Urgent Appeal:
23 February 2011
Lawrence Cannon
Minister of Foreign Affairs
House of Commons
Ottawa, ON
K1A 0A
Canada
Re: Mr. Saeed Malakpour and Hamid Ghassemi-Shall
Dear Lawrence Cannon,
I am writing to draw your attention to the situation of Mr. Saeed Malakpour, a Canadian resident, and Hamid Ghassemi-Shall, a Canadian citizen who have been arrested and detained in Iran. Their lives are in great danger, and I should warn that if Canadian government fail to act and intervene in these two cases, and discuss them with Iranian Regime, these two innocent Canadians will be executed in the way Zahra Bahrami, a Dutch-Iranian citizen was hanged in Iran last month.
Mr Saeed Malekpour, 36, a Canadian residence, is a web developer and programmer. He was arrested in Tehran in October 2008 while visiting his family. Mr Malakpour was falsely charged with multiple so called offences such as “Taking action against national security by designing and moderating websites with adult content;” and “Agitation against the regime;” and “Contact with foreign entities;” “Insulting the sanctity of Islam;” and “Insulting the Supreme Leader and President.”. Mr. Malakpour was sentence to death in December 2010, but denies all the charges. Saeed has been tortured and beaten during his imprisonment. He is now in the infamous Evin prison awaiting execution.
Mr Hamid Ghassemi-Shall, 42, a Canadian citizen, was arrested and imprisoned in May 2008 while visiting his family. Mr Ghassemi-Shall was sentence to death by execution, but he denies the charge; he’s currently held in Evin prison.
The life of Saeed Malakpour and Hamid Ghassemi-Shall are in a grave danger, and the time to save them is running out; their rights and their lives must be protected by the Canadian government.
The only way to prevent Malakpour and Ghassemi-Shall being executed is by exerting a continuous pressure on the Islamic regime, by questioning Iranian diplomats in Canada, and by severing diplomatic relations with the regime in Tehran.
Canadian government is familiar with a high publicised case of another Canadian citizen, Zahra Kazemi, an Iranian- Canadian photojournalist, who was arrested in 2003 and later died in prison as a result of being tortured. Zahra was arrested for photographing student protest in Tehran. At the time, Canadian government recalled its ambassador from Iran.
The life of the Dutch-Iranian citizen Zahra Bahrami, who was hanged last month, could have been saved if the Dutch government would have taken an action immediately after her imprisonment. Recently in protest to Ms. Bahrami’s execution, the Dutch government has frozen all political relations with the regime in Iran, but it is too late, too little, because she is dead. Hopefully Canadian government will use this example to prevent the same happens again to Saeed and Hamid.
In numerous occasions, the Islamic regime in Iran have proved that they will not spare the life of innocent political prisoners, and when there is no continues pressure, they continue torturing and executing them. The key to save these two innocent lives from barbaric treatment is by publicising the case, and to exert political pressure on the regime in Tehran to free them.
I urge you to act immediately and save Saeed Malakpour and Hamid Ghassemi-Shall from being executed; these two are citizens of Canada, and should be treated the same as other Canadians. The Canadian government should demand their immediate and unconditional release from prison.
Please provide us with an update e through the address below.
Sincerely yours
Shiva Mahbobi
Spokesperson
Campaign to Free Political Prisoners in Iran (CFPPI)
Cc: Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada
Canadian embassy in Tehran
Dear Mr Lawrence Cannon
I/we express concern for the situation of Saeed Malakpour and Hamid Ghassemi-Shall. I/we urge the Canadian government to put pressure on the Islamic Regime of Iran to overturn their dead sentences and release Malakpour and Ghassemi-Shall immediately and unconditionally.
Name/ organization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
City/country . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs
Lawrence Cannon
Email: Cannon.L@parl.gc.ca
Please send a copy to:
pm@pm.gc.ca , teran@international.gc.ca, npillay@ohchr.org , eastgulf@amnesty.org , info@leader.ir
You can also send your protest letters to the Iranian Embassy in your country.
Please send a copy for our record to: freepoliticalprisoners@gmail.com