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Translator and journalist Khalil Rostamkhani is former co-publisher of the English-language newspaper Daily News and the magazine Iran Echo. In 1984 he and his wife, writer Roshanak Daryoush, set up a translation service in Tehran, and their clients have reportedly included Iranian government authorities, international companies, foreign embassies, and journalists. In 1999, Rostamkhani published a translation of Vladimir Nabokov's novel Mashenka. Rostamkhani was previously arrested in June 1990 for his membership of the Organization for Communist Unity, and sentenced to three years' imprisonment. He was released in May 1992 under amnesty.
Case history:
Rostamkhani was arrested on May 8, 2000 for organizing an academic and
cultural conference held at the Heinrich Böll Institute in Berlin on
April 7-9 entitled "Iran after the elections," at which political and
social reform in Iran were publicly debated. He was released on bail
on November 15, 2000, but on January 13, 2001 Bench 3 of Tehran's
Revolutionary Court announced that he had been convicted and sentenced
to nine years' imprisonment for organizing the Berlin conference. He
remained free on bail pending appeal until August 26, 2001, when the
Supreme Court upheld the verdict against him and he was taken into custody.
The Supreme Court reduced his sentence from nine to eight years, but stated
in the final verdict that the sentence is due in part to his "bad political
record."
Current status:
Rostamkhani is serving his sentence in Saveh, and he is said to be seeking a re-trial. He has a wife and child
in Germany.
PEN considers translator and journalist Khalil Rostamkhani to be
detained solely for the peaceful exercise of his right to freedom of
expression and association as guaranteed by Articles 19 and 22 of the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Iran is
a signatory. PEN is calling for his immediate and unconditional release.