Children rights activist on hunger strike in prison in Iran
Atena Daemi and her family need your support
Atena Daemi, 29, is a children rights and women’s rights activist in Iran, currently serving a seven-year prison sentence at Evin prison in Tehran.
Atena has been on hunger strike since 9th April 2017 in protest to the sentencing of her sisters. As a result of the hunger strike, Atena has suffered severe weight loss, nausea, vomiting and blood pressure fluctuations. Prison authorities at Evin prison have refused to transfer her to a hospital outside of prison for medical treatment. Atena’s health has deteriorated and her life is in a grave danger.
Atena Daemi was arrested in October 2014. She was Initially sentenced to 14 years in prison in May 2015 for “insulting the Supreme Leader” and for “assembly and collusion against national security”. Later on her sentence was reduced to seven years on appeal. In February 2016 she was released on bail but was re-arrested on 26 November 2016. At the time of re-arrest, the Revolutionary Guard officials raided her family house, beaten up Atena and took her away forcefully to Tehran’s Evin Prison . Atena’s sisters, Hanieh and Ensieh, were present when the guards raided the house and later they were charged with “insulting public officers on duty”. Atena has made a complaint about the security forces for harassing her family members. Her complaint has been ignored by the judge. In one of her letters Atena stated that ” I will defend the rights of my sisters until my last breath. I will not allow security bodies, which already violate Iran’s own laws, to treat our families as a means to inflict mental torture on us…… I would rather die than be a slave of oppression.”
Atena is a well-known children’s rights and women’s rights activist. Her activities included, organising art classes for street children and teaching them, attending demonstrations in support of children of the Syrian town of Kobani, speaking up against lack of women’s rights in Iran and supporting political prisoners through her Facebook post.
We urge you to take an action in support of Atena Daemi and demand her release.
Atena is the voice of humanity, help us echo this voice.
Please take an action NOW by giving only 5 minutes of your time to write a letter to the authorities in Iran. It takes only 5 minutes to copy and paste the following sample letter and send it to the following addresses. You can also email/post your letter to the Iranian embassy in your country.
For more information please contact:
Shiva Mahbobi, Spokesperson for CFPPI
shiva.mahbobi@gmail.come , +44 (0)7572356661
Campaign to Free political Prisoners in Iran (CFPPI)
http://tinyurl.com/mlwwprw
[sample letter]
I/We express our strong concern for Atena Daemi’s health and wellbeing. We demand:
the charges against Atena to be droped. We demand the immediately and unconditionall release of Atena. The authorities in Iran are responsible for Atena Daemi’s life.
Addresses:
To: Hassan Rouhani
Email: media@rouhani.ir
Twitter: @HassanRouhani
Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations
Email: iran@un.int
To: Mohammed Javad Larijani
Office of the Head of the Judiciary
Pasteur St, Vali Asr Ave
South of Serah-e Jomhouri
Tehran, Iran
Email: larijani@ipm.ir (Subject line: FAO Mohammad Javad Larijani)
Cc: freepoliticalprisoners@gmail.com
Please Tweet to the following:
@khamenei_ir @HassanRouhani Free #AtenaDaemi READ: http://tinyurl.com/mlwwprw
@khamenei_ir @HassanRouhani Free #AtenaDaemi on hunger strike
#AtenaDaemi authorities in #Iran are responsible for Atena’s life