[Peace] Fwd: Pls sign letter to Teheran to defend Shirin Ebadi

Wed Feb 25 13:57:51 CST 2009

Begin forwarded message:

> From: "Joanne Landy" <cpd at igc.org>
> Date: February 25, 2009 1:13:18 PM CST
> To: a-fields at uiuc.edu
> Subject: Pls sign letter to Teheran to defend Shirin Ebadi
>
>
>
> Please Forward & Post on Websites, Blogs, Etc.
>
> Dear Friend,
>
>           We are writing to invite you to sign the open letter  
> below from American peace activists  in defense of Shirin Ebadi,  
> the Iranian 2003 Nobel Peace Laureate and defender of women's  
> rights and human rights for all. Your support can make a difference.
>
>           We believe that peace and democratic rights are deeply  
> intertwined, and we defend freedom of expression whether or not we  
> agree with the views being expressed. As peace activists, however,  
> we are particularly concerned about the persecution of Shirin  
> Ebadi, who has on many occasions repeated her opposition to the use  
> of or threat to use U.S. military force against Iran. For example,  
> on February 4, 2009 Ebadi was interviewed by Amy Goodman on her  
> Democracy Now! television program. Goodman asked, "If the United  
> States were to attack Iran, and when you look at the repression  
> that you and others have suffered, would that help the democratic  
> movement in Iran?" Ebadi replied firmly, [translated] "A military  
> attack on Iran or even a threat of a military attack on Iran will  
> deteriorate the situation of human rights and women's rights,  
> because it gives an excuse to the government to repress them more  
> and more often."
>
>           If Shirin Ebadi has no security inside Iran, then all  
> peaceful civil society activists are at great risk. Indeed, the  
> recent attacks on Ebadi take place against a background of stepped- 
> up government repression. Trade union leaders, including Mansour  
> Osanloo and Ebrahim Maddadi, are currently in prison; two women  
> labor activists, Sussan Razani and Shiva Kheirabadi, were flogged  
> on February 18, 2009 because of their participation in a May Day  
> celebration. Women's rights defenders, including those involved in  
> the "One Million Signatures Campaign" have been unfairly prosecuted  
> and sentenced. Privacy and personal dignity are under siege. People  
> who defy patriarchal codes prescribing how men and women should  
> behave, and people who are suspected of homosexual conduct, have  
> been routinely victimized, often violently. Students, including  
> most recently students from Amir Kabir University in Tehran, have  
> been persecuted and brutally attacked. Mothers for Peace protesting  
> the war in Gaza were attacked by plain clothes security agents on  
> January 11 of this year.
>
>           These developments strengthen warmongering voices on both  
> sides and thus threaten to set back the peace movement opposing  
> military action against Iran.
>
>           Initial signers include Ervand Abrahamian, Janet Afary,  
> Medea Benjamin, Noam Chomsky, Ariel Dorfman, Martin Duberman,  
> Carolyn Eisenberg, Daniel Ellsberg, John Feffer, Arun Gupta, Adam  
> Hochschild, Doug Ireland, Kathy Kelly, Assaf Kfoury, Naomi Klein,  
> Jesse Lemisch, Kevin Martin, Scott McLemee, David McReynolds,  
> Charlotte Phillips MD, Katha Pollitt, Danny Postel, Matthew  
> Rothschild, Stephen Shalom, Alice Slater, David Swanson, and Chris  
> Toensing. (a more complete list of initial signers is at the end of  
> the letter.)
>
>           If you would like to add your name or make a tax- 
> deductible donation to publicize the following statement, please go  
> to our website www.cpdweb.org -- if for any reason you have  
> difficulty at the website, just send us an email at cpd at igc.org.  
> And please circulate the statement to your colleagues and friends.
>
> Sincerely,
> Joanne Landy   Tom Harrison
> Co-Directors, Campaign for Peace and Democracy
>
> HERE IS THE LETTER:
>
> IRANIAN HUMAN RIGHTS LEADER SHIRIN EBADI IN DANGER
> Peace Activists Call on Teheran to Ensure Her Safety
> To:
> Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei
> President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
> Ayatollah Shahrudi, Head of the Judiciary
> Mohammad Khazaee, Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the  
> United Nations
> Islamic Republic of Iran
>
>           We are writing to protest in the strongest terms the  
> threats that have been mounted against Shirin Ebadi, co-founder of  
> the Defenders of Human Rights Center and the Organization for the  
> Defense of Mine Victims. Ebadi, the 2003 Nobel Peace Laureate, has  
> spoken out vigorously and repeatedly for women's rights and human  
> rights for all in her own country. She has also been a vocal and  
> effective advocate for peace and against military attacks on Iran  
> in international forums.
>
>           Ebadi today is in considerable danger. On December 21,  
> 2008, officials prevented a planned celebration of the 60th  
> anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and forced  
> the closure of the Defenders of Human Rights Center (DHRC), which  
> Ebadi helped found. The Center provides legal defense for victims  
> of human rights abuses in Iran. The group had invited nearly 300  
> human rights defenders and supporters to the private celebration. A  
> few hours before the start of the program, members of state  
> security forces, and plainclothes agents entered the DHRC building.  
> They filmed the premises, made an inventory, and forced the  
> center's members to leave before putting locks on all entrances.
>
>           On December 29 officials identifying themselves as tax  
> inspectors arrived at Ebadi's private law office in Tehran and  
> removed documents and computers, despite her protests that the  
> materials contained protected lawyer-client information.
>
>           Ebadi's former secretary has been arrested, and on  
> January 1, 2009 a mob of 150 people gathered outside her home,  
> chanting slogans against her. They tore down the sign to her law  
> office, which is in the same building, and marked the building with  
> graffiti. The police, who have been quick to close down  
> unauthorized peaceful demonstrations, did nothing to stop the  
> vandalism.
>
>           In similar cases, Iranian authorities frequently have  
> followed office raids and other harassment with arbitrary arrests  
> and detention, often leading to prosecutions on dubious charges
>
>           As peace activists, we have a special concern for Shirin  
> Ebadi. Ebadi has spoken out, as we have, against any U.S. military  
> attack on Iran. In 2005, Ebadi wrote, "American policy toward the  
> Middle East, and Iran in particular, is often couched in the  
> language of promoting human rights. No one would deny the  
> importance of that goal. But for human rights defenders in Iran,  
> the possibility of a foreign military attack on their country  
> represents an utter disaster for their cause." ("The Human Rights  
> Case Against Attacking Iran" by Shirin Ebadi and Hadi Ghaemi, The  
> New York Times, Feb 8, 2005).
>
>           We oppose any military attack on Iran by the United  
> States or any other nation. We reject too the hypocrisy of the U.S.  
> government when it protests repression in Iran while turning a  
> blind eye to or actively abetting comparable or worse repression in  
> countries with which it is allied like Saudi Arabia, Egypt, or  
> Israel in the Occupied Territories. And we condemn as well  
> Washington's double standard in criticizing Iranian repression  
> while itself engaging in torture and undermining civil liberties at  
> home. But that in no way deters us from protesting in the strongest  
> terms the denial of basic democratic rights to the people of Iran.  
> We protest because we believe in these rights, and also because we  
> see social justice activists in Iran and all countries as our  
> natural allies in building a peaceful, democratic world.
>
>           We call on you to cease and desist from the threats to  
> Shirin Ebadi, to move immediately to prevent any further  
> harassment, and to ensure Shirin Ebadi's safety and security.
>
> SIGNED
> INITIAL SIGNERS
> Ervand Abrahamian, Janet Afary, Michael Albert, Kevin B. Anderson,  
> Bettina Aptheker, David Barsamian, Rosalyn Baxandall, Medea  
> Benjamin, Michael Bérubé, Norman Birnbaum, Eileen Boris, Roane  
> Carey, Joshua Cohen, Noam Chomsky, Gail Daneker, Manuela Dobos,  
> Ariel Dorfman, Martin Duberman, Carolyn Eisenberg, Jethro  
> Eisenstein, Zillah Eisenstein, Daniel Ellsberg, Jodie Evans,  
> Gertrude Ezorsky, Samuel Farber, John Feffer, Barry Finger, Joseph  
> Gerson, Jill Godmilow, Arun Gupta, Thomas Harrison, Nader Hashemi,  
> Adam Hochschild, Nancy Holmstrom, Doug Ireland, Melissa Jameson,  
> Jan Kavan, Nikki Keddie, Leslie Kielson, Ian Keith, Kathy Kelly,  
> Assaf Kfoury, Naomi Klein, Dan La Botz, Joanne Landy, Jesse  
> Lemisch, Sue Leonard, Mohammed Mamdani, Betty Mandell, Marvin  
> Mandell, Kevin Martin, Scott McLemee, David McReynolds, Ali  
> Moazzami, Claire G. Moses, Molly Nolan, David Oakford, Bertell  
> Ollman, Christopher Phelps, Charlotte Phillips MD, Katha Pollitt,  
> Danny Postel, Dennis Redmond, Sonia Jaffe Robbins, Matthew  
> Rothschild, Jason Schulman, Stephen Shalom, Adam Shatz, Alice  
> Slater, Stephen Soldz, Stephen Steinberg, David Swanson, Chris  
> Toensing, David Vine, Lois Weiner, Naomi Weisstein, Reginald  
> Wilson, Kent Worcester, Stephen Zunes
>
> * * * * * * * *
> Please go to the CPD website at www.cpdweb.org to add your name,  
> donate, or see the evolving full list of signers.
>
> THE CAMPAIGN FOR PEACE AND DEMOCRACY (CPD) advocates a new,  
> progressive and non-militaristic U.S. foreign policy -- one that  
> encourages democratization, justice and social change.
>
>
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> 2790 Broadway, #12
> New York, New York 10025
>
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