میلیونها
انسان در
سراسر جهان با
شنیدن خبر
آزادی نازنین
پیروزی
انسانیت را بر
بربريت
اسلامى جشن
گرفتند!
١١ بهمن
ماهنازنین
فاتحیآزاد
شد. او بدنبال
تحمل سه سال
زندان و زندگى
در شرايطوحشتناک و غير
انسانى اتاق
انتظار
اعدام، از
زندان آزاد
شد! اکنون
قلبهاى زيادى
براى نازنين و
نازنیها
ميطپد! اين
همبستگى
انسانى را
بايد به
نيروئى بر
عليه فلسفه
خونخواهى و
قصاص عشيره اى
و انتقامجوئى
به کور تبديل
کرد و آنرا در
خدمت جنبش
الغا مجازات
اعدام قرار
داد! اين نيرو
را بايد در
جهت سازماندهى
گسترده
تراعتراض و
تلاش براى
نجات جان
دلارا و شهلا
و کبرى و
ديگران قرار
داد!
جنبش
برای آزادی زن
در ایران و
جهان موفق شد
جان یک انسان
دیگر را از
مرگ نجات دهد
و این در
تاریخ این جنبش
ثبت شد. دیروز
افسانه
نوروزی آزاد
شد،امروز
نازنین فاتحی،
و به همت همه
ما بايد فردا
شاهد آزادى دلارا
دارابی، شهلا
جاهد، فاطمه
رحیمی، آمنه
معصومه، و
همنوعان
ديگرى باشيم
که حتى اسمشان
را هنوز
نشنيده ايم!
About the Case
After spending two grueling years in prison, Nazanin Fatehi was spared
from her original death sentence, released from prison and reunited
with her family on Janurary 31st 2007.
On January 3, 2006, Nazanin Mahabad Fatehi was sentenced to death for
murder by court in Iran after she stabbed one of three men who
attempted to rape her and her 15-year-old niece in a park in Karaj (a
suburb of Tehran) in March 2005. She was seventeen years old at the
time. Iran is signatory to international treaties, which forbid them to
execute anyone under the age of 18; however they continue to do so.
The injustice of this case propelled Nazanin Afshin-Jam to take
immediate action and start a petition to help save the life of her
namesake. With many speeches and rallies worldwide and months on the
media circuit, over 345,000 signatures were collected and delivered to
the United Nations and Iranian Officials. Nazanin and Mina Ahadi, the
head of the International Committee Against Execution, managed to
engage Amnesty International, Canadian Members of Parliament, the
European Union and the United Nations and others to put pressure on the
Iranian Officials to spare the life of this child. Nazanin also hosted
a compelling documentary entitled "The Tale of Two Nazanins," funded
and produced by the Calvin Ayre Foundation.
Following pressure from the International community, on June 1st 2006,
the Head of Judiciary Ayatollah Shahroudi announced a stay of execution
and the call for a complete new retrial.
During the new trial on January 10, 2007, the five judges presiding
over the case found inconsistencies with the testimonies of the male
witnesses and unanimously ruled out premeditated murder and determined
that the act was a case of self-defense. As a result Nazanin Fatehi was
exonerated from the charge of murder. While two judges wanted her to be
freed unconditionally, three of the judges ruled that disproportionate
force was used and requested her to pay "diyeh" (blood money) to
compensate the family of the deceased. Fatehi's lawyers Shadi Sadr and
Mr. Mostafaei vehemently oppose this payment and have since appealed,
but in order for there not to be any delays or additional time served,
Nazanin was given the option to pay a set bail of 400,000,000 Rials
(approx US$43,000).
The Fatehi family, which includes six children, is extremely poor and
was unable to meet this payment. Thanks to $32,000 USD in on-line
donations to the Nazanin Fatehi Trust Fund here at www.helpnazanin.com,
$1,000 USD collected in Iran and an extremely generous donation by
Member of Canadian Parliament Belinda Stronach who covered the rest of
the bail, payment was made to the courts in Iran. A few days later,
Nazanin was released from prison and had an emotional reunion with her
family.
While she could hardly speak and in tears of happiness , she said: "The
only thing I can say now is that I am extremely happy. It is as if I am
born again. I want to thank everyone who helped make my freedom
possible and I want to say that I love you all from the bottom of my
heart".
Please continue to spread the word about her case and the plight of
other women in similar circumstances such as Delara Darabi, Kobra
Rahmanpour, Ashraf Kalhori, Fatemeh Haghighat-Pajouh, Malak Ghorbani
and continue to pressure the Iranian Government to give these women a
fair trial.
Visit the What You Can Do
section and write a letter to the Iranian Officials to end the
execution of children and teenagers. Iran is signatory to the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Charter of
the Rights of the Child, which forbid them to execute anyone under the
age of 18; however they continue to do so. There are 23 other minors on
death row at the moment in Iran. We must now get to the root of the
problem and put pressure on the Iranian officials to change the laws
once and for all. One recommended site started by Iranian women’s
rights activist is the campaign : “One Million Signatures Demanding
Changes to Discriminatory Laws" at http://www.we-change.org/spip.php?article19.
Having only a grade 3 education, Nazanin Fatehi said that her dream is
to go to school and study hard. If you would like to make a
contribution to the Nazanin Fatehi Trust Fund, please visit the Donations section.
Thank you to every individual person for their support,compassion and role in saving a human life,
Nazanin Afshin-Jam & Team at www.HelpNazanin.com
"If you can, you must"
"Si vous pouvez, vous devez"
About the Case
On January 3, 2006, 18-year-old Nazanin Mahabad Fatehi was sentenced to
death for murder by court in Iran after she stabbed one of three men
who attempted to rape her and her 16-year-old niece in a park in Karaj
(a suburb of Tehran) in March 2005. She was seventeen at the time. Iran
is signatory to international treaties which forbid them to execute any
one under the age of 18; however they continue to do so.
The injustice of this case propelled Nazanin Afshin-Jam
to take immediate action and start a petition to help save the life of
her namesake. The petition now has over 200 000 signatures from around
the world.
Since initiating the Save Nazanin
Campaign with Mina Ahadi- the Head of the International Committee
Against Execution and Stoning- and through the help of other human
rights groups and individuals, they have been able to engage the UN,
Canadian Parliament, the EU, Amnesty International and others to
pressure the Iranian Officials to spare the life of this child.
On June 1st 2006, the Head of
Judiciary Ayatollah Shahroudi announced a stay of execution and the
call for a complete new retrial. Nazanin Fatehi’s retrial will take
place January 10th, 2007 (20th of Dey 1385 in the Iranian calendar).
In this new trial the Islamic Republic Court will either:
a) spare the life of Nazanin and release her from prison or
b) announce a prison sentence of x number of years or
c) re-condemn Nazanin for execution or
d) ask Nazanin to negotiate "Dieh" (Blood Money) with the family of the alleged rapist and have her released subject to her paying that amount.
In the meantime the Nazanin Fatehi Trust fund has been set up to help
cover her legal fees and campaign costs. See Donations page.
The fate of Nazanin Fatehi is still up in the air, please continue to
spread the word about her case and the plight of other women in similar
circumstances such as Delareh Darabi, Kobra Rahmanpour, Ashraf Kalhori,
Fatemeh Haghighat-Pajouh and Malak Ghorbani and continue to pressure
the Iranian Government to free these women.
From her prison cell, Nazanin Fatehi
wanted to thank everyone that has been working so tirelessly on her
behalf and everyone who has signed the petition.
Thank you,
Nazanin Afshin-Jam & Team at www.HelpNazanin.com
Interview by Nazanin Afshin-Jam with Nazanin Fatehi in prison in Iran via a mediator
and the help of the International Committee Against Execution:
NA: What is the state of your file?
NF:
Up to today I do not know very well where the status of my file is at,
but recently I have heard that they have sent my file to Tehran for
final decisions.
NA: What do you do from morning until night? In other words, how do you spend your days?
NF:
I do not do anything special. Here we do not have anything to do. Once
every 5 days they show us a movie or they play authorized music
(authorized by the Islamic Republic of Iran) for us.
NA: What are things you need, things we can send you?
NF:
I need a lot of things but not everything is permitted, but I want to
go home. I want to go to my home. There is no place like home. I can't
tolerate this place, especially with these high walls. I am scared of
these walls. I am tired of this place. For receiving things...there are
regulations that don't allow us to receive them. There are a lot of
thing I need but I can't get them.
NA:
Nazanin-dear, there are millions of people who have heard your name and
are campaigning for your release. What are your feelings?
NF:
For those who have heard my name or familiarized themselves with my
fate, I need their help...however they can help, because here it is
very difficult, life is very difficult for me. I'm alone here, and I am
scared. I haven't had a good childhood/youth. I'm nervous. To bear this
situation is difficult. I want to see the day outside of here. I miss
outside. To all those who are helping save my life, I thank them. This
type of work brings a ray of hope in our hearts. Behind these tall
walls, we become more hopeful.
NA: What message do you have for the world?
NF:
My message to the people of the world is that outside of this place
that I am is also a prison, but I would also like to express that it is
not only "unfortunate Nazanin" that is in prison.... but there are
mothers who are missing their kids and they are very sad. Don't just
help me, help all "Nazanin's" and help us to go back to a normal life.
NA: What do you miss most?
NF:
I'm sad. I'm sad because within these walls there is sadness. I'm sad
because I want to have joy and happiness and I don't know how to
achieve this and where to go.
NA: What music do you like?
NF:
When I was at home I did not have the opportunity to get to know music
from outside the country or from Los Angeles but here from the
authorized music I like Shadmehr, Said and Ali Tafreshi.
NA: Have you heard that I have dedicated a song to you?
NF:
I haven't heard this music yet but I wish one day to come out and be
able to listen to this music. This is one of my important wishes.
NA: What are your hobbies?
NF: I like horseback riding and swimming.
NA: What are your wishes?
NF:
I want to leave this awful place. I want to see the day there are no
prisoners, especially no prisons for women. I want to stay alive.
About Nazanin Fatehi
Nazanin Fatehi is 18 years old and the eldest of 5 siblings. Her eldest
sister passed away at age 21. Her family is very poor and live in a
semi-ruined house, where six of them live in the same room. Nazanin’s
father has serious health issues that have prevented him from working
in the past 7 years. He has been in and out of hospital and has
undergone 4 major operations on his liver, kidney and other vital
organs. His health is a serious problem for the already impoverished
family.
Nazanin’s mother Maryam supports her
family by cleaning homes and used to wash rugs; however due to exposure
of harsh chemicals over the years, she too has developed health
problems and no longer does this type of work.
The Fatehi family is Kurdish form
the area of Sanandaj but they live in Karaj (a suburb of Tehran where
the offence took place). Nazanin needed to stay home and take care of
the household and as a result she could not attend school and has the
equivalent to a grade 2 education.
Nazanin’s family could not afford a
lawyer in her first trial and was given a state-appointed lawyer, they
barely had enough bus money to visit their own daughter in prison.
Thanks to the help of the international community some of these costs
are being looked after.
