Petition in Support of Keyvan Rafiee

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Keyvan Rafiee is a 26 years old human rights activist in Iran. He is the spokesperson for Human Rights Activists in Iran. He was also involved in publishing news about political prisoners on his weblog before his arrest.

Mr. Rafiee was arrested on July 9th 2006, near Tehran University by the Intelligence Ministry Officials. After his arrest he was transferred to Section 209 of the Evin Prison, which is under the direct control of the Ministry of Intelligence.

It could be said that the arrest of Mr. Rafiee was similar to a kidnapping, because the officers who arrested Mr. Rafiee did not have an arrest warrant and did not inform him of his charges.
Mr. Rafiee has spent more then 5 months in solitary confinement.
Keeping prisoners in solitary confinement is a brutal form of psychological torture. When in solitary confinement the prisoner is completely unaware of what is going on outside of the prison.
The prisoner is given false information and lies in order to confuse and frustrate him. Further the prisoner is not allowed to have any visitations even with his lawyer. This is a silent torture, a torture which does not bruise the body, however it is meant to destroy the persons’ spirit.
Also Mr. Rafiee was not allowed to inform his family of his arrest and whereabouts for the first three (3) months of his imprisonment.

According to Article 9, subsection 3 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which Iran is a Signatory State “Anyone arrested or detained on a criminal charge shall be brought promptly before a judge or other officer authorized by law to exercise judicial power and shall be entitled to trial within a reasonable time or to release. It shall not be the general rule that persons awaiting trial shall be detained in custody, but release may be subject to guarantees to appear for trial, at any other stage of the judicial proceedings, and, should occasion arise, for execution of the judgment.”
However Keyvan Rafiee has been in pre-trial custody for almost 15 months and the prosecution has refused to deal with his case for unknown reasons.

Mr. Rafiee’s bail has been set at $56,000 dollars, however the Revolutionary Courts have not allowed Mr. Rafiee to post bail and continue his illegal incarceration.

Mr. Rafiee’s trial dates have been adjourned on six different occasions respectively on December 6th 2006, April 18th 2007, May 22nd 2007, July 29th 2007, August 5th 2007 and September 5th 2007.

Keyvan Rafiee believes that the Intelligence Ministry Officials have prevented the Revolutionary Courts from carrying out his trial, due to the lack of evidence against him.
He has stated that the Ministry of Intelligence has no evidence against him and has tried through physical and psychological torture to force him into false confessions against himself and his friends.

Further according to Article 14, subsection 3 (d)of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights an accused person has the right to: “be tried in his presence, and to defend himself in person or through legal assistance of his own choosing; to be informed, if he does not have legal assistance, of this right; and to have legal assistance assigned to him, in any case where the interests of justice so require, and without payment by him in any such case if he does not have sufficient means to pay for it”, however since his arrest Mr. Rafiee has not been able to see his defence lawyer even once.

We the undersigned are deeply concerned about the illegal and unjust arrest and imprisonment of Keyvan Rafiee and demand that Mr. Keyvan Rafiee be released immediately and unconditionally.