A Letter to UN High Commissioner

Kurdish National Congress of North America

P. O. Pox 90823, Nashville, TN 37209-USA

www.kncna.org

Navi Pillay, UN High Commissioner

Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights

Palais des Nations

CH-1211 Geneva 10

Switzerland                                                                                        

October 8, 2008                                                  

Honorable Commissioner Pillay:

On October 4, 2008, the Iranian Security Forces raided Ms. Nagin Shaikhulislami’s residence in Tehran and arrested her. Ms. Shaikhulislami was the founder and head of the Azarmehr Association of Women of Kurdistan, an association that has been promoting women’s status through capacity-building workshops and other related activities. She also was an active member of the One Million Signatures Campaign aimed at advancing social and gender equality.

Ms. Shaikhulislami had dedicated her life to promote human rights in Iran--an activity considered by the Iranian Mullahs a crime against their establishment.  Thus, it is taboo in Iran for any concerned citizen to speak about or advocate human rights and social justice.

Iranian authorities have been using all resources available to them to besmirch activists like Ms. Shaikhulislami and her friends as enemies of the nation. By typifying those who disagree with their political viewpoints as enemies of Islam, the Iranian theocracy has created an ideology justifies their right to murder or persecute those who don’t follow their way of thinking. By using the soubriquet of “anti-Islam” against Ms. Shaikhulislami and other advocates of democracy and accusing them of “endangering national security” without providing reliable evidence of such claims, the Iranian regime has itself become the Judge and jury.  Their judgment has led them to persecute innocent people which has included public “stoning” of Iranian women.

Ms. Shaikhulislami, not too long prior to her arrest, had undergone a serious operation. Her health cannot bear inhumane prison treatment characteristic of the Iranian regime. Therefore, we urge you to pressure the Iranian regime for Ms. Shaikhulislami and her friends’ release. The civilized world should act upon its moral conviction and prevent the Iranian mono-theocratic regime from violating the human rights of its citizens. Our “common humanity” would be jeopardy if regimes like the one in Iran are allowed to get away with their violation against human dignity through their inhumane and arbitrary arrests and persecutions of advocates of democracy. 

Sincerely yours,

Kirmanj Gundi

Kirmanj Gundi,

President