Press Release by the League for the Defense of Human Rights in Iran
 

Dear friend,
Your address has been put on a mailing list for the SOLE purpose of
receiving public declarations and announcements of the Iranian Human
Rights Working Group (IHRWG) as well as other HR related news and
statements.
If you do NOT like to be on this mailing list, or would like to ADD any
other address to it, please send a reply to this message.


====================================================================


LDDHI, B.P. 2-75624 Paris Cedex 13, France
Fax: (00331) 46 31 21 60
E-Mail: lddhi@wanadoo.fr

February 29, 2000

Press Release by the League for the Defense of Human Rights in Iran (LDDHI)
Paris, France

Today, after more than six months of illegal detention, branch #27 of the
Central Revolutionary Court convicted Mr. Khosrow Sayef, Mr. Bahram Namazi
nd Mr. Farzin Mokhber [all leaders and activists of the Iran Nation Party].
Each has been sentenced to the following cumulative imprisonment terms: 8
years for forming an illegal party [Iran Nation Party], 1 year for promoting
anti-regime propaganda, and 4 years for engaging in activities against the
internal security of the Islamic Republic. Mr. Namazi has received an
additional 2 years for insulting the supreme leader of the Islamic Republic.
Therefore, Mr. Namazi was sentenced to a total of 15 years of imprisonment
and Mr. Sayef and Mr. Mokhber were each sentenced to 13 years of
imprisonment. It is [indeed] astonishing that the Islamic Republic?s
justice
system engages in cumulative sentencing. This is unlike the justice
system under democratic countries where convicts only serve the sentence for
their highest crimes, not cumulative sentences for all of their crimes.

These sentences show that the cronies and accomplices of the agents of the
Intelligence Ministry, who brutally killed the leaders of the Iran Nation
Party, Dariush and Parvaneh Forouhar, continue to push forward their
suppression of freedom lovers and activists, including the remaining leaders
of the Iran Nation Party.

LDDHI condemns these sentences and demands the immediate and unconditional
release of Mr. Sayef, Mr. Namzi and Mr. Mokhber. In an unequivocal
violation of article #26 of the [Islamic Republic] Constitution, their trial
took place behind closed doors and was based on unfounded charges. These
individuals are prime examples of prisoners of conscience and, in reality,
they are paying [a heavy price] for daring to pursue the truth in the case
of the
serial murders of Dariush and Parvaneh Forouhar and others [in November
1998]. LDDHI also calls attention to the prisoners? old age and various
illnesses.

LDDHI, once again, calls on [the Islamic] President Khatami, as the
enforcer of the Constitution, to attend to the ongoing violations of human
rights in Iran. This is especially true in the large number of convictions
of the [pro-democracy] students who were arrested by illegal affiliate
institutions of the government following the July 1999 demonstrations in the
Universities of Tehran and Tabriz. LDDHI calls on President Khatami to
urgently act in order to stop the violations of constitutional laws by these
illegal government affiliated institutions, to arrest the violators, and to
free and
give back the rights of all prisoners [of conscience].