Shiva Nazar Ahari Faces Trial Amidst Recent Unjust Sentences, Executions

Shiva Nazar Ahari, a young Iranian human rights activist who has been imprisoned since December 2009, is scheduled for trial this Sunday, May 23. Hard-liners in the Iranian media have accused Nazar Ahari and her organization, the Committee of Human Rights Reporters (CHRR) of association with Mojahedin Khalgh, an Islamic Marxist group advocating for the overthrow of the Iranian Republic—a dangerous allegation indicating that Nazar Ahari may be in grave danger as she goes to trial.

As the anniversary of Iran’s controversial June 12, 2009 presidential election nears, the climate for human rights defenders has become especially perilous. Brutal repression continues while the nuclear issue has supplanted news of human rights violations during and following opposition street protests in connection with last year’s election. Human rights activists have been arrested, tortured, tried, and sentenced to inhumane punishments without due process or fair trial.

On Sunday, May 9, five Kurdish political prisoners were executed, including the young woman Shirin Alam Holi, who was accused of terrorism and sentenced to death on the charge of moharebeh (enmity with god). Neither Alam Holi, her family, or her lawyers were informed about the planned execution. Also this month, Iran’s Revolutionary Court sentenced exiled women’s human rights activists Shadi Sadr and Mahboubeh Abbasgholizadeh in absentia to 6 years imprisonment and 74 lashes, and 2.5 years imprisonment and 30 lashes, respectively, for participation in peaceful demonstrations in 2007.

As this harsh suppression and punishment of Iranian human rights activists continues to escalate, we ask you to join our urgent call for their protection. Please write to the Iranian judiciary; the Permanent Mission of The Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations; and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to urge them to take action for the immediate release of Shiva Nazar Ahari, and to put a stop to false accusations, illegal procedures, and inhumane punishment of Iranian human rights defenders.