WUNRN
Amnesty International,
The Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS),
The Bahá’í International Community (BIC),
Human Rights Watch (HRW) and
The International Federation of Human Rights Leagues (FIDH)
Information Meeting on UPR Process in Iran
UN Palais des Nations - Geneva - February 12, 2010
With SHIRIN EBADI, Lawyer & Recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
Participant
Speaker SHADI SADR
Iranian
Lawyer and Women’s Rights Defender - An Account of Her Arrest and Detention in
July 2009
_____________________________________________
Iran - Violation of Rights, Window from My
Experience to a Broader Picture
By Shadi Sadr - Iran Lawyer
When
I was sitting in an interrogation room, with my face to the wall, my eyes
covered with a blindfold and my body with a chador, I never imagined that one
day I would be at the United Nation Headquarters giving my testimony about this
very day. So, I am very glad that I have the chance to be here, especially when
many other political prisoners are still locked up inside the prisons or, even
among those who were released, have to remain silent and neutralized out of
fear. Let me start with my own experience, which is just one example of the
many human rights violations that have occurred in Iran since the July 2009
Presidential Election.
On
17 July 2009, I was arrested while heading toward Tehran University for the
Friday Prayers led by Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani. I was walking on Keshavarz
Boulevard with several other female activists when individuals in civilian
dress approached us. Refusing to identify themselves or justify their actions,
they forced me into a waiting car. After I had briefly escaped, my companions
were restrained as I was beaten and forced back into the car. I was taken to
one of the intelligence Ministry detention centers, called “the Follow-up
Office” and after 4 hours interrogation, I was moved to Evin prison, where I
been previously detained in March 2006.
In
the middle of the night, I was taken to solidarity confinement after all of my
personal belongings, including my clothes, my notebook and even my glasses were
confiscated. They allowed me to have my glasses in the cell only after I
refused to eat anything for three days. I was interrogated five times, each
time for more than four hours. First, they wanted me to give them the username
and passwords of all of my email accounts and blogs. It was a preliminary
question for them, like asking my name and address. Then, they started to ask
several questions about everything I had done or related to me, from our
activities in women’s movement to my personal life, from the conferences in
which I participated in foreign countries to the names and information of my
friends in Iran and abroad. They described me as a doll or puppet of western
countries, specially the United States, who had a mission to overthrow the
government by changing society through women’s demands and the idea of gender
equality. But they never formally charged me with a crime.
According
to Iranian law, which I know very well as a lawyer, I did not have to answer
any questions before I was formally accused of a crime. But this regulation,
like many others guaranteeing prisoner’s rights, have been left completely
unenforced. In contrast with procedure defined by the Iranian code to “Respect
the Legitimate Freedoms and the Protection of Citizenship Rights”, they placed
me in a solidarity confinement where a light was turn on all the time. I could
not see the faces of my interrogators because I had to sit with my face to the
wall wearing a blindfold – all of which is totally illegal. I was not tortured
physically but one day, they took me and about fifteen male prisoners to a room
inside Evin and while I was sitting facing the wall, at least twenty
interrogators started to question the male prisoners who were made to sit
behind me. These men were brutally beaten while I was forced to listen.
In
the beginning, I could answer the interrogator's questions about very simple
and nonviolent activities such as distributing printed materials during the
demonstrations. But after a few seconds I could not hear any more, and I felt
like my head was being crushed between two iron plates. Less than one hour
later, I was called for interrogation as my legs and my hands were trembling
and my brain was totally empty. I really felt like I was being tortured.
Regarding
rights violations, so many others had experiences worse than mine, especially
among those who were not well known among the public. According to officials,
more than four thousand people were arrested in Tehran and several other cities
during the post-election events. They were apprehended either in the streets or
in their homes and workplaces. Several reliable sources now report that
prisoners are suffering from widespread violations of their rights. In addition
to the numerous examples of human rights that are systematically violated
within the past three decades of the Islamic Republic, during the post-election
events, basic and fundamental human rights remain in serious peril, such as
equality of persons before the law, the right to peaceful assembly, the rights of
political prisoners, and the rights of human rights defenders and civil society
activists. According to the fact-finding committee of Iran’s parliament,
launched in July 2009 to investigate the complaints of torture and killing of
detainees who were arrested in post-election protests, 3 detainees have been
tortured to death in Kahrizak detention center. The committee recognized Saeid
Mortazavi, Tehran’s former prosecutor general, as the main person responsible
for the death of these 3 young men in a report published on January 10, 2010.
Unfortunately, however, he has neither been summoned to the court nor has been
officially questioned or accused, while many women’s movement activists,
journalist and human rights defender are accused of attempts to overthrow the
government because of their peaceful activities!
Right
now, at least 60 women’s right activists are in prison. Some of them have never
been able to call or see their families. In some cases, nobody knows in which
prison they are detained. The judiciary refuses to inform prisoner’s families
about their situation or cooperate with their lawyers. Not only are the rights
of women's rights defenders being violated, but the rights of all Iranian women
are in jeopardy. For example, the Government has recently proposed a new draft
of the Family Law (entitled "Protection of the Institution of the
Family") and is currently being discussed in the Parliament. This draft is
very discriminatory and gender-biased. The draft facilitates polygamy and temporary
marriage, both of which are favorable to men and socially unacceptable. For
these very reasons, women’s rights activists, since 2007, have regularly
expressed their objections to this proposal and succeeded in delaying the vote
that would legalize it in September 2008. But now, when many activists are
either locked up in prisons or repressed, the Parliament is once again
discussing it and unfortunately, is expected to pass it. Regretfully, the
Islamic Republic defined this discriminatory draft as one of the upcoming
legislation to improve the human right situation in its national report for the
Universal Periodic Review.
Therefore,
based on my own experience and reliable facts, I would like to finish my talk
with some recommendations for the Islamic Republic of Iran, which I believe
should be raised by the delegations of other countries during the UPR session:
• Besides Iran’s international
commitments to respect human rights, there exist many rules and legislations
domestically, within Iran’s legal system, that concern the rights of prisoners,
including the code to “Respect the Legitimate Freedoms and the Protection of
Citizenship Rights,” in addition to other procedures, laws, and the
Constitution, that are meant to guarantee fundamental rights. I strongly urge the
Iranian police and judiciary to respect and enforce these international and
domestic laws that guarantee the prohibition of arbitrary detention; the right
to have and visit a lawyer; the right to regular family visits; the prohibition
of solitary confinement; and the prohibition of physical harassment and
torture.
• The Iranian authorities must stop
giving impunity to Mortazavi and pursue him as well as all the commanders and
perpetrators who have been involved in the widespread violation of citizens’
rights during the post-election protests.
• The Iranian government must withdraw
all discriminatory laws against women, especially the draft of the Protection
of the Institution of the Family, which is in complete violation to Iran’s
international commitments, especially Articles 2 and 3 of the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
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