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
