Re: Mr. Saleh Kamrani
To: Ayatollah Sayed Ali Khamenei, President Mr. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and others
From: Gail Davidson, Executive Director of LRWC
Date: 2006-06-27
LRWC has serious concerns regarding lawyer Saleh Kamrani who was abducted by your security forces on June 14, 2006. Mr. Kamrani called his wife about 1500 hours that day to say that he was on his way home. When he did not arrive, she tried to call him but found his mobile phone switched off, which was extremely unusual for him. She called all hospitals and police stations in Tehran but did not find any trace of him. In the evening, she called the Ministry of Intelligence and officials reportedly refused to confirm whether they were holding her husband. His wife has now been allowed to meet with him, in detention, on June 18, 2006. He requires immediate medical attention for a heart condition.
Mr. Saleh Kamrani, and Azeri Turkish Iranian, has previously suffered harassment and intimidation from Iranian security forces, including phone calls threatening him with arrest. In 2005 he was detained for three days with his brother in the town of Oromieh. Mr. Kamrani and his brother are involved in the defence of Iranian Azeri Turks who have been detained in connection with their political or cultural activities, and members of the other ethnic minorities. He has written articles on human rights and has organized training in human rights for lawyers and students.
LRWC reminds the Islamic Republic of Iran of Articles 16(a), 17 and 18 of the United Nations (UN) Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers (1990) which state that:
16. Governments shall ensure that lawyers (a) are able to perform all of their professional functions without intimidation, harassment or improper interference; …
17. Where the security of lawyers is threatened as a result of discharging their functions, they shall be adequately safeguarded by the authorities;
18. Layers shall not be identified with their clients or their clients’ causes as a result of discharging their functions.
In addition, LRWC draws your attention to Article 10 of the UN Declaration on the Protection of all Persons from Enforced Disappearance (1992) which states that:
1. Any person deprived of liberty shall be held in an officially recognized place of detention and, in conformity with national law, be brought before a judicial authority promptly after detention.
2. Accurate information on the detention of such persons and their place or places of detention, including transfers, shall be made promptly available to their family embers, their counsel or to any other persons having a legitimate interest in the information unless a wish to the contrary has been manifested by the persons concerns.
3. An official up-to-date register of all persons deprived of their liberty shall be maintained in every place of detention. Additionally, each State shall take steps to maintain similar centralized registers. The information contained in these registers shall be made available to the persons mentioned in the preceding paragraph, to any judicial or other competent and independent national authority and to any other competent authority entitled under the law of the State concerned or any international legal instrument to which a State concerned is a party, seeking to trace the whereabouts of a detained person.
Mr. Kamrani’s unlawful detention inflames an already bad situation in the Islamic Republic of Iran and it’s dealings with the Azeri. LRWC is concerned that your security forces are acting without lawful authority and without the best interests of the Republic and its traditional ethnic minorities in mind.
While in custody, you must ensure that Mr. Kamrani is not tortured or ill-treated and is allowed immediate access to his family, a lawyer of his choice and any medical treatment he requests. Furthermore, Mr. Kamrani must be released and dealt with in conformity with the Principles of the Rule of Law and the UN Declarations referred to in this correspondence.
