Category: Human Rights Region: Iran Target: Hemayat az Frood Fouladvand - Nazzen Schmitt US citizen- Alexander Valizadeh German citizen Description/History: PhD. Frood Fouladvand life is at stake, after their enforced, involuntary disappearance on 17th January 2007. PhD. Frood Fouladvand disappeared along with two colleagues Nazzen Schmit US citizen and Alexander Valizadeh German citizen on 17th January 2007. Their rented car from Hertz Car Rental was found damaged at a location called Hakkari, East Turkey, close to the border with Iran. The car was then given to the Turkish police by the Adana Military Service on 24th January 2007 and back to Hertz on the 7th February 2007, day on which all of the above mentioned was told to us by the rental company. Amnesty International has learnt that Frood Fouladvand currently is 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) (which is Fatwa against the non-believers of Islam ), which can carry the death penalty. PhD. Fouladvand, who is an expert on Middle East History and in his International Television Channel on satellite the programms were educational, historical and political. 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 and a broadcast would have been possible. 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 broadcasted from EU. The last news of Frood 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 arrested and smuggled these three men into Iran, where they were imprisoned and were 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/regi... 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 yearsâ 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: [email protected] (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: [email protected] 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: Dorood 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.