- Target:
- UN, UNHCHR, US State Department, EU, Navi Pillay, Ban Ki-Moon, European Parliament, AI, HRW
- Region:
- GLOBAL
- Website:
- www.rahana.org
On Monday, May 24, 2011 Security agents summoned Ghorban Ali Behzadian Nejad and returned this university professor back to Evin Prison. He had served as the head of Mir Hossein Mousavi's presidential campaign in 2009.
According to Kalame, Behzadian Nejad had been arrested during the events following the contested presidential election results. He was released on bail after several months of enduring solitary confinement in prison. He was subsequently sentenced to 5 years imprisonment. During this time, this university professor who served as adviser to Mir Hossein Mousavi was deprived of his position in the university and suspended of all academic activities.
Dr. Ghorban Behzadian Nejad served as a PhD professor of Microbiology at the Tarbiat Modares University (Teacher’s Training School). He is a scholar who has also contributed to a multitude of cultural activities. Among his previous positions, he served as Deputy Minister of Health, Treatment and Medical Education under the presidency of Mohammad Khatami. He also served as adviser to the Minister of Health for electing presidents of medical universities.
His return to prison came just one day after former president Mohammad Khatami urged the Islamic Republic establishment to move toward a national reconciliation by releasing all political prisoners. Several of Mousavi’s senior aides in the election of 2009 have been arrested and given harsh prison sentences for the charge of acting against national security by alleging fraud in the elections.
We demand the immediate release from prison of Dr. Ghorban Benzadian Nejad. The charges against him are clearly politically motivated and he is a prisoner of conscience. We therefore demand that these charges be dismissed and the egregious conviction against him be overturned.
We also demand an end to the illegal house arrest of Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karoubi and their spouses.
We further demand that all pressure be brought to bear upon the Islamic Republic of Iran to unconditionally release all prisoners of conscience.
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The Free Ghorban Behzadian Nejad petition to UN, UNHCHR, US State Department, EU, Navi Pillay, Ban Ki-Moon, European Parliament, AI, HRW was written by John S. Burke and is in the category Human Rights at GoPetition.