Monday, June 13 6-9 pm Meet at South East Corner of Michigan & Congress
Amnesty International is hosting an event on Monday evening June 13 as part of its Azadi Square Campaign, to shine a light on ongoing human rights violations in Iran, especially the plight of imprisoned human rights defenders. At 6pm activists will gather at the southeast corner of Michigan and Congress which we we will symbolically rename Azadi Square (Freedom Square in Persian) and have photos taken of the ceremony. The original Azadi Square in Tehran was the location of massive peaceful protests in June 2009 which were quashed by the Iranian authorities. Activists in multiple cities around the U.S. and abroad have been renaming public places “Azadi Square.” Photographs of all the renaming ceremonies are being gathered together for Amnesty International’s virtual Azadi Square Protest. Following the ceremony at 7 pm there will be a panel discussion on human rights violations in Iran held at: Columbia College, 33 E.Congress, Room 219. Panelists will include Danny Postel (co-editor of The People Reloaded: the Green Movement and the Struggle for Iran’s Future), Milos Stehlik (of Facets Multimedia), Hamid Akbari (of Northeast Illinois University), Frank Lewis (of the University of Chicago) and Elise Auerbach (Iran specialist for Amnesty International USA). The panel will be moderated by Rose Economou of Columbia College. The event is co-sponsored by the Journalism Department of Columbia College, the Dr. Mohammad Mossadegh Leadership Fund at Northeastern Illinois University and the Spiritual Assemblies of the Baha’is of Wilmette and Chicago