“…Compared to some of the giants of history who have received this prize — Schweitzer and King; Marshall and Mandela — my accomplishments are slight. And then there are the men and women around the world who have been jailed and beaten in the pursuit of justice; those who toil in humanitarian organizations to relieve suffering; the unrecognized millions whose quiet acts of courage and compassion inspire even the most hardened of cynics. I cannot argue with those who find these men and women — some known, some obscure to all but those they help — to be far more deserving of this honor than I…

So even as we respect the unique culture and traditions of different countries, America will always be a voice for those aspirations that are universal. We will bear witness to the quiet dignity of reformers like Aung Sang Suu Kyi; to the bravery of Zimbabweans who cast their ballots in the face of beatings; to the hundreds of thousands who have marched silently through the streets of Iran. It is telling that the leaders of these governments fear the aspirations of their own people more than the power of any other nation. And it is the responsibility of all free people and free nations to make clear to these movements that hope and history are on their side.”

[Full speech]

Also on December 10th – International Human Rights Day - the PEN Association of thousands of writers posted a report that states:

“Most of us tend to measure a year’s passage by our birthdays, but in the human rights world, each year is marked and measured by December 10: International Human Rights Day, the anniversary of the birth of the Declaration of Human Rights. Each December 10 has meaning, of course, but 2009 is particularly poignant.

We’ve witnessed the murders of more writers, journalists, and human rights defenders than we’d ever want to count this year, including Natalia Estemirova, the courageous Chechen activist who was abducted outside her home in Grozny and murdered on July 15.

We’ve also witnessed the mass arrests of writers and scholars in places like Iran, which responded to popular protests over this year’s election results by handing out outrageous sentences to people like Kian Tajbakhsh, who is now serving 15 years in jail.

And we’ve witnessed countries blatantly defying their own laws, such as in China’s arrest and detention of our own PEN colleague, Liu Xiaobo, who is now spending his second Human Rights Day in silence…

And so here at PEN in New York, we are commemorating Human Rights Day by paying tribute to all these brave men and women, in China and all over the world, who are using their pens, using their voices, to stand up for human rights, regardless of the consequences. We stand with them, we stand behind them, and we will continue to fight for them until all our pens, our voices, are free…”

[Full report]

Meanwhile, Amnesty International‘s newly issued report on Iran: Elections Contested, Repression Compounded features Kian’s case:

“…[Kian Tajbakhsh] appears to have been particularly harshly treated on account of his dual nationality and the nature of his academic work.”

[Press release] [Full report]

“CAIRO — Iran brought new espionage charges against an Iranian-American scholar who was already convicted of spying and sentenced to 15 years in prison in the country’s crackdown following June’s disputed presidential election, a human rights group said Thursday.

The new charges raise the possibility of a harsher penalty against Kian Tajbakhsh, a 47-year-old scholar who was in Iran working on a book when he was arrested at his home nearly five months ago amid security forces’ postelection sweep against the opposition.

Tajbakhsh was among more than 100 people — most of them opposition activists and protesters — brought before a court in a mass trial criticized by the opposition and rights groups as a show trial.

He was sentenced by a branch of Iran’s Revolutionary Court last month to 15 years in prison after being convicted of espionage and endangering state security. It is the harshest prison term handed down so far by the court. His family has denied the charges against Tajbakhsh.

Earlier this week, Tajbakhsh was brought before another branch of the Revolutionary Court that the elite Revolutionary Guard military corps has used to pursue dissidents, and he was charged with additional counts of espionage, the New York-based International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran said in a statement.

The charges had been brought by the Guard, a member of Tajbakhsh’s family said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation. The Guard has spearheaded the crackdown against pro-reform politicians, activists and protesters, accusing them of plotting a Western-backed “velvet revolution” against Iran’s clerical-led Islamic Republic.

Tajbakhsh, a social scientist and urban planner, was the only American detained in the crackdown that crushed giant street protests by hundreds of thousands of people after the June 12 election. The opposition claims the vote was rigged in favor of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton had called for his release. Initially, Tajbakhsh’s lawyer said he was sentenced to “at least 12 years” in the initial conviction, but it has since been confirmed to be 15 years…”

[Full article]

I’d like to give you an update on this detained Iranian American scholar, Kian Tajbakhsh. We are deeply concerned of reports that Iranian American scholar Kian Tajbakhsh was recently charged by an Iranian court without the benefit of a lawyer. Given that the charges facing Mr. Tajbakhsh are without foundation, we call on Iran’s leadership to release Mr. Tajbakhsh without delay. He has played absolutely no role in the election and poses no threat to the Iranian Government or its national security. As an independent academic, Mr. Tajbakhsh has always sought out political neutrality.

The right to due process in Iran, which includes the right to legal representation, is not only addressed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to which Iran is a signatory, it is also ratified in its own constitution. So the world is watching what is happening in Iran and will bear witness.

[Full briefing]

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Kian Tajbakhsh, Iran Arrests, iran crackdown, Iranian Election, show trials, televised show trials, US, US State Department

“The United States called Tuesday on Iran to release immediately Iranian-American scholar Kian Tajbakhsh, who was put on trial last weekend with around 100 Iranians accused of rioting.
…”

[Full Article]

Technorati Tags:
Iran Arrests, iran crackdown, Iranian Election, Kian Tajbakhsh, show trials, televised show trials, US

خانواده کیان تاجبخش به شدت اتهامات محاکمه نمایشی را رد میکند

دکنر کیان تاجبخش یکی از متهمان محاکمه نمایشی است که هم اکنون در ایران در جریان است. دکتر تاجبخش در ساعت 9 شب 18 تیر – 9 جولای – در مقابل همسر و دختر خرد سالش دستگیر شد و تا کنون در محل نا معلومی و بدون دسترسی به وکیل مدافع, خانواده و دوستان زندانی است.

دستکیری دکتر تاجبخش اولین بار توسط تلویزیون رسمی و انگلیسی زبان جمهوری اسلامی – پرس تی وی – در روز 22 تیر - 13 جولای - 4 روز بعد از بازداشتش اعلام شد. در این خبر اتهام وی همکاری با حسین رسام رئیس بخش امنیت سیاسی سفارت انگلیس در تهران اعلام شد. حسین رسام اکنون با دادن وثیقه مالی آزاد شده.

خانواده دکتر تاجبخش و دوستان و صدها اضا کننده درخواستنامه آزادی ایشان به شدت اتهاماتی که دولت احمدی نژاد بر وی وارد کرده را رد میکنند. آنها قبلا نیز در بیانیه ای هشدار داده بودند که دستگیری کیان در واقع تمهیدی برای بدست آوردن اقرار نامه دروغین از راه قهر آمیز و برای استفاده در دادگاه های نمایشی است. در آن بیانیه گفته شده بود که ” این گونه سخنان عموما در زیر شکنجه بدست آمده و تنها برای استفاده در محاکمه های نمایشی تلویزیونی است.”

خانواده دکتر تاجبخش از دیدن عکس های او که توسط آژانس رسمی خبری فارس در روز شنبه 10 مرداد چاپ شد بسیار متاثراند چون این عکس ها نمایانگر فشار جسمی و روانی شدیدی است که در این 23 روز بر کیان وارد شده.

دکتر کیان تاجبخش جامعه شناس طراح شهر محقق و نویسنده فارغ التحصیل دانشگاه کلمبیا در شهر نیویورک است. تا قبل از برگشت به ایران دکتر تاجبخش استاد جامعه شناسی در دانشکده تحقیقات اجتماعی در نیویورک New School بود . فعالیتهای تحقیقی وی همواره در پس زمینه بیطرفی سیاسی و در روند ایجاد پلی برای نزدیک کردن فرهنگها است.

برای اطلاعات بیشتر در سایت کیان به ما بپیوندید. آدرس سایت

http://www.freekian09.org/

Technorati Tags:
family and friends, Iran Arrests, iran crackdown, Iranian elections, Kian Tajbakhsh, show trials, televised show trials, Farsi

“… Among the others on trial Saturday were two foreign citizens — Iranian-American scholar Kian Tajbakhsh and Newsweek reporter Maziar Bahari, who holds Iranian and Canadian citizenship
…
Pamela Kilpadi, a researcher who is working on a book with Tajbakhsh, said: ”I know for a fact that Kian played absolutely no role in post-election incidents in Iran. He even said he would not vote in the elections. As an independent academic Kian has always sought political neutrality.”

”These current statements have been forced under duress from someone being held in an undisclosed location without access to a lawyer, family or friends, in violation of the human rights treaties to which Iran is supposedly a signatory,” Kilpadi told the AP by e-mail. ”This is a disgrace to humanity.”
…

There was no information on when the trial would end or when a verdict could be expected…

Technorati Tags:
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New School Professor Arien Mack confirmed that an attempt was made to deliver two envelopes containing the petition, addressed to Ambassador Mohammad Khazaee and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamene’i care of the Ambassador, to the Iranian mission to the UN on Wednesday, July 22, but the envelopes were refused. The New School left a message with the Mission’s legal department inquiring about the refusal, but has yet to receive a response.

Other prominent groups including the 3,300 members of PEN American Center, the International Cooperation Agency of Dutch Municipalities, Columbia University, and the Centre for Peace and Development Initiatives in Pakistan have called for Kian’s release. PEN, an international organization of writers dedicated to protecting freedom of expression, stated in their appeal that they are “deeply concerned that Kian Tajbakhsh has been swept up in a crackdown on peaceful scholars and journalists following the disputed presidential elections in violation of their right to freedom of expression, as guaranteed in Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Iran is a signatory.”

Iranian agents arrested Kian Tajbakhsh, an American citizen, and took him away from his wife and small daughter at their home in Tehran at 9:00pm on July 9, 2009. We still have no information about where Kian was taken. We are concerned that he is being held in an attempt by the Iranian authorities to obtain forced statements from him to use in a televised show trial to falsely accuse ‘foreign powers’ of interference in Iran’s postelection crisis. Such statements are repeatedly extracted under conditions of torture for the sole purpose of staging televised show trials in an attempt to deceive the Iranian public.

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Your Excellencies,

On behalf of the 3,300 members of PEN American Center, an international organization of writers dedicated to protecting freedom of expression wherever it is threatened, we are writing to express our deep concern regarding the arrest of Dr. Kian Tajbakhsh.

According to our information, Kian Tajbakhsh, a prominent Iranian-American social scientist and urban planner who has published two books and numerous articles in his field, was taken from his home by the state security forces on the night of July 9, 2009. Police reportedly searched his home and confiscated his computer. To date, his family has no information on his whereabouts or the reasons for his detention. He was not a participant in the recent protests following the disputed June 12, 2009 presidential elections.

This is not the first time Kian Tajbakhsh has been targeted by authorities. He was detained without charge in May 2007 and held in solitary confinement in Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison until September of the same year. That detention sparked international protests as well.

PEN American Center is deeply concerned that Kian Tajbakhsh has been swept up in a crackdown on peaceful scholars and journalists following the disputed presidential elections in violation of their right to freedom of expression, as guaranteed in Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Iran is a signatory. We therefore call for his immediate and unconditional release, as well as the release of all other writers, scholars, journalists and students held in violation of their right to freedom of expression.

Thank you for your attention to this serious matter.

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Dr. Kian Tajbakhsh, Iran Arrests, Iranian Election, Kian Tajbakhsh, PEN

Release Kian Tajbakhsh: The International Cooperation Agency of the Association of Netherlands Municipalities Calls for Kian’s Release

VNG International—the International Cooperation Agency of The Association of Netherlands Municipalities—expresses its deep concern over the arrest of our associated expert and colleague, the urban development specialist and social scientist, Dr. Kian Tajbakhsh, who was arrested by the Iranian authorities on July 9, 2009. VNG International strongly condemns his unjustified detention and calls for his immediate release.
Kian Tajbakhsh is a leading local government expert with an excellent international reputation who has worked regularly together with VNG International since 2004. Within the VNG International “LOGO SOUTH program on Developing the Capacity of the Local Government Sector”, financed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, he had planned to undertake a mission to Nepal last weekend. According to his contract with VNG International, he would assist the Municipal Association of Nepal (MuAN) and provide them with a comparative assessment of the local government situation in federal countries, a comparative analytical perspective on the structures, functions and finances among the various tiers of government as practiced in relevant country legislation and a review of the study by Nepalese experts on “Federalism and Local Government Restructuring”. The detention of Kian Tajbakhsh is a harmful disruption of the process of cooperation with MuAN in Nepal.

VNG International cannot understand why a skilled and honest expert and scientist like Kian Tajbakhsh is treated with such disrespect by the government of Iran. VNG International calls on the leadership of Iran to release Kian Tajbakhsh and enable him to resume his important work for the development of stronger local government—the tier of government that is crucial for service delivery to the citizens—in our world and global community.

Peter Knip
Director of VNG International

Among those detained is Dr. Kian Tajbakhsh, an Iranian American scholar, who was arrested on July 9 and his whereabouts remain unknown. Dr. Tajbakhsh, 47 had previously been one of four Iranian Americans detained in May 2007 on charges of endangering Iran’s national security, but denied the allegations and was released after about four months. Iranian authorities have neither confirmed nor denied Dr. Tajbakhsh’s recent arrest. We urge the Iranian authorities to disclose the whereabouts and conditions of Dr. Tajbakhsh and all other detainees, and to safeguard their rights under law.