- Target:
- Ahmed Shaheed, UN, UNHCHR, State Department, EU, Navi Pillay, Ban Ki-Moon, European Parliament
- Region:
- GLOBAL
- Website:
- www.en-hrana.org
UPDATE: AUGUST 8, 2013: Ghasem Ahmadi, the Kurdish journalist has been sentenced to four years in prison by branch 1 of the Mahabad revolutionary court.
Ghasem Ahmadi (pictured on right) is an Iranian Kurdish journalist who is one of the editors of the Rojav Quarterly. Rojav is a political, cultural and social quarterly which published by the Kurdish students of Tehran university. The quarterly published 13 volumes and it's releasing stopped by disciplinary and cultural committee of Tehran university on April 9th of 2011.
Ghasem Ahmadi was arrested in Mahabad on Thursday, March 7--the same day as fellow Kurdish journalist Khosrow Kurdpour. The brother of Khosrow Kurdpour, Masoud Kurdpour (also a journalist) was subsequently reported arrested as well.
These three arrests indicate an escalation of the persecution against Iran's Kurdish minority by the Islamic Republic regime, as well as a further intensification of the regime's campaign of persecution against Iran's independent journalists. This campaign has been ongoing since January and is transparently related to the up-coming presidential elections in June.
We the undersigned demand that the international community IMMEDIATELY take action and bring all possible pressure to bear upon the Islamic Republic regime in Iran to free Ghasem Ahmadi, as well as brothers (and fellow Kurdish journalists) Khosrow Kurdpour, Masoud Kurdpour.
We demand that the four-year prison sentence against Ghasem Ahmadi be immediately rescinded and all charges against him be immediately and unconditionally dropped.
We further demand that the international community begin to assert real pressure upon this regime to live up to its legally-binding human rights obligations under both international law and the Iranian Consitution (reference Article 24) by ceasing its campaign of persecution against Iran's independent journalists and bloggers.
Finally, we ask that the international community pay special attetntion to the Islamic Republic's vicious persecution of Iran's Kurdish minority and again demand that it live up to its human rights obligation vis-a-vis this and other minority communities in Iran.
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The Free Ghasem Ahmadi, Iranian Kurdish Journalist Sentenced To Four Years petition to Ahmed Shaheed, UN, UNHCHR, State Department, EU, Navi Pillay, Ban Ki-Moon, European Parliament was written by John S. Burke and is in the category Human Rights at GoPetition.