Iran: French POC Awaits Sentence: Clotilde Reiss - Further information
The trial of Clotilde Reiss has ended, according to the Iranian authorities, but no verdict has yet been delivered by the Revolutionary Court of Tehran. The judge may decide to release her on bail until her sentence is passed.
Clotilde Reiss, a 24 year-old French national, was accused in a mass trial of more than 100 people charged in connection with the mass and largely peaceful protests that broke out after the widely-disputed official result of the 12 June presidential election was announced. She was charged with acting against national security by taking part in demonstrations, collecting news and information, and sending pictures of the demonstrations abroad.
Excerpts of the trial proceedings shown on state-controlled Iranian TV showed Clotilde Reiss “confessing” to the Revolutionary Court on 8 August that she had participated in the protest demonstrations and had sent a report to the head of the French Institute of Iranian Studies for personal reasons, and apologizing to the court and requesting a pardon. It is unclear, however, whether her statements were freely given or made under duress. Her lawyers say they were not allowed time to examine her case file and were able only to seek the court’s clemency.
The Presidency of the European Union, along with the French and British authorities have denounced the trial proceedings and the “confessions” made by several trial defendants and shown on one state-controlled TV.
Amnesty International considers Clotilde Reiss a prisoner of conscience, held for peacefully exercising her right to receive andimpart information and ideas, and is calling for her immediate and unconditional release.
PLEASE WRITE IMMEDIATELY in Persian, Arabic, English, French or your own language:
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Calling on the Iranian authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Clotilde Reiss, as she is a prisoner of conscience detained solely for exercising her right to receive and impart information and ideas;
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urging the Iranian authorities to allow Clotilde Reiss immediate access to consular assistance, a lawyer of her choice and to any medical treatment she may require, and that she be protected from all forms of torture or other ill-treatment;
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calling on the authorities to stop unlawfully restricting exercise of the rights to freedom of association, assembly and expression, including the right to receive and impart information and ideas.
PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 24 September 2009 TO:
Leader of the Islamic Republic
Ayatollah Sayed ‘Ali Khamenei
The Office of the Supreme Leader
Islamic Republic Street – End of Shahid Keshvar Doust Street, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
via website: http://www.leader.ir/langs/en/index.php?p=letter (English)
http://www.leader.ir/langs/fa/index.php?p=letter (Persian)
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: [email protected]
(In the subject line write: FAO Ayatollah Shahroudi)
Salutation: Your Excellency
And copies to:
Minister of Intelligence
His Excellency Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejeie
Ministry of Information
Second Negarestan Street
Pasdaran Avenue
Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
Salutation: Your Excellency
Also send copies to diplomatic representatives accredited to your country. Please check with your section office if sending appeals after the above date. This is the first update of UA: 188/09 (MDE 13/073/2009). Further information: http://www.amnesty.org/fr/library/asset/MDE13/073/2009/fr/de11ac30-e36f-495a-82b7-6542581f149e/mde130732009eng.html
URGENT ACTION
French POC awaits sentence
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
On 1 July, 24-year-old French national Clotilde Reiss was detained at Tehran airport in Iran, on her way home to France. She is accused of espionage in connection with photographs she took during a demonstration in June, which she emailed to a friend.
A graduate politics student from the city of Lille in France, Clotilde Reiss travelled to Iran after receiving a scholarship for her studies on Iran. She was about to return home via Lebanon, after five months working as an assistant teacher in Esfahan University in central Iran. Clotilde Reiss is held in Evin Prison in Tehran. She met with a French envoy on 9 july and said that she was being interrogated daily, though she was not being ill-treated.
Last month, she took photographs of a demonstration in which she participated, against the announcement of the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, which many Iranians have disputed. She emailed the photographs to her family in France and to a friend in Tehran.
In the days following the announcement on 13 June 2009 that President Ahmadinejad had won the previous day's presidential election, which hundreds of thousands of Iranians dispute, the Iranian authorities imposed draconian restrictions on freedom of expression, association and assembly. Security forces, including the paramilitary Basij, have been widely deployed in the streets; communications have been significantly disrupted. Iranian publications have been banned from publishing information about the nationwide unrest since the result was declared. Foreign journalists have been banned from the streets, their visas not renewed and some foreign reporters have been arrested or expelled from the country.
According to statements made by Iranian officials, over 4,000 people have been arrested since 12 June by the police and Basij forces across the country during demonstrations or their aftermath. These include prominent political figures close to either presidential candidates Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, or former President Khatami, who supported Mir Hossein Mousavi’s campaign. Some human rights defenders, as well as journalists have also been detained. On 16 June lawyer and human rights defender Abdolfattah Soltani, was also arrested and detained (see UA 160/09, MDE 13/059/2009, 19 June 2009: http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/MDE13/059/2009/en). Journalist Issa Saharkhiz was arrested on 4 July and taken away to an undisclosed location (please see UA 181/09, MDE 13/067/2009, 6 July 2009: http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/MDE13/067/2009/en)
Iran is a state party to the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights and as such must uphold Article 19 which guarantees the right to freedom of expression and includes the freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print.
Further information on UA: 188/09 Index: MDE 13/084/09 Issue Date: 13 August 2009