
Mission
for Establishment of Human Rights in
Iran
(MEHR
IRAN
)
P.O. Box 2037
,
P.V.P.
,
CA
90274
Tel: (310) 377-4590 ; Fax:
(310) 377-3103
E-Mail:
mehr@mehr.org
; URL: http://mehr.org
________________________________________________________________________________________
PRESS
RELEASE
An
Historic Event:
The
US
Federal Court Ruled Against the Islamic Regime in
Iran
MEHR Iran that was instrumental in filing a lawsuit against
the Islamic Regime of Iran in 2003 is delighted to announce that on
9/28/2007 Judge John Bates made a judgment in favor of plaintiff,
Hossein Nikbin, against Islamic
Regime of Iran, Iranian Ministry of Intelligence and Security, and
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Monetary damages was awarded to Mr.
Nikbin.
This is an
historic event. It is the first time that a ruling regime is held liable
for torture.
Contact
Person:
Dr. Mohammad Parvin
MEHR Founding Director
Tel: (310) 377-4590 ; E-mail: mparvin@mehr.org
He testified as an expert witness about this case at the US Federal
Court, D.C. on February 2, 2007
Background:
In September 2003, after several years of hard work, MEHR Iran
announced the filing of a lawsuit against the Islamic Regime of Iran (IRI),
the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence and Security, the Islamic
Revolutionary Guard Corps, Ali Akbar Rafsanjani, and Ali Akbar Fallahian
Khuzestani. MEHR Iran which had facilitated the lawsuit through the
Center for Justice & Accountability (CJA), made the lawsuit
announcement in a conference at the FURAMA Hotel in
Los Angeles
. This conference was organized by MEHR to commemorate the 1988 massacre
of political prisoners in
Iran
.
The
lawsuit charged that agents of the Islamic Regime of Iran tortured the
plaintiff, Gholam Nikbin, 56, who served three years in jail for his
conversion to the Mormon faith and for permitting dancing at his
wedding. Nikbin was whipped with an electric cable on his bare soles,
flogged with a leather whip and hung upside-down during interrogation
and punishment by
Iran
's security forces in the mid-1990s. The torture damaged his kidneys and
made walking difficult.
After the lawsuit was filed, Dr. William F. Pepper who had worked with
CJA to make the lawsuit possible, continued his efforts to prepare it
for the trial. Dr. Pepper is
an expert on international
law issues and was the King
Family's lawyer-investigator for the 1999 trial in
Memphis
for conspiracy to do harm to Martin Luther King.
The case
was finally tried at the Federal Court of the
United
State
on February 2, 2007. Dr. Pepper and three other trial lawyers presented
the case and three witnesses testified on behalf of plaintiff.
Dr. Parvin, the founding Director of MEHR testified as expert
witness on human rights violation in
Iran
as well as the power structure of the Islamic regime in
Iran
.
Judge Bates didn’t order punitive damages against the
regime and its agencies. He also decided not to overturn his earlier
order dismissing the case against Rafsanjani, holding that his personal
contacts with the jurisdiction were not sufficient or consistent enough
to justify personal jurisdiction
For more background information, please refer to MEHR website at: http://mehr.org/index_massacre_2003.htm
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