Month: November 2009

On November 9, 2009, Shadi Sadr, a young feminist attorney and journalist received the “Dutch Human Rights Defenders Tulip” for her work in Iran. In her acceptance speech she wrote: “As long as the issue of human rights is not raised at least in a parallel way to the nuclear issue at all levels of political and economic negotiations with the Iranian government, and sanctions and other possible guarantees of action do not include both areas, one cannot accept that some real effort has been made to stop the violation of the rights of Iranian citizens.” The English translation of her speech is reprinted below. For more information on Shadi Sadr and for a translation of her article on the rapes of young women protesters imprisoned after the forged June 2009 election, see http://iranianvoicesintranslation.blogspot.com/2009_08_01_archive.html
Continue reading Put Human Rights Defense on Par with Nuclear Safety Concerns, says Feminist Attorney, Shadi Sadr

On November 11, 2009, Ehsan Fattahian, a young Kurdish activist and political prisoner was executed in Sanandaj, Iran. He had been arrested in July 2008 and imprisoned for his association with Komalah, a Kurdish opposition group which considers itself Marxist. His execution was carried out by the Iranian government despite expressions of protest inside and outside Iran. The English translation of Fattahian’s last statement is being reprinted from the official website of the Iranian Green Movement. My corrections have been interpolated in square brackets. For more information about Fattahian’s case, please see the article, “What Happened to Ehsan Fattahian?” in Tehran Bureau (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/tehranbureau/2009/11/what-happened-to-ehsan-fattahian-the-kurdish-activist.html)
Continue reading Last Statement by Kurdish Activist, Ehsan Fattahian