CALL
TO ACTION ON IRAN
11
February 2009
International
PEN's Writers in Prison Committee is part of a coalition of leading
international journalists’, writers’, and publishers’ organizations
who today launched a campaign to press the government of Iran to release
their colleagues imprisoned in the wake of last year’s disputed
presidential election in the Islamic Republic of Iran.
The “Our Society Will Be a Free Society” campaign, named for a pledge
the Ayatollah Khomenei made during the 1979 Iranian revolution to protect
freedom of expression and the press, kicks off on the 31st anniversary of
the revolution and four days before the UN Human Rights Council convenes
in Geneva to review Iran’s human rights record. In an open letter
released today, the coalition called on Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah
Ali Khamenei to honor the original spirit of the Iranian revolution and
order the release of at least 60 writers, journalists, and bloggers
currently in prison in Iran in apparent violation of their right to
freedom of expression.
The “Our Society Will Be A Free Society” campaign is a joint
initiative of The Committee to Protect Journalists, International PEN and
PEN American Center and English PEN, Reporters Sans Frontières, Index on
Censorship, Canadian Journalists for Free Expression, and the
International Publishers Association. The campaign will run until 20 March
2010, the Iranian New Year, with events aimed at building pressure for the
release of writers and journalists in prison in Iran .
The full text of the press release and open letter to Iranian Supreme
Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei are attached.
READ
An
article published by recently released writer and journalist Maziar
Bahari:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/10/opinion/10iht-edbahari.html?hpw
PLEASE SEND APPEALS:
- expressing alarm that at least 60 writers, journalists,
and bloggers remain behind bars today in violation of the protections
guaranteed in the Islamic Republic of Iran’s constitution and in
international law.
- Calling for the immediate and unconditional release of all those
currently detained in Iran in violation of Article 19 of the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Iran is a signatory.
APPEALS TO:
Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic
His Excellency Ayatollah Sayed ‘Ali Khamenei,
The Office of the Supreme Leader
Islamic Republic Street – End of Shahid Keshvar Doust Street, Tehran,
Islamic Republic of Iran
Email: info@leader.ir
or via the website www.leader.ir/langs/en/index.php?p=letter
Head
of the Judiciary
His Excellency
Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi
Ministry of Justice, Park-e Shahr,
Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
Salutation: Your Excellency
COPIES TO:
President:
His Excellency Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
The Presidency,
Palestine Avenue,
Azerbaijan Intersection,
Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
Fax: Via Foreign Ministry: +98 21 6 674 790
(mark: "Please forward to H.E. President Ahmadinejad")
Please send a copy of your appeal to the diplomatic representative for
Iran in your country.
For further information please contact
Cathy McCann at International PEN Writers in Prison Committee, Brownlow
House, 50/51 High Holborn, London WC1V 6ER, Tel.+ 44 (0) 20 7405 0338,
Fax: +44 (0) 20 7405 0339, email: cathy.mccann@internationalpen.org.uk