Over the past few months since being released from a 17-day detention, Farzaneh Jalali (Kurdish civil activist) she has been repeatedly summoned by the News Office of the Intelligence Ministry in Kermanshah via telephone calls and threatened her to consent to cooperation with this organisation.

According to the Kurdistan Human Rights Network, the above-mentioned Kurdish civil activist has been summoned for interrogations four times by the News Office of the Intelligence Ministry in Kermanshah since her release on 22nd March last year. She has been told to not to leave the province of Kermanshah.

According to the information obtained by KHRN, she has been repeatedly summoned on June 7, June 8, June 10 and August 02 by the Intelligence Ministry in Kermanshah and interrogated for 7 continuous hours after the presidential elections were held in Iran on 19 May 2017. The interrogators threatened her with a heavy sentence if she does not consent to cooperation with the Intelligence Ministry. During the last interrogation on August 02, this civil activist was detained in the interrogation room for 6 hours despite suffering from lumbar disorder.

“My client has been summoned for questioning through telephone calls although the law clearly prohibits summoning individuals in this manner. Therefore, I have asked her to ignore these calls unless she receives written summons or electronic messages in accordance with legal procedures. My client is also under pressure by other sources which I am not legally allowed to disclose”, Jalali’s attorney, Mostafa Ahmadian, told KHRN while confirming that her client had been repeatedly summoned for questioning by telephone calls.

According to her lawyer, the dossier of Ms Jalali has been subjected to “Denial of Access to the case”, but he has not been formally notified of the order yet.

“It is clear that my client has been under tremendous pressure due to being repeatedly summoned for interrogation. The law prohibits exposure of suspects to loaded questions, interrogators have to maintain impartiality. I cannot comment on the accuracy or inaccuracy of the nature of question as my client’s dossier has been subjected to ‘Denial of Access to the case”, Mostafa Ahmadian said about the nature of recent interrogations to which his client has been subjected.

The lawyer said that he would appeal if he does not receive the formal notification of the Denial of Access to the case. “I will certainly appeal against Denial of Access to the case because not only it hinders the evidence supporting the charges (per Article 190 of the Criminal Procedure Code) but also it denies my client of her rights of defence and a fair trial. Certainly, access to a lawyer and freedom of choice is a natural and inherent right of human beings. These rights have also been mentioned in the international conventions and internal documents of the country. Moreover, I will raise my objections as to why the decision to deny access to the case includes all stages of the interrogation process and as long as the case is filed at the prosecutor’s office. I will be maintaining that Denial of Access to the case should be limited to particular pages and evidences in compliance with the natural and inherent rights of the defendant”, he added.

“The dossier of the case has been subjected to Denial of Access. However, I have been informed in person that the allegations concern propaganda against the regime and action against security through membership in the militant opposition groups”, he stated regarding the charges brought forward against Ms. Jalali.

“I have officially declared my appointment as her attorney and basically nobody can deny her of freedom of access to her attorney. Although the controversial note 48 of the article requires the judiciary to publish the list of official lawyers who can represent her case, no such list has been published so far. Therefore, any lawyer falls in the category of eligible lawyers who can represent the defendants charged with security allegations“, Mostafa Ahmadian said about his right to represent Farzaneh Jalali.

Farzaneh Jalali is a graduate of the Department of Anthropology at Tehran University, a former member of the Islamic Association of Tehran University and former director of the Sobh Newspaper published by Tehran University. Jalali’s peaceful student activities resulted in her being denied the opportunity to pursue her postgraduate studies in anthropology at Tehran University in 2010 despite obtaining the 6th rank in the entrance examination held for applicants of postgraduate studies. This civil activist has been working in the field of women and children’s rights in recent years.

Jalali was arrested in one of the streets of Kermanshah by agents of the Minister of State for Security in Kermanshah on February 23, 2017. The security forces transferred her to the Ministry of Intelligence detention centre at the Oil Square while raiding her mother’s home later and confiscating most of Jalali’s personal belongings including laptop, books and manuscripts, etc.

Jalali was questioned for nearly two weeks before being released on a bail of 300 million tomans on Thursday, March 13.