Letter for the attention of:
Mr. Jerzy Buzek, President of the European Parliament
Mr. Gabriele Albertini, Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Parliament
Ms. Eva Joly, Chair of the Development Committee of the European Parliament
Ms. Heidi Hautala, Chair of the Human Rights Sub-Committee of the European Parliament
Ms. Barbara Lochbihler, President of the Delegation of the European Parliament for Relations with Iran
Mr. Joseph Daul, Chairman EPP Group
Mr. Martin Schulz, President S&D Group
Mr. Guy Verhofstadt, President ALDE Group
Ms. Rebecca Harms, Co-President Greens/EFA Group
Mr. Daniel Cohn-Bendit, Co-President Greens/EFA Group
Mr. Lothar Bisky, President GUE/NGL Group
Copy:
Members of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Parliament
Members of the Development Committee of the European Parliament
Subject: Nomination for the Sakharov Prize
Dear Sir, Dear Madam,
You are aware of the horrifying violations of human rights which are taking place in Iran and of the particularly brutal repression which has been inflicted on ordinary civilians and political activists alike since the Presidential election of 12 June 2009.
In the protests which followed the election, over one hundred people were killed on the streets. Since then, thousands of people have been arrested, hundreds have been subjected to show trials while others have been imprisoned without any form of legal process; hundreds of prisoners have been subjected to torture, rape or other inhuman or degrading treatment. Opposition supporters and civil society activists remain under constant surveillance while the authorities use all available means to intimidate the population.
These violations have added to an already desperate human rights situation. In particular, Iran is one of the countries in the world which most frequently carries out the death penalty, including execution of minors. Several hundred people have already been executed in 2010, and approximately 2,000 people are currently condemned to death.
In recent months repression has intensified against political and civil society activists, including through the kidnapping of family members as hostages. Pressure on political prisoners has also increased: for example, political prisoners in Evin Prison are being deprived of the opportunity to call their families or to receive family visits as well as of access to a doctor. Indications are that the régime is gearing up to further executions.
Despite massive repression, the people of Iran continue to hope and believe that a better future is possible. They need the support of all those outside Iran who believe in universal values of human rights and who are prepared to proclaim those values above and beyond short-term geopolitical considerations. The European Parliament, through the debates it has organised and the Resolutions it has adopted, can surely be counted among such defenders of human rights and of democracy.
One of the most important gestures of solidarity which the European Parliament can make is the annual award of the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought. We note that, since the Prize was initiated in 1988, it has never been awarded to an Iranian citizen. We believe that, in this especially traumatic year for the people of Iran, it would be appropriate to award the Sakharov Prize to a person or persons who symbolise the struggle for human rights, democratic ideals and the power of resistance.
There are hundreds of names which could be put forward, among them Keyvan Samimi (journalist, imprisoned); Ahmad Zeidabadi (journalist, imprisoned); Mohmad Sedigh Kaboudvand (human rights defender from Iranian Kurdistan, imprisoned); Shiva Nazar Ahari (human rights defender, sentenced to death); Issa Saharkhiz ((journalist, imprisoned); Abdollah Momeni (student leader, imprisoned); Bahman Ahmadi Amooee (journalist, imprisoned); Hengame Shahidi (journalist); Zhila Bani Yaghoob (journalist).
Our candidates for the Sakharov Prize 2010 represent three generations of commitment in adversity.
Mr. Abbas Amir-Entezam, 77, who has stood firm in his commitment to human rights and democratic values from the time of the Shah of Iran through that of the Islamic Republic, has in 2010 spent his thirtieth year as a prisoner of conscience. He is the longest-held political prisoner in Iran.
The moral courage which has helped him to survive more than thirty years of detention in prison or under house arrest, the consistency with which he has refused any compromise incompatible with justice and freedom of conscience, and his sense of devotion and sacrifice of his personal and family life, are testimony to the exceptional qualities which have made Mr. Amir-Entezam respected by all Iranians, inside and outside the country and whatever their political affiliations.
Mr. Mansour Osanloo, 51, is the best-known face of the independent trade union movement in Iran, with a commitment of over twenty years to freedom of association and social dialogue. In prison since 2007, he has recently had his sentence extended; he has been tortured in prison and denied medical treatment.
Mr. Osanloo’s concern with the working conditions of his fellow workers, his determination to resist intimidation, his courage in the face of torture, and the severe pressure exerted on his family by the security forces, have won him admiration not only among trade unionists but in the wider Iranian society, as well as among human rights defenders around the world.
Ms. Bahareh Hedayat, 29, is one of the leaders of the largest Iranian student organisation, an indefatigable defender of human rights, including women’s rights, and an advocate of the right to peaceful democratic protest. For defending these values, she has been sentenced to spend the next 9.5 years of her young life in prison.
Her unwavering commitment to freedom of thought and of speech, her promotion of equal rights for women in education and in society, her determination to promote democratic values by peaceful means and her courage in the face of violence and intimidation, have made Ms. Hedayat an inspiration for the young generation in Iran and a symbol of hope for the future.
The people of Iran look to the European Union to support the struggle for human rights in Iran. Young people in particular need a signal to remind them that they are not alone. We believe that the award of the Sakharov Prize to the above candidates would be a powerful expression of support to the Iranian people by the elected representatives of the people of Europe.
Yours sincerely,
Mr. Abbas Amir-Entezam
Mr. Abbas Amir-Entezam, one of the leaders of the liberation movement against the Shah of Iran, was briefly Deputy Prime Minister and spokesman of the Provisional Government established after the Revolution of 1979. As a lay (non-clerical) politician, he was ousted when he opposed the theocratic draft constitution drawn up by the Assembly of Experts which eventually became the constitution of the Islamic Republic.
Following the takeover by fundamentalist clerics at the end of 1979, Mr. Amir-Entezam was arrested on charges of spying for the United States and tried in a closed, non-jury, procedure which lasted ten minutes and during which there was no defence lawyer present. He was sentenced to life imprisonment. After serving seventeen years in the notorious Evin prison, he was allowed, on medical grounds, to return to his home in 1997 to complete his sentence under house arrest; however, after one interview in which he referred to the brutalities committed by the chief warden of the prison, he was returned to prison after only a few months and remained there until 2002.
In 2002, Mr. Amir-Entezam, whose health had continued to deteriorate, was again sent home where he has remained under house arrest to this day.
Mr. Amir-Entezam has made several attempts to appeal his case or to have a retrial in public; these attempts have failed. The authorities of the Islamic Republic have on a number of occasions offered him the possibility of definitive release, on condition that he accept his conviction and withdraw his appeal. Mr. Amir-Entezam has refused these offers, because he believes that this would be a denial of justice and the freedom of thought which he has always defended.
Mr. Amir-Entezam is obliged to present himself to the authorities on a regular basis to avoid a return to prison; he is not allowed to leave the country; he has not seen his children, who are living abroad, for thirty years.
He knows that any public statement by him could lead to his being sent back to prison, which, at 77 years of age, he would be unlikely to survive. Despite this, Mr. Amir-Entezam continues to express himself where and when he can, and to defend the ideal of democracy in his country.
Mr. Amir-Entezam has already been a recipient of the Bruno Kreisky Prize (1998) and the Jan Karski Award for Moral Courage (2003).
Mr. Mansour Osanloo
Mr. Mansour Osanloo is the founder and Secretary-General of the independent trade union of the Teheran and Suburbs Bus Company (Sherkat-e Vahed), which claims to represent approx. 8,000 of the 17,000 workforce of the company. The principal objective of the union is to secure better pay and working conditions for the company’s employees and to educate members with regard to human rights and social dialogue. Mr. Osanloo has not been involved in any other political activity beyond these objectives.
However, Iran has not ratified a number of key Conventions of the International Labour Organisation, and the laws of the Islamic Republic place such restrictions on the establishment of trade unions that independent unions are effectively banned. After 2005, when the Teheran and Suburbs Bus Company, like many other state or semi-state enterprises, came under the management of former members of the security forces, tolerance of independent trade union activity closed off completely.
Mr. Osanloo was first arrested in January 2006 during a labour dispute. At that time he spent three months of an eight-month jail sentence in solitary confinement, during which he was tortured and had his tongue cut. In August 2006, Mr. Osanloo was released on bail, only to be re-arrested in November 2006, together with his deputy, and held for a month.
In 2007 he was sentenced to five years in prison for “attempts against national security and propaganda against the régime” and was sent to Evin Prison in Teheran; in 2008 he was moved to the prison of Shahr Rajaï where he remains. He has repeatedly been refused medical treatment, despite having a serious heart condition.
Following a campaign by international trade unionists and within the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the Iranian Ministry of Labour apparently made certain commitments to the ILO concerning a possible release/pardon of Mr. Osanloo in the course of 2010. In August 2010, however, Mr. Osanloo was put on trial at Karaj Islamic Revolutionary Court, without legal representation, and sentenced to an extra year of imprisonment for “propaganda against the system”. He has appealed his sentence.
During his imprisonment, Mr. Osanloo’s family has been subjected to threats and intimidation by the security forces, most recently in June 2010 with the arrest of his son and the kidnapping and torture of his daughter-in-law.
Ms. Bahareh Hedayat
Ms. Bahareh Hedayat is one of the leading student activists and human rights defenders of the young generation in Iran. The only female member of the six-person central council of the Office for the Consolidation of Unity (Daftar Tahkim-e Vadat), the largest Iranian student organisation, she was also the first woman elected to lead its human rights section.
Ms. Hedayat was an early and active member of the One Million Signatures Campaign, an effort to gather popular support to achieve equality for women under Iranian law. She also played a critical role in highlighting the needs of female students and protesting policies aimed at reducing the number of female university students, such as quotas and rules limiting them to attending university only in their own home towns. In particular, she established a Women’s Commission in 2005 in order to promote the presence of female student activists at universities and to promote the demands of the women’s movement within the student movement as a whole.
Following a demonstration in protest against discriminatory laws against women in 2006, Ms. Hedayat was arrested and given a two-year suspended sentence. She was arrested again in 2007, 2008 and in March 2009.
In the lead-up to the Presidential election of 12 June 2009, the Office for the Consolidation of Unity was one of the leading organisers of debates on the democratic process held in universities in Teheran and throughout the country. After that election, the Office was to the forefront in the organisation of the mass protest demonstrations and of the “Where’s My Vote?” campaign. Ms. Hedayat was one of the most visible and courageous leaders of these efforts.
Ms. Hedayat was arrested in December 2009 and subjected to two months of interrogation. She was charged with a number of alleged offences including “propagating and depicting a dark image of the régime, actively taking part in post-election events, talking to foreign media organisations, insulting the Supreme Leader, insulting the President and conspiracy and assembly with intent to act against national security”.
In May 2010, Ms. Hedayat and a fellow member of the central council of the Office for the Consolidation of Unity were convicted and received prison sentences. Ms. Hedayat’s severe sentence, 9.5 years in prison, was seen as a warning to other female students not to engage in political activity.
Ms. Bahareh Hedayat is currently held in the women’s section of Evin Prison in Teheran.
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