Free Sina Motallebi, Iranian Journalist

To:  Reporters sans frontières and other human rights organizations

Sina Motallebi, Iranian journalist, writer and the blogger behind www.rooznegar.com was summoned by the Iranian authorities and subsequently arrested on ambiguous charges on the eve of his 30th birthday. These charges include the content of his web log, as well as interviews with foreign press and his other writings.

Sina’s wife Farnaz posted the news of his arrest on his blog on April 19th, but the posting was later removed. He had already published the content of his summons the day before.

This is the latest on a series of attacks on freedom of speech by the government of Iran. Reporters without Borders recently called Iran, “the biggest jail for journalists in the Middle East”. The group also named Iranian leader Ali Khamenei on its list of “Predators of Press Freedom”. The list also included China’s Jiang Zemin, Syrian president Bashar el-Assad, Ariel Sharon of Israel and the recently deposed Saddam Hussein of Iraq. Khamenei was also chosen as an “Enemy of the Press” by Committee to Protect Journalists last year.

The undersigned call for all international human rights advocacy organizations, as well as groups active in support of journalists and media to protest the arrest of Sina Motallebi and demand an immediate halt to any future harassment of journalists by the Iranian government.

We consider Sina Motallebi a prisoner of conscience and demand his immediate release. Furthermore, we urge all other freedom loving citizens around the globe to join us by signing this petition and writing to the following authorities on this very urgent and critical matter.


Supreme Leader: Ayatollhah Seyed Ali Hoseini-Khamenei, Pastor Ave. Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran, Tel. (98 21) 61341

The President: Hojjatoleslam Sayed Mohammad Khatami - The Presidency, Palestine Avenue, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran , Email: khatami@president.ir Fax: + 98 21 649 5880 (please ask for the fax to be forwarded to President Khatami) Or by visiting: http://www.salamiran.org/IranInfo/State/Presidency/Mail_President.html


Head of Judiciary: His Excellency Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahrudi, Head of the Judiciary, Ministry of Justice, Park-e Shahr, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran.


Ambassador M. Javad Zarif, Permanent Representative of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations. Email: jzarif@un.int , 622 Third Ave. New York, NY 10017 Tel: (212) 687-2020 / Fax: (212) 867-7086

Interests Section of the Islamic Republic of Iran in U.S., Embassy of Pakistan , 2209 Wisconsin Ave., N.W. Washington D.C. 20007 Tel: (202) 965-4990, Fax: (202) 965-1073


Iranian Ambassador to Canada , Mohammad A. Mousavi, Ph.D. 245 Metcalfe St. Ottawa, Ontario K2P 2K2 Canada Tel: (613) 235-4726 Fax: (613) 232-5712 , Email: ambassador@iranembassy.org


The Honorable Kofi Annan, Secretary General, the United Nations, New York, NY 10017 Fax # (212) 963-4879

Sergio Vieira de Mello, the United Nations High Commissioner on Human Rights, 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland, Fax # 41 22 917 9022 E-mail: tb-petitions@ohchr.org

Mr. Kenneth Roth, Executive Director, Human Rights Watch, New 350 Fifth Avenue, 34th floor New York, NY 10118-3299 Tel: 1-(212) 290-4700, Fax: 1-(212) 736-1300 Email: hrwnyc@hrw.org

Mr. Joel Conarroe, President, PEN American Center, 568 Broadway 4th Floor,New York, NY 10012 Tel: (212) 334-1660 Fax: (212) 334-2181 Email: pen@pen.org

International Secretariat, Amnesty International, 99-119 Rosebery Avenue London, EC1R 4RE United Kingdom. Tel : +44(0)2078146200 Fax : +44(0)2078331510

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

The Free Sina Motallebi, Iranian Journalist Petition to Reporters sans frontières and other human rights organizations was created by Iranian Blogging Community and written by Pedram Moallemian.  This petition is hosted here at www.PetitionOnline.com as a public service. There is no endorsement of this petition, express or implied, by Artifice, Inc. or our sponsors. For technical support please use our simple Petition Help form.

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