Free Azita - Help To Free Azita Shafagghat & Her Husband Ahmad-Reza Shafaggat!

I've been passed on this plea through email.




Turkish authorities are about to
send them to Iran.

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Azita and Ahmad-Reza must not be returned to Iran.

Azita & Ahmad-Reza Shafaggat were two Iranian student activists. In 1999, they were arrested for their opposition to the Mullahs regime and were subjected to all kinds of physical and psychological torture in RAJAYI-SHAHR PRISON, west of Tehran. After escaping Mullahs prison, Azita and her husband spent 4 years in hiding until May, 2006, when they managed to escape from Iran.

After a difficult and arduous journey on foot through Iraq and Turkey and on their way to be reunited with their familles in Greece, on June 18th, 2006, the Greek border police spotted Azita, her husband and 10 other would be Iranian refugees in woods close to the Turkish border.

Before they were returned to Turkey, Azita, her husband Ahmad-Reza and other Iranians were beaten up by the Greek arresting officers in the most appalling way. While in their custody, (48 hours), the Greek officers denied food or medical attention. They also refused to process their application for asylum or investigate their background as why they had to escape from Iran.

It is understood that the Greek border Guards routinely hands over the asylum seekers to the Turkish authorities and the Turkish Government is not only notorious for their mistreatment of the asylum seekers but they are known for regularly sending the refugees back to Iran.

Ever since June 18th, 2006, Azita and Ahmad-Reza and 10 other Iranian political activists are imprisoned under the most applying conditions in turkish prison pending
deportation to Iran.

I have spoken to Azita in prison and according to her testimonies, The Turkish prison lacks the most basic necessities. There is no hygiene and adequate clothing. They sleep on floors with no bedding. They are denied basic food and there is no access to day light and fresh air and sanitation. The prisoners are subjected to daily physical punishment and they are beaten up daily which is routine in that environment.

Azita and her husband are in detention at: YABANJI YINI EMARAT FACILITY in EDIRNEH which is a Turkish border town close to Bulgaria.

Both Azita and Ahmad-Reza endured physical as well as psychological torture while in Mullah's prison. Azita who is 27, is currently suffering from dislocated knees due to been tortured, kicked and beaten by the Iranian revolutionary Guards while in RAJAYI-SHAHR PRISON.

Apart from been an active members of the student movements of 1999, both Azita and Ahmad-Reza were converted to Christianity which under the current Islamic law in Iran, is punishable by death.

Azita and her husband and 10 other Iranians are due to be handed over to the Mullahs regime and we must do everything in our power to prevent this.

Azita's father who was an officer of the 'Iranian Imperial Guards' was also imprisoned for several years, tortured and condemned to death by the Mullahs but managed to escape Iran recently.

Please write to Miss. Louise Arbour of the 'United Nations High Commissioner form Human Rights' at: registry@ohchr.ch , or call her office at: 0041 22 917 9000 to register your concern.

Also contact the 'Human rights watch' in New York at: 00 1212 216 1233

Please forward this information to any human rights organisations, local tv, media and press offices in the country of your residence and abroad. Please circulate this amongst your list.

Azita and Ahmad-Reza must not be returned to Iran.



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