Rooz: What is the status of the Center’s work today?‎

Shirin Ebadi (Ebadi): The offices of the Center were sealed shut by government ‎authorities last year but we have repeatedly announced that the work of the Center ‎continues as usual. Two weeks after the closure, we published our regular report on ‎human rights violations in Iran. The Center’s annual human rights report for the year ‎‎1387 (2008) too will be published in the next ten days. Through the latter, we list the ‎violations of human rights in Iran to the Iranian people. And like our other reports, this ‎one too is open and will be provided to all the media.‎

In addition to the report, the Committee to Oversee Free, Fair and Open Elections which ‎is an initiative of the Center, continues its work as well and its reports attest to its ‎outstanding work. The other activities of the Center such as human rights education, and ‎the pro bono defense of political-ideological suspects continue as well. Among the legal ‎suits that the Center was privileged to represent is that of Omidreza Mirsayafi, who ‎unfortunately died because of unknown circumstances a few days after he was sent to ‎prison. The family members of the deceased have protested this issue and the Center ‎represents them in the case.‎

Rooz: Conflicting reports have been published about Mirsayafi’s health. Did he have any ‎particular illness?‎

Ebadi: Mirsayafi family members state that they spoke with the prisoner in the morning ‎of March 18th - the say day that he was announced dead - and his health and morale ‎seemed perfectly fine. Since he had no record of any physical or mental illness, it is really ‎not clear what happened between the morning hours and about 3 or 4pm when he was ‎said to have died. We are investigating this case and shall inform the public of our ‎findings. His relatives who went to pick up Omidreza’s body say that they found blood in ‎his ear.‎

Rooz: What does that mean?‎

Ebadi: This is something for a physician to conclude. I shall be able to make a definitive ‎statement after concluding our legal investigation. But normally when someone dies of ‎overdose, he does not get blood in his ear. It is claimed that Omidreza took an overdose ‎of some medication which caused his death. But this sounds very strange considering the ‎blood that was observed in his ear by his family members.‎

Rooz: What is your next step in this case?‎

Ebadi: Attorneys of the Center who are in charge of the case await the medical report ‎from the coroner’s office. But on a larger point, the suspicious death of Omidreza ‎Mirsayafi has caused deep concern in Iran’s human rights community because the ‎number of such deaths has been on a gradual rise.‎

Rooz: In your opinion, are these deaths normal?‎

Ebadi: It has been established that some of these deaths are homicide, not normal. One ‎example is the death of (Iranian-Canadian photo-journalist) Zahra Kazemi which has ‎been established to have been criminal even though the judiciary announced at the last ‎minute that it could not identify the murderer. There are other suspicious cases under ‎investigation such as the death of Dr Zahra Bani Yaghoob which despite repeated visits ‎by me and other attorneys have not produced any results as well. In addition, the judge ‎under whose jurisdiction the case resides refrains from even handing over the victims’ ‎clothes to her family members. The normal practice is that when the body of a person is ‎handed over to the coroner’s office, his clothes and other belongings are surrendered as ‎well. In this particular case the judge claims that there are no clothes to be handed over. ‎In another case involving a Kurdish student named Lotfollahi who also died in prison ‎under suspicious circumstances soon after his arrest, his body was buried without any ‎notice to anybody, including his family members. Only after burial did the authorities ‎inform the members of his family that their son had been buried in a specific cemetery. ‎Such cases require greater investigation. In addition, there are unlawful actions that take ‎place in prisons which must be prevented while the lives of prisoners must be protected ‎according to the law. But these are not taking place. No matter what the circumstances ‎are, such cases must be fully investigated and the responsibility lies with the heads of the ‎judiciary branch of government. One should note that the head of a prison facility is ‎responsible for the life of all prisoners under his jurisdiction. So while a prisoner must ‎leave the prison intact, we see deaths taking place in prisons indicating irresponsibility on ‎behalf of the authorities.‎

Rooz: What is the legal status of the Center today? Has your complaint against those who ‎have seal-shut it produced any results?‎

Ebadi: The offices of the Center were sealed-shut on December 20, 2008 by law ‎enforcement agents who claimed to have received such instructions from Tehran’s ‎prosecutor by phone. No such order has been provided to us. We approached the ‎investigator of the case and he too did not produce any such warrant. This shows that ‎those who ordered the closure know that they have abused their authority and committed ‎an unlawful act which is why they are refraining from providing the documents to others, ‎including the managers of the Center. They are in fact violators according to law and we ‎have filed a suit against the official who has ordered the closure, the security deputy of ‎the Revolutionary court under whom the investigator works, and the Tehran prosecutor. ‎We hope that by fairly investigating this case and implementing justice, the judiciary will ‎show that it is truly independent and is after justice. ‎

Rooz: None of the candidates for the presidential election of June 2009 have expressed a ‎concern in the freedom of associations and the improvement of human rights. What is ‎your take on this?‎

Ebadi: If the candidates have not publicly expressed their views on human rights, then ‎this is very disappointing. But there is still a long way till the actual elections and so their ‎programs may not be finalized yet. But in any case, any person who aspires to get into the ‎Majlis or become the next President in Iran must realize that he will get more votes if he ‎honestly shows his commitment to fulfill the wishes of the people which includes a better ‎life and respect for his dignity, which have been outlined in the Universal Declaration of ‎Human Rights. ‎