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Date:
13 September 2009
Ref:
UA7
Navanethem
Pillay
UN High
Commissioner for Human Rights
OHCHR
Palais des Nations
CH-1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland
Your
Excellency,
URGENT ACTION: PERSON OF CONCERN
Shiva Nazar Ahari,
26 years old human rights
defender detained since 14 June 2009
As you are aware, three months has passed since
the June presidential election in
Iran. Many
remain in detention without charge and without access to lawyers while fresh
arrests go on. Among those still in detention is Shiva Nazar Ahari a twenty
six year old human rights defender.
Arrested on 14 June, Shiva has spent ninety days
in detention at Ministry of Intelligence and Information’s wing 209 in Evin
Prison. Thirty six days of these ninety days have been in solitary
confinement. During the last three months Shiva has had three or four brief
monitored telephone conversations with her family and one family visit with
her mother on 17 August. This visit, lasting only minutes, was conducted in
the presence of her interrogator. Worryingly, after three months, her lawyer
has still not been given a copy of her file and has not been able to meet
with Shiva.
On
1 September 2009 the ‘Committee of Human Rights Reporters’, the organisation
Shiva works with, reported that bail amount had been set at 5000 million
Rials (US$500,000). Her mother said that when she told the judge she could
not afford that amount, he told her “well, let her stay in jail”. On 8
September, the interrogator in charge of her case said it was not possible
to change the bail amount. This is a disproportionately high amount when for
example the accused in the murder of Dr Zahra Bani Yaghoub
were set a bail amount of 10 million Rials
Marking the ninetieth day of Shiva’s detention we
urge you to call for:
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the immediate and
unconditional release of Shiva Nazar Ahari. She is detained solely for the
peaceful exercise of her right to freedom of expression and association; |
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all charges against Shiva
Nazar Ahari, becasue of her human rights activities, including her work
publicising human rights violations, to be dropped. |
With the hope that your intervention could set
Shiva and all other prisoners of conscience free.
Respectfully
Roya Kashefi
Head of Human Rights Committee -
ACI
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