 |
ꐤ
ꐤ
.
-
Ж
Т
ꐤ
.
: ꐤ
ꐤ
.
.
ATTENTION
NEWS EDITORS
For
immediate release August 14 2002
NUJ
CONDEMNS 'HORRIFYING' TREATMENT OF IRANIAN LAWYER
The
National Union of journalists of the UK and Ireland today
repeated
its call for the release of Iranian lawyer NasserZarafshan, who after acting
for the families of murdered journalists has been sentenced to five years in
prison and fifty lashes.
The
NUJ called on the UK government to press Zarafshans case with the Iranian
authorities after receiving reports that he had been detained on 7 August. On 9
August Zarafshan was visited in prison by his ten-year-old son. On 11 August
Zarafshans lawyer reported that he had been given a medical, normal procedure
for prisoners before being flogged.
At
the weekend, the families of murdered journalists Dariush and Parvaneh Foruhar,
Mohammad Mokhtari and Mohammad Pouyandeh issued a joint statement praising
Zarafshans persistence in pursuing the case in the face of threats and
intimidation by Irans ministry of Intelligence.
NUJ
general secretary Jeremy Dear said: Nasser Zarafshan is being subjected to
this horrifying punishment because he has challenged the ministry of
intelligences attempts to cover up official involvement in the serial murders.
Even
though officials in the regime itself have now admitted there was such
involvement, Zarafashan is being punished for
pressing
for justice in this case from the very start. We call on the UK government to
raise this issue with the Iranian
authorities
at the earliest possible opportunity.
Nasser
Zarafshan had been sentenced to five years in prison and 50 lashes on charges
of revealing state secrets and on weapons and alcohol offences, after being
prosecuted by a military court earlier this year. In July the appeals court had
upheld in July the jail sentence and the flogging.
Zarafshan
has been rearrested in the midst of a renewed offensive against the media by
the Iranian regime. The reformist daily Ayineh-e-Jonoub was suspended by a
judge one week after its first appearance; two other dailies, Nowrouz and
Rouz-e-No, have also been suspended, and several magazines closed down.
Background
The charges against Zarafshan, which have been denounced by human rights
organisations the world over, arise from Zarafshans public statements
criticising the official investigation into the murders of Dariush and Parvaneh
Foruhar,
Mohammad
Mokhtari, Mohammad Pouyandeh and Majid Sharif. The five were victims of
death-squad style killings in November 1998.
Zarafshan,
on the families instructions, withdrew from a
military
trial at which ministry of intelligence officials were tried for the killings.
Later the ministry said rogue agents may have committed the murders, and
claimed that the most senior agent responsible, Said Hammami, had committed
suicide in prison.
A
tape showing the questioning of suspects, which threw doubt on the ministrys
claims, was released in London by the NUJ
earlier
this year.
Contact:
Jeremy Dear 0207 843 3728
Tim Gopsill 0207 843 3701