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Say (No.)
: 374/ 2006
Tarix (Date): 3
September
2006
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To Jimmy Carter
Former President of the
United States of America
To be
published in few selected Southern Azerbaijani websites
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Dear Mr Carter,
Re
YOUR MEETING WITH MR. KHATAMI
We
are confident that you will use some of your skills to manage the delicacy of
your meeting with Mr. Khatami, the ex-president of
Iran
. We do not need to outline the full
profile of the government system that Mr Khatami is attached to as an
ex-president. Theocracy, disrespect to civil liberty, abuse of the concept of
dialogue, scorn of freedom of speech and violation of human rights are some of
the attributes of the Iranians system of governance but it is not quite possible
to get a real flavour of racist policies of the Persian centralism in Iran
without being non-Persian and ruled by them.
We
are writing to you as an organisation safeguarding human rights of Southern
Azerbaijanis and according to the UN report, our nation constitutes the largest
ethnic group in
Iran
(with a population of approx. 30
millions- see Ref 1). As per our letter to Mr. Kofi Annan (Ref: 336/2006, on 15
June 2006 – and attached for your information), we have been stripped of all
of our national rights. It suffices to mention that there is no single classroom
running education in our mother tongue and the situation was not any better
during the presidency of Mr. Khatami. In May 2006 mass protests swept throughout
Southern Azerbaijan by at least 2 millions of our compatriots rejecting loud and
clear racists polices of the regime in
Tehran
. Now our people are subjected to
severe repression as a reprisal for our democratic right of protest and at times
our homeland seems to be under siege. Those killed in an extra judiciary fashion
by the security agents were in 10s, wounded in 100s and arrested in 1000s. The
general statement by Amnesty International (MDE 13/074/2006 on 29 June 2006)
bears witness to this episode.
It
is futile to request you to rebuff Mr Khatami by not meeting him but now that a
meeting has been arranged, we would like to kindly request you to include the
plight of Southern Azerbaijanis in your agenda. We pose three issues as follows:
·
The Islamic Republic of Iran persistently violates Resolution
47/135 of 18 December 1992 adopted by General Assembly (Declaration on the
Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic and Linguistic Minorities)
and their own Constitution, Articles 15,
19 and 20 by depriving Southern Azerbaijanis and indeed other
nationalities in this theocratic Republic from education in mother tongue. Why?
Surely, Allah is not a Persian!
·
We attach the profile a few of our prisoners of conscience as
verified by Amnesty International the estimated arbitrarily detained prisoners
of conscience is about 500 individuals. Is it not rich for
Iran
to be a party to any dialogue
whilst arbitrarily detaining innocent people and indefinitely imprisons them?
·
Iran
denies the right for
self-determination of the nation of Southern Azerbaijan, as conferred by
Resolution 2200 A (XXI) of 16 December 1966 of the International Covenant on
Civil and Political Rights undersigned by
Iran
. How long more can they get away
with this outrageous negligence?
We
look forward to hearing from you hoping that you would include
Southern Azerbaijan
in your agenda and we thank you in
advance for your care.
Yours sincerely,
Boyuk Resuloglu
Chairman of the
Committee for the Defence of the Rights of World Azerbaijanis
Ref.
1: http://www.unhchr.ch/huridocda/huridoca.nsf/(Symbol)/E.CN.4.2002.42.En?Opendocument
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Mr.
Abbas Leysanli has emerged as the defender of the nation of
Southern Azerbaijan
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Mr.
Abbas Leysanli, a poet and writer, is currently in Iranian dungeons for
promoting the Azerbaijani identity. He broke his fifty days of hunger
strike in the dungeon while still in detention on 29 July 2006 and when
his brother told him that: “the authority will only lift the seal on
your business if you change the name of the business from Chenlibel
to a non-Azerbaijani word.” Chenlibel means foggy foothill and has a
connotation similar to Camelot. Mr. Leysanli talked on behalf of
his nation for our mother tongue saying that: The
name of our business is not for sale, not least for the reason that
Chenlibel is one of the ancient symbols of our Azerbaijani legends and
dear for all of us, Azerbaijanis.
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The
Case of the 6 years old Mehran Rehimi
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Mehran
Rehimi was beaten up by his teacher for refusing to speak in Farsi. He
lives in the Qirmizi Khelfe village, 12 Km from Qoshachay between Tebriz
and Urmu. The ordeal inflicted on this little boy took place on 23
September 2005 but by no means unique. Similar ordeals have been
experienced up-and-down
Southern Azerbaijan
but unnoticed. This time,
thanks to increasingly vocal activists this dreadful incident received an
international publicity, exposing a rotten abuse that we have all been
subjected in the last 80 years. After the campaign, the teacher was
apparently forced to apologise for beating up the child.
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The
Profile of Mr. Hesen
Azerbaijan
- see
urgent action MDE 13/063/2006
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·
Arrested:
26 May 2006 (he has also suffered imprisonment 3 years ago)
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Prison:
Tebriz Prison, sentenced for 1 year imprisonment and 50 lashes!
·
The
City of
Residence
: Tebriz
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Age:
65
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Marital
Status: Married, with 3 children
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Occupation:
A successful businessman; singer, musician and composer
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With
a lifelong devotion to the Azerbaijani music, Mr.
Azerbaijan
is its bastion. He has
composed songs and operas (the last one called Settar Khan, which was
staged in Tebriz last winter). He taught music to his fellow activists
while in detention but later the authorities denied him this luxury. Does
this not reveal his formidable character and devotion?
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The
Profile of Mr. Saleh Kamrani – see urgent
action MDE
13/067/2006
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·
Arrested:
was kidnapped on 14 June 2006 at approx. 3.00 p.m.
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Health:
known to suffer from heart conditions
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Prison:
Evin Prison
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The
City of
Residence
:
Tehran
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Age:
34 years old
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Marital
Status: married
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Occupation:
human rights lawyer
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A
human rights defender from
Southern Azerbaijan
, who sees no boundaries for
applying his skill in defending human rights. He selects his clients not
for a material return but for safeguarding their human rights.
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The
Profile of Mr. Abbas Leysanli
(Lisani)
– see urgent action MDE
13/063/2006
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·
Arrested:
3 June 2006 at his home by 30 plain-cloth agents
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Health:
Underwent 50 days of hunger strikes in the prison as a symbol of his
protest for arbitrary detention of Southern Azerbaijanis
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Prison:
Erdebil Prison
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The
City of
Residence
: Erdebil
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Age:
39
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Marital
Status: Married with two children
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Occupation:
self-employed
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A
visionary activist, who promotes only democratic means to secure national
rights of
Southern Azerbaijan
. On the occasion of the Babek
Assembly upon gaining his consciousness he had a defiant message for the
nation of
Southern Azerbaijan
: “Freedom or Death, as I
know of no other way”
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The
Profile of Mr. Hesen Rashidi
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·
Arrested:
2 July 2006, based on a confession under duress;
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Health:
he suffers from stomach problems
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Prison:
the Evin Prison, kept in Wing 209 and now transferred to Wing 77; File
No.: 1/ DT / 7918
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The
City of
Residence
:
Karaj
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Age:
approx 47
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Marital
Status: Married,
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Occupation:
Engineer
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A
distinguished writer and journalist. His arrest is strongly attributed to
a chain of persecutions, apparently some have given his name based on
reading his articles.
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The
Profile of Dr. Ehmed
Heyderoghlu - see urgent action MDE
13/063/2006
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·
Arrested:
24 May 2006
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Prison:
Tebriz Prison
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The
City of
Residence
: Tebriz
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Age:
47 or 48
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Marital
Status: married with two (?) children
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Occupation:
lawyer
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No photo
available
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A
Southern Azerbaijani activist who is moderate in his school of thinking
and rejects extremism and prefers reforms. The authorities are pressing
him to comply with false confessions but his resistance has been exemplary,
as he upholds his honour and rejects complying with the racist authorities.
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A
few other Prisoners of Conscience – the list can go on
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Rza
Abbasi under arbitrary detention – a cofounder of human rights committee
in
Southern Azerbaijan
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Okhtay
(Mehdi) Babai, see Urgent Action: MDE 13/093/2006
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Elyaz
Yekenli, see Urgent Action: MDE 13/098/2006
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