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June 21st, 2006

Press Release

--Français--

          Country/Topic: Iran

          Country Date: 21 June 2006

          Country Source: Cartoonists Rights Network Canada (CRNC) and Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA)

           Person(s): Mana Neyestani & Mehrdad Qassemfar

          Target(s): Tehran daily "Iran's" cartoonist and editor-in-chief

          Type(s) of violation(s): imprisonment

           Urgency: top priority

           (CRNC/ISNA)-The Prosecutor's Office in Charge of Investigating Government Employees' Offenses on June 13th, referred Tehran daily "Iran's" cartoonist and its editor-in-chief to the Islamic Revolutionary Court.

          Cartoonist Mana Neyestani and his editor-in-chief Mehrdad Qassemfar will be tried in the Islamic Revolutionary Court for inciting ethnic unrest. A Neyestani cartoon triggered protests and violence among the Turkish-speaking population in northwestern parts of Iran after appearing in a weekly supplement "Iran Jomeh."

          The Islamic Revolutionary Court usually doesn't deal with cases of this nature, and normally deals with major crimes such as disrupting the national economy, jeopardizing national security and large-scale drug and human trafficking.

          On June 12th, 2006, the Iranian minister of Justice announced that the judiciary had asked the court to punish the accused with "highest penalty" available. He said that the criminal action taken by Neyestani is not related to the press laws and only the Revolutionary Court is authorized to try the case.

          The hearings are usually not open to the public and are held behind closed doors. There will not be a jury. A single  judge alone will rule in the case .  

          Mana Neyastani has been held in custody from May 23rd in the Evin prison and has been interrogated several times. The Neyestani family has also faced death threats from the Azeri Minority.

          For more information, please contact (416) 838-4433, visit www.deadder.net/CRNC/index.html or email: crncanada@cartoonistrights.com.