Amnesty International Canada:

Save Shiva Nazar Ahari

According to her mother, the charges brought against Shiva Nazar Ahari during her most recent arrest include “causing unease in the public mind through writing on the CHRR’s website and other websites” and "acting against national security by participating in [anti-government] demonstrations on 4 November 2009 and 7 December 2009". Shiva denies these allegations. She has said that since her arrest she has spent much of the time in solitary confinement which she described as a “cage-like” cell, where she cannot move her arms or legs. She has limited access to her family, and no access to her lawyers. If she is convicted of the charges held against her, she will face a lengthy prison term, or possibly the death sentence. The judge has the descretion to decide if her ’offence’ is serious enough to amount to "enmity against God".

Take Action

Please write to the Head of the Judiciary:

Call for Shiva Nazar Ahari to be released immediately and unconditionally as she is a prisoner of conscience, held solely for peacefully exercising her rights to freedom and expression and association;

Urge the Iranian authorities to ensure that while imprisoned, Shiva Nazar Ahari is granted access to her family, her family and adequate medical care;

Remind the Iranian authorities that collecting and publicizing information about human rights violations is a right guaranteed under Article 19(2) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Iran is a state party, which includes “the freedom to speak, receive and impart information ... regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of … choice”.

Write To

Head of the Judiciary

Ayatollah Sadegh Larijani

Office of the Head of the Judiciary

Pasteur Street, Vali Asr Avenue, south of Serah-e Jomhouri

Tehran, 1316814737

Islamic Republic of Iran

Email: info@dadiran.ir or bia.judi@yahoo.com

Your Excellency

More Background

Shiva Nazar Ahari had been arrested several times before her arrest on 20 December 2009. On 14 June 2009 she was held for three months before being released on bail. She was also detained in connection with her student and human rights activities in 2002 and 2004; for which she received a one-year prison sentence in 2005, suspended for five years.

CHRR campaigns against a wide range of human rights violations, including those affecting women, children, prisoners and workers. It has come under particular attack since the June 2009 election. Despite denials from CHRR members, the Tehran Prosecutor has accused the group of having links to the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran, a banned group. Any collaboration with the CHRR is a considered a crime and while some members have fled the country in fear of their safety, at least eight members have been arbitrarily arrested since the end of November 2009.

Visit Amnesty International Canada to take action to save Shiva Nazar Ahari