Act now

Please write politely worded letters to the head of the Judiciary:
calling for Abolfazl Abedini Nasr to be released immediately and unconditionally as he is a prisoner of conscience, held solely for peacefully exercising his rights to freedom of expression and association;
urging the Iranian authorities to ensure that while imprisoned, Abolfazl Abedini Nasr is granted access to his family, his lawyer and to adequate medical care;
calling for an immediate, thorough and impartial investigation into reports that Abolfazl Abedini Nasr was beaten during arrest and for anyone found responsible for torture or other ill-treatment to be brought to justice promptly and fairly.

send your letters to:
Head of the Judiciary
Ayatollah Sadegh Larijani
Office of the Head of the Judiciary
Pasteur Street, Vali Asr Avenue, south of
Serah-e Jomhouri
Tehran, 1316814737
Islamic Republic of Iran
Salutation: Your Excellency
Email: [email protected], [email protected]
(in the subject line: FAO Ayatollah Larijani)

Abolfazl Abedini Nasr,
A 28-year-old freelance journalist and human rights activist from the southern province of Khuzestan, is a prisoner of conscience held in Evin Prison,Tehran. He is serving an 11-year sentence imposed for
peacefully exercising his rights to freedom of expression and association. He is also facing further unknown charges.
Abolfazl Abedini Nasr is a former public relations officer of the non-governmental organization Human Rights Activists in Iran, which investigates and publicizes human rights violations, and a member of the Pan-Iranist party, a banned political opposition party. On several occasions newspapershave fired him under pressure from the authorities. He was first detained for five months in 2005. He spent a further four months in detention between November 2007 and February 2008 in connection with his reporting of the labour dispute at the state-run Haft Tapeh Sugar Cane Company. He was sentenced in December 2007 to one year’s imprisonment in relation to his reporting but this is believed to have been
overturned on appeal.

Eighteen days after the disputed 12 June 2009 presidential election he was again arrested. Nearly four months later, on 26 October, he was released on bail from Sepidar Prison, Ahvaz. He was beaten by security officials during his rearrest at his home in Ramhormuz, Khuzestan province on 3 March
2010, during a wave of arrests of human rights activists. Four days later he was taken to Evin Prison.
His 11-year prison sentence relates to charges brought against him after his arrest in 2009. He was sentenced in March 2010 to five years for “contacts with enemy states”, five years for “membership of an illegal organization” in relation to his involvement with the organization Human Rights Activists in Iran and one year for “propaganda against the system” for talking to foreign media.
Abolfazl Abedini Nasr suffers from heart problems apparently resulting from his previous periods of detention.

original link: http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/MDE13/039/2010/en/f957dab9-6e12-4d2f-bb47-0da27ebe0b3b/mde130392010en.pdf