Press Release — Iran Human Rights Documentation Center
2 August 2012

New Haven, USA; with reporting from Istanbul, Turkey — The ninth biennial conference of the International Society of Iranian Studies (ISIS) began today with a series of panel discussions featuring social scientists, artists and literary scholars who study Iran. This year the ISIS conference was staged in Istanbul, Turkey in the interest of providing accessibility to scholars from the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI), as Turkey is one of the few countries that allows visa-free access for Iranian passport holders. Over seventy scholars from Iran were scheduled to lead or take part in discussions on topics ranging from Iranian court politics in late antiquity to the aesthetics of vocal music in contemporary Iran.

Kayhan, a newspaper under the direct supervision of the office of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the IRI, has published several articles decrying the conference and its organizers in recent weeks. Although the attendees are reputed scholars in the fields of history, sociology, literature, and the anthropology of Iran, Kayhan repeatedly derided the conference as a “Zionist and monarchist” event. As support, Kayhanclaimed that the allegations of Zionism were substantiated by the fact that one of the conference’s 125 scheduled panel discussions was on “Baha’i and Babi Studies”, while another offered an historical perspective on Iran-Israel relations.

Since the propaganda campaign against the conference began two weeks ago, over fifty scholars from Tehran University, Isfahan University, Al Zahra University, Payam Noor University, the Islamic Azad University system, and other institutions cancelled their plans to take part in the ISIS conference and signed a list of boycotters. But some Iran-based scholars still planned to attend the conference. In response, Hossein Shariatmadari, the editor-in-chief of Kayhan, called for the Ministry of Sciences, Research and Technology (which supervises all of Iran’s non-medical institutions of higher learning) “to terminate the presence of [the remaining scholars planning to attend the ISIS conference] in the nation’s universities and institutions of higher learning immediately and without delay.”

Following these events, many of the scholars scheduled to take part in the conference—the largest international gathering of Iranian Studies scholars in the world—chose not to attend at the last minute. The unprecedented campaign of intimidation against Iran-based scholars planning to attend the ninth biennial Iranian Studies conference is part of a larger ongoing crackdown on academic freedom in the IRI which has intensified since the 2005 election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. In a related development, social science programs including journalism departments will be abolished in many of Iran’s universities in the coming academic year.

“Restrictions on academic freedom affect all Iranians by stifling intellectual discourse not only between Iranian scholars and the international community, but domestically as well,” said Gissou Nia, Executive Director of the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center. “The infringement on the freedom of academics to participate in the conference contravenes Iran’s international treaty obligations.”
Article 15 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, to which Iran is a signatory, ensures the rights of all people to take part in cultural life, which includes the right to develop international contacts and cooperation in cultural fields, including education.

For further information, please contact:
Gissou Nia
Executive Director
Iran Human Rights Documentation Center
Email: GNia@iranhrdc.org
Phone: (203) 654-9342

By Mark McMurray
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

RAMALLAH, West Bank — On Monday, scores of people witnessed a woman having her throat slashed in an open-air Bethlehem market in broad daylight.  The prime suspect, the woman’s husband, was arrested at the scene.

Nancy Zaboun, a 27-year-old mother of three, had recently sought a divorce from her abusive husband.  According to the Ma’an News Agency, the police reported that her husband had beaten her Sunday evening.  When the police arrived at the scene that night, they only asked him to sign a pledge not to beat his wife again.  The next day, she was fatally wounded on a path at a market situated near the Church of the Nativity, the traditional birthplace of Jesus Christ.  She was walking on the path after having just attended a hearing in her divorce case from her husband of ten years.

Khaula al-Azraq, director of a counseling center in the West Bank where Zaboun went for assistance, said Shadi Abedallah, Zaboun’s 32-year-old husband, beat his wife regularly.  The beatings were so severe at times that Zaboun would have to be hospitalized after the attacks.  Despite having repeatedly assaulted his wife, Abedallah was never arrested.  Similar to their response to Sunday’s beating, the police would only make Abedallah, himself a former police officer, sign promises not to hit his wife in the future.  That makes the response to his behavior even more suspicious.

Almost immediately after their wedding, Abdellah began beating Zaboun.  Local authorities reportedly stepped in at some point to resolve the violence, only to later rule the situation a family dispute.  Abdel Fattah Hemayel, the district governor of Bethlehem, confirmed the description of the situation by police and the pledges they had Abdellah sign.

The heinous nature of the attack has caused a strong reaction within Palestinian society.  On Wednesday, several dozen women and women’s rights activists held a rally in the area where Zaboun was killed.  They called for stronger laws to end violence against women.  While holding signs stating things such as “Shame Palestinians for killing our women,” the demonstrators chanted, “No to violence against women.”

Rabiha Diab, the Palestinian government’s women’s affairs minister, has also called for justice.  “We should set an example because…he slaughtered her like a sheep,” she said.  Diab has called on the police to look at what they can do to end violence against women.  “Every once in a while, there is a case that makes us feel worried and afraid that we are going back to square one [as women],” she added.

For further information, please see:

Arutz Sheva – Arab Protest in Bethlehem Slams Violence Against Women – 2 August 2012

LA Times – Palestinian Women’s Killings Spark Outcry Over Lax Laws – 2 August 2012

Al Jazeera – Palestinians Protest Murder of Battered Wife – 1 August 2012

Ma’an News Agency – Protesters Call For Stricter Laws After Woman Stabbed to Death – 1 August 2012

By Ali Al-Bassam
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

TEHRAN, Iran — Four people have been sentenced to death by an Iranian court for their involvement in the largest ever bank fraud scandal in the country’s history.

Two other defendants received life sentences, while 33 more will spend up to 25 years in jail, the chief prosecutor was quoted as saying.

“According to the sentence that was issued, four of the defendants in this case were sentenced to death,” Prosecutor General Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei told IRNA, the country’s state-run news agency.

In addition to jail time, some were sentenced to flogging, ordered to pay fines, and banned from holding government jobs.

The case became public in September 2011, when an investment firm was accused of forging documents to obtain credit from at least seven Iranian banks over a four-year period.  It reportedly involved forged documents used to secure a $2.6 billion loan.  The money was reportedly used to buy government-owned companies under the government’s privatization scheme.

Allegations included that the embezzlement was carried out by people close to the political elite or with their assent.  The story’s breaking fueled weeks of political conflict between President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who denied his government’s involvement last year, and Iran’s ruling hierarchy of clerics.  Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, while criticizing financial corruption and acknowledging the political damage, said in televised comments last year that the media should not “drag out the issue.”

“Some want to use this event to score points against the country’s officials,” Khamenei said.  “The people should know the issue will be followed up on.”

Businessman Amir Mansoor Khosravi, who the Iranian media has described as the mastermind behind the scheme, is said to have forged letters of credit from Iran’s Bank Saderat to fund dozens of companies and buy a state-owned steel factory.  Mahmoud Reza Khavari, the former head of Iran’s largest bank–the state-owned Bank Melli–resigned because of the scandal.  He then fled to Canada, where records indicate that he owns a $3 million home.

Mohseni-Ejei did not name the defendants on trial, and the Iranian media only identified them by their initials.  State television broadcast parts of the trial, but blurred out the faces of the accused.  He believes the case demonstrates that Iran can appropriately deal with high level fraud.

“The government, parliament, and all available devices were used to pursue the issue so that corruption can be fought in an open manner,” he said.

Despite the Prosecutor General’s claim, one defendant believes that while the judiciary vigorously pursued some low-level players, senior officials involved in the scheme had gone unpunished.  “Many other banking officials are outside of prison right now,” an unnamed steel company official asserted.  “Why are you able to put us on trial and have nothing to do with them?”

For further information, please see:

Al Arabiya — Four Sentenced to Death for Iran’s Biggest Bank Fraud — 30 July 2012

Al Jazeera — Death Terms in Iran Bank Scandal — 30 July 2012

BBC News — Four Sentenced to Death over $2.6bn Iran Bank Fraud — 30 July 2012

The Guardian — Iran Sentences Four to Death Over Bank Fraud With Political Fallout — 30 July 2012

Reuters — Iran Sentences Four People to Death for Bank Fraud — 30 July 2012

By Mark McMurray
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

BAGHDAD, Iraq — On Tuesday, an Iraqi court postponed the trial of Iraq’s Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi until August 14.

Al-Hashemi, a high-ranking Sunni politician, faces around 150 separate charges.  He is accused of operating death squads along with his staff and bodyguards that targeted Shia officials and pilgrims.  The vice president has denied the wrongdoing and insists the charges filed by the Shia-led government are politically motivated and that he is the victim of a political vendetta by Shia Prime Minister Nouri al-Malik.

The appeals court earlier this week refused the defense’s request to call President Jalal Talabani, an ethnic Kurd, to testify at the trial.  Seeking to have Talabani serve as a character witness with five Sunni legislators and two other government officials, al-Hashemi first filed the request in May.

With the denial of the request to call the witnesses by the lower court hearing the case, al-Hashemi’s defense sought to have Iraq’s federal appeals court overturn the ruling.  The higher court denied the request and instead announced the trial would resume on August 14.   While the defense sought to ask the witnesses if they had any information about al-Hashemi’s role in terror attacks, the three-judge panel rejected the request, believing it  would add nothing to the case.

Muayad Obeid al-Ezzi, head of al-Hashemi’s defense team, spoke shortly after the denial.  “The federal appeals court rejected all of the appeals we filed, and returned the whole case to the [Central Criminal Court of Iraq],” he said.

Additionally, during Tuesday’s session, the court heard from witnesses supporting previous testimony given on May 15, when the trial began.  Five police officers testified that they found pistol silencers during a raid on the homes of al-Hashemi and Ahmed Qahtan, his son-in-law and office manager.   The claims, in addition to testimony from bodyguards and other officials who say they were offered money, or were forced, into carrying out attacks on al-Hashemi’s orders, are contested by the defense.

A woman and her son also testified on Tuesday.  As neighbors of Qahtan, they told the court they saw policemen taking silencers from his house.  Furthermore, testifying this week, one of the more than seventy of al-Hashemi’s guards currently held in custody described to the court how he drove other guards to plant roadside bombs under the orders of the vice president.

Al-Hashemi and several of his bodyguards are being tried in absentia.  In December, after the initial charges were filed, he fled to Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region before beginning a tour through Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.  He was last known to be in Turkey where the Turkish government has stated it will not extradite him to Iraq.

For further information, please see:

Al Monitor – Iraqi Government Wants Chevron To Scuttle Contract With Kurds – 25 July 2012

ABC News – Nine Killed in Attacks After Deadly Iraq Day – 24 July 2012

Al Jazeera – Iraqi Vice President’s Trial Postponed – 24 July 2012

France 24 – Iraq Court Says President Cannot Testify in VP Case – 24 July 2012

Fox News – Iraq President’s Testimony Rejected in Trial of Vice President – 24 July 2012