Your Excellency,
I am deeply concerned following reports of death threats against human rights defender Shirin Ebadi received on 5 April 2008. Shirin Ebadi is a human rights lawyer and founder of the Centre of Defenders of Human Rights. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2003 for her work to protect the rights of women and children in Iran.
On 5 April 2008, Shirin Ebadi found a death threat pinned to her office door, threatening her that she would be killed if she continued with her human rights work and warning her in particular against making speeches abroad. Shirin Ebadi has consistently been subject to death threats and recently the threats against her and her family have intensified.
I believe that the threats made against Shirin Ebadi are related to her legitimate work as a human rights defender, in particular her work to promote the rights of women and children in Iran. I am also concerned about the physical and psychological integrity of Shirin Ebadi and that of her family.
I urge the Iranian authorities to:
1. Carry out an immediate, thorough and impartial inquiry into the death threats made against Shirin Ebadi and ensure that the perpetrators are brought to justice;
2. Take all necessary measures to ensure the physical and psychological integrity of Shirin Ebadi and that of the members of her family:
3. Ensure that all human rights defenders in Iran are free to carry out their activities in the promotion and protection of human rights without intimidation or reprisals.
I respectfully remind you that the United Nations Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, adopted by consensus by the UN General Assembly on 9 December 1998, recognises the legitimacy of the activities of human rights defenders, their right to freedom of association and to carry out their activities without fear of reprisals.
I would particularly draw attention to Article 6 (b): “ Everyone has the right, individually and in association with others, a s provided for in human rights and other applicable international instruments, freely to publish, impart or disseminate to others views, information and knowledge on all human rights and fundamental freedoms,” to Article 11: “Everyone has the right, individually and in association with others, to the lawful exercise of his or her profession, ” and to Article 12 (2.): “The State shall take all necessary measures to ensure the protection by the competent authorities of everyone, individually and in association with others, against any violence, threats, retaliation, de facto or de jure adverse discrimination, pressure or any other arbitrary action as a consequence of his or her legitimate exercise of the rights referred to in the present Declaration.”
Yours sincerely,
