AMEWS Letter Of Support For Niloufer Bayani
His Excellency Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran
c/o H.E. Mr. Gholamali Khoshroo
Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations:
Your Excellency,
We write on behalf of the Association of Middle East Women’s Studies(https://amews.org/), an organization of scholars and individuals with an interest in women and gender studies in the context of the Middle East/ North Africa and beyond, including transnational and diasporic communities in Europe as well as North and South America. AMEWS is affiliated with the Middle East Studies Association of North America, Inc. and works with academic networks around the world. Membership in AMEWS is open to anyone with an interest in Middle East/Muslim women and gender studies.
We are writing to call for the immediate release of Niloufar Bayani, a researcher, onservationist, and scholar who has been imprisoned in Iran since January 2018.
Ms. Bayani a McGill University and Columbia University alum, previously worked for UN Environment. On January 24, 2018, Ms. Bayani was arrested alongside eight of her colleagues at the Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation, while conducting field research. She and her colleagues have been detained in Evin Prison ever since.
Nearly a year after their arrest, on January 30, 2019, Ms. Bayani and her colleagues were read part of a 300-page indictment in a closed-door trial. Ms. Bayani interrupted the reading, objecting that her forced confessions had apparently become the basis for the indictment. Her forced confessions, which she had since retracted, had been made while she was subjected to torture.
We urge you to release Ms. Bayani unconditionally, and to drop any charges that stem from her peaceful exercise of the right to academic freedom; and, pending this, to ensure immediately her well-being while in prison, and to ensure her case is addressed in a manner consistent with internationally recognized standards of due process, fair trial, andimprisonment, in accordance with Iran’s obligations under international law.
In solidarity,
The AMEWS Human Rights Task Force
Nancy Gallagher, Chair, University of California, Santa Barbara
Sondra Hale, University of California, Los Angeles Nadje Al-Ali, Brown University
Anita Fabos, IDCE Clark University
Hind Ahmed Zaki, Brandies University
Angie Abdelmonem, Arizona State University
cc: The Honorable Michelle Bachelet
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Palais des Nations
Geneva, CH-1211
CH
Email:InfoDesk@ohchr.org
His Excellency Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran c/o H.E. Mr. Gholamali Khoshroo Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations
Fax:(121) 286-7708Email:iran@un.int
cc: The Honorable Ayatollah Sadeqh Larijani
Head of the Judiciary of the Islamic Republic of Iran Email:info@dadiran.ir
cc: The Honorable Mike Pompeo
United States Secretary of State U.S. Department of State
2201 C Street NW
Washington, DC 20520
US
cc: President Hassan Rouhani
President of the Islamic Republic of Iran Palestine Avenue, Pasteur St., Pasteur Sq. Tehran,
IR
Email:media@rouhani.ir
cc: The Honorable Justin Trudeau
Prime Minister of Canada Office of the Prime Minister
80 Wellington Street Ottawa, ON K1A 0A2 CA
cc: The Honorable Chrystia Freeland
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Canada
House of Commons
Ottawa, ON K1A 0A6
CA Email:chrystia.freeland@international.gc.ca