Hengameh Shahidi: Free the Prisoner of Conscience

          
          HENGAMEH
          SHAH IDI
          IRAN
          ONE YEAR ON
          FREE
          THE PRISONERS
          _____________ OF CONSCIENCE
          AMNESTY
          INTERNATIONAL
        

          
          PLEASE HELP
          HENGAMEH SHAH IDI
          Hengameh Shahidi, aged about 35, is a journalist and
          political activist who is currently serving a six-year sentence
          in [ yin Prison, Tehran. She is a prisoner of conscience.
          A PhD student at the School of Oriental and African Studies
          in the UK, she had returned to Iran for the 2009 presidential
          election. There, she acted as an adviser on women's issues to
          presidential candidate Mehdi Karroubi, leader of the National
          Trust party, of which she is a member. After mass protests
          erupted following the announcement that incumbent
          President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had been re-elected, she
          was arrested on 30 June and held for over four months
          without charge.
          She says she was tortured and otherwise ill-treated in
          detention, including with threats that she would be executed.
          On one occasion, she says, she was subjected to a mock
          execution. She also says that her interrogators threatened to
          arrest other members of her family.
        

          
          ‘Were the individuals who beat me in the
          basements of Evin Prison brought before
          the [ prison] disciplinary committee?'
          Hengameh Shahidi to prison otticials who threatened her with punishment if she
          continued her hunger strike in Octoher 2009
          Her trial began shortly after her release on bail in November
          2009 and she was sentenced the following month. The six-
          year prison term includes five years for “gathering and
          colluding with intent to harm state security” and one year for
          “propaganda against the system”.
          She appealed against the conviction and sentence, and
          remained at liberty. However, on 25 February 2010 she was
          rearrested after being summoned to the Ministry of
          Intelligence investigations' office “to answer a few questions”.
          Two days later her lawyer Mohammad Mostafaei, unaware of
          the reasons for her rearrest, went to Branch 54 of the
          Revolutionary Court. There, he was shown an appeal court
          ruling upholding her six-year prison sentence, issued the day
          before her rearrest. The appeal court did, however, overturn
          her conviction for “insulting the President”, for which she
          had been sentenced to 91 days' imprisonment.
          Hengameh Shahidi suffers from a heart condition, for which
          she requires regular medication.
        

          
          ACT NOW
          WRITE POLITELY WORDED LETTERS
          TO THE HEAD OF THE JUDICIARY:
          • calling for Hengameh Shahidi to be
          released immediately and unconditionally as
          she is a prisoner of conscience, held solely for
          peacefully exercising her rights to freedom of
          expression, association and assembly;
          • urging the Iranian authorities to ensure
          that while imprisoned, Hengameh Shahidi is
          granted access to her family, her lawyer and
          to adequate medical care;
          • calling for an immediate, thorough and
          impartial investigation into Hengameh
          Shahidi's allegations of torture in detention
          and for anyone found responsible for abuses
          to be brought to justice promptly and fairly.
          Send your letters to:
          Head of the Judiciary
          Ayatollah Sadegh Larijani
          Office of the Head of the Judiciary
          Pasteur Street, Vali Asr Avenue, south of
          Serah-e Jomhouri
          Tehran, 1316814731
          Islamic Republic of Iran
          Salutation: Your Excellency
          Email: info@dadiran.ir, bia.judi@yahoo.com
          (in the subject line: FAO Ayatollah Larijani)
          Amnesty International
          International Secretariat
          Peter Benenson House
          AlViN ESTY 1 Easton Street www.amnesty.org
          London WC1X ODW May 2010
          INTERNATIONAL United Kingdom Index: MDE 13/040/2010