Five European parliamentarians intended to leave on Saturday for a weeklong visit to reopen a dialogue with Iranian counterparts and to meet with the Sakharov Prize laureates, Nasrin Sotoudeh, a jailed human rights attorney, and Jafar Panahi, a banned filmmaker put under house arrest.
"I deeply regret that permission to meet the Sakharov laureates was withheld. The European Parliament is nevertheless determined to continue its support for and involvement with the Iranian civil society," the European Parliament’s president, Martin Schulz, said.
The Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought is to be formally awarded at a ceremony in Strasbourg in December.
The prestigious prize, which was named after Soviet scientists and human rights activist Andrei Sakharov, comes with a 50,000 euro award. It is given to individuals and organizations who have made a special contribution to the protection of human rights.
Nelson Mandela and Soviet dissident Anatoly Marchenko, who died in prison in 1986, were the first to be awarded the prize in 1988.
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Iran frees Sakharov Prize winner lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh...
ReplyDeleteNasrin Sotoudeh, considered by human rights groups as Iran's highest profile political prisoner, was freed on Sept. 18, in another sign that hardline policies may be easing under a new president.
Other prisoners linked to the mass protests after the disputed 2009 re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad were also freed, opposition website Kaleme reported, raising hopes among activists for a possible reconciliation between Iran's conservative religious leadership and its pro-reform critics.
"It's not a temporary release, it's freedom," Sotoudeh's husband Reza Khandan told Reuters by telephone from Tehran. "We are all so happy from the depths of our hearts."
Sotoudeh, 50, who defended journalists and rights activists including Nobel Peace laureate Shirin Ebadi, staged two hunger strikes to protest at the conditions there and a ban on seeing her three-year-old son and daughter, 11.
With fears that she might die, the United States was among the countries criticising Iran and demanding Sotoudeh be freed.
The prison releases come less than a week before President Hassan Rouhani addresses the U.N. General Assembly for the first time and is expected to present a less confrontational image than Ahmadinejad, under whose eight years in power Iran came under ever-tougher Western trade sanctions.
Last year, Sotoudeh won the European Parliament's prestigious Sakharov Prize for her human rights work.
'I will continue to defend rights'
After being freed, Sotoudeh told AFP she was in "good" condition after three years in prison, and that she would continue defending human rights.
"Psychologically, my condition is very good but my experience - with all the psychological pressure, the tense security atmosphere [at the prison], and not having access to phone calls among other things - was very tough," an energetic Sotoudeh told AFP by phone from her home.
Just like her husband, Sotoudeh sounded certain that this time her release was permanent.
"The officer who drove me home said I was permanently released, I don't have to return to prison," she said......http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/iran-frees-sakharov-prize-winner-lawyer-nasrin-sotoudeh.aspx?pageID=238&nID=54720&NewsCatID=352
18/9/13
Iran releases prominent political dissidents....Human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh among 11 political prisoners freed unexpectedly by authorities....
ReplyDeleteEleven of Iran's most prominent political prisoners, including human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh, have been unexpectantly freed by authorities in Iran days before President Hassan Rouhani's first speech to the United Nations.
Sotoudeh was released on Wednesday evening along with 10 others detained after unrest that followed the disputed 2009 re-election of 2009 Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Sotoudeh, who was serving six years for “acting against national security”, told the New York Times: “I don’t know why they released me. I don’t know under what legal basis they released me. But I am free.”
Sotoudeh's husband, Reza Khandan, told the Reuters news agency that his wife was dropped off at their home by prison authorities "It's not temporary, it's freedom," Khandan said. "We are all so happy from the depths of our hearts."
Sotoudeh was arrested in September 2010 and convicted of spreading propaganda and conspiring to harm the state.
She staged a 50-day hunger strike last year to protest against the authorities' treatment of her daughter, who was subjected to a travel ban.
"Psychologically, my condition is very good but my experience - with all the psychological pressure, the tense security atmosphere, and not having access to make phone calls - was very tough," she told the AFP news agency after her release.
The release of the dissidents come less than a week before President Rouhani addresses the UN General Assembly for the first time and is expected to present a less confrontational image than Ahmadinejad, under whose eight years in power Iran came under ever-tougher Western trade sanctions.
Rouhani pledged during his election campaign to ease some political and social restrictions, and his supporters have called for the release of political prisoners.
Prior to her arrest, Sotoudeh had defended journalists and rights activists including Nobel Peace laureate Shirin Ebadi.
She also represented Zahra Bahrami, a woman with dual Iranian and Dutch nationality who was hanged in January 2011 on drug-trafficking charges.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2013/09/2013918155846364151.html
18/9/13
Iran: libera l'attivista Nasrin Sotoudeh....Rilasciate altre sette detenute politiche...
ReplyDeleteLa donna, figura di spicco dell'opposizione iraniana, è avvocato e ex collaboratrice del Nobel per la Pace Shirin Ebadi. Nel 2011 era stata condannata a 11 anni di carcere per "cospirazione contro la sicurezza dello Stato". Il presidente Rohani aveva promesso maggiori libertà politiche.....http://www.repubblica.it/esteri/2013/09/18/news/iran_liberi_prigionieri_politici-66818356/?rss
18/9/13