An open letter to The president of international PEN About the possibility of impending execution of Mr. Arjang Davoodi

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 An open letter to Mr. John Ralston Saul The president of international PEN

About the possibility of impending execution of Mr. Arjang Davoodi

 

Mr. President

With warmest regards

 

arjangHereby we inform you that Mr. Arjang Davoodi, poet, writer and political activist who once before was sentenced to 15 years in prison because he had wrote an article about the murder of Zahra Kazemi -Canadian citizen who was killed by judge Mortazavi under torture- and had spent 11 years (Months?) in prison, now again and without a fair trial has been sentenced to death along with 20 years and 8 months more incarceration. He has been accused writing a book and presenting an alternative for Islamic regime of Iran and has been sentenced to death because of it.

 

There are also some other accusations made against him such as “establishing organizations like The Movement Iranian’s Freedom and the Confederation of Iranian Students”, also “writing a manifest against Islamic Regime of Iran” and “insulting the leader and the founder of Islamic Regime and military officials and clergy” and also “blasphemy” and “cooperation with Jean Kokan in the process of making the movie Forbidden Iran”.

In the movie “Forbidden Iran” the judge Saeed Mortazavi has been accused of murdering Zahra Kazemi, the Canadian journalist, in 2003; this claim resulted in his previous sentences which was 15 years prison, 74 lashes and 5 years deprivation of civil rights.

In the time that he was serving (caring out) his sentence and in different prisons, he has had several hunger strikes to protest against the prison condition, prison guards behavior and the political and social conditions of Iran; and according to the website that provides news about him and his condition, he has lost part of his sight and hearing abilities.

 

Mr. President

The political, cultural, social and economic conditions of Iran is catastrophic and Islamic regime tries to control the situation by using censorship, repression, intimidation, imprisonment, torture and execution.

Mr. “Ahmed Shahid ‘Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran in his latest report stated that at least 825 people have been executed in Iran in the period between June 2013 and June 2014 which represents the” increasing concern” about execution in Iran.

According to his report Islamic Regime still continues executing underage prisoners and at least 8 underage inmates have been executed that have been under 18 years old when they have committed any crime; the UN Secretary-General Mr. Ban kimon, stated his concern of “Executions in Iran” in his annual report.

Moreover, The Human Rights Committee of the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, November 18, 2014, adopted a resolution on human rights violations in Iran, especially the “number of executions” by the Islamic regime which has caused a great concern; this resolution emphasizes that 850 people have been executed in Iran in the course of only 15 months.

 

Resolution adopted by the Third Committee of the UN General Assembly, condemned the Islamic Republic of Iran for continuing a systematic violations against the human rights of the people of Iran, especially because of the alarming increase in the frequency of executions, public executions and the continuation of the juvenile death penalty, torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, especially flagellation and amputations, widespread and serious restrictions on the right to organize, freedom of assembly and freedom of opinion and expression, consistency filtering or blocking or preventing access to the Internet and satellite jamming and censorship or banning the media, systematic persecution of human rights defenders, journalists, bloggers and social media users that they are constantly at risk of arrest, detention, exile, long and harsh sentences, including death sentences; the amputation of human beings based on Islamic law, pervasive inequality and violence against women and perpetuate discrimination against women and girls in law and in practice, and continuing discrimination against ethnic and religious minorities, etc.

 

Now and after serving 11 years of his previous sentence, Arnang Davoodi has been sentenced to death without a fair trial and the right if having a lawyer present and without his own presence in the trial.

 

He currently serves his time in the first block of Bandar Abbas prison; he was transferred from 12th block of Rajai-Shahr prison in Karaj to the block 209 in Evin prison, and then was transferred to Bandar Abbas after 127 day imprisonment in solitary.

According to the sources of human right organizations, his family members have been pressure and have been threatened by the government.

 

Mr. President

In the name of humanity and the defense of human rights and freedom of thought and expression, I expect from you is to prevent the execution of Arjang Davoodi, primarily for the abolition of censorship and death, issue a call for a campaign to put pressure on Islamic regime of Iran and help to end the current rulers of the anti-people and suffocating policies.

With many thanks and regards

The president of Iranian PEN in exile

Bahram Rahmani

 2014-12-01

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