**Updates IFEX alerts of 29 November, 10 November, 3 November and 8 September 1999** (WiPC/IFEX) – The Ayatollah Abdollah Nouri, a former politician and prominent newspaper editor, was sentenced on 27 November 1999 to five years in prison in a trial which failed to meet international standards for due process. That same day, the independent […]
**Updates IFEX alerts of 29 November, 10 November, 3 November and 8 September 1999**
(WiPC/IFEX) – The Ayatollah Abdollah Nouri, a former politician and prominent newspaper editor, was sentenced on 27 November 1999 to five years in prison in a trial which failed to meet international standards for due process. That same day, the independent newspaper editor Mashallah Shamsolva’ezin was sentenced to three years in prison. Both men are currently in jail.
Abdollah Nouri, the managing director of the daily “Khordad”, was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment and fined fifteen million rials (about US$8,600). He was sent to jail soon after his sentence was handed down. As a religious cleric, he was tried by the Special Court for the Clergy and faced some twenty charges, all apparently based on “Khordad”‘s news coverage. He was, among other things, accused of insulting officials of the Islamic Republic, spreading false reports and propagating against the Islamic system, and promoting friendly relations with the U.S. Between 1 and 4 November, he made various appearances in court, and on 11 November the jury announced that he had been found guilty on fifteen counts. He received his sentence on 27 November. Nouri is a former minister of the interior and vice president. A close ally of President Khatami’s, he recently resigned from the Tehran City Council and had declared his intention to run in the Parliamentary elections next February. His arrest and sentencing were sharply criticised both internationally and by many moderates in Iran; he is seen as falling victim to those conservatives in government who wish to reverse a trend towards reforms.
In a separate case, Mashallah Shamsolva’ezin was sentenced by Press Court 1410 to three years’ imprisonment and a fine of twelve million Rials (about $6,900). The editor-in-chief of the independent daily “Neshat” (“Happiness”) and “Asr-e Azadegan” (“Era of the Free”), he was arrested on 3 November after he failed to pay an enormous bail (the equivalent of about US$167,000). His trial opened on 9 November, with Judge Said Mortazavi ruling that a jury would not be necessary. Shamsolva’ezin stood accused of forging an article and the signature of the author – the article in question criticised the use of the death penalty in Iran. Shamsolva’ezin’s lawyer was himself sentenced to five days in prison for “disturbing the order of the court”. Shamsolva’ezin has indicated he means to appeal the sentence. He has long been a target of the Iranian authorities and his accusation and imprisonment are widely perceived as intending to send a strong message of censorship to all independently-minded journalists in Iran. His papers “Tous” and “Jameah”, which were both critical and popular successes, were both, like “Neshat”, closed down. He is reported to be in Tehran’s Evin Prison.
Recommended Action
Send appeals to the president:
– expressing the belief that the imprisonment of both Nouri and Shamsolv’ezin stems
directly from their professional journalistic activities
– stating that their sentencing is counter to those international declarations and covenants that safeguard the right to freedom of expression
– therefore calling on the Iranian authorities to overturn the verdicts against them and
order their unconditional release
Appeals To
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: iranemb@salamiran.org
Please copy appeals to the source if possible.
