30 May 2007

Update #1 to RAN 18 /07

The Writers in Prison Committee of International PEN protests the two-year prison sentence handed down to Iranian Kurdish journalist Kaveh Javanmard on 17 May 2007. The charges against him have not been made known, although he is believed to be held for his legitimate professional activites as a journalist. International PEN is calling for his immediate and unconditional release in accordance with Article 19 of the United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Iran is a signatory. PEN is also seeking reassurances of his well being from the Iranian government.

According to PEN’s information, officials from the Ministry of Intelligence arrested Kaveh Javanmard, a journalist for the weekly Krafto, at his home in Sanandej on 18 December 2006. He was held incommuncado in pre-trial detention at Sanandej prison, where he was feared to be at risk of ill-treatment. The authorities have reportedly targeted other staff members of Krafto in recent weeks. Javanmard’s arrest came during a wave of arrests, bans and acts of intimidation against the media following a visit to the Kurdish north by the President and the Culture Minister in September 2006. Other journalists have since been arrested, including Adnan Hassanpour who was arrested on 25 January 2007 and is still held incommunicado (see previous alerts). International PEN is deeply concerned about an apparant pattern of repression against journalists and human rights activists in Iranian Kurdistan, which has been ongoing since unrest broke out in the Kurdish areas of Iran in July 2005, and was violently suppressed by the authorities.

Kaveh Javanmard will reportedly serve his sentence at a prison in the town of Maragheh, 300 miles from his family home. He was reportedly denied legal representation and was tried in secret. The charges against him remain unknown.

RECOMMENDED ACTION

Please send appeals:

·         Protesting the detention of journalist Kaveh Javanmard, and seeking details of the charges against him;

·         Expressing concern that his trial did not appear to conform with international standards;

·         Calling for his release in accordance with Article 19 of the ICCPR, to which Iran is a signatory.

·         Expressing concern about an apparent pattern of repression against journalists and human rights activists in Kurdish Iran.

APPEALS TO:

Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic

His Excellency Ayatollah Sayed ‘Ali Khamenei,

The Office of the Supreme Leader

Shoahada Street, Qom, Islamic Republic of Iran

Email:  info@leader.ir or istiftaa@wilayah.org

Head of the Judiciary

His Excellency

Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi

Ministry of Justice, Park-e Shahr,

Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran

Email:   via Judiciary website: Iranjudiciary.org/feedback_en.html

Salutation:       Your Excellency

Minister of Intelligence

Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejeie

Ministry of Intelligence,

Second Negarestan Street,

Pasdaran Avenue,

Tehran

Islamic Republic of Iran.

Email: iranprobe@iranprobe.com

COPIES TO:

President:

His Excellency Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

The Presidency,

Palestine Avenue,

Azerbaijan Intersection,

Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran

Fax:              Via Foreign Ministry: +98 21 6 674 790

(mark: "Please forward to H.E. President Ahmadinejad")

Email:   dr-ahmadinejad@president.ir

via website: www.president.ir/email

If possible please send a copy of your appeal to the diplomatic representative for Iran in your country.

For further information please contact Cathy McCann at 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, email: cathy.mccann@internationalpen.org.uk

Please contact this office if sending appeals after 21 June 2007.

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