Iran: Abbasgolizadeh sentenced to 2.5 years in jail and 30 lashes for ‘acts against national security’

December 9, 2011

6 minutes read

          
          Iran: Mabboubeli Abbasgitlizadeli sentenced to 2 ¼ years injail and 30 1... http://wwwwluntorg/mde/6306
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          Iran: Mahboubeh Abbasgholizadeh sentenced to 2 1/2
          years in jail and 30 lashes for ‘acts against national
          security'
          The Women Living Under Muslim Laws (WLUML) International Solidarity Network and the
          Global Campaign to Stop Killing and Stoning Women (SKSW) are deeply concerned by the
          sentencing meted out to our colleague and friend, Mahboubeh Abbasgholizadeh, in May by
          the Iranian Revolutionary Court for exercising her constitutional right to peaceful
          assem bly. Please see attached our sample letter.
          On 8 May 2010, the Revolutionary Court in Iran sentenced Ms. Abbasgholizadeh, 52, to two
          and a half (21/2) years in jail and thirty (30) lashes for ‘acts against national security
          through conspiracy and collusion intended to disrupt public security, disturbing public order
          and defiance against government officers.” According to her lawyer, Mohammad Mostafai,
          she was tried in absentia with the State knowing that his client was out of the country and
          could not properly represent herself in court. Ms. Abbasgholizadeh has twenty (20) days to
          lodge an appeal in the Court through her lawyer.
          Background
          Mahboubeh Abbasgholizadeh is a women's rights activist and filmmaker. She is an active
          member of the Stop Stoning Forever Campaign and the Iranian Women's Charter
          movement. She was the director of the Non-Governmental Organisation Training Centre
          (NGOTC), an organisation formed to support the work of the growing NGO community in
          Iran, which was closed down by the Revolutionary Court of Iran during her first arrest in
          2004. She also headed the Association of Women Writers and Journalists NGO and was the
          editor-in-chief of Farzaneh, which is ‘a journal of women's studies and research in Iran and
          Muslim societies'.
          Ms. Abbasgholizadeh was first arrested on 1 November 2004 with her personal effects
          summarily seized and her office closed down. The arrest was authorised by Tehran's Chief
          Prosecutor, Said Mortazavi, without any charges being filed against her. Abbasgholizadeh
          reported having been subjected to extreme mental and emotional torture throughout her
          detention, especially during her interrogation. She was also deprived of her visitation rights
          by her family. On 4 March 2007, she was again arrested along with other women activists
          during a peaceful demonstration in front of Tehran's Revolutionary Court in solidarity with
          five (5) women activists on trial for their demonstration on 12 June 2006 demanding equal
          rights in law for women in Iran. The national security police provoked the demonstration
          through verbal and physical violence against the women demonstrators and thirty three (33)
          of them were eventually arrested. Ms. Abbasgholizadeh, along with another woman human
          rights defender Shadi Sadr, was held in solitary confinement from 4 to 19 March while the
          1 of 3
          09/08 2010 14:5 1

Iran: Mabboubeli Abbasgitlizadeli sentenced to 2 ¼ years injail and 30 1... http://wwwwluntorg/mde/6306
• United Kinadom: Take rest of their colleagues were released much earlier. Throughout her detention, Ms.
Co pyrt btt 2001 - 2010 women LivingLxlS ! h&iizatheJ3 w 4< tA i ls atdt&O% ttt4t1eataihensafrslná lds swkjds4 crun tlt4 *tasite do
not neces ag r flct those of any offt ip 4 fl Jipj1 f 1 DI] tJ for
all oPin of inforrp p ,c c f Kat8?itI2J 260 000) a prohibitively high
Donate to WLUML
society aroups
Copyngnt i' otice
for repeal of
ContaQL4 Y On 21 December 2009, Ms. Abbasgholizadeh was amongst those arrested in Iran while on
Lo n(Islamic Criminal . .
L I d ) their way to attend the funeral of Grand Ayatollah Hosseinali Montazeri, a senior cleric who
ega 0 e criticised the Iranian government's crackdown on demonstrators in the aftermath of the
contested June 2009 presidential elections. This time, she was arrested for her work as a
filmmaker. She was conditionally released after 24 hours based on the promise that she
would remove her films critical of the regime from the website of her collective.
Our human rights concerns
WLUML and the SKSW consider the sentencing of Ms. Abbasgholizadeh to 2 1/2 years
imprisonment to be harsh and the punishment by lashing to be cruel and degrading. In the
first place, the basis of her arrest and of the thirty two (32) other WHRD5 in 2007 was in
direct contravention of Articles 21 and 22 of the International covenant on Civil and
Political Rights (IcCPR), which the Islamic Republic of Iran has ratified without any
reservations. The Islamic Republic of Iran is obliged to effectively apply the ICCPR in its
national laws and in its justice system.
Article 21 of the ICCPR guarantees that the right of peaceful assembly shall be recognised
by the State. Article 22, on the other hand, guarantees that everyone shall have the right
to freedom of association with others, including the right to form and join trade unions for
the protection of his interests.
Article 27 of the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Iran guarantees its citizens the
freedom to assemble peacefully and yet the Iranian Penal Code contains a number of
vaguely worded articles relating to “national security” which prohibit a range of activities
that do not amount to recognizably criminal offences, including activities connected with
journalism or public discourse. For instance, Articles 498 and 499 prohibit forming or
joining a group or association, either inside or outside the country that seeks to “disturb the
security of the country”. Article 500, which prohibits “propaganda against the state”, and
Article 610, which outlaws “acting against national security”, are similarly vaguely worded.
The punishment of lashing is a form of torture and is also a violation of Article 7 of the
ICCPR which states that no one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or
degrading treatment or punishment It is also in contravention of Article 39 of the
Constitution which bans all affronts to the dignity of detained or imprisoned persons.
We also consider the trial held in absentia as inconsistent with Article 14 of the ICCPR,
which provides that the accused shall be entitled to be tried in his! her presence.
Source:
WLUML/SKSW Networkers
Action needed:
Based on these concerns, we call on the Islamic Republic of Iran through the Honourable
Ayatollah Sadegh Larijani to do everything in his powers, as head of the Judiciary of the
Islamic Republic of Iran, to reverse the sentence handed down by the Revolutionary Court
No. 26.
How you can support this action:
Please support this appeal by sending your own letters reflecting the human rights concerns
we have described above to:
amount. Her NGOTC office, which was re-opened after her release was again closed down
and its bank account was frozen. She has not recovered both until now.
Relevant
Resources
• Egypt: Combined sixth
and seventh periodic
reports to CEDAW
• Everyone's Guide to
By-passing Internet
Censorship
• Claiming Rights,
Claiming Justice: A
Guidebook on Women
Human Rights
Defenders
• Bahrain: Women's
Struggle Against
Artificial Reforms
• The Constitution of
Bahrain
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09/08 2010 14:5 1

          
          Iran: Mabboubeli Abbasgitlizadeli sentenced to 2 ¼ years injail and 30 1... http://wwwwluntorg/mde/6306
          Addresses:
          Ayatollah Sadegh Larijani
          Head of the Judiciary of the Islamic Republic of Iran
          Howzeh Riyasat-e Qoveh Qazaiyeh (Office of the Head of the Judiciary)
          Pasteur St., Vail AsrAve., south of Serah-e Jomhouri, Tehran 1316814737, Islamic Republic
          of Iran
          Email: via website:  (put given name in first
          starred box, famiiy name in second starred box, and email address in third. Paste appeai in
          iarge box)
          Salutation: Your Excellency
          Attachment _____________________ _Size
          IraruM. Abbasghoiizadeh _ Sampie ietterto Head of Judiciary _ 03 June 2010.doc 25.5 KB
          Submitted on 06/02/2010
          in State controi Women Human Rights Defenders [ fund] persecution of opposition Middle
          East Iran WLUML/aiiies
          3 of3 09/08 2010 14:51