Date: 26-02-2015
No: 540-CN-5571
His Excellency Ban-Ki Moon
Secretary General of United Nations
The United Nations
New York, NY 10017
Re: International Campaign to Demand the Immediate Release of Atena Farghadani from Prison in Iran for woem’s Day
Your Excellency,
My compatriots and I appeal to the international community to demand the immediate release of Atena Faghadani, a prominent children’s and civil rights activist, from Iranian Prison. We are extremely concerned about Ms. Faghadani’s serious health conditions, as she has recently suffered a heart attack during her hunger strike. Herewith, she has engaged in a courageous act of political protest to draw worldwide attention to the plight of political prisoners in Iran. We salute her bravery in provoking the theocratic regime in Iran to admit the presence of prisoners of conscience. We urge the international community to join our cause in securing the unconditional and immediate release of all prisoners of conscience, including Ms. Faghadani.
As we approach International Women’s Day (March 8th), Iranian women continue to bear insufferable conditions imposed by the theocratic regime in Iran over thirty six years ago. Since its inception, the Islamic Republic has treated our mothers, daughters, and sisters with disrespect and animosity. Iranian women have lost their hard earned rights and legal status as equal citizens with the introduction and enforcement of the Islamic laws immediately after 1979. Nevertheless, Iranian women have never shied away from leading the non-violent civil disobedience movement against the Islamic Republic and its fundamentalist interpretation of Islam. Today, Ms. Faghadani and countless numbers of Iranian women are symbols of resistance, as women’s rights remains at the heart of our shared struggle for human rights through gender equality and the realization of human dignity.
On International Women’s Day, we remember our fellow compatriots whose precious lives were lost in the past three and a half decades, and call upon the international community to support and endorse ongoing humanitarian efforts leading to the release of all prisoners of conscience. With our belief in secularism, respect for human rights and democracy, the Iran National Council strongly condemns ongoing human rights violations in the name of religion. Our vision is one of a free secular Iran where men and women can enjoy equal rights under the law, free of discrimination, in accordance with the principles of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
I thank you sincerely for your consideration, and offer my unconditional assistance on this urgent matter.
Yours sincerely,
Reza Pahlavi
President of the Iran National Council for Free Elections
