July 6, 2000
By Facsimile
H.E. Ayatollah Seyyed Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi
Head of the Judiciary
Tehran
Islamic Republic of Iran
Your Excellency:
Human Rights Watch is very concerned by what appears to be an attempt to
implicate its researcher, Elahe Sharifpour-Hicks, in official charges
which have been brought against the lawyer, Shirin Ebadi, and several
others, relating to the making and alleged dissemination of a video
tape, which the Iranian authorities apparently consider to be
defamatory.
I am writing now specifically to correct errors relating to Ms.
Sharifpour-Hicks that were published by the Iranian News Agency.
Ms. Sharifpour-Hicks visited Ms. Ebadi's office at 6.00 pm on Sunday,
April 16, 2000, in response to an invitation and had absolutely no prior
knowledge of what then occurred. She did not discuss the making of
the
video tape in advance, nor did she take part in its making in any way.
Hence, the allegation that Ms. Ebadi and Ms. Sharifpour-Hicks and Mr.
Hamid Marashi Zadeh met several times for the planning and preparation
of the videotape is completely and utterly false, and, in itself,
defamatory. Ms. Sharifpour-Hicks met Mr. Marashi Zadeh once only
during
her visit and very briefly when he came to the lawyer's office on April
16.
Ms. Sharifpour-Hicks did not take a copy of the videotape when she left
Ms. Ebadi's office at 8.15 pm, nor did she ever have one.
To reiterate, Ms. Sharifpour-Hicks played no part whatsoever in the
making of this videotape. She did not arrange for its production
in any
way, and she did not assist Ms. Ebadi in the production of the tape.
Your excellency, Human Rights Watch very much regrets that its
researcher's role in this matter is being misrepresented and her
character impugned.
Sincerely,
/s/
Hanny Megally
Executive Director
Middle East and North Africa Division
cc: H.E. President Mohammad Khatami, Tehran, Iran
H.E. Kamal Kharazi, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Tehran Iran
H.E. Hadi Nejad Hosseinian, Ambassador at the United Nations, New
York
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