A/HRC/22/48 and employees to cease their reporting activities (ibid., para. 21). On 20 November 2012, Massumeh Dehghan, the wife of jailed lawyer and human rights defender Abdolfattah Soltani, was sentenced to one year in prison, suspended for five years, coupled with a fiveyear travel ban. She was charged with “propaganda against the system” for travelling abroad and receiving the International Nuremberg Human Rights Award given to her husband who is serving a 13-year jail term. On 4 November, security forces had arrested Behrouz Ghobadi, the brother of exiled film-maker Bahman Ghobadi on national security charges. Since then, he has been held incommunicado and is reportedly in a fragile state of health.29 The former, who had not been politically active and owned a shop in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, was travelling to Tehran from Sanandaj when arrested. The arrest of Mr. Behrouz is apparently linked to the film-making activities of his brother, who has produced several films critical of the Government. These cases points to a lack of respect by the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran of its obligations under article 19 and 22 of the Covenant to respect and protect the rights to freedom of opinion, expression and assembly. F. Lack of procedural guarantees 42. Although the Iranian Constitution, Penal Code and Code of Penal Procedure contain fair trial safeguards and procedural guarantees, special procedure mandate holders have continued to express serious concerns about allegations of detention without charges, incommunicado detention and lack of access to lawyers. According to reports received, accused persons are often unaware of the charges against them, or charges were pronounced only when they were brought before the court. On-camera confessions, disproportionately heavy bail forfeits and the handing down of heavy sentences after only brief hearings were commonly reported patterns. 43. Any trial, especially in death penalty cases, should last a reasonable amount of time to allow a comprehensive review of the merits of the case and a proper defence. On 23 March 2012, the Special Rapporteurs on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, and on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions 30 expressed concerns in a joint communication about the heavy sentence handed down to Habibullah Golparipour for his alleged cooperation with the Party For Free Life of Kurdistan. He had been sentenced to death following a very brief one-session-hearing. 44. On 26 November 2012, the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention adopted opinion 30/2012, expressing serious concerns about the lack of respect for procedural guarantees in the cases of Hossein Mossavi and Mehdi Karoubi, two opposition leaders, and Zahra Rahnavard, the wife of Mr. Mossavi, who have been kept incommunicado in their homes since February 2011. They have been denied access to visitors and lawyers, have not been brought before a judge, nor had the opportunity to contest the legality of their house arrest, in violation of Iranian national laws. Article 32 of the Constitution and article 24 of the Code of Penal Procedure require any charge with reason to be immediately communicated and explained in writing to the accused and that preliminary documentation must be referred to the competent legal authority within 24 hours. Although the Secretary General of the High Council for Human Rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran stated that the opposition leaders were accused of “incitement to violence and other illegal activities”, the Working Group has not been informed of any trial or judicial proceedings accorded to the 29 30 See www.amnestyusa.org/news/press-releases/hollywood-film-directors-and-actors-demand-freedomfor-brother-of-acclaimed-iranian-filmmaker-bahman. Communications report of special procedures, A/HRC/21/49, p. 17. 13