Detained Physicist Omid Kokabee's Letter to the Head of the Judiciary
Letter 1.-
Head of judiciary system
Ayatiolah Sadeq Amoli Larijani
Dear Sir,
I am Omid Kokabee, son of Nobat, imprisoned in section 350 in Evin prison writing to you for the second time. I am writing this letter to you today after having already spent 10 months under arrest without any reason or proof (maybe because of a misunderstanding). After several interrogations and accusations saying that I was participating in illegal gatherings disturbing the public order they finally and without any grounds accused me of contacting enemies and earning illegal income. These accusations neither represent the procedures nor demands of the authorities nor comply with common sense or logic. How would it be possible to invite somebody who has been accused of being a spy and cooperating with foreigners to collaborate and to share the most confidential data and secrets of the government? What would the insistent calls of the intelligent services and security authorities, the pressuring of my family, the promising me different benefits such as freedom or the continuation of my studies at my former university (University of Texas, Austin) - all in order to convince me to cooperate with them - mean for somebody who has never had any activity outside of university and the research community and who is absolutely unfamiliar with political world? What lies behind all these accusations and pressures? What is their purpose? As an Iranian I am more than willing to serve and sacrifice for my country but I always have presented the following argument to the interrogators and the representatives of different institutions: I have not committed any wrongs and have no idea about the secret activities and interests of the government, yet they treat me like this and have literally taken my entire life and family hostage. What would happen to me if in the future I agree on collaborating with the regime and as a consequence learn about their confidential facts and secrets? What would they take hostage this time to ensure that they can trust me?
Letter 2
Dear Mr. Larijani,
My only fault is that my studies are unique and there is nobody in Iran with these studies and this expertise. Unfortunately, it seems that this specialization is extremely required. However, I am not writing this letter to argue about my innocence, I have no hope in convincing you of such, or that you will listen to my arguments, since not only did you not answer my first letter I managed to send to you with great difficulties and which caused a lot of misunderstanding, resulting in enhancing the already existent pressure on me. No, I´m writing this letter to complain about the institution that is your responsibility. Particularly to complain about the court in charge of my case, a court that failed even to evoke a supposedly legal and impartial trial and has clearly and openly ignored the law, rules and interests of the country and government. What is worse, the judge has treated me with anger and contempt. He has threatened me during the trial using words that I am ashamed of mentioning in this letter. He insists that I comply with his demand to acknowledge that I have betrayed my country and have collaborated with the USA. Not only is the judge in this court not impartial, but he has no legitimacy to take over my case. In an Islamic government that adheres to the norms of justice, kindness, and ethics, any judge without the capacity to be impartial is not legitimate to work as a judge. Are my charges against him personal that he treats me in this way, insulting me and threatening me? Any judge who insults, gets angry, and threatens the accused cannot be objective and according to law is not qualified to preside over a court of law.
With regards to all these reasons the natural reaction of any prisoner whose human rights and dignity have been ignored I declare that I am not willing to go to court to defend myself. Should they take me to court by force I will keep silent and will not defend myself so that the judge can easily give a sentence that he has already prescribed before the trial. Even though this will result in an intentional delay of the procedure (which is itself a punishment before being tried) during which many legal rights - such as hearing my objection to the arrest order, having my detention extended after one month, and the right to have a lawyer - have not been respected at all. Until today I have not been given the right to see a lawyer and I can hardly imagine how the respected lawyers will be able to defend me in court. What’s more, writing this letter to ask for justice might cause them to get angry with me again and increase the pressure. Thus, I request the Honorable to take into consideration my humble request which is the basic right of any prisoner: to transfer my file to another court so that the necessary conditions for celebrating an impartial trial in accordance with the ethical rules and citizen’s rights are met. Omid Kokabee 1390/9/2 (24/September/2011) Evin prision, Section 350