July, 2012
Contact: Soraya Fallah Vice President of Programming of United Nations Association of the USA/SFV Chapter unitednation.soraya@gmail.com
Release Iranian-Kurdish Prisoner and Nobel Peace Prize Nominee Mr. Sidigh Kaboudvand
Members of the United Nations Association of the USA - San Fernando Valley Chapter voice their solidarity with the Campaign in Support of Mohammad Sadiq Kaboudvand. UNA/USA-San Fernando Valley Chapter is joining more than forty other organizations such as International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), Amnesty International, Iranian league for the defends of Human Rights (LDDHI), Human Rights Watch, Reporter’s Without Borders, individual human rights activists, social and civil rights advocates, journalists, writers, academics and Noble Peace Prize winners to call for the immediate and unconditional release of prisoner of conscious Mr. Mohammad Sadiq Kaboudvand. Mr. Mohamad Sedigh Kaboudvand is a prominent Kurdish-Iranian human rights defender and journalist. In 2005 he founded the Human Rights Organization of Kurdistan (HROK). This group documented human rights violations committed against the Kurdish minority in Iran as well as sought to defend and protect individuals at risk of such abuses. Since July 1st, 2007, Mr. Mohamad Sedigh Kaboudvand has been serving a ten-and-a-half-year prison sentence in Evin Prison for his journalism and human rights advocacy. According to Mr. Mohamad Sedigh Kaboudvand ‘s wife, as well as his lawyer, Mr. Kaboudvand has suffered several heart attacks, prostate disorder, and fast declining health due to the harsh conditions of his imprisonment, months of solitary confinement, and lack of medical treatment. As of May 26,th 2012 Mr. Kaboudvand has been on a hunger strike to protest the authorities’ denial of his repeated requests to see his seriously ill son who has been hospitalized with an undiagnosed ailment since January, 2012. Mr. Kaboudvand is now on his 53rd day of hunger strike, and as of late Sunday July 15th, 2012 he has been refusing water as well as food. His life is in grave danger. The UNA/USA SFV Chapter believes that the Iranian authorities are responsible for Mr. Mohamad Sedigh Kaboudvand’s life and any harm incurred to him by his ongoing hunger strike. We insist that Iranian authorities abide by their own law which allows prisoners visitation rights to family members, and in addition grant Mr. Kaboudvand his freedom so that he can receive urgent medical attention. We also urge the Iranian authorities to respect the life and dignity of all prisoners of conscious in Iran. David FrancisTuckman Co-president of United Nations Association of the USA/SFV Chapter Ginny Hatfield Co-president of United Nations Association of the USA/SFV Chapter
