Category: Human Rights Region: Iran Target: Hemayat az Frood Fouladvand - Nazzen Schmitt US citizen- Alexander Valizadeh Description/History: PhD Frood Fouladvand - inside Iranian Intelligence prison, after their enforced, involuntary disappearance on 17th January 2007. The three men were abducted on 17 January 2007 in Yuksekova, a district of Hakkari Province in Turkey, near the border with Iran. Amnesty International has learnt that Froodd Fouladvand currently be held in Tehran, in a detention centre run by the Ministry of Intelligence. He is said to have been charged with Mofsed fil Arz (corruption on earth) and moharebeh (being at enmity with God),( Fatwa against the so called non-belivers in Islam)which can carry the death penalty. PhD. Fouladvand is an expert on Middle East History, Politics and Philosophy. His International Television Channel on satellite programms were educational, historical and political. On March 10, 2006, in a preplanned action, about 70 of his supporters refused to leave a Lufthansa plane in protest of the European Union\'s policy of appeasement of the Mullahs\' regime. PhD. F Fouladvand was led to believe by an agent of the Mullahs\' regime posing as a monarchist activist from within Iran that a meeting with them would be fruitful in organizing and uniting people inside Iran to oppose the Mullahs. On October 13, 2006, Dr. Fouladvand and a number of his friends, including the above-named men, left London and his TV Live program were runned from EU. The last news of Dr. Fouladvand\'s whereabouts was on January 17, 2007, when he was expected to meet the supposedly Iranian activists in the Kurdish province of Hakkary in Turkey, which is close to the Iranian border. In 17th January 2007, the agents of the Mullahs\' secret police took hostage and smuggled these three men into Iran, where they have been imprisoned and subjected to torture. We urge UN and all other Human Right groups and Governments to act on their urgent release. Please,kindly also refer to Amnesty International Public Urgent Action. http://www.amnesty.org/en/region/middle-east-and-north-africa/east-gulf/iran BACKGROUND INFORMATION The practice of abduction of Iranian nationals outside Iran by Iranian security forces has previously been documented by Amnesty International. Ali Tavassoli, a former political opposition leader, disappeared in Baku, Republic of Azerbaijan in September 1995. The Iranian authorities denied reports that Iranian security forces had been responsible for his abduction. Ali Tavassoli had been taken to Iran, where he had been held for several years apparently without charge or trial, in a secret detention centre(see: Iran: Amnesty International concerned about possible government involvement in deaths of Iranian nationals, AI Index MDE 13/07/96, 28 February 1996). In another case, Amnesty International received information in 2000 that Mohammad Maliki, a recognized refugee, was abducted in February 1999 in Baku. He was said to have been taken back to Iran and sentenced to six years� imprisonment by a Revolutionary Court in Tabriz, north western Iran. RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible, in Persian, English, Arabic or your own language: - calling on the authorities to clarify the whereabouts of Foroud Fouladvand, Alexander Valizadeh and Nazem Schmidtt; - should they be held in Iran, calling on the authorities to ensure that they are not subjected to torture and other ill-treatment, and to allow them immediate access to a lawyer of their own choosing, and any medical treatment they may require; - asking for clarification of the circumstances surrounding their apparent arrest; what charges, if any, have been brought against them; and when any trial will begin; - calling on the authorities to release them unless they are to be charged with a recognizably criminal offence and given a prompt and fair trial. APPEALS TO: Head of the Judiciary Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi Howzeh Riyasat-e Qoveh Qazaiyeh Pasteur St., Vali Asr Ave., south of Serah-e Jomhouri, Tehran 1316814737 Islamic Republic of Iran Email: info@dadgostary-tehran.ir (In the subject line write: FAO Ayatollah Shahroudi) Salutation: Your Excellency Minister of Intelligence Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejeie Ministry of Intelligence, Second Negarestan Street Pasdaran Avenue, Tehran Islamic Republic of Iran Salutation: Your Excellency COPIES TO: Leader of the Islamic Republic His Excellency Ayatollah Sayed �Ali Khamenei The Office of the Supreme Leader Islamic Republic Street - Shahid Keshvar Doust Street Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran Email: info@leader.ir and to diplomatic representatives of Iran accredited to your country. PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY. Check with the International Secretariat, or your section office, if sending appeals after 25 July 2008. Petition: Dorud Bar Hamihanane gerami Lotfan hemayate Khod Ra Elam konid Zende Bad Iran Please support the release of Ostad Frood Fouladvand, Nazzen Schmitt, and Alexander Valizadeh by signing the petition below.

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