PUBLIC
AI Index: MDE 13/135/2006

12 December 2006

Amnesty International

UA 331/06 Incommunicado detention/ Fear of torture or ill-treatment/
Possible prisoner of conscience

IRAN Sherko Jihani (m), journalist and human rights defender
Iranian Kurdish journalist and human rights defender, Sherko Jihani, was
detained on 27 November 2006 in the town of Mahabad in Kurdistan province,
northwestern Iran. He is held incommunicado at an undisclosed location
where he is at risk of torture or ill-treatment. He may be detained on
account of his peaceful activities on behalf of the rights of Iran’s
Kurdish minority, in which case Amnesty International would consider him a
prisoner of conscience.

Sherko Jihani, the correspondent of the Turkish news agency Euphrat in
Mahabad and a member of the Human Rights Organization of Kurdistan (HROK),
was reportedly summoned to appear before Branch 2 of the Revolutionary
Prosecutor’s Office in Mahabad on 27 November and was immediately arrested
and detained in Mahabad Central Prison. He was reportedly interrogated
about forming an investigative committee to object to the kidnapping on 8
January 2006 of a woman human rights activist, Sarveh Komkar (Kamkar), and
for giving interviews to foreign stations about the July 2005 killing by
Iranian security forces of Kurdish activist, Showan (Shivan) Qaderi. His
family was reportedly able to visit him on or around 4 December 2006.
Sherko Jihani reportedly refused to pay a 50 million Rials bail (about US$
5,500) and began a hunger

 

strike in protest at his detention on 30
November. On 4 December, he began refusing to speak.

On 6 December, Sherko Jihani was removed from Mahabad Prison and was taken
to an unknown location, possibly Oromieh prison. His family has since been
unable to visit him or to confirm his whereabouts.

Sherko Jihani has reportedly been arrested nine times since 1999 and is
said to have been tortured while in detention.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION
The Kurds are one of Iran’s many ethnic groups. They live mainly in the
province of Kurdistan and neighbouring provinces bordering Kurdish areas of
Turkey and Iraq.

Violent unrest in the Kurdish areas of Iran broke out in July 2005 and
continued for several weeks after Iranian security forces shot dead a
Kurdish opposition activist, Showan Qaderi, and reportedly dragged his body
through the streets behind a Jeep. Thousands of Kurds took to the streets
to protest. Security forces

 

reportedly used light and heavy weaponry in
response to the demonstrations, which in at least some places included
attacks by demonstrators on government buildings and offices. Up to 20
people were reportedly killed and hundreds more injured. The authorities
acknowledged that five people were killed, and stated that their deaths
were under investigation. At least 190 people were arrested, according to
official reports, although the true figure may well be higher.

Kurdish human rights defenders in Iran are at risk. Several human rights
defenders and journalists involved in the July 2005 demonstrations have
received death threats.

On 8 January 2006, Sarveh Komkar, also a member of HROK, was reportedly
arrested by a special intelligence and security unit of the Revolutionary
Guards before witnesses in the town of Mahabad, Kurdistan. She was released
five hours later, having sustained injuries and bruises from a severe
beating,

 

after her family and the members of HROK complained to the
authorities and pointed to a lack of evidence against her. Other members of
the HROK are also in prison or facing prosecution, possibly in connection
with their peaceful activities on behalf of the Kurdish minority in Iran.



RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible,
in Persian, Arabic, English, French or your own language:
- expressing concern that Sherko Jihani, a Kurdish human rights defender,
is detained without access to his lawyer or family at an undisclosed
location;
- calling on the authorities to disclose his place of detention and the
reasons for his arrest, including any charges against him;
- calling on the authorities to ensure that he is not tortured and
ill-treated, and to allow him immediate access to a lawyer of his own
choosing, his family, and to any medical treatment he may require;
- expressing concern that

 

Sherko Jihani may have been detained solely in
connection with his peaceful activities on behalf of the rights of the
Kurdish minority, in which case Amnesty International would consider him a
prisoner of conscience;
- calling on the authorities to release him immediately and unconditionally
unless he is to be promptly charged with a recognizably criminal offence
and given a prompt and fair trial.

APPEALS TO:

Leader of the Islamic Republic
His Excellency Ayatollah Sayed ‘Ali Khamenei, The Office of the Supreme
Leader
Shoahada Street, Qom, Islamic Republic of Iran
Email: info@leader.ir OR istiftaa@wilayah.org
Fax: +98 251 774 2228 (mark "FAO the Office of His Excellency,
Ayatollah al Udhma Khamenei")
Salutation: Your Excellency

Minister of Intelligence
Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejeie
Ministry of Intelligence, Second Negarestan Street, Pasdaran Avenue,
Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
Email:

 

iranprobe@iranprobe.com
Salutation: Your Excellency

COPIES TO:
President
His Excellency Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
The Presidency, Palestine Avenue, Azerbaijan Intersection, Tehran, Islamic
Republic of Iran
Email: dr-ahmadinejad@president.ir
via website: www.president.ir/email

add Speaker of Parliament
and to diplomatic representatives of Iran accredited to your country.

PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY. Check with the International Secretariat,
or your section office, if sending appeals after 23 January 2007.






(See attached file: 51313506.txt)(See attached file: 51313506.rtf)


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