Free Iranian-German Net Citizen Farideh Shahgholi, Illegally Imprisoned For Facebook Comments
- Target:
- UN, Ban ki-Moon, OHCHR, Navi Pillay, Ahmed Shaheed, EU, European Parliament, State Department, HRW
- Region:
- Iran
- Website:
- en.rsf.org
Farideh Shahgholi, a German-Iranian netizen, was arrested for her activities on social media, including Facebook. Up to now, theGerman authorities have failed to make official statements about her illegal detention.
Shahgholi began a three-year sentence on 22 May. Having lived in Germany for 25 years, she was arrested in 2011 during a visit to relatives in Iran. She was charged with anti-government publicity and insulting Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei for comments she made on Facebook, and was unlawfully convicted by the Tehran Revolutionary Court.
Unfortunately, Ms. Shahgholi has tripped two of the key wires in the ongoing dirty factional war being waged between reform elements of Rouhani's cabinet and the repressive forces of the Islamic Republic's Judiciary, Revolutionary Guards and Intelligence Ministry. One of these trip wires is the debate on whether to free up Iran's internet or further restrict it; the second involves a concerted campaign to arrest, convict and imprison Iranian opposition activists who have been living in exile abroad and have returned to Iran to visit family.
In recent months the number of innocent Iranians caught up in this dirty war has increased--resulting in jailing, abuse during interrogations, and in many cases draconian prison terms.
WHEREAS: Iranian-German net citizen Farideh Shahgholi has been arrested solely for comments she posted on Facebook and other peaceful pursuits of her internationally-recognized right to freedom of speech;
AND WHEREAS: Ms. Shahgholi is therefore a prisoner of conscience, and both her continued imprisonment and the three-year prison sentence imposed upon her are ILLEGAL under Articles 18 and 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (to which Iran is a signatory) as well as Article 24 of the Iranian Consitution;
THEREFORE: We, the undersigned, demand that the international community at all levels bring all possible pressure to bear upon the Islamic Republic of Iran to IMMEDIATELY and UNCONDATIONALLY release Farideh Shahgholi from prison, to reverse the ILLEGAL prison sentence imposed upon her, and to drop all equally illegal charges brought against her.
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The Free Iranian-German Net Citizen Farideh Shahgholi, Illegally Imprisoned For Facebook Comments petition to UN, Ban ki-Moon, OHCHR, Navi Pillay, Ahmed Shaheed, EU, European Parliament, State Department, HRW was written by John S. Burke and is in the category Human Rights at GoPetition.