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Women’s Forum Against
Fundamentalism in
FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 19, 2004
2nd
Public Statement
Update on the case of Jila Izadi’s stoning in Iran
Boston, MA – Last week, the Women’s Forum Against Fundamentalism in Iran (WFAFI) was the first
US-based organization that released the news on Jila Izadi,
the teenager who was condemned to stoning in the northern city of Kurdistan, Marivan.
On October
17, 2004,
the Iranian fundamentalist regime acknowledged Izadi’s
case through its state-run television news network, channel-2. The news report alleged that Izadi’s case has been “inflamed” by "the foreign
organizations". It announced that “given Jila’s
young age and lack of knowledge of Iran’s judicial system, she is now
facing “Tazir” prison terms”. The definition of “Tazir” based on fundamentalists in Iran is “crimes that are not mentioned
in the Koran so judges are free to punish the offender in any appropriate way.”
Therefore, it is up to mullahs and their misogynous interpretations to
determine her fate. Due to International rapid response, Jila Izadi may have escaped stoning for the time being, but she
is still in a great danger because the Iranian regime can execute her just like
Atefeh Rajabi, a 16-
year-old girl who was executed in August.
The policies and practices of the
fundamentalist regime in Iran are endangering the lives of women and young girls. In recent months, the
Iranian regime has been pursuing a two prong approach on targeting women. On
one hand, there has been a dramatic increase of crackdown and arrests of women
and young girls. On the other, there have been several cases of public hangings
including Atefeh Rajabi as
stated above, the execution order of Fatemeh Haghighat-Pajouh, a 33-year-old mother, and now Izadi’s “Tazir prison terms”.
ACTION ALERT
WHAT CAN YOU DO?
WFAFI calls upon all the women’s
activists and advocates, NGO’s and human rights organizations to urge the UN
General Assembly, in its current session, to issue a resolution condemning
Iran’s human rights violations and particularly its criminal behavior towards
women. The Iranian regime must be condemned for its blatant abuse of human
rights and violence against women.
- Please
write to Secretary
Powell and US Ambassador to the UN,
Ambassador John C. Danforth and urge them to sponsor
a human rights resolution against Iran by referencing the above
cases. usa@un.int
- Please
write to Secretary General Kofi Annan who
made a statement on October 18th saying “We need to get across
that Islam is not represented by the killers”. Please ask him hold the Iranian regime
responsible in this case and intervene urgently. The UN needs to dispatch
a fact finding mission to Iran and gather information on Jila
Izadi’s case. ecu@un.org
- Please
write to European Parliaments and ask them to intervene urgently, while
sponsoring a resolution on Iran’s human rights record in 2004.
civis@europarL.eu.int
- Please
write to Amnesty
International and Human Rights Watch
and urge them to issue a statement on Jila Izadi’s
case and mobilize their network.
###
WFAFI
P.O.Box 15205, Boston, MA 02215
Tel: (617) 590-1665
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