Professor Abdolreza Ghanbari completed a PhD in Persian language and literature and has taught this subject in high schools and at Payame Nour University. CCS understands that his only political activity was to belong to a trade union that had been dissolved in 2007. Ghanbari was sentenced to death on January 30, 2010 on charges of “enmity against God” (Moharebeh) for allegedly participating in protests on the holiday of Ashura in December 2009. The Tehran Appeals Court upheld Professor Ghanbari’s death sentence in April 2010 and the Commission of Justice in Tehran rejected his request for pardon, while Ghanbari’s lawyer has been imprisoned. In a letter to Iranian .authorities, CCS joins other academic and human rights organization in urging prompt reversal of this severe sentence.
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Scholars at Risk calls for letters on behalf of imprisoned Iranian scholars
March 19, 2012
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran
c/o H.E. Mr. Mohammad Khazaee
Ambassador of Iran to the United Nations
Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations
662 Third Avenue, 34th Floor
New York, NY 10017, USA
Your Excellency:
We are an independent organization of scientists, physicians, engineers and scholars devoted to the protection and advancement of human rights and academic freedom for colleagues all over the world. We write now in grave concern for Professor Abdolreza Ghanbari.
Professor Abdolreza Ghanbari completed a PhD in Persian language and literature and has taught this subject in high schools and at Payame Nour University. We understand that his only political activity was to belong to a trade union that had been dissolved in 2007. Ghanbari was sentenced to death on January 30, 2010 on charges of “enmity against God” (Moharebeh) for allegedly participating in protests on the holiday of Ashura in December 2009. We further understand that the Tehran Appeals Court, Branch 36, upheld Professor Ghanbari’s death sentence in April 2010 and the Commission of Justice in Tehran rejected his request for pardon on February 28, 2012.
It was reported that while Professor Ghanbari was detained in Evin Prison before his trial, he was interrogated and forced under duress to confess the charges against him. Ghanbbari’s lawyer, Nasrin Sotoudeh, is serving a six-year prison sentence and unable to defend him. These actions constitute a serious disregard of international standards of due process, fair trial and detention as guaranteed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Iran is signatory. Such disregard of due process resulting in a death sentence for this scholar is particularly distressing, given Iran’s rich intellectual history and traditional support for the values of scholarship.
We join other international academic and human rights organizations in urging you to intervene to ensure the reversal of Professor Ghanbari’s death sentence. We also urge you to otherwise ensure his well-being, access to family, medical treatment and counsel of his choosing, pending his earliest release.
We appreciate your attention to this important matter and look forward to your reply.
Sincerely,
Eugene ChudnovskyAlexander Greer
Joel Lebowitz
Walter Reich
Paul Plotz
Co-Chairs, Committee of Concerned Scientists
Copies To:
Head of the Judiciary
Ayatollah Sadeqh Larijani
Howzeh Riyasat-e Qoveh Qazaiyeh
(Office of the Head of the Judiciary)
Pasteur St., Vali Asr Ave. (south of Serah-e Jomhouri)
Tehran 1316814737
Islamic Republic of Iran
larijani@dadgostary-tehran.ir or info@dadgostary-tehran.ir
The Honorable Hillary Clinton
United States Secretary of State
U.S. Department of State
2201 C Street NW
Washington, DC 20520 USA
The Honorable Navanethem Pillay
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Palais des Nations
CH-1211 Geneva 10
Switzerland
Scholars at Risk
New York University
194 Mercer St., 4th floor
New York, NY 10012 USA
Fax: +1 212 995-4402
scholarsatrisk@nyu.edu