Support Houtan Kian, Lawyer for Sakineh Ashtiani, Detained Under Torture for Two Years Today

October 10, 2012 is the second anniversary of the date on which Houtan Kian, honorable and courageous lawyer for Sakineh Ashtiani, was arrested, detained, and held under torture by the Islamic regime in Iran. He remains under detention and in poor condition. This week we will be urging everyone to take a moment to send the below letter to the UN and to the EU delegates to Iran, to advocate for Houtan Kian and to expel the Islamic Republic of Iran from the UN. This regime is not the representative of Iranian people.

Instructions:
1) Copy the sample letter and paste into an email. Adjust to your liking.
2) Scroll to the email addresses of the UN and EU reps, below the sample letter. Copy the addresses and paste them into the “To:” line in the email.
3) Send! Thank you!

Sample letter:

To Responsible Parties at the UN, with special reference to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner on Human Rights, and to the EU delegates to Iran:

I am writing to you to remind you of a lawyer and political prisoner who has been detained under torture for the past 2 years in Iran. His name is Javid Houtan Kian. He was arrested and jailed on 10 October 2010 for defending his client, Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, the woman who was to be stoned to death in the summer of 2010.

Javid Houtan Kian never once backed down from the honorable defense of his client, Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, even though he knew that standing firm on his ethical and professional principles would likely lead to his current circumstances: arbitrary and indefinite detention and excruciatingly brutal torture.

It is an outrage that the gross and criminal violations and tortures that Houtan Kian has been subjected to are not unique under the bloody reign of the Islamic Republic. Indeed, many tens of thousands have been executed over the past 33 years, and many more remain under torturous conditions as political prisoners in Iran.

No less an outrage is the fact that the UN condones the arbitrary detention, barbaric torture, and mass executions of people in Iran by refusing to act substantively against the criminal regime in Iran, i.e., by imposing diplomatic sanctions on the Islamic Republic and expelling this regime from UN organizations.

I hereby demand that action be taken by the UN, and especially by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, in urgent support of Houtan Kian and all political prisoners in Iran. The Islamic Republic of Iran should be immediately expelled from the UN. It is not the legitimate representative of the Iranian people; it is their torturer and their murderer.

Sincerely,
[your name]

UN and EU addresses to send the letter to:

Email addresses of the UN Secretary General, Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and EU delegates to Iran (courtesy of Mariacarmela Ribecco):
inquiries@un.org, sg@un.org, npillay@ohchr.org, urgent-action@ohchr.org, civilsociety@ohchr.org, tarja.cronberg@europarl.europa.eu, potito.salatto@europarl.europa.eu, cornelia.ernst@europarl.europa.eu, alexander.alvaro@europarl.europa.eu, sergio.cofferati@europarl.europa.eu, isabelle.durant@europarl.europa.eu, peter.jahr@europarl.europa.eu, dan.jorgensen@europarl.europa.eu, marit.paulsen@europarl.europa.eu, oreste.rossi@europarl.europa.eu, marco.scurria@europarl.europa.eu, boguslaw.sonik@europarl.europa.eu, ewald.stadler@europarl.europa.eu, kathleen.vanbrempt@europarl.europa.eu, geoffrey.vanorden@europarl.europa.eu, josef.weidenholzer@europarl.europa.eu, pawel.zalewski@europarl.europa.eu, georgesabin.cutas@europarl.europa.eu, dimitrios.droutsas@europarl.europa.eu, martin.ehrenhauser@europarl.europa.eu, christofer.fjellner@europarl.europa.eu, philippe.juvin@europarl.europa.eu, lena.kolarska-bobinska@europarl.europa.eu, barbara.lochbihler@europarl.europa.eu, antonyia.parvanova@europarl.europa.eu, pavel.poc@europarl.europa.eu, marietje.schaake@europarl.europa.eu, alda.sousa@europarl.europa.eu, salvatore.tatarella@europarl.europa.eu, emilie.turunen@europarl.europa.eu, niki.tzavela@europarl.europa.eu, marita.ulvskog@europarl.europa.eu, sabine.verheyen@europarl.europa.eu