Appeal to Free Mr. Abolfazl Abedini Nasr

We, the undersigned call on the Iran Government Judiciary Branch to grant immediate release of Abolfazl Abedini, who is being detained in Evin prison and sentenced to 11 years confinement.

Journalist and human rights activist, Abolfazl Abedini who is a member of the Pan-Iranist Party has dedicated his life to journalism and defending human rights in Iran.

Abolfazl Abedini has been sentenced to eleven years in prison by branch 1 of the Revolutionary Court in Ahvaz in his absence. He is sentenced to eleven years of confinement. He is charged and convicted of Being a Human Right Advocate in Iran (five years prison sentence), convicted of having relationship with foreign countries ( another five years sentence), and propaganda against the regime for interviews with foreign media (one year in prison).

The court judgment for Abolfazl Abedini was issued in mid March 2010, but it was not announced to his lawyer Mohammad Oliyaifard until March 28, 2010. The court order is related to a previous case which led to Abedini’s arrest in July 2009. In November 2009, he was released on a bail in the $300,000 range.

He was brutally arrested at 2:00 a.m. on Wednesday, March 3, by Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Intelligence agents (IRGC's), violently attacked his residence in the southern province of Khuzestan. The order that the agents presented for raiding the home was illegible and its issuing authority was not indicated. The activist who suffers from a serious heart condition was severely beaten during the arrest. Few days before the raid , Abedini had been repeatedly threatened with arrest., the reason for Abedini’s arrest has yet to be announced to his lawyer.

Like many others he is charged and convicted on the unjust charge of Human Rights Advocacy,‘acting against national security’, and outrages Charges of spreading propaganda against the Islamic Republic, giving interviews to foreign press.