{"id":265,"date":"2016-03-18T04:11:47","date_gmt":"2016-03-18T04:11:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/codir.net\/?p=265"},"modified":"2016-03-18T04:11:47","modified_gmt":"2016-03-18T04:11:47","slug":"amnesty-international-urgent-action-iran-elderly-professors-six-year-jail-term-upheld","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/codir.net\/?p=265","title":{"rendered":"Amnesty International – URGENT ACTION – IRAN: ELDERLY PROFESSOR’S SIX-YEAR JAIL TERM UPHELD"},"content":{"rendered":"

URGENT ACTION<\/strong>
\nELDERLY PROFESSOR’S SIX-YEAR JAIL TERM UPHELD <\/strong>
\nElderly prisoner of conscience Hossein Rafiee, a retired university professor, has had his six-year prison sentence, imposed for his peaceful political activism, upheld by an appeal court. The authorities have rejected his request for compassionate leave to be with his sick wife, who is due to undergo surgery.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Prisoner of conscience Hossein Rafiee<\/strong>, aged 71, had his six-year prison term and two-year ban on membership of political groups and engagement in online activities upheld by Branch 54 of the Court of Appeal in Tehran on 22 February. The court issued its decision after a brief hearing on 24 January, at which Hossein Rafiee refused to appear in person because the authorities had revoked, at the last minute, a permit to attend the hearing in his own clothes instead of prison uniform. He had been waiting for his appeal hearing since June 2015 when he lodged an appeal against the decision of Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court in Tehran convicting him of \u201c membership of and involvement in an illegal and anti-national security group (meaning the banned political group Sho\u2019rayeh<\/em> Melli<\/em>–<\/em>Mazhabi<\/em>)\u201d and \u201cspreading propaganda against the system\u201d by methods including giving interviews to media \u201cwho are against the state\u201d.<\/p>\n

Hossein Rafiee has been held in Section 8 of Tehran\u2019s Evin Prison since his arrest in June 2015. The harsh conditions in that section, which is severely overcrowded, poorly ventilated, infested with insects and does not have enough beds and toilets, are endangering his health. He is not receiving regular medical care for various health problems, including high blood pressure and a heart condition. The authorities have refused Hossein Rafiee\u2019s request for compassionate leave to be with his sick wife, who needs to undergo surgery. The couple\u2019s children live abroad.<\/p>\n

Please write immediately in English, Persian, Spanish, French or your own language:<\/strong>
\nn \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Calling on the Iranian authorities to release Hossein Rafiee immediately and unconditionally, as he is a prisoner of conscience held solely for peacefully exercising his rights to freedom of expression and association;
\nn \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Urging them to ensure he receives any medical attention he may require, expressing concern that the extremely poor conditions in Section 8 of Evin Prison amount to ill-treatment, and reminding them that prisoners must be held in adequate conditions, in line with the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (the Nelson Mandela Rules);
\nn \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Reminding them that Articles 19, 21 and 22 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Iran is a state party, protect the rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly.<\/p>\n

PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 27 APRIL 2016 TO:<\/strong>
\nOffice of the Supreme Leader<\/u>
\nAyatollah Sayed \u2018Ali Khamenei
\nIslamic Republic Street- End of Shahid Keshvar Doust Street
\nTehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
\nEmail: via website
\nhttp:\/\/www.leader.ir\/langs\/en\/index.php?<\/a>
\np=letter Twitter: @khamenei_ir (English)
\nSalutation: Your Excellency<\/strong>
\nHead of the Judiciary<\/u>
\nAyatollah Sadegh Larijani
\nc\/o Public Relations Office Number 4, Deadend of 1 Azizi
\nAbove Pasteur Intersection
\nVali Asr Street
\nTehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
\nEmail: info@humanrights-iran.ir
\nSalutation: Your Excellency \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong>
\nAnd copies to<\/strong>:
\nProsecutor General of Tehran<\/u>
\nAbbas Ja\u2019fari Dolat Abadi
\nTehran General and Revolutionary Prosecution Office
\nCorner (Nabsh-e) of 15 Khordad Square Tehran, Islamic Republic of IranSalutation: Your Excellency<\/strong><\/p>\n

URGENT ACTION<\/strong><\/p>\n

ELDERLY PROFESSOR’S SIX-YEAR JAIL TERM UPHELD<\/strong><\/p>\n

Additional Information<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hossein Rafiee, a retired Tehran University chemistry professor, was arrested without a warrant by Ministry of Intelligence officials on 16 June 2015. He was not told why he was being arrested. About a month later, he was told that he had been arrested to serve a three-year prison sentence handed down by a Revolutionary Court in 2004 for \u201cmembership of an illegal group\u201d, as he was a member of the political groupSho\u2019rayeh Melli<\/em>–<\/em>Mazhabi <\/em>(Council of Religious-Nationalists), a loosely-knit alliance of political activists who advocate democratic political reforms. He went on a hunger strike in protest, also refusing to take his medicine. He ended his hunger strike on 20 June, after his wife and friends asked him to stop as it was jeopardizing his health due to his already high blood pressure, a thyroid condition and allergies. He has to take daily medication for each of these conditions.<\/p>\n

Hossein Rafiee\u2019s arrest came several days after he had lodged an appeal against a ruling issued by Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court on 25 May 2015, which sentenced him to five years in prison for \u201cmembership of an illegal and anti-national security group\u201d, one year for \u201cspreading propaganda against the system\u201d, fined him for the use of a satellite dish (which is banned in Iran) and barred him, for two years, from membership of political groups and engagement in online activities.<\/p>\n

Hossein Rafiee has detailed the severe overcrowding and appalling conditions of Section 8 of Evin Prison: he shares his 20-square-metre cell with 27 others, and sleeps on the floor, along with nine other men, as there are only six three-bunk beds in the cell. Hossein Rafiee has told his daughter, \u201cI wonder if we are in a prison or a torture chamber.\u201d He has also said that Section 8 has only five toilets and showers for at least 200 prisoners, and there are constant queues for the bathroom and showers. Hossein Rafiee\u2019s blood pressure has not been monitored regularly.<\/p>\n

Article 10 of the Mandela Rules states that \u201call accommodation provided for use of prisoners and in particular all sleeping accommodation shall meet all requirements of health, due regard being paid to climatic conditions and particularly cubic content of air, minimum floor space, lighting, heating and ventilation.\u201d Serious overcrowding, unsanitary environment and absence of sleeping facilities, when combined with the length of the period during which a prisoner is held in such conditions, can amount to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, contrary to Article 7 of the ICCPR which prohibits torture and other ill-treatment.<\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s Islamic Penal Code, adopted in May 2013, maintains vaguely worded \u201ccrimes\u201d such as \u201cspreading propaganda against the system\u201d, \u201ccreating unease in the public mind\u201d, \u201cinsulting Islamic sanctities\u201d and \u201cmembership of an illegal group\u201d. These ill-defined \u201ccrimes\u201d are frequently used to curb the peaceful exercise of the rights to freedom of expression, association, and peaceful assembly. Such laws and practices violate Iran\u2019s obligations under Articles 18, 19, 21 and 22 of the ICCPR, which guarantee freedom of thought, expression, peaceful assembly and association.<\/p>\n

Name: Hossein Rafiee (Mohammad Hossein Rafiee Fanood)
\nGender m\/f: m
\nFurther information on UA: 184\/15 Index: MDE 13\/3652\/2016 Issue Date: 16 March 2016<\/p>\n

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