Iran: Detained Professor Should Be Freed

(New York, October 24, 2003) -- Dariush Zahedi, an Iranian- American academic held without charge by Iranian authorities since July, should be released immediately and unconditionally, Human Rights Watch said today. Zahedi traveled to Iran in June to visit his family. In early July, the 37-year-old professor was attending a meeting at his brother's office in Tehran when it was raided by the authorities. The other attendees were arrested and quickly released, but Zahedi was detained in Tehran's Evin Prison in a section controlled by the Ministry of Intelligence.

"Dariush Zahedi has been held in solitary confinement and is at risk of being tortured," said Joe Stork, acting executive director of the Middle East and North Africa Division of Human Rights Watch. "The Iranian government has not provided any evidence of wrongdoing. Professor Zahedi should be freed immediately and allowed to leave the country."

Zahedi has been accused of espionage, according to Mohsen Armin, a member of the Iranian parliament who met with Ministry of Intelligence officials. Zahedi was also reportedly told that he was under suspicion of organizing student protests because he had been to Iran for several consecutive summers on dates that coincided with the politically charged anniversaries of the 1999 Tehran University protests.

After a 40-day investigation by the Ministry of Intelligence into espionage charges, Zahedi was reportedly cleared of suspicion. However, it appears that Tehran Chief Prosecutor
Said Mortazavi intervened and transferred Zahedi's case to the judiciary. He has been kept in the judiciary-controlled sector of Evin Prison since, almost entirely in solitary confinement. His family has received no information regarding the legal status of his case.

Informal efforts to secure Zahedi's release have failed. His family has known of his detention since the summer, but kept silent because security forces told them that if they publicized the case, he would be harmed. Zahedi's family has visited him briefly in prison twice, and has been able to speak with him only once by phone in the presence of a guard. He does not have a lawyer, and his family has little information about his condition in prison.

Human Rights Watch fears that Zahedi may be tortured in order to obtain a videotaped "confession," a tactic oftenused against political detainees in Evin Prison. Zahedi has taught at several universities in the United States and has published numerous academic works focusing on Iran and the Middle East. He was scheduled to teach a class this fall at the Peace and Conflict Studies Department at
the University of California, Berkeley. University of California officials have also expressed concern for
Zahedi's safety. Zahedi's detention is by no means unique. Iranian authorities are holding scores of professors, lawyers, students and activists arrested after expressing their views. Human Rights Watch on October 9 named other political prisoners in a letter [http://www.hrw.org/press/2003/10/eu-
iran100903.htm] to European Union officials who were meeting with Iranian government officials in Brussels on October 8- 9. Human Rights Watch called on Iran to release or hold fair trials for all persons held for exercising their right to freedom of expression. -keralamonitor.com

 

Iraq: Donors Should Insist on Rights Monitoring
Mechanisms Needed to Ensure Accountability for Abuses

(New York, October 23, 2003) - Donor governments must insist
that human rights are monitored in Iraq to ensure that their
assistance is having a positive impact on the ground, Human
Rights Watch said today as an international donors
conference begins in Madrid.

In a memorandum to donor governments and agencies, Human
Rights Watch stressed that reconstruction efforts would only
succeed if they addressed longstanding human rights problems
in Iraq and strengthened human rights protection for the
future.

"The needs assessment presented to donors this week
recognizes the importance of human rights, but it fails to
address many critical issues and does not allocate the
resources that will be required to solve them," said Rory
Mungoven, global advocacy director for Human Rights Watch.

Human Rights Watch called on donors to support the creation
in Iraq of a national human rights commission to review laws
and investigate complaints, and an independent mechanism to
prevent abuses by police and the courts. Donors should also
help foster the capacity of local nongovernmental
organizations to address human rights issues.

As the development of local human rights monitors would take
time, the United Nations should expand its monitoring role
in the interim. Human Rights Watch urged the United Nations
to prepare for an expanded human rights operation in Iraq
and deploy monitors as security conditions permit.

"Donors should not assist with training police and security
forces in Iraq without monitoring their conduct in
conformity with international policing and human rights
standards," Mungoven said.

Human Rights Watch said significant resources would be
needed to ensure accountability for past human rights abuses
beyond the small provision made in the needs assessment.
Help would be needed with investigations and witness
protection, and for support to victims and their relatives.

"Donors will only be successful in reconstructing the rule
of law in Iraq if they also address the serious abuses of
the past," said Mungoven. "But justice cannot be done on the
cheap, nor should donors support a flawed justice process."

Human Rights Watch warned that an Iraqi-led accountability
process as supported by the United States would likely fail
to ensure justice, because the Iraqi judiciary lacks the
capacity and expertise for trials of this kind. Instead,
donors should commission a group of international and Iraqi
experts to make a proper assessment and recommend the best
justice model.

The United Nations and World Bank have also identified
property restitution for refugees and internally displaced
persons as a critical issue. Human Rights Watch urged donors
to help provide shelter to families in immediate need and to
establish a special mechanism to settle longer-term property
disputes. Other countries should not require refugees to
return to Iraq, however, until security conditions permit.

Human Rights Watch said the needs assessment presented to
donors paid insufficient attention to the specific needs of
children in post-war Iraq. Special efforts are needed to
reach vulnerable groups such as street children and to
combat trafficking and hazardous child labor. Human Rights
Watch also urged donors to help build the capacity of Iraq's
law enforcement and judicial sector to address sexual
violence against women and girls. -Keralamonitor.com