Special Features
ICTJ In Focus February 2013 – Issue #27
Iranian Lawyers Call on Iranian Authorities to Cease Infringements on Independence of Legal Profession in Iran
Press Release
Iran Human Rights Documentation Center
February 25, 2013 – On the occasion of Defense Lawyers’ Day (February 25th) in Iran, a group of 35 Iranian defense and human rights lawyers has published an open letter calling on the authorities in the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) to cease infringements on the independence of Iran’s legal profession. In particular, the letter calls for the cancellation of a bill that, in essence, transfers total supervisory control over lawyers to a quasi-judicial body and whose passage is described as “a coup de grace to legal practice in Iran”.
Signatories to the letter include Mohammad Olyaeifard—an Iranian lawyer who served one year in prison in 2010 for reportedly speaking out against the execution of one of his juvenile clients. Other signatories include prominent Iranian criminal defense lawyers like Mehrangiz Kar, Mahnaz Parakand, Shadi Sadr, Mohammad Mostafaei and others who have been forced to flee Iran on account of their representation of clients in matters that the Iranian government finds politically sensitive.
In recent years, the Iranian parliament, judiciary and executive have imposed increasingly restrictive measures on the Iranian Bar Association and its members through formal measures and in practice that result in infringements on the independence of the profession. The open letter calls attention to one particularly concerning development—the proposal and passage of the “Bill for Formal Attorneyship” which, among other measures, seeks to appoint a supervisory body that will grant control over the issue, suspension and revocation of attorney licenses to the judiciary; grant the judiciary ownership over the Iranian Bar Association’s property and assets; and change the name of the “Bar Association” to the “Organization of Attorneys” so as to imply its subordination to the judiciary.
In light of these concerns, the letter calls on the Iranian judiciary to withdraw the Bill as soon as possible, the Iranian government to refuse the confirmation and submission of the Bill to Parliament and on the members of Parliament, in the event they should receive the Bill, to reject its provisions.
Mohammad Hossein Nayyeri—an Iranian lawyer living in exile and one of the drafters of the letter—says, “The new Bill, if adopted, will leave neither independence nor the Bar Association intact. It would provide a more arbitrary process of selection of lawyers so as to prevent any liberal individual from entering the legal profession in the first place. Then, an unchallengeable authority would be given to a Judiciary-appointed body to revoke the licenses of any lawyer it considers non-conformable. Lawyers that receive their licenses from such organizations are not in a position to stand against violations of human rights. They are not able and willing to defend political opponents or prisoners of conscience without fear of losing their job—therefore they cannot defend the rights of the public against the State. In the eyes of the IRI Judiciary this would be an ideal Bar.”
“As this statement goes to press, Nasrin Sotoudeh—a prominent human rights lawyer, women’s activist and 2012 winner of the Sakharov Prize—continues to languish in an Iranian prison because of her defense of clients in politically sensitive cases,” says Gissou Nia, the Executive Director of the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center, a US-based NGO that has closely followed this issue. “And just last week, lawyer Mohammad Seyfzadeh—who along with Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi and imprisoned lawyers Mohammad Ali Dadkhah and Abdolfattah Soltani, is a founding member of the Center for Human Rights Defenders—was sentenced to a further six years in prison for ‘acting against national security’ after already spending two years in prison for his membership in the Center for Human Rights Defenders, among other charges. The Iranian judiciary must withdraw this Bill and other measures that threaten the independence of lawyers like Sotoudeh and Seyfzadeh, who are simply trying to do their jobs by providing a defense to whomever requests it—regardless of political affiliation, religion, ethnicity or status in society.”
The letter further calls on the International Bar Association, bar associations in different countries and the global legal community as a whole to take action in support of their Iranian colleagues and in defense of the independence of the legal practice in Iran. It also calls on the United Nations and the international human rights community to remind the IRI of its international obligations regarding the independence of lawyers, the right to a defense and fair trial, and the consequences of passage of the Bill and its violation of international norms and standards.
To learn more about the increasing restrictions on the Iranian Bar Association and Iran’s legal profession click here to read IHRDC’s legal commentary, Iranian Bar Associations: Struggle for Independence:
http://cts.vresp.com/c/?IranHumanRightsDocum/8c5874a412/09f1bf055e/7f885d7600
For further information please contact:
Mohammad Hossein Nayyeri
Lawyer & Legal Advisor
Iran Human Rights Documentation Center
Email: MHNayyeri@iranhrdc.org
Gissou Nia
Executive Director
Iran Human Rights Documentation Center
Email: GNia@iranhrdc.org
Phone: +1 203 654 9342
The European Union Has Joined the Money Laundering Investigation of the $230m of Stolen Money Exposed by Sergei Magnitsky
Press Release
Hermitage Capital
25 February 2013 – Financial intelligence experts from six EU member states have joined forces to investigate the money laundering trail uncovered and exposed by late whistle-blowing Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, reported EU Observer.
“The FIUs are working on the case and there will be a follow-up meeting before the summer,” a source at the EU Commission told EU Observer.
According to the EU Observer, the European Commission has formed a joint investigation at a meeting of the Financial Intelligence Units platform on 7 February (http://euobserver.com/magnitsky/119156).
The EU Financial Intelligence Units’ Platform is a group set up in 2006 by the European Commission, which gathers financial intelligence units from the member states. Its main purpose is to facilitate cooperation among national financial intelligence units.
Prior to his arrest and death in custody, Mr Magnitsky gave testimony detailing how a group of Russian government officials and organized criminals stole companies from his client, the Hermitage Fund, and $230 million they had paid in taxes to the Russian treasury. The Magnitsky investigation identified that the thefts from the budget were systematic and took place through the same Russian tax offices both before and after the $230 million theft.
“As EU countries start cooperating and sharing information, eventually the whole money laundering scheme will become crystal clear,” said a Hermitage Capital representative.
For further information please contact:
Hermitage Capital
Phone: +44 207 440 1777
Email: info@lawandorderinrussia.org
Website: http://lawandorderinrussia.org
Facebook: http://on.fb.me/hvIuVI
Twitter: @KatieFisher__
Livejournal: //hermitagecap.livejournal.com/
Following Putin’s Public Attack on Magnitsky’s Colleagues, Russian Authorities Have Opened a New Criminal Case and Threaten Use of “Special Units” against HSBC Bank in Moscow
Press Release
Hermitage Capital
15 February 2013 – The Russian Interior Ministry has opened a new criminal case against colleagues of the late Sergei Magnitsky, who was killed in Russian police custody in 2009. Details of the new criminal case are not yet known other than that it alleges ‘fraudulent actions’.
The new case was opened on January 24, 2013 following public statements by Russian President Vladimir Putin at a December 2012 press conference that he needed to “dig deeper” into the Magnitsky case.
Under this new criminal case, the Russian Interior Ministry is now pressuring HSBC Bank Moscow to provide wide-ranging financial and banking information concerning the companies of the Hermitage Fund and its advisers dating all the way back to 1996.
The Russian Interior Ministry has threatened to use “special forces” to obtain the documents if HSBC doesn’t cooperate.
“Otherwise, the documents which have the force of evidence under the criminal case and are with OOO HSBC Bank RR can be seized by force during a seizure or search, including with the prarticipation of employees of special units,” said the request sanctioned by major G.Sungurov, head of 4th section within the Interior Ministry’s Investigations Department.
Under the Russian law, banking information can be provided to the police only if it concerns specific acts and circumstances of the investigation. The Interior Ministry has failed to identify any circumstances connecting the companies in question to their request, yet they demanded that banking information on transactions of “each day of operations” for 8 different companies be provided in Russia.
For further information please contact:
Hermitage Capital
Phone: +44 207 440 1777
Email: info@lawandorderinrussia.org
Website: http://lawandorderinrussia.org/
Facebook: http://on.fb.me/hvIuVI
Twitter: @KatieFisher__
Livejournal: //hermitagecap.livejournal.com/