Iran should free ethnic rights activists - Human Rights Watch
The Human Rights Watch urged the Iranian officials to
immediately and unconditionally release five Azerbaijani ethnic
minority rights activists.
According to its recent report, five people have been sentenced to
heavy prison terms solely for their membership in a party that
peacefully works for the civil and cultural rights of the country's
Azeri ethnic minority.
An appeals court recently affirmed nine-year prison sentences for
each of the five men, the report said.
Members of the party told Human Rights Watch that the five people
were convicted in a closed two-day trial for "founding an illegal
group" and "propaganda against the state" in connection with their
membership in Yeni GAMOH, an Azeri party.
Yeni GAMOH, which stands for "New Southern Azerbaijan National
Awakening Movement" in the Azeri language, has for more than a
decade promoted Azeri cultural and linguistic identity, along with
secularism and the right to self-determination for the Azeris of
Iran, members said.
With an estimated population of at least 15 million, mostly
concentrated in Iran's northwest regions, Azeris constitute the
country's largest ethnic minority.
On June 16, 2013, an appeals court in the northwestern city of
Tabriz upheld the nine-year prison sentences for Mahmoud Fazli,
Ayat Mehrali Beyglou, Shahram Radmehr, Latif Hassani, and Behboud
Gholizadeh on national security-related charges. The ruling came
less than two months after they were convicted by Branch 3 of the
Tabriz Revolutionary Court.
The five men are currently in Rajai Shahr Prison, in the city of
Karaj, 47 kilometers west of Tehran, the capital, according to the
report.
Authorities had arrested the men in 2010 in connection with their
membership in the group, and revolutionary courts had sentenced
them to various prison terms, ranging from six to 18 months, the
report said.
On August 1 Human Rights Watch wrote an open letter to Hassan
Rouhani, then the president-elect, urging him to implement policies
"ensuring equal protection of law for all Iranians, irrespective of
ethnicity and faith."