AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
Public Statement
AI Index: MDE 13/019/2003 (Public)
News Service No: 166
9 July 2003
Iran: Student activists and demonstrators must be treated in accordance with international human rights standards
Published
Amnesty International is concerned at yesterday's arrest of student leaders Reza Ameri Nassab, Ali Moghtadari and Arash Hashemi who may have been targeted solely for the peaceful expression of their political views. All three were arrested after they took part in an open press conference held at the offices of Daftar-e Tahkim-e Vahdat (Office for Strengthening Unity, or OCU) on the anniversary of the 18 Tir (9 July 1999) student demonstrations. During the press conference they criticized restrictions on freedom of expression and association in Iran. They were said to have been forced to the ground and thrown into three separate vehicles and taken to an unknown destination. Ali Moghtadari was reportedly released the same evening.
Such arrests are part of a pattern of human rights violations targeting student protests and demonstrations since the 18 Tir demonstrations.
Since 11 June 2003, up to 4000 demonstrators have been arrested of which approximately 2000 may remain in detention without charge or trial. At least 65 individuals are said to have been charged, although the charges have not been made public.
Many of these detainees appear to have been targeted for demonstrating peacefully. Amnesty International considers them prisoners of conscience and calls for their immediate and unconditional release. Amnesty International also calls for anyone charged with a recognisable criminal offence to be given prompt fair trial.
The authorities should take immediate measures to ensure that student activists and peaceful demonstrators are treated in accordance with international human rights standards.
Background
Following the July 1999 students' demonstrations in Tehran, Ahmad Batebi, Abbas Deldar, Javid Tehrani, Mehrdad Lohrasebi, Akbar and Manuchehr Mohammadi and scores of other student demonstrators were arbitrarily arrested. Dozens of them faced torture and ill treatment in incommunicado detention. They, like student leader Ali Afshari, were imprisoned following manifestly unfair trials. In the past few days, Ahmad Batebi and Manuchehr Mohammadi have been removed from Evin prison and taken to an unknown location.
Nearly 80 students living in student dormitories in the Amir Abad area of Tehran demonstrated 11 June against draft proposals to privatize universities in Iran, fearing that tuition fees would rise as a result. They were joined by local residents and the demonstration reportedly escalated and became increasingly politicized. Organized groups of non-uniformed, plainly clothed individuals widely called in Iran the lebas shakhsi-ha (the plain-clothed) began to attack the demonstrators and police intervened to end the clashes. As the demonstrations grew over the following nights, units of the Special Forces (Nirou-ye Vijeh) were deployed to disperse demonstrators. However, there were reports that the Special Forces permitted some of the lebas shakhsi-ha to attack peaceful demonstrators and that in certain instances, excessive force was used to break up the demonstrations.
Amnesty International has repeatedly urged the authorities to address human rights violations committed against demonstrators but has not to date received any reply to date.
To view the 14 July 1999 press statement IRAN: The Authorities must guarantee fundamental rights (AI INDEX: MDE 13/18/99; News Service: 134/99), please see:
http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGMDE130181999?open&of=ENG-IRN To view Amnesty International's appeal on behalf of Ahmad Batebi, please see:
http://web.amnesty.org/web/content.nsf/pages/gbr_iran To view the report Iran: a legal system that fails to protect freedom of expression and association a(AI Index MDE 13/045/2001), please see:
http://web.amnesty.org/web/content.nsf/pages/gbr_iran_freedom http://news.gooya.com/2003/07/11/1107-ff-02.phpMore students arrested in Iran
World News
Jul 11, 2003
TEHRAN - Two student leaders in Iran, Said Razavi Faghih and Mehdi Habibi, have been arrested, a senior higher education ministry official said Friday, quoted by the student news agency ISNA.
The latest arrests raised to five the number of students detained in 48 hours.
The two belong to the main pro-reform student movement, Office to Consolidate Unity (OCU), which groups several Islamic associations at universities in Tehran and the provinces.
Ali Akbar Mohseni, head of the ministry's security services, said Faghih was detained late Thursday at the order of the Tehran prosecutor's office.
Faghih lead a November 2002 protest movement against a death sentence imposed on reformist academic Hashem Aghajani for blasphemy. After 10 days of protests, the sentence was scrapped but a new ruling has yet to be announced.
Habibi is president of the Islamic association of students at Tehran's Amir Kabir University and a known liberal.
Three student activists were already arrested Wednesday, just minutes after holding a press conference to blast the Islamic regime for banning events marking the anniversary of bloody student clashes with security forces in 1999.
Despite the ban, between 20,000 and 30,000 Tehranis defiantly took to the roads in their cars around the Tehran University area that same night to mark the anniversary.
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