Immediate & Unconditional Release of Kaveh Rezaie

Kaveh Rezaie, student activist, in a cell with drug addicts!

Kaveh Rezaie, 26 years old, needs our help NOW! He is a student activist who was transferred to Karaj central prison on April 24th to 'serve' his 18-month sentence! He is the only known political prisoner in this prison! It was reported today that he was transferred from the prison's quarantine ward to a cell where he is held with drug addicts! Aside from the daily psychological abuse he endures, Kaveh Rezaie is at serious risk of physical harm.

Kaveh Rezaie is a brave and bright student who must be released now!

Kaveh's only crime is seeking the truth! Please help free him!

Kaveh Rezaie, a 26-year-old university student, was taken to Karaj central prison on April 24th to 'serve' an 18-month sentence that had been previously issued to him by the Iranian judiciary. According to reports from Tehran, Kaveh is the only known political prisoner in this prison. Today Kaveh was transferred from the quarantine ward to a small cell where he is being held with drug addicts. According to Kaveh's mom her son endures psychological abuse on a daily basis and she fears he is at risk of physical harm.

Kaveh was a mechanical engineering university student who was close to graduation before the Iranian authorities labelled him a *starred student and expelled him from university.

STAR SYSTEM IN IRAN: The system of issuing stars against students was developed by Iran’s Ministry of Advanced Education so students with disciplinary issues would get penalized. After a student collects a certain number of stars, he or she is banned from education. The system is primarily used against student activists.

More information on Iran's star system (the Iranian government denies the existence of starred students): http://persian2english.com/?p=23275

Kaveh Rezaie was also a reporter for ISNA, the Iranian Student's News Agency (national news agency), but he was eventually fired due to the content in his personal blog. He was also a member of the One Million Signatures Campaign, an initiative to support changing discriminatory laws against women in Iran.

He was a women's rights activist and a blogger. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Million_Signatures

Kaveh was involved in seeking the truth in the case of Zahra Baniyaghoub, an Iranian women political prisoner who allegedly committed suicide in prison. However, Zahra's family and Iranian activists strongly suspect that Zahra was murdered by the Iranian authorities. Kaveh wrote about Zahra in his blog. Iranian activists suspect his persecution is linked to the content in his blog, especially the post on Zahra Baniyaghoub. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zahra_Bani_Yaghoub

In his blog Kaveh Rezaie wrote mainly about the everyday struggles of Iranian citizens. Kaveh felt that it is his duty as a concerned Iranian citizen to speak out about the truth.

Iranian authorities have increased the pressure on Kaveh due to his insistence on blogging and defending women's rights. He even helped found a university group in solidarity with the One Million Signatures Campaign called: Men in Support of the One Million Signatures Campaign. This group held workshops for women to discuss their stripped rights.

Kaveh Rezaie was arrested once before in 2008, again for his blogging and civil activism.