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UPDATE: IRAN
6 May 2009
Equality Now welcomes news
of Kobra Najjar's release from prison. Kobra is an Iranian woman who was
sentenced to death by stoning for adultery—a judgment based on the prostitution
her abusive husband forced upon her in order to sustain his heroin addiction.
We would like to thank all our members who campaigned against her execution
by stoning and for her release. A campaign update will follow soon.
NEWS
ALERT: IRAN
January 2009
Equality Now Welcomes News of the Commutation Of Kobra Najjar’s Stoning But Condemns The Sentence Of 100 Lashings To Take Its Place
The Iranian government has commuted the execution of Kobra Najjar, an Iranian woman sentenced to death by stoning for adultery—a judgment based on the prostitution her abusive husband forced upon her in order to sustain his heroin addiction.
Kobra requested clemency from the Head of the Judiciary, Ayatollah Shahroudi, after her appeal for amnesty was rejected three times by the Iranian Commission of Amnesty. Ayatollah Shahroudi has recently ruled for the stoning sentence to be converted into 100 lashes. Kobra has already served eight years in prison as an accomplice to the murder of her husband who was killed by a sympathetic client, plus a further three years awaiting execution. Kobra has recently suffered from a stroke whilst in prison and has been spending her days under very difficult conditions. Subjecting her to lashes not only violates the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) to which Iran is a party, as it clearly prohibits torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment and punishment, but could cause serious harm and potentially be life-threatening.
News reports in Iran have also indicated that two sisters, Zohreh and Azar Kabiri, who had previously been lashed as punishment for adultery and subsequently recharged and sentenced to stoning, have had their sentences for stoning overturned due to insufficient evidence and will shortly be released. (Please see Equality Now’s Action calling for the release of Zohreh and Azar.)
Please immediately contact Iran’s Head of Judiciary Ayatollah Shahroudi* welcoming news of Zohreh and Azr Kabiri’s pending release and urging him to commute Kobra’s sentence for lashing and call for her immediate and unconditional release from prison. Call on him to do all that he can to end the cruel punishment of stoning once and for all.
*The contact information below functioned when previously tested, but you may encounter delivery problems so please keep trying to send your message. Thank you for taking action!
His
Excellency Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi
Head of the Judiciary
c/o
Ministry of Justice
Park-e Shahr
Teheran
Islamic Republic of Iran
Email:
iripr@iranjudiciary.org,
irjpr@iranjudiciary.com and info@dadgostary-tehran.ir
Phone: +98 21
22741002, +98 21 22741003, +98 21 22741004, +98 21 22741005
Please also contact the Iranian embassy in your country. The following link may help you find the contact information: http://www.embassyworld.com/embassy/Iran/Iran.html
In
the United States please contact:
Interests Section of the Islamic Republic
of Iran
(Housed in the Embassy of Pakistan)
2209 Wisconsin Avenue, NW
Washington,
DC 20007
Phone: (202) 965-4990, (202) 965-4992, (202) 965-4993, (202) 965-4994,
(202) 965-4999
Fax: (202) 965-1073
Email: requests@daftar.org
In
the United Kingdom please contact:
Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran
16 Prince's Gate
London SW7 1PT
Phone: 0207 225 3000 Fax: 0207 589 4440
Email: info@iran-embassy.org.uk
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