White Paper On the Case of Maryam Mombeini Citizen of the Islamic Republic of Iran and Canada v. Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran Authored By: Irwin Cotler1 Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights Jared Genser2 Perseus Strategies Published August 13, 2018 1 Irwin Cotler serves as international counsel to Maryam Mombeini. For further information, please contact __________. 2 Jared Genser also serves as international counsel to Maryam Mombeini. For further information in English, contact +1 202 466 3069 or [email protected]. Perseus Strategies would like to thank Mary Brooks, Skylar Gleason, Juan Miramontes, Charles Orta, and Brian Tronic for their support. Table of Contents Executive Summary .................................................................................................................... 3 I. Background on the Situation of Human Rights in Iran ......................................................... 4 II. The Targeting and Persecution of Maryam Mombeini ......................................................... 6 A. Biographical Information on Kavous Seyed-Emami ........................................................ 6 B. Arrest and Death of Kavous Seyed-Emami...................................................................... 6 C. Subsequent Targeting of Maryam Mombeini ................................................................... 9 III. Legal Analysis .............................................................................................................. 12 A. The Iranian Government is Violating Maryam Mombeini’s Right to Freedom of Movement ..................................................................................................................... 12 B. The Iranian Government is Violating Maryam Mombeini’s Right to the Presumption of Innocence ................................................................................................................. 12 C. The Iranian Government is Violating Maryam Mombeini’s Right to Privacy................. 13 D. The Iranian Government is Violating Maryam Mombeini’s Right to Legal Counsel ...... 14 E. The Iranian Government is Violating Maryam Mombeini’s Right to Non- Discrimination .............................................................................................................. 14 IV. International Concern .................................................................................................... 16 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................... 17 2 Executive Summary The Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran has a long history of harassing, intimidating, and prosecuting any perceived political opponents. This often includes baseless accusations and criminal charges relating to spying or national security. Individuals with connections to western institutions and governments – especially dual nationals – are particularly at risk. One of the most egregious, ongoing examples of this pattern of persecution is Iran’s treatment of Maryam Mombeini, an Iranian-Canadian dual national. Mombeini’s late husband, Kavous Seyed-Emami, was a prominent Iranian-Canadian environmentalist who co-managed the Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation (PWHF). This NGO is based in Iran but works with partners in several western countries. On January 24, 2018, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) arrested and detained Seyed-Emami on false espionage charges related to his environmental work. Two weeks later, he died under suspicious circumstances while being held at Iran’s notorious Evin Prison. Since the death of her husband, the IRGC has targeted Mombeini herself. Despite a total lack of evidence, the IRGC has accused her of collaborating with her husband to spy for foreign governments and has engaged in a relentless campaign of intimidation intended to coerce a false confession that she and her husband engaged in espionage. Government officials have repeatedly raided her home without a warrant, filmed and interrogated her without counsel present, and used the state-run media to air a “documentary” smearing her family. Furthermore, in a blatant violation of both domestic and international law, the Government has prevented her from leaving Iran. On March 8, 2018, Mombeini, fearing for her life, attempted to board a flight from Tehran to Canada. While her two adult sons were allowed to board the flight, Mombeini was not, and the IRGC seized her Iranian passport despite the fact that she has not been charged with any crime. This harassment and persecution is taking a severe toll on Mombeini’s physical and mental health. She has twice been rushed to the hospital after suffering severe panic attacks, and she lives in constant fear that she will be arrested, tortured, or even killed. Despite her deteriorating health condition, the Government of Iran continues its attempts to break her down and falsely incriminate her. 3 I. Background on the Situation of Human Rights in Iran Since the Iranian Revolution of 1979, Iran has turned its back on the international community, adopting extreme anti-Western rhetoric and consolidating power among religious hardliners who rule with minimal accountability to the population at large.3 As an Islamic republic, the country’s highest authority is the Supreme Leader, an appointed position without term limits. The Supreme Leader – currently Ayatollah Ali Khamenei – is the commander in chief of the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran and has predominant influence over key state institutions, including the judiciary.4 The Ayatollah also controls the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), an elite military force with extraordinary economic and political power that is often in conflict with the administration of Iran’s reformist president, Hassan Rouhani.5 The IRGC is among the worst perpetrators of human rights abuses in Iran – it routinely surveils human rights activists6 and uses torture and other harsh interrogation tactics, such as prolonged solitary confinement, against opponents.7 Though any opponent of the Government is at risk of state repression, the IRGC has disproportionately targeted individuals with Western ties. Its intelligence network routinely arrests and convicts dual nationals and other individuals with links to the West on false espionage charges.8 U.N. bodies and experts have increasingly expressed serious concern about this persecution of dual-nationals. For example, in 2015, the U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention declared that the detention of an Iranian-American dual national, who had been convicted of espionage, was arbitrary and in violation of international law.9 More recently, in 2017, the Working Group considered the case of Siamak and Baquer Namazi, Iranian-American dual nationals who were convicted of “collaborating with a hostile government” (the United States).10 The Working Group noted that there is “an emerging pattern involving the arbitrary deprivation of liberty of dual nationals in the Islamic Republic of Iran”11 and declared that the Namazis were unlawfully imprisoned because of their dual-citizenship and their association with 3 IRAN – FREEDOM IN THE WORLD 2018, FREEDOM HOUSE, 2018, available at https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2018/iran. 4 Id. and Karim Sadjadpour, The Supreme Leader, UNITED STATES INSTITUTE OF PEACE, accessed Aug. 8, 2018, available at http://iranprimer.usip.org/resource/supreme-leader. 5 Greg Bruno et al., Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS, June 14, 2013, available at https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/irans-revolutionary-guards and Cyrus Namjoo Moghadam, Conflict Between Rouhani and Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Intensifies, GULF NEWS THINKERS, July 31, 2017, available at https://gulfnews.com/opinion/thinkers/conflict-between-rouhani-and-iran-s-revolutionary-guards-intensifies- 1.2066878. 6 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY-GENERAL ON THE SITUATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN, U.N. HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL, U.N. Doc. A/HRC/37/24, Feb. 26, 2018, at ¶ 46. 7 IRAN 2017/2018 REPORT, AMNESTY INT’L, 2018, available at https://www.amnesty.org/en/countries/middle-east- and-north-africa/iran/report-iran/. 8 What is Iran’s Revolutionary Guard?, DEUTSCHE WELLE, Oct. 13, 2017, available at https://www.dw.com/en/what-is-irans-revolutionary-guard/a-40948522. 9 Jason Rezaian v. Islamic Republic of Iran, Opinion No. 44/2015, A/HRC/WGAD/2015/44, U.N. WORKING GROUP ON ARBITRARY DETENTION, adopted Dec. 3, 2015. 10 Siamak Namazi and Mohammed Baquer Namazi v. Islamic Republic of Iran, Opinion No. 49/2017, A/HRC/WGAD/2017/49, U.N. WORKING GROUP ON ARBITRARY DETENTION, adopted Aug. 22, 2017, at ¶ 43. 11 Id. at ¶ 44. 4 pro-democracy institutions in the West.12 Similarly, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran recently expressed concern about “the indictment of three dual nationals on national security-related charges.”13 Finally, in February 2018, the Secretary-General of the United Nations reiterated the Working Group’s concern that dual nationals are targeted by the Government and that the “procedures against these dual or foreign nationals have been marred by due process and fair trial violations.”14 Leading human rights organizations have also noted this problem. In its most recent report on Iran, Amnesty International explained that “Iranians with dual nationality continue[] to face arbitrary arrest and detention, grossly unfair trials and lengthy imprisonment. The authorities claimed