April 21, 2017
Abbas Lesani, an Azeri ethnic rights activist, is on trial for advocating state recognition of his mother tongue and making a speech at a friend’s wedding calling for an end to discrimination against Azeris in Iran.
Speaking in an interview with the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI), Lesani said his first trial was held in the Revolutionary Court in Meshkin-shahr, Ardebil province, on March 7 for “acting against national security” and “propaganda against the state.”
The last week he was tried in the Revolutionary Court in Ahar, East Azerbaijan province, for “organizing and leading opposition groups intent on overthrowing the state.”
Lesani told CHRI he has been presenting his defense in Azeri, a Turkic dialect.
“At the March 7 trial, I wrote my defense for the first time in Turkish and I rejected the charges. The judge wouldn’t accept it in Turkish at first, but, since this is our legal right, he eventually did,” Lesani told CHRI.
Between 15 to 25 percent of Iran’s population is Azeri-speaking. Azeris living mostly in Iran’s East and West Azerbaijan, Ardebil and Zanjan provinces.
Lesani, 55, is a grocer in Ardebil. CHRI says his activism for Azeri rights has made him a target of Iran’s security agencies trying to suppress alleged “secessionist” sympathizers.
Lesani has already spent a year in prison for “propaganda against the state.” He was released in June 2016.
“At the wedding of a friend, who’s also an Azeri rights activist, I gave a talk and hoped for an end to discrimination and the realization of the rights of all,” he said. “For this reason, I was accused of propaganda against the state and summoned to court in Meshkinshahr.”
According to Article 27 of Iran’s Constitution: “Public gatherings and marches may be freely held, provided arms are not carried and that they are not detrimental to the fundamental principles of Islam.”
Article 15 states: “The official language and script of Iran, the lingua franca of its people, is Persian. Official documents, correspondence, and texts, as well as textbooks, must be in this language and script. However, the use of regional and tribal languages in the press and mass media, as well as for the teaching of their literature in schools, is allowed in addition to Persian.”
On February 21, which was International Mother Language Day, Azeri activists Alireza Farshi, Akbar Azad, Behnam Shaikhi and Hamid Manafi were issued long prison sentences for peacefully defending Azeri rights.
Farshi was issued a 15-year prison sentence plus two years in exile. His three codefendants were each sentenced to 10 years in prison and two years in exile.
They had been arrested by agents of the Intelligence Ministry in 2014 during an event marking International Mother Language Day and charged with “forming an illegal group” and “assembly and collusion against national security.”
On June 3, 2013, days before he was elected president, Hassan Rohani promised to end restrictions on teaching non-Persian languages, including Azeri-Turkish and Kurdish, in schools and universities.