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مناشدة دولية لاطلاق سراح المناضلة معصومة الكعبي واطفالها
PUBLIC AI Index: MDE 13/147/2008
10 October 2008
UA 279/08 Forcible return/ Prisoners of conscience/ Fear of
torture and ill-treatment
IRAN Ma’soumeh Ka’bi (f), aged 31
Shima’ Nabgan (f), aged 14 ]
Asia Nabgan (f), aged 13 ]
Asma' Nabgan (f), aged 11 ] Ma’soumeh Ka’bi’s children
Iyad Nabgan (m), aged 8 ]
Imad Nabgan (m), aged 4 ]
Ma’soumeh Ka’bi and her five children, all members of the Arab
minority in Iran, were forcibly returned in breach of
international law on 27 September from Syria to Iran, where they
are all now said to be in custody. They were forcibly returned
by the Syrian government despite having registered with the UN
High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in order to seek asylum.
They were scheduled to leave for Denmark where they were to
join Habib Nabgan, the children's father and Ma’soumeh’s
husband. Ma’soumeh Ka’bi and her five children are prisoners of
conscience held solely in order to force Habib Nabgan to return
to Iran. They may be at risk of torture and other
ill-treatment.
Habib Nabgan is a prominent member of the Lejnat al-Wefaq
(Reconciliation Committee), a political party which promotes
the rights of Iran's Arab minority. He was resettled as a
refugee in Denmark two years ago. Ma’soumeh Ka’bi fled Iran
with her five children on 7 May 2008 and applied for refugee
status with the UNHCR in Damascus, who were processing her
case. She had been granted permission to join her husband by
the Danish authorities.
After the Danish authorities issued Ma’soumeh Ka’abi with a
temporary travel document, on 9 September she took her five
children to the office of Syria's Immigration Department in
order to obtain an exit visa, which would allow them to leave
the country. The six were all detained that day, and despite
interventions made by the UNHCR in Syria requesting the
family’s release, they were forcibly returned to Iran on 27
September. On arrival in Tehran, Iran’s capital, the family was
held at a detention facility at the airport for one night then
transferred to a detention facility run by the Ministry of
Intelligence in Tehran. On or around 29 September, the children
were separated from their mother. All the family members were
again transferred and taken to another Ministry of Intelligence
detention facility in Ahvaz, Khuzestan province, where
Ma’soumeh Ka’bi is still being held separately from her
children. Security personnel then telephoned other family
members in Iran, informing them of the place of detention of the
children and warning them not to ask questions about Ma’soumeh
Ka’bi.
Ma’soumeh Ka’bi and her younger son Imad, then aged two, were
previously arrested on 27 February 2006 (see UA 65/06, MDE
13/028/2006). They were held until they were released on bail on
28 April 2006.The other four children, and Habib Nabgan's
mother, were also arrested but were released the following day.
Habib Nabgan, who had fled the country, received threats that
his family would be tortured or killed if he did not return to
Iran.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Much of Arab community in Iran lives in the province of
Khuzestan, which borders Iraq. The Arab minority in Iran have
complained of discrimination, including in access to resources,
as well as forced evictions. There were mass demonstrations in
April 2005, after it was alleged that the government planned to
disperse the country's Arab population or to force them to
relinquish their Arab identity. Following bomb explosions in
Ahvaz City in June and October 2005, which killed at least 14
people, and explosions at oil installations in September and
October 2005, hundreds of people were arrested. Further bombings
on 24 January 2006, in which at least six people were killed,
were followed by further mass arrests. At least 17 men have now
been executed as a result of their alleged involvement in the
bombings. It is not clear if another man was executed or died
in custody.
Article 15 of the Iranian Constitution states: “The official
language and script of Iran… is Persian… However, the use of
regional and tribal languages in the press and mass media, as
well as for teaching of their literature in schools, is allowed
in addition to Persian.” Lejnat Al-Wefaq was established in 1999
to promote Iranian Arab minority rights, including linguistic
and cultural rights, but the party was declared illegal on 4
November 2006, and a statement from the Ahvaz Prosecutor's
office said that “membership and connection with that party
will be severely confronted."
Four Iranian men, members of Iran’s Arab community, are believed
to have been forcibly returned from Syria to Iran in 2006 (see
UA 132/06, MDE 24/037/2006, 15 May 2006 and follow-ups and UA
67/07, MDE 24/018/2007, 16 March 2007). At least one of these
men is facing a death sentence.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as
possible, in English, Arabic, Persian or your own language:
- expressing concern that Ma’soumeh Ka’bi and her five children
(please name them) are prisoners of conscience, held solely in
order to force Habib Nabgan to give himself up to the Iranian
authorities;
- calling on the authorities to release all of them immediately
and unconditionally;
- expressing concern for their safety and urging the
authorities to ensure that they are not tortured or otherwise
ill-treated;
- calling on the authorities to ensure that they are given
immediate access to lawyers of their own choosing, their
families and any medical treatment they may require;
- reminding the Iranian authorities that Article 12(2) of the
ICCPR expressly recognizes the right to leave any country,
including one’s own, and urging them to allow Ma’soumeh Ka’bi
and her children to leave Iran;
- reminding the Iranian authorities that as a state party to
the Convention on the Rights of the Child, detention of
children should be only if they come in conflict with the law
and should be as a last resort for the shortest period of time
after judicial proceedings. The best interest of the child and
the children’s development should be paramount considerations
in any measures taken against children.
APPEALS TO:
Leader of the Islamic Republic
His Excellency Ayatollah Sayed ‘Ali Khamenei
The Office of the Supreme Leader, Islamic Republic Street -
Shahid Keshvar Doust Street
Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
Email: info@leader.ir
Salutation: Your Excellency
Head of the Judiciary
Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi
Howzeh Riyasat-e Qoveh Qazaiyeh / Office of the Head of the
Judiciary
Pasteur St., Vali Asr Ave., south of Serah-e Jomhouri, Tehran
1316814737, Islamic Republic of Iran
Email: info@dadgostary-tehran.ir (In subject line write: FAO
Ayatollah Shahroudi)
Salutation: Your Excellency
Minister of Intelligence
Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejeie
Ministry of Intelligence, Second Negarestan Street, Pasdaran
Avenue, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
Salutation: Your Excellency
COPIES TO: to diplomatic representatives of Iran accredited to
your country.
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY. Check with the International
Secretariat, or your section office, if sending appeals after
21 November 2008.
2008-10-11
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