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Alert

Translator Mohammad Ja'frar Pouyandeh found dead

(WiPC/IFEX) - The discovery of the body of essayist and translator Mohammad
Ja'frar Pouyandeh brings to three the number of writers who have disappeared
and been found dead in Tehran in the past two weeks. All had been actively
promoting free expression in Iran and their deaths have created alarm within
the writing community.





**Updates IFEX alerts of 11 December, 10 December, 9 December, 8 December, 7
December and 27 November 1998**

Pouyandeh, an essayist and translator of French literature, was found dead
on 11 December 1998 having been missing for two days. Pouyandeh disappeared
while on his way from his office to a meeting on 9 December. According to
reports, his body was found underneath a railway bridge in a suburb of
Tehran having apparently been strangled. His family were not informed of the
death until 13 December. Pouyandeh was one of six writers questioned in
October in connection with a recent initiative to form a writers'
association called "Kanoun".

Mohammad Mokhtari, a poet and also one of the group of six writers
questioned in connection with the writers' association "Kanoun", was found
dead in a morgue on 9
December, after having been missing for six days. Marks on his head and neck
suggested he may have been strangled.

Majid Sharif went missing on 20 November. A translator and journalist, he
had contributed to the now banned publication "Iran-e-Farda". He was
identified in a Tehran morgue on 24 November. The coroner's report cited
heart failure as the cause of his death.

Recommended Action

Send appeals to the President:

calling for a full and thorough investigation into Ja'frar Pouyandeh's
disappearance and death, and pointing out that he is the third writer to
have been found dead under suspicious circumstances in the last two weeks

Appeals To

His Excellency
Hojatoleslam val-moslemin Sayed Mohammad Khatami
President of the Islamic Republic of Iran
The Presidency
Palestine Avenue
Azerbaijan Intersection
Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
Fax: + 98 21 64 66 415  or 98 21 673 177 (via foreign affairs, ask to be
forwarded)
e-mail: iranemb@salamiran.org

Please copy appeals to the source if possible.

Source:

Writers in Prison Committee, PEN International
Brownlow House
50-51 High Holborn
London WC1V 6ER
United Kingdom
wipc (@) pen-international.org
Phone: +44 20 74050338
Fax: +44 20 74050339
@pen_int

 

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