Front Line is deeply concerned following reports that human rights defender Mr Faleh Abdullah Al-Mansouri has been sentenced to 30 years' imprisonment. Faleh Abdullah Al-Mansouri is head of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Ahwaz and is also a human rights defender. He is originally from Iran but fled to the Netherlands as a refugee in 1998 and has since become a Dutch national. In the Netherlands he was an active member of human rights organisation Amnesty International.

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On 11 May 2006, Faleh Abdullah Al-Mansouri was arrested in Syria, having traveled there from the Netherlands. In Damascus he had organised to meet political refugees who were registered with the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) from Ahwaz, the capital of Khuzestan, a province in the west of Iran. On 16 May 2006, he was extradited to Iran under accusations of terrorism. In Iran he was charged as a terrorist supporting the Arab minority in Ahwaz and has reportedly been held in section 209 of Evin Prison. He has now been sentenced to 30 years' imprisonment. It is feared that Faleh Abdullah Al-Mansouri may have been subjected to torture while in detention.

Front Line believes that the sentencing of Faleh Abdullah Al-Mansouri may be related to his work as a human rights defender.I am seriously concerned for the physical and psychological integrity of Faleh Abdullah Al-Mansouri while in detention.