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What the Iranian People Expect of Ban Ki Moon

Despite calls in some quarters for him to skip out, the UN Secretary General plans to travel to Iran next week, a country that has become a dungeon for its own people. He will attend the 16th Summit of the 120-member Non-Aligned Movement, which will be chaired by Iran through 2014. Most of the criticisms of him going have come from states leading efforts to isolate Iran due to the nuclear impasse. But at a time when severe human rights abuses continue unabated against Iran’s citizens, it is a critical opportunity to refocus international attention on the dire situation in the country and pressure Iran’s leaders to improve conditions for its people.

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Elahe Amani’s Presentation on Stoning

Geneva (26 June 2012) – Speaking at an informal meeting coordinated in tandem with the 20th session of the UN Human Rights Council, Ms. Elahe Amani presented on the need to stop stoning globally. The text of the speech has been reproduced below.

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United for Iran Highlights Violations of Right to Education in Iran at 20th Session of Human Rights Council

I am speaking on behalf of the Democracy Coalition Project in coordination with United for Iran. My name is Puyan Mahmudian. I was jailed in Iran in May 2007 for serving as an editor for a pro-democracy student publication. The government forged false documents to arrest me and other student activists. I spent three months in solitary confinement and endured torture by my interrogators. I was barred from graduate education despite being ranked 6th out of more than one thousand candidates in the national entrance…

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17 NGOs Call on Iran to Uphold the Right to Education

The above signatories representing 17 human rights and student organizations express deep concern about the alarming state of academic freedom in the Islamic Republic of Iran, in particular violations of the rights to freedom of expression, association, and assembly on campuses; and institutionalized procedures that allow authorities arbitrarily to expel and suspend students…