Iranian Journalist Arrested, on Trial on Spying Charges

          
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          Iranian Journalist Arrested, on Trial on Spying Charges
          A prominent Iranian Jounalist, Siamak Pourzand was detained by the Office of the Public Morals
          Police on the evening of November 24, 2001 with no charges given. After four months with no clear
          charges leveled, he is now charged with espionage and threatening national security. His trial began
          on March 7. He has been held at the State Inspectorate, to which a number of other Iranian
          intellectuals, reformist writers, and journalists have recently been summoned. According to Human
          Rights Watch and Amnesty International, Pourzand has been denied his right to a fair trial and has
          had no access to lawyers during his incommunicado detention. In addition, although he has been in
          ill health, he has had no access to needed medicine.
          The 73-year old journalist runs the Tehran Cultural Centre, and has worked as a cultural
          commentator for reformist newspapers, most of which have been shut down in an ongoing press
          crackdown by the hard-line judiciary in Iran in response to the reformists' sweep of parliamentary
          elections in February 2000. Pourzand is the husband of a human rights lawyer and women's rights
          activist in Iran, Mehrangiz Kar. She was herself imprisoned for charges in connection with her
          participation in a social and cultural conference in Berlin in April 2000. She is currently in the United
          States for medical treatment.
          Starting with Pourzand's arrest, the Iranian judicial authority has recently increased its pressure on
          reformist intellectuals in Iran. Over 20 journalists and writers have been investigated by the OLice of
          the Public Morals Police without any specific charges. They have also been intimidated and
          threatened with physical violence by interrogators in that office. These summonses and abductions
          have led to protests by reformers, including the Culture Minister Ahmad Masged Jamei and a
          number of pro-reform legislators.
          For more information about Pourzand's case and ongoing repression of intellectuals in Iran, see the
          following:
          . Amnesty Internationals Report of Pourzands Arrest
          . “Iran: Pourazand's Trial a Mockery of the Law”
          . “Iran: Reformists Targeted by Unknown Agents in New Hard-Line Crackdown”
          . “Iran: Journalist's Trial Indicates Hard-Line Crackdown
          . “Hard-Liners Put Iranian Journalist on Trial on Spying Charges ,“ New York Times, March 14,
          2002, A13
          . ‘Tell Me, Where is My Father? by Azadeh Pourzand, Washington Post, December 30, 2001,
          B7
          A number of international human rights organizations, including Amnesty International and Human
          Rights Watch, have called for actions to urge that Pourzand be treated fairly. If you wish to send
          appeals seeking clarification on his arrest and the charges against him and urging a fair trial, please
          write to the following:
          Leader of the Islamic Republic
          His Excellency Ayatollah Sayed ‘Au Khamenei
          The Presidency, Patestine Avenue
          SP00057
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