Newsweek Journalist receives death threat

Also send copies to diplomatic representatives accredited to your country. Please check with your section office if sending appeals after the above date. This is the 3rd update of UA 171/09 MDE 13/062/2009. Further information: http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/MDE13/062/2009/en, http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/MDE13/092/2009/en, http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/MDE13/115/2009/en .

URGENT ACTION

NEWSWEEK JOURNALIST RECEIVES DEATH THREATS

Additional Information

In an article in Newsweek after his release, Maziar Bajari said that he was warned not to speak about his detention by an interrogator who told him, “”We can put people in a bag no matter where in the world they are…No one can escape from us.” (For the full article see http://www.newsweek.com/id/223862).

Many Iranians outside the country have reported receiving threats by phone or in person. For example, Fakhteh Zamani, an activist for the rights of Iran’s Azerbaijani minority who lives in Canada, has received death threats during phone calls from individuals who did not identify themselves. Demonstrators at a protest against violations in Iran held in 2009 in the UK outside Amnesty International’s offices told Amnesty International that unknown persons whom they believed to be members of Iranian intelligence forces attended the protest and made threatening comments to some of them. Iranians who have fled Iran since the 2009 election and are seeking asylum have reported to Amnesty International that unknown persons whom they believe to be Iranian security officials have approached them and made comments in Persian such as “Don’t think you’re safe here.”

The Iranian authorities also frequently harass the family members of individuals abroad who oppose the current government, or who publicly criticize human rights violations. For example, Noushin Ebadi, the sister of Nobel Peace prize Laureate Shirin Ebadi, was detained from 28 December for almost three weeks, apparently to put pressure on Shirin Ebadi, who is currently abroad, to cease speaking out about human rights violations in Iran. Shirin Ebadi has herself received many death threats in recent years and believes that slanderous articles in the press about her may be intended to pave the way for her assassination. In May 2009, Abdolzahra Vashahi, the father of Reza Vashahi, both members of Iran’s Ahwazi Arab minority, was arrested and detained for several days. Abdolreza Vashahi had previously received threatening phone calls stating that if his son, who works with the Iranian Minorities Human Rights Organization in the UK, did not stop his human rights work, then he would be arrested. Family members of those who flee may also risk losing their homes if the deeds were posted as bail to obtain the release of their relatives.

In addition, in the past, opponents of the system have been subjected to extrajudicial execution both in Iran and abroad, apparently by Iranian officials, although these have reduced in number since what became known as the “serial murders” of writers and others in the 1990s were exposed in the late 1990s. For further information, see Iran: Victims of Human Rights Violations, November 1993, Al Index: MDE 13/10/93; Iran: Official secrecy hides continuing repression, May 1995 Index: MDE 13/02/95, Iran: “Mykonos” trial provides further evidence of Iranian policy of unlawful state killings, 10 APRIL 1997, Index: MDE 13/15/97 and Iran: alarming pattern of killings and “disappearances”, 11 December 1998, Index MDE 13/025/1998.

The Principles on the Effective Prevention and Investigation of Extra-legal, Arbitrary and Summary Executions (adopted by the UN Economic and Social Council on 24 May 1989 in resolution 1989/65 and endorsed by the UN General Assembly on 15 December 1989 in resolution 44/162) state in Articles 1 and 4:

1. Governments shall prohibit by law all extra-legal, arbitrary and summary executions and shall ensure that any such executions are recognized as offences under their criminal laws, and are punishable by appropriate penalties which take into account the seriousness of such offences. …Such executions shall not be carried out under any circumstances … this prohibition shall prevail over decrees issued by governmental authority.

4. Effective protection through judicial or other means shall be guaranteed to individuals or groups who are in danger of extra-legal, arbitrary or summary executions, including those who receive death threats.

FU on UA: 171/09 Index: MDE 13/045/2010 Issue Date: 29 April 2010