- Target:
- UN, UNHCHR, US State Department, EU, Navi Pillay, Ban Ki-Moon, European Parliament, AI, HRW
- Region:
- GLOBAL
- Website:
- w.en-hrana.org
Sakhi Rigi, a blogger and a member of Mir-Hossein Mousavi’s Campaign Staff, has been sentenced to twenty years in prison by the Revolutionary Court in Zahedan [Sistan and Baluchistan Province].
According to a report by Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), Sakhi Rigi has been exiled to the city of Ahvaz [in Khuzestan Province] to serve his sentence in Karon Prison. Sakhi Rigi is a civil rights activist who was arrested during presidential elections in 2009. On June 18, 2009, while he was driving his car, Sakhi Rigi was stopped on Zahedan University St. by the security forces and subsequently detained.
While he was in the custody of Iran’s Intelligence Agency in Zahedan, Sakhi Rigi endured seven months in solitary confinement and was charged with acting against national security and propaganda against the regime. Three months ago, Sakhi Rigi was transferred to Karon Prison to begin serving his twenty year term.
Sakhi Rigi is a 31 year old college student who was studying software development before being arrested and had only two terms left before graduating. It is not clear what other charges have been filed against him to justify issuing such a heavy sentence for this college student. However, it has been said that his blog postings were considered a crime and a threat to national security.
Whereas the twenty year prison sentence imposed on blogger Sakhi Rigi by the Islamic Republic of Iran is not only egregiously cruel, but also illegal under both international and Iranian law;
And whereas Sakhi Rigi is clearly a prisoner of conscience imprisoned solely for his blogging activity and other peaceful pursuits of his rights to freedom of opinion ad opinion, rights guaranteed under both the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and Article 24 of the Iranian Constitution;
We therefore demand that the international community bring all pressure to bear upon the Islamic Republic of Iran to repeal this illegal prison sentence, drop all charges against Sakhi Rigi and free him immediately and unconditionally.
We further demand that the international community insist on the immediate and unconditional release of all other prisoners of conscience in Iran.
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The Free Iranian Blogger Sakhi Rigi, Sentenced To 20 Years In Prison 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.