E-mail this page

Printer friendly

LIBRARY MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA GULF STATES IRAN

AI Index: MDE 13/020/2005

6 May 2005

URGENT ACTION

Iran: Arbitrary arrest/fear of torture and ill-treatment, Yousuf Azizi Bani Toruf

PUBLIC
AI Index: MDE 13/020/2005

06 May 2005

UA 109/05 Arbitrary arrest/fear of torture and
ill-treatment

IRAN Yousuf Azizi Bani Toruf (m), writer and journalist

Writer and journalist Yousuf Azizi Bani Toruf was arrested on 25 April at 2pm,
after he returned from a press conference where he spoke in support of
anti-government protestors. Seven or eight members of the security forces in
plain clothes came to his home and took him away; they told his wife they had
an arrest warrant, but refused to present it. Amnesty International fears he
may be tortured to force him to confess.

The officers who detained him reportedly seized his papers, computer and
telephone address book, and ransacked the house, in the city of Ahvaz, near the
border with Iraq. His wife has reportedly received anonymous telephone threats
warning her not to talk to the media.

When he was arrested Yousuf Azizi Bani Toruf had just returned to his home from
a press conference at the Human Rights Centre in the capital, Tehran, attended
by lawyer and human rights defender Shirin Ebadi, who won the 2003 Nobel Peace
Prize for her work in defence of human rights in Iran. Yousuf Azizi Bani Toruf
condemned the security forces' violent suppression of anti-government
demonstrations in the province of Khuzestan.

According to a 1 May report in the daily newspaper Eqbal, Yousuf Bani Toruf was
taken to a prison in Ahvaz, and his wife said that he had been charged with
with "acting against the national security and provoking people." He is now
believed to be held at Evin prison, in Tehran.

Yousuf Azizi Bani Toruf apparently managed to telephone his wife on 3 May, and
told her that he is scheduled to meet his lawyer, Soleh Nikbakht, on 7 May.
Amnesty International is concerned that the authorities may not allow the
meeting to go ahead, or may not allow private, confidential discussion.

Yousuf Azizi Bani Toruf is a member of the Writers’ Association (Kanoun-e
Nevisandigan). He has written books both in Persian and Arabic and had articles
published in the press. For 12 years he worked as a journalist for the Iranian
daily paper Hamshahri.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION
His arrest comes after unrest which reportedly began on 15 April in the Shalang
Abad (also known as Da’ira) area of central Ahvaz. Around 1,000 demonstrators
reportedly assembled to protest at the contents of a letter, reports of which
had begun to circulate on 9 April, allegedly written in 1999 by an advisor in
the office of President Khatami. The letter sets out policies for the reduction
of the Arab population of the province of Khuzestan: these include resettling
Arabs in other regions of Iran, resettling non-Arabs in the province, and
replacing Arabic place names with Persian ones. Government sources, including
the letter's supposed author, have strongly denied that it is genuine. The
text, with an English translation, can be found at
http://www.ahwaz.org.uk/images/ahwaz-khuzestan.pdf; the supposed author’s
denial that he wrote the letter, along with an explanation of the contents, can
be found (in Persian) at http://www.webneveshteha.com/. The security forces
appear to have used excessive force in stopping the demonstration. The
government has reportedly begun a limited enquiry into the unrest, as has the
parliament, but these do not appear to be sufficiently wide-ranging or
impartial.

At the 25 April press conference Yousuf Azizi Bani Toruf defended the
protesters and condemned the heavy-handed approach of the security forces.

E-mail this page

Printer friendly

Back to Top