Reza Pahlavi's Letter to Kofi Annan to act on behalf of Iranian political prisoners

RezaPahlavi.org:

His Excellency Mr. Kofi Annan,
Secretary-General of the United Nations
The United Nations,
New York, NY
August 5, 2005

Your Excellency:

Topic: Human Rights conditions and deterioration of the situation of political prisoners and Human Rights activists in Iran. READ MORE

My compatriots and I are greatly concerned about the ever-increasing violation of human rights conditions in Iran. Various Iranian ethnic groups and women have stood out as targets of the Islamic Republic. The recent brutal murder of the Kurdish activist, Mr. Shwaneh Ghaderi and the imprisonment of Dr. Roya Toloee, a leader of Iranian women’s movement, are vivid examples of such violations.

On numerous occasions I have issued statements or sent urgent letters to Your Excellency stressing the dire conditions of my compatriots jailed, maimed or tortured in my country. Allow me now to personally reiterate my deep concern about their dire situation and in particular about the condition of Mr. Ganji a well-known journalist and Mr. Manoochehr Mohammadi a human rights activist who are both near death. But there are many others whose detentions and even executions have not been publicized.

The victims include even children and minors. Many if not all the political prisoners in Iran are brutalized and held in solitary confinement in spite of the numerous specific recommendations of the United Nations to stop and put an end to such inhuman practices. Unfortunately the Islamic Republic of Iran has so far ignored these recommendations as well as all the urgent appeals made by international human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. Despite the threats, human rights activists in Iran continue to fight for their freedom and human rights at the risk of imprisonment, torture, disappearance and death.

I salute their courage and dedication. It is sad to notice that in spite of glaring evidence of all the misdeeds, international pressure on Iran including by the Western world has recently weakened considerably. It is also sad to notice that Western representatives in Geneva have decided, not to call for a Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran during the last meeting of the U.N. Commission on Human Rights. Needless to say, that has led to the general belief that the present reluctance to investigate may be motivated by a desire to mute criticism of Iran while nuclear talks with my country continue. As we are all aware human rights and fundamental freedoms are one of the sacred basic purposes of the Charter of U.N. - thus I urgently request your Excellency’s kind personal intervention to put as much pressure as possible on the Islamic Republic of Iran to end such practices.

With best regards
Reza Pahlavi