- Target:
- UN, Navi Pillay, OHCHR, Ahmed Shaheed, EU, European Union, State Department, Foreign Office, HRW
- Region:
- Iran
- Website:
- www.gfbv.de
Alireza Sepahi Laeen is an Iranian Kurdish author and poet, born on July 30, 1972. He was arrested near Mashhad in a raid on his home 11 Feb 2012 and held in Vakilabad prison for more than 6 months without charge. 05 Aug 2012 he was released from prison pending trial.
On April 12, 2014 it was announced that he had been sentenced to 11 months in prison by the Revolutionary Court in Mashhad.
Prior to his 2012 arrest, he was also arrested on 30th of July 2011 at 1.30 AM by armed plain-clothed members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) who stormed his house.
Alireza seriously suffers from diabetes, is in mortal danger without his daily medication. There is grave concern for his health should this prison sentence begin, in light of the Islamic Republic of Iran's systematic and illegal withholding of needed medical care for prisoners of conscience.
His only "crime" is his commitment to the Kurdish language and culture. Kurds and several other minorities are discriminated and persecuted in the multi-ethnic state.
Ali-Reza is a renowned Kurdish writer who published more than twelve books. He writes in Farsi." the Persian language in Iran." and Kurdish. They described him as a "cultural" activists. Ali-Reza was born on 22nd of December 1971 in the Kurdish village Sengdiwar in the province of Khorasan, which in located in the north-eastern Iran. Prior to his abduction, he and his family lived in Ghasem-Abad " a suburb of Mashhad, the capital of Razavi Khorasan " and worked in the public relations department of the Ferdowsi University of Mashhad.
WHEREAS: The prison sentence against Alireza Sepahi Laeen is based solely on his peaceful expression of his cultural and political views as an author;
AND WHEREAS: This prison sentence is therefore illegal under both Artice 18 and Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (to which Iran is a signatory) as well as Article 24 of the Iranian Constitution;
AND WHEREAS: Kurdish cultural and political activists routinely suffer harsh persecution at the hands of the punitive branches of the Islamic Republic of Iran government;
THEREFORE: We, the undersigned demand that the international community recognize Alireza Sepahi Laeen as a prison of conscience and demand the IMMEDIATE and UNCONDITONAL reversal of this illegal verdict and the dropping of all (equally illegal) charges upon which it was based.
You can further help this campaign by sponsoring it
The Reverse Prison Sentence of Iranian Kurdish Author Alireza Sepahi Laeen petition to UN, Navi Pillay, OHCHR, Ahmed Shaheed, EU, European Union, State Department, Foreign Office, HRW was written by John S. Burke and is in the category Human Rights at GoPetition.