Shiva Nazar Ahari: Free the Prisoner of Conscience

          
          SHIVA NAZAR
          AHARI
          IRAN
          IRAN ONE YEAR ON
          FREE THE
          PRISONERS OF
          _____________ CONSCIENCE
          AMNESTY
          INTERNATIONAL
        

          
          PLEASE HELP
          SHIVA NAZAR AHARI
          Shiva Nazar Ahari, a journalist, blogger and member of the
          Committee of Human Rights Reporters (CHRR), was arrested with
          two other CHRR members, Kouhyar Goudarzi and Saeed Haeri,
          on 20 December 2009. They were arrested while on their way to
          the funeral the following day of Grand Ayatollah Montazeri, a
          senior cleric critical of the authorities. Shiva Nazar Ahari, born in
          mid-1984, is a prisoner of conscience, held solely for the peaceful
          exercise of her rights to freedom of expression and association.
          Shiva Nazar Ahari had previously been arrested on 14 June 2009
          and held for three months before being released on bail on 23
          September. She had also been detained in connection with her
          student and human rights activities in 2002 and 2004, receiving a
          one-year prison sentence in 2005, suspended for five years.
          Since her most recent arrest Shiva Nazar Ahari has been held for
          much of the time in solitary confinement. In February 2010, she
          told her family by phone that she had been transferred to a “cage-
          like” solitary confinement cell where she could not move her arms
          or legs. She has had limited access to her family, and no access
          to her lawyers.
        

          
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          “But during the interrogations, more charges
          were brought out For example, working against
          national security by being a member of illegal
          groups, by giving interviews to foreign media,
          and creating chaos by organizing mass protests
          and participating in them.”
          Shiva Nazar Ahari in an interview with the Committee of Human Rights Reporters after
          her release in September 2009
          According to her mother, in April 2010 Shiva Nazar Ahari was
          charged with “causing unease in the public mind through writing
          on the CHRR's website and other sites” and “acting against national
          security by participating in [ anti-government] demonstrations on
          4 November 2009 and 7 December 2009”. Shiva Nazar Ahari
          denied attending the demonstrations, saying that she was at work
          on those days. If convicted of these charges, she faces a lengthy
          prison term, or even possibly the death penalty, as the judge has the
          discretion to decide if her “offence” is serious enough to amount to
          “enmity against God”. Her trial is set for 23 May 2010.
          At least eight members of the CHRR have been arbitrarily arrested
          since the end of November 2009, of whom two — Shiva Nazar Ahari
          and Kouhyar Goudarzi — were still detained at the time of writing in
          May 2010. Others have fled the country for their own safety.
          The CHRR was founded in 2006 and campaigns against a wide
          range of human rights violations, including those affecting women,
          children, prisoners and workers. It has come under particular
          attack since the June 2009 election. In January 2010, the Tehran
          Prosecutor accused the group of having links to the People's
          Mojahedin Organization of Iran, a banned group, and said that
          “any collaboration with the [ CHRR] is a crime”. The CHRR
          vehemently denies having such links.
        

          
          ACT NOW
          WRITE POLITELY WORDED LETTERS
          TO THE HEAD OF THE JUDICIARY:
          • calling for Shiva Nazar Ahari to be released
          immediately and unconditionally as she is a
          prisoner of conscience, held solely for peacefully
          exercising her rights to freedom of expression
          and association;
          • urging the Iranian authorities to ensure
          that while imprisoned, Shiva NazarAhari is
          granted access to her family, her lawyer and
          adequate medical care;
          • reminding the Iranian authorities that
          collecting and publicizing information about
          human rights violations is a right guaranteed
          under Article 19(2) of the International
          Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to
          which Iran is a state party, which includes
          “the freedom to seek, receive and impart
          information.., regardless of frontiers, either
          orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art,
          or through any other media of... choice”.
          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-eJomhouri
          Tehran, 1316814737
          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 13/049/2010