Jailed Women’s Rights Activist Needs Your Help

Alert Issued: Janury 5, 2005

Update: Sixty Iranian women signed a petition calling for the release of Roya Toloui

UPDATE: Roya Toloui has been released from jail on high bail. Ms. Toloui spent 66 days in jail and still faces charges.

Dr. Roya Toloui, a champion of the rights of Iran’s Kurdish minority and of women, was detained from her home in Sanandaj on August 2. She is reported to be facing charges of “disturbing the peace” and “acting against national security.” Human Rights First is calling for her immediate and unconditional release from detention. Toloui’s detention is consistent with a pattern of harassment and persecution that she and other human rights activists in Iran’s Kurdish region have suffered in recent months in reprisal for their legitimate, peaceful activities in support of basic rights and freedoms.

There has been mounting unrest in Iran’s Kurdish region since the presidential elections in late June, which saw the election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a candidate closely identified with Iran’s ruling clerical establishment. President Ahmadinejad is viewed as hostile to Kurdish aspirations for greater equality and respect for their distinct cultural and religious traditions.

Roya Toloui is an outspoken critic of the policies of the Islamic Republic and its negative impact on the rights of women and religious and ethnic minorities. She and other human rights activists in Kordestan and West Azerbaijan provinces have been vocal in protesting a wave of repression unleashed on the region in recent weeks that has resulted in more than twenty deaths and hundreds of arrests of protesters. Regional magazines that reported on the unrest have been closed by the authorities, but information about continuing disturbances in the region continues to reach the outside world.

At this time of tension in Iran the role of independent human rights monitors is vital. Don’t let the Iranian government commit human rights violations behind a cloak of secrecy. Please join Human Rights First in calling for the immediate release of Dr. Toloui and her colleagues.

Tell Me More

On July 9, 2005 security forces in Mahabad, a predominantly Kurdish city in West Azerbaijan province, shot and killed Shovan Ghaderi, a leading youth activist and a member of the Association of Human Rights for Iranian Kurds. Press reports indicate that Revolutionary Guards and paramilitaries fired on a group of young men, wounding Ghaderi in the foot after he had approached the soldiers to see what they wanted. After shooting him twice more, soldiers tied his body to a military vehicle and dragged it through the city in a clear attempt to intimidate the population and deter further protests. Shovan Ghaderi’s killing has become the focus of mounting protests throughout Iran’s predominantly Kurdish provinces.

Kurds are a minority in Iran, comprising some ten percent of the population, concentrated in the western provinces of the country. They are economically disadvantaged and their distinctive language and culture has suffered in comparison to the dominant Persian culture. Moreover, most Kurds are Sunni Muslims, a religious minority in the Shi’ite Islamic Republic. Kurds had hoped for an improvement in their situation under President Mohamed Khatami, but their aspirations – together with those of many of their compatriots who had anticipated promised political reform – were not realized in eight years of his presidency.

The current unrest in the Kurdish region of Iran is the most serious for decades. In addition to protests in Mahabad and Sanandaj, demonstrations are reported to have occurred in towns throughout the region, including Sardasht, Baneh, Sinne and Saqiz. Activities by the security forces in these regions have been reported in the state-owned media. Reports from the region speak of the deployment of large numbers of troops backed by helicopter gunships. The risk of further clashes and additional civilian casualties remains high.

At least three other human rights defenders are reported to have been detained in recent weeks: Azad Zamani, a member of the Association for the Defense of Children’s Rights from Sinne; Jalal Qavani, a journalist, and Mahmoud Salehi, a labor rights activist.

The authorities are seeking to suppress information about human rights violations coming out of the Kurdish regions. At least two local magazines have been closed and Human Rights First believes that the detention of human rights defenders like Roya Toloui, who are known to have monitored and reported on human rights violations in the past, is a measure designed to prevent news about human rights violations from reaching the outside world.

Roya Toloui, a pathologist, is the editor of a monthly cultural magazine, Rassan, published in Sanandaj. She is a leader of the Association of Kurdish Women for the Defense of Peace and Human Rights. The authorities have refused to legally register this human rights organization and its members have been repeatedly harassed and threatened in recent months. Dr. Toloui is an outspoken critic of the policies of the Islamic Republic and its negative impact on the rights of women and religious and ethnic minorities. Her public comments have brought her to the attention of the authorities and she was summoned to appear before a Revolutionary Court in April 2005 to face accusations that her non-violent activism “endangered national security.”

Sample Letter

His Excellency Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi
Head of the Judiciary
Ministry of Justice,
Park-e Shahr,
Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran

Your Excellency:

I am alarmed by reports that numerous human rights defenders have been arrested amid increasing violence in the Kurdish regions of Iran. Dr. Roya Toloui, a champion of the rights of Iran’s Kurdish minority and of women was detained from her home in Sanandaj on August 2, and is reported to be facing charges of “disturbing the peace” and “acting against national security.” I strongly urge you to immediately and unconditionally release Dr. Toloui and all human rights activists detained for their peaceful and legitimate defense of basic rights.

Reports indicate that growing unrest and demonstrations throughout the Kurdish areas of Iran have been met with violence and repression on the part of the Iranian government. Large numbers of troops backed by helicopter gunships have been sent to quell protesters, resulting in more than 20 dead and hundreds of arrests thus far. In addition to Dr. Toloui, at least three other human rights defenders are reported to have been detained in recent weeks: Azad Zamani, a member of the Association for the Defense of Children’s Rights from Sinne; Jalal Qavani, a journalist, and Mahmoud Salehi, a labor rights activist. I believe that these arrests are intended to silence human rights activists and prevent news about human rights violations from reaching the outside world.

As you are aware, this is not the first time that Dr. Toloui has been the target of state-sponsored persecution and harassment. Dr. Toloui has been an outspoken critic of the policies of the Islamic Republic and its negative impact on the rights of women and religious and ethnic minorities. Her organization, the Association of Kurdish Women for the Defense of Peace and Human Rights, has been refused legal status, and its members have been repeatedly harassed and threatened. In April 2005, Dr. Toloui was summoned to appear before a Revolutionary Court to face accusations that her non-violent activism “endangered national security.” Recently, she and other human rights advocates in Kordestan and West Azerbaijan provinces have been vocal in protesting the wave of repression unleashed on the region in the past several weeks.

Dr. Roya Toloui has been repeatedly harassed and now arrested for exercising the rights guaranteed to her and all human rights activists in numerous international treaties and declarations, including the 1998 UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, which provides that all persons have the right "freely to publish, impart or disseminate to others views, information and knowledge on all human rights and fundamental freedoms." During a time of instability and unrest in Iran, the contributions of peaceful human rights activists should be supported and protected, not punished.

I strongly urge you to immediately and unconditionally release Dr. Roya Toloui and all peaceful human rights defenders arrested in this recent crackdown. While Dr. Toloui and her colleagues remain in detention, I urge you to ensure that the conditions of their detention meet basic international standards laid out in the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners and the UN Body of Principles for the Protection of all Persons Under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment, including the requirement that all persons held in detention be treated with humanity and dignity, and that they not be subjected to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.

Thank you for your attention to this urgent matter. I will continue to monitor this situation closely.

Sincerely,


cc.

Dr. Mohammad Javad Zarif
Ambassador and Permanent Representative
Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the U.N.
622 Third Ave. New York, NY 10017
Tel: (212) 687-2020 / Fax: (212) 867-7086

Mr. Ali Jazini Dorcheh
Director, Interests Section of the Islamic Republic of Iran
Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan
2209 Wisconsin Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20007
Tel: (202) 965-4990 / Fax: (202) 965-1073