PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 24, 2009
NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT – The Iran Human Rights Documentation Center (IHRDC) condemns the Iranian regime’s abuse of the human rights of its citizens for merely exercising their fundamental rights to free expression and association.
The Center has investigated and reported on human rights abuses committed by the Iranian government over the course of the last 30 years. These have included reports on the regime’s habit of arresting, torturing and executing Iranian citizens, as well as its brutal suppression of expression. Today, we are watching unfold another chapter of abuse by the regime.
Since the announcement that the incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejd won the presidential election on June 12, the Iranian government has brutally quelled any expression of dissent. It has attacked demonstrators for exercising their human right of free expression; while the total numbers are unknown, hundreds have been arrested and killed. Hundreds of people have been arrested in their homes and offices. Countless people have simply disappeared.
The regime has implemented measures effectively shutting and slowing down electronic communications. Websites have been blocked, the Internet has slowed to a crawl, and cell phones work only intermittently. In short, information out of Iran in scattered and not always reliable.
The perpetrators of these abuses of human rights must be held accountable. To that end, the Center is documenting the abuses – in writings, photos, videos and interviews of witnesses. It encourages anyone with such evidence to contact the Center. Evidence may also be sent electronically through the Center’s secure encrypted system that can be found on its website, www.iranhrdc.org.
IHRDC is a nonprofit organization based in New Haven, Connecticut that was founded in 2004 by a group of human rights scholars, activists, and historians. Its staff of human rights lawyers and researchers produce comprehensive and detailed reports on the human rights situation in Iran since the 1979 revolution. The Center’s goal is to encourage an informed dialogue among scholars and the general public in both Iran and abroad. The human rights reports and an archive of documents are available to the public for research and educational purposes on the Center’s website
For further information, please contact: Renee C. Redman, IHRDC Executive Director, (203) 772-2218 Ext. 215 rredman@iranhrdc.org