Iran: Feared ill-treatment of Mohammad Sadiq Kabudvand
Published: July 19, 2007
English PEN is seriously concerned about the detention and possible torture and ill-treatment of Iranian Kurdish journalist Mohammad Sadiq Kabudvand, who was arrested on 1 July 2007.
According to PEN's information, Kabudvand, editor of the banned weekly Payam-e mardom-e Kurdestan (Kurdistan People's Message), was arrested on 1 July 2007 at his place of work in Tehran by plain-clothed security officers. Following his arrest, he was initially taken to his house in Tehran, where security officers confiscated three computers, books, photographs, family films and personal documents, before taking him away to the Intelleigence Ministry's Section 209 of Evin Prison, where he is feared to be at risk of torture and ill-treatment.
He is believed to have had no contact with his family since his arrest. No reason has been given for his arrest, although it could be linked to a previous one-year prison sentence which he has never served.
Amnesty International provides the following background:
'Chair of the Kurdish Human Rights Organization (RMMK) based in Tehran, Mohammad Sadiq Kabudvand, is also the editor of Payam-e Mardom-e Kurdestan (Kurdistan People's Message) a weekly published in Kurdish and Persian, which was banned on 27 June 2004 after only 13 issues for "disseminating separatist ideas and publishing false reports". Convicted of "disseminating tribal issues and publishing provocative articles" and "spreading lies with the intention of upsetting public opinion" by a Revolutionary Court in Sanandaj, western Iran, Mohammad Sadiq Kabudvand received on 18 August 2005 a suspended prison sentence of 18 months, and a five-year ban on working as a journalist. His conviction was reportedly upheld on appeal, but the suspended prison sentence was increased to one year's actual imprisonment. In September 2006 he was summoned to begin his prison sentence, but remained free pending an appeal against his conviction to the Supreme Court.'
Kabudvand has reportedly written two books on democracy and a third on the women's movement in Iran, which were not given publishing licences.
Please send appeals:
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Expressing serious concerns about the detention of journalist and writer Mohammad Sadiq Kabudvand, and seeking details of any charges against him;
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Calling for his release if he is being held solely for peacefully exercising his right to free expression;
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Seeking reassurances from the Iranian authorities that Mohammad Sadiq Kabudvand's wellbeing in prison is guaranteed;
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Expressing concerns at the apparent pattern of repression against journalists and human rights activists in Kurdish Iran at the present time.
Addresses:
Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic
His Excellency Ayatollah Sayed 'Ali Khamenei,
The Office of the Supreme Leader
Shoahada Street, Qom
Islamic Republic of Iran
Head of the Judiciary
His Excellency Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi
Ministry of Justice, Park-e Shahr,
Tehran
Islamic Republic of Iran
Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejeie
Ministry of Intelligence,
Second Negarestan Street,
Pasdaran Avenue,
Tehran
Islamic Republic of Iran
(Minister of Intelligence - Salutation: Dear Minister)
COPIES TO:
His Excellency Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
The Presidency,
Palestine Avenue,
Azerbaijan Intersection,
Tehran
Islamic Republic of Iran
Fax Via Foreign Ministry: 98 21 6 674 790
(mark: "Please forward to H.E. President Ahmadinejad")
Kurdistan Human Rights Organization
PO Box 188-13465
Tehran
Islamic Republic of Iran
It may also be effective to send copies of the above appeals via the Iranian representative in London:
His Excellency Mr Rasoul Movahedian
Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran
16 Princes Gate
London SW7 1PT
Fax: 44 (0)20 7589 4440