Iran: Tortured filmmaker and musicians face imminent arrest

Amnesty - Iranian musicians Mehdi Rajabian and Yousef Emadi, and filmmaker Hossein Rajabian,have had their prison sentences upheld by an appeal court in Tehran. They are atimminent risk of arrest. If jailed, they will be prisoners of conscience.Filmmaker Hossein Rajabian, his brother Mehdi Rajabian and Yousef Emadi, both musicians, all sentenced tosix years' imprisonment and fined 200 million Rials (about US$6,625) on charges related to their artistic work, areat risk of arrest, as the Court of Appeal in Tehran has upheld their prison sentences. The men were told on 28February that the appeal court had ruled they must serve three years of their six-year prison sentence. The courtsuspended the rest for a period of five years, conditional on their "good behaviour". Their case is now before theOffice for the Implementation of Sentences, so they could be arrested and imprisoned at any time.Hossein Rajabian, Mehdi Rajabian and Yousef Emadi had been convicted of "insulting Islamic sanctities","spreading propaganda against the system" and "illegal audio-visual activities", after a three-minute trial on 26 April2015 before Branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court in Tehran. The charges had arisen from their artistic work,including Hossein Rajabian's feature film dealing with women's right to divorce in Iran and Mehdi Rajabian andYousef Emadi's distribution of unlicensed music by Iranian singers from outside the country, some of whose lyricsand messages are political or cover taboo subjects. The men have been out on bail since December 2013. Beforethat, they were held for two months in solitary confinement, where they have said they were subjected to beatingsand electric shocks to make video "confessions". Their "confessions" were used as evidence against them tosecure their convictions even though they told the judge that they were obtained through torture and other illtreatment.They have had no access to a lawyer at any stage of their arrest, detention, trial or appeal.Please write immediately in English, Persian, Arabic, French, Spanish or your own language: Calling on the Iranian authorities to quash the convictions of Mehdi Rajabian, Hossein Rajabian and YousefEmadi as they arise solely from the men's peaceful exercise of their rights to freedom of expression andassociation through music and film; Urging the authorities to order a prompt, independent, and impartial investigation into their torture and other illtreatmentallegations, and bring to justice anyone found responsible in a trial that meets international fair trialstandards; Expressing concern that Revolutionary Court hearings continue to be seriously flawed and do not meetinternational fair trial standards; Reminding them that Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Iran is astate party, protects the right to freedom of expression, including in the form of art.PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 15 APRIL 2016 TO:The Office of the Supreme LeaderAyatollah Sayed 'Ali KhameneiIslamic Republic Street- End of ShahidKeshvar Doust StreetTehran, Islamic Republic of IranEmail: via websitehttp://www.leader.ir/langs/en/index.php?p=letter Twitter: @khamenei_ir (English)Salutation: Your ExcellencyHead of the JudiciaryAyatollah Sadeq Larijanic/o Public Relations Office Number 4,Deadend of 1 AziziAbove Pasteur IntersectionVali Asr StreetTehran, Islamic Republic of IranEmail: [email protected]: Your ExcellencyAnd copies to:PresidentHassan RouhaniThe PresidencyPasteur Street, Pasteur SquareTehran, Islamic Republic of IranAlso send copies to diplomatic representatives accredited to your country. Please insert local diplomatic addresses below:Name Address 1 Address 2 Address 3 Fax Fax number Email Email address Salutation SalutationPlease check with your section office if sending appeals after the above date. This is the first update of UA 41/16. Further information:https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/mde13/3506/2016/en/URGENT ACTIONIRANIAN MUSICIANS, FILMMAKER AT RISK OF ARRESTADDITIONAL INFORMATIONHossein Rajabian, Mehdi Rajabian and Yousef Emadi were arrested, tasered, and blindfolded by Revolutionary Guards officialson 5 October 2013 while they were working in their office in the northern city of Sari, Mazandaran Province. For the next 18days, they were held at an unknown location where it is believed they were tortured or otherwise ill-treated, including by electricshocks. They were then held in solitary confinement in Section 2A of Tehran's Evin Prison, which is under the control of theRevolutionary Guards, where they were detained for the next two months. Their interrogators apparently pressured them intomaking video "confessions", threatening them with life in jail if they failed to do so. All three were released on bail in December2013. At their appeal hearing, the judge told them that having a lawyer was "pointless".For most of the time they were detained, Hossein Rajabian, Mehdi Rajabian and Yousef Emadi were held incommunicado. Inthe last few weeks, and after they had been forced to "confess" in front of a video camera, they were allowed short intermittentcalls with their families. Ten days after their three-minute long trial on 26 April 2015, they were told the verdict had been issuedand they should go to the courthouse to read it. They were each sentenced to five years' imprisonment for "insulting Islamicsanctities", one year imprisonment for "spreading propaganda against the system", and fined 200 million Rials for "illegal audiovisualactivities". They were not given the written judgement, but were told by a court clerk they had 20 days to lodge an appeal,which they did without the assistance of a lawyer. They represented themselves during their appeal hearing on 22 December2015, as they were told by the presiding judge that they were not entitled to have a lawyer present. At both trial and appeal, themen told the presiding judges that their "confessions" had been extracted under torture and other ill-treatment while they wereheld incommunicado. The investigator at the Office of the Prosecution in Evin Prison told them that being tortured in the city ofSari was irrelevant in Tehran. The presiding judge at their appeal hearing before the Court of Appeal in Tehran warned themagainst talking about their torture and other ill-treatment allegations and threatened to give them harsher sentences if they didso. Mehdi Rajabian suffered a seizure following beatings while he was detained in Sari and has suffered more seizures since.Following his release, he was diagnosed with epilepsy and has been taking daily medication to treat the condition.Mehdi Rajabian is the founder of the Iranian website Barg Music, which was launched in 2009 and distributed unlicensed music.In Iran, only music that passes official censors receives licenses, and musicians without licences operate underground. BargMusic distributed Persian-language music by Iranian singers from outside the country, some of whose lyrics and messages arepolitical or cover taboo social subjects. They include famous Germany-based Iranian rapper Shahin Najafi whose 2012 songreferencing a Shi'a religious figure caused such controversy that some Iranian clerics issued fatwas calling him an "apostate",which is considered punishable by death under Iranian law. The Barg Music website had apparently attracted 300,000 visitors aday and had exclusive contracts with Iranian artists who mentioned the website's name in their videos. Mehdi Rajabian hadbeen recording the history of an Iranian musical instrument called setar when he was arrested. The arresting officers searchedhis studio, confiscating his recordings and other materials related to this project. Hossein Rajabian was arrested after makinghis first feature film, called "Inverted Triangle", about women's right to divorce in Iran. The arresting officials confiscated all thematerials related to the film. The film has not been allowed to be broadcast. Mehdi Rajabian and Yousef Emadi have beenaccused of broadcasting the voices of female singers, as well as those of "anti-Islamic Revolution" singers. The Iranianauthorities place restrictions on female singers, with a ban on women singing solo in front of men. Conservative clerics say thatwomen's voices have the potential to trigger immoral sensual arousal. In February 2015, conservative cleric Grand AyatollahHassan Nouri Hamedani said "We will stop any film, book, or music that is anti-Islamic and anti-revolutionary...No action cannormalize women's singing, and we will stop it."Names: Mehdi Rajabian, Hossein Rajabian, Yousef EmadiGender m/f: mFurther information on UA: 41/16 Index: MDE 13/3563/2016 Issue Date: 4 March 2016