URGENT Iran:
Journalist arrestert
Journalist og forkjemper for kurdernes kulturelle rettigheter, Adnan Hassanpour, ble anholdt den 25. januar i Marivan, en liten by i den nordvestlige provinsen av Kurdistan. Han holdes uten kontakt med omverdenen og risikerer å bli utsatt for tortur og mishandling.
Status: Aktiv
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Adnan Hassanpour, journalist and advocate of cultural rights for Iranian Kurds, was reportedly detained on 25 January in Marivan, a small city in the northwestern province of Kurdistan. He is believed to be held incommunicado in the provincial capital Sanandaj, where he is at risk of torture or ill-treatment.
Up to six people, reportedly from the Ministry of Intelligence, are said to have telephoned Adnan Hassanpour’s mobile telephone on 25 January and told him to go to a certain place. When he followed their instructions, he was arrested. Security forces personnel reportedly took him back to his home where they removed his computer, notebooks and other personal effects prior to detaining him. It is believed that he was transferred the same day to a detention centre in the provincial capital, Sanandaj, around two hours away, where he is believed to be held incommunicado.
Adnan Hassanpour has reportedly been denied access to his family and his lawyer. His mother is said to have made several requests to Ministry of Intelligence officials to visit him, after travelling for more than two hours in cold winter weather to reach Sanandaj, which have all been denied. The officials have reportedly indicated that he will be detained for several more weeks, although he is not known to have been charged with any offence.
Adnan Hassanpour is a former member of the editorial board of the Kurdish-Persian weekly journal, Aso (Horizon), which was closed by the Iranian authorities in August 2005. Adnan Hassanpour had previously reportedly been tried in connection with articles published in the journal.
On 13 February 2007, over 20 Kurdish writers, journalists and artists issued a petition against the manner of his arrest.
Kurdish human rights defender and journalist Sherko Jihani, who was arrested on 27 November 2006, is believed to have been tortured, including by being beaten severely, while held incommunicado at an unknown location, believed to be a detention facility belonging to the Ministry of Intelligence in Iranian Kurdistan. (See further information on UA 331/06, MDE 13/009/2007, 26 January 2007: http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGMDE130092007?open&of=ENG-IRN).
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible, in English, French, Persian and Kurdish (for authorities in Kurdistan) or your own language:
.- asking to be informed in detail about the reasons for Adnan Hassanpour’s arrest, including any charges and evidence brought against him and of any trial which may be held;
- calling on the authorities to ensure that he is not tortured or ill-treated;
- calling for him to be allowed immediate and regular access to his family, a lawyer of his own choosing, and to any medical treatment he may require;
- stating that if Adnan Hassanpour has been detained in connection with his peaceful activities on behalf of Iran’s Kurdish community, or with his peaceful exercise of his right to freedom of expression or association, Amnesty International would consider him to be a prisoner of conscience, who should be released immediately and unconditionally; otherwise he should be released unless he is to be charged with a recognizably criminal offence and brought to trial promptly and fairly.
