Urgent Action: Iranian Kurds forced to make TV confession

Iranian Kurds Houshmand Alipour and Mohammad Ostadghader were arrested by security forces on 3 August and held incommunicado for weeks. They were shown on state television on 7 August making

a forced “confession” incriminating themselves. They have had little access to their families and no access to lawyers of their choosing.

Please write immediately in Persian, English or your own language calling on the Iranian authorities to:

Ensure that Houshmand Alipour and Mohammad Ostadghader are tried in proceedings that are in line with

international fair trial standards and without recourse to the death penalty, and that they are given regular access to their families and lawyers of their own choosing, as well as to any medical care they may require;  Ensure that they are protected from torture and other ill-treatment, and order a prompt, independent, effective, and impartial investigation into their allegations of torture, bringing to justice anyone found responsible in fair trials and without recourse to the death penalty;

 End the practice of producing and broadcasting “confession” videos, as they violate the defendants’ rights not to be compelled to incriminate themselves, to presumption of innocence and to freedom from degrading  treatment.

PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 22 OCTOBER 2018 TO:

Public Prosecutor of Kurdistan Province

Shahid Beheshti Judicial Complex

Basij Square, Sanandaj

Kurdistan Province, Iran

Salutation: Dear Sir

Head of the Judiciary

Ayatollah Sadegh Larijani

c/o Public Relations Office

Number 4, Deadend of 1 Azizi

Above Pasteur Intersection,

Vali Asr Street, Tehran, Iran

Salutation: Dear Sir

And copies to:

High Council for Human Rights

Mohmmad Javad Larijani

Esfandiar Boulevard, Niayesh

Intersection

Vali Asr Avenue, Tehran, Iran

Also send copies to diplomatic representatives accredited to your country.

H.E. Hamid Baeidinejad, Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran, 16 Princes Gate

London SW7 1PT, Tel: 02072254208 or 02072254209 Email: iranconsulate.lon@mfa.gov.ir

Please check with your section office if sending appeals after the above date.