Iran: Further information on fear of torture or other ill-treatment: Saman Rasoulpour (m)
PUBLIC AI Index: MDE 13/144/08
Further Information on UA 213/08 (MDE 13/106/2008, 1 August 2008) Fear of torture or other ill-treatment
IRAN Saman Rasoulpour (m), Kurdish human rights activist, aged 23
Kurdish human rights activist Saman Rasoulpour was released on 13 August after being in custody since the 25 July. He was accused of ‘distributing propaganda against the state’. He was released after paying bail of 100 million rial (approximately US$10,500).
For 17 days he was detained in facilities of the Ministry of Intelligence in the cities ofMahabad and Oroumiye in the north-western province of West Azerbaijan. He was later transferred to the general section of Mahabad prison. He was allowed to telephone his family only once during his detention.
Saman Rasoulpour is a senior member of the Human Rights Organisation of Kurdistan (HROK), an organisation that campaigns for better treatment of Iran's Kurdish minority. On 23 July he had taken part in a peaceful demonstration calling on the authorities to annul the death sentences of three Kurdish human rights activists on 25 February.
For more information on human rights violations against the Kurdish minority in Iran, see: Iran: Human rights abuses against the Kurdish minority, at: http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/MDE13/088/2008/en/d140767b-5e45-11dd-a592-c739f9b70de8/mde130882008eng.pdf
Many thanks to all who sent appeals. No further action is required at present. Amnesty International will continue to monitor Saman Rasoulpour’s case, and will take further campaigning action as necessary.