(WiPC/IFEX) – WiPC reports that four students and an academic are accused of publishing a blasphemous play; three have already appeared in court and are to face a verdict on 30 October 1999. Students Mohammad-Reza Namnabati, Abbas Nemati, and Ali-Reza Aqali appeared before an Islamic court in Tehran on 20 October charged with having “offended […]
(WiPC/IFEX) – WiPC reports that four students and an academic are accused of
publishing a blasphemous play; three have already appeared in court and are
to face a verdict on 30 October 1999.
Students Mohammad-Reza Namnabati, Abbas Nemati, and Ali-Reza Aqali appeared
before an Islamic court in Tehran on 20 October charged with having
“offended the Imam Mahdi” and “the values of the Islamic Revolution as well
as its martyrs” in a play they published. A fourth student, Hamed Ahangari,
is belived to be due to appear in court on the same charges soon, and Mehdi
Sajadehchi, a university professor, is charged with encouraging the students
by expressing his support for the play.
The play, The Entrance Exam and the Time of Resurrection, is a short satire
which at first had only a small distribution of about 150 copies, appearing
in a September issue of the Tehran Polytechnic campus magazine, “The Wave”.
(Now it appears on many web sites – an English extract can be found on
www.dfn.org). It describes a meeting between a student named Abbas and the
Imam Mahdi, or the “Lord of All Ages”, a prophet said to be destined to
return to earth, choose 313 disciples, and put an end to all tyranny. In the
play, the Imam does return, asks Abbas to be a disciple. Abbas, however,
pleads a postponement until after he has obtained his exam results. The play
was seized on by the more conservative of the country’s authorities who
loudly protested against its alleged lampooning of religious hardliners. It
was almost immediately banned and some of the students involved in it were
reportedly arrested on 23 September.
During the court hearing on 20 October, Judge Saeed Mortezavi accused the
students of using “insulting words” and making fun of “people awaiting the
Imam’s return.” The students acknowledged authorship and said what they did
was done unintentionally.
Namnabati and Nemati, as authors of the script, are thought to be the most
liable to receive a severe sentence. However, an Iranian newspaper reported
this week that the supreme religious leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had
expressed his hope that the court would consider “strong mitigation” in its
verdict.
Recommended Action
Send appeals to the president:
participated in the publication of this play and the professor who
expressed his support for their activities
expression of their views
forthwith, that those still detained be released, and that an atmosphere in
which writers can express themselves freely be fostered, not stifled,
throughout Iran
Appeals To
His Excellency Hojjatoleslam val Moslemin Sayed Mohammad Khatami
The Presidency, Palestine Avenue
Azerbaijan Intersection
Tehran, The Islamic Republic of Iran
Fax: +98 21 64 66 415
E-mail page: http://year2001.president.gov.ir/email007.html
Please copy appeals to the source if possible.
