In Iranian Courts this Week

BBC Monitoring Service, Monsters and Critics:

A committee working for the freedom of human rights lawyer Naser Zarafshan said he is "in a relatively normal condition" and waiting to be moved out of prison, to his home, for medical treatment. Zarafshan represented the families of the dissidents killed in the 1998 serial murders. (Sharq, 30 June)

Dissident activist, Akbar Ganji, was banned from having visitors for continuing with his three-week hunger strike, his lawyer, the Nobel Prize Winner Shirin Ebadi said. She said she managed to arrange a visit with her client but left the meeting in protest because the two were not allowed to speak in private. Ganji's wife claimed that addicts and narcotic drug traffickers were being sent to his cell. (ISNA, various including 3 July) READ MORE

In a letter to the head of the Judiciary, Ayatollah Mahmud Hashemi-Shahrudi, the Lawyers Association has asked for a meeting with Ganji "in order to settle the issue". Members of the Human Rights Committee of the association are to participate in the proposed meeting. (ISNA, 1 July)

An Arab Iranian activist Aziz Bani-Torof, was released after 65 days in detention. He has been arrested following two days of unrest in the southern city of Ahvaz. (Sharq, 30 June)

The secretary of the Islamic Association of Arak University, Hamed Iranshahi, has been summoned to the office of the prosecutor for public and revolutionary courts. His lawyer said Iranshahi should have been sent to the university disciplinary committee and not to the public prosecutor. Iranshahi made a speech during the June presidential election at Arak University, and this is apparently the reason for the summons. (ISNA, 1 July)

Three of the defendants in the nuclear espionage case will be tried on 2 and 20 August at Bench 15 of the Revolution Court, Judiciary Spokesman Jamal Karimi-Rad said. A hearing for two of them was to have been held on 27 June but it was postponed because defendants had medical problems. So far a number of hearings have been held but no verdict has been issued yet, according to Karimi-Rad. (Fars, 28 June)

The judge at the public court 1083 has dropped more than 50 charges against the newspaper Hamshahri which is published by Tehran Municipality. The charges, dropped under Statute of Limitation, were related to the period when Gholamhoseyn Karbaschi was the Tehran mayor. (ISNA, 3 July)

Source: Iranian briefing material from BBC Monitoring in English 3 Jul 05

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