Rue.
Resisting calls here for an international investigation into post-election
abuses of human rights in Iran, Tehran’s envoy Mohammad Javad Larijani
told both diplomats and the media on Monday that there was a “standing
invitation” for the UN’s special rapporteurs to visit Iran and
investigate claims of rights abuse – only to reverse his position today.
The rapporteurs should be allowed to visit the country at the earliest
opportunity, said representatives of the “Our Society Will Be a Free
Society <http://www.indexoncensorship.org/2010/02/open-letter-to-ayatollah-khamenei>
” campaign, in Geneva to observe the UN Human Rights Council <http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil>
’s review of Iran’s record this week.
The campaign is a joint initiative of Index on Censorship <http://www.indexoncensorship.org>
, Committee to Protect Journalists <http://cpj.org/mideast/iran/>
, PEN <http://www.englishpen.org/>
, Reporters Sans Frontičres <http://www.rsf.org/-Anglais-.html>
, Canadian Journalists for Free Expression <http://www.cjfe.org/>
, and the International Publishers Association <http://www.internationalpublishers.org/>
.
Named for a pledge the Ayatollah Khomenei made during the 1979 Iranian
revolution to protect freedom of expression and the press, the campaign will
run through 20 March 2010, Iranian New Year (Nowruz), with events aimed at
building pressure for the release of writers and journalists in prison <http://www.cpj.org/2010/02/with-47-journalists-in-jail-iran-sets-notorious-re.php>
in Iran continuing through the spring.
“Mr la Rue and the other UN rapporteurs should not be prevented by the
Iranian government from making their own independent assessment of the
situation,” said Alexis Krikorian of the International Publishers
Association <http://www.internationalpublishers.org/>
.
“The UN rapporteurs should go to Iran as soon as possible. Certainly we
should hear their reports before the UN even starts to consider Iran’s bid
to become a member of the Human Rights Council this May.”
Addressing the hearing before the 47-nation Council’s quadrennial
Universal Periodic Review <http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/UPR/PAGES/IRSession7.aspx>
(UPR) procedure, Larijani said Iran was in “full compliance with the
relevant international commitments it has taken on in a genuine and
long-term approach to safeguard human rights.”
UN human rights experts have already voiced concerns about mass arrests and
the abuse of opposition supporters, clerics, journalists, students and
others, said Rohan Jayasekera of Index on Censorship “but independent
investigation on the ground is crucial”.
The Council’s working group report on Iran, which included concerns raised
by diplomats and human rights groups was adopted at noon Wednesday,
following Iran’s grilling by other nations at the UN on Monday.
“The UN should have been able to mark Iranian New Year this year by
announcing a programme of visits to Iran by its human rights rapporteurs,”
said Jayasekera.
“Instead today Iran repudiated its international obligations on human
rights and further underlined its unsuitability for a seat on the UN Human
Rights Council.”
Freedom of expression and peaceful assembly continue to be undermined by the
Iranian regime and human rights defenders face an increasingly precarious
situation, said six of the rapporteurs <http://www.un.org/apps/news/printnewsAr.asp?nid=31394>
in a statement last year.
The rapporteurs questioned the legal basis for the arrests of journalists,
human rights defenders, opposition supporters and demonstrators, saying it
was unclear and gave rise to fears of “arbitrary detentions of individuals
legitimately exercising their right to freedom of expression, opinion and
assembly.”
The statement was issued by: Manuela Carmena Castrillo,
Chairperson-Rapporteur of the Working Group on arbitrary detention; Philip
Alston, Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary
executions; Frank la Rue, Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection
of the right to freedom of opinion and expression; Manfred Nowak, Special
Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or
punishment; Margaret Sekaggya, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human
rights defenders; and Santiago Corcuera, Chairperson-Rapporteur of the
working group on enforced and involuntary disappearances.
The list of prisoners of conscience currently held in Iranian prisons
includes some of Iran’s most distinguished journalists, some of the
country’s leading bloggers, and Kian Tajbakhsh <http://www.freekian09.org/tag/our-society-will-be-a-free-society/>
, an Iranian-American scholar sentenced in August 2009 to 15 years in prison
following a mass trial of 140 activists, intellectuals, and writers accused
of fomenting a “velvet revolution.”
Among the journalists are Emadeddin Baghi, also a well known author and
human rights defender; Mashallah Shamsolvaezin, an award-winning editor and
press freedom advocate; and Shiva Nazar Ahari, a human rights journalist who
has been jailed twice in the last eight months. The Committee to Protect
Journalists this month announced that the 47 journalists <http://cpj.org/mideast/iran/>
now in prison in Iran are more than any other country on earth has
imprisoned at any one time since 1996.
For more information contact:
Alexis Krikorian, International Publishers Association, Geneva krikorian@internationalpublishers.org
Jo Glanville, Index on Censorship, UK jo@indexoncensorship.org
Marian Botsford Fraser, International PEN, Canada m.b.f@sympatico.ca
Cathy
McCann
Researcher,
Asia/Middle East
International
PEN Writers in Prison Committee
Brownlow
House
50-51
High Holborn
London
WC1V 6ER.
Tel.+44
(0)20 7405 0338
Fax:
+44 (0)20 7405 0339
www.internationalpen.org.uk
International
PEN is a UK Registered Charity No. 1117088 and a Company Registered in
England No. 05683997, Registered Office: Brownlow House, 50/51High Holborn,
London WC1V 6ER
|
|
|