14 March 2011

Letter to Foreign Ministers of OIC members

Excellencies,

We, the undersigned independent human rights organizations, take the liberty to appeal to members of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) to support a Resolution in the United Nations Human Rights Council that will establish a human rights monitoring mechanism for the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Our organizations have read with gratification a statement of 25 February 2011, on behalf of the member states of the OIC concerning the tragic situation in Libya.

As you know, in that statement, Ambassador Zamir Akram strongly condemned violence against civilians in Libya, and stressed the importance and necessity of upholding human rights in the Muslim world, and in all societies.

The human rights of the people of the Islamic Republic of Iran have been increasingly abused since the presidential election in 2009. The execution rate has spiked in the past several months, with over 110 persons executed since the beginning of 2011, under conditions that have not met international standards for due process.

No one can accept the violent, repressive manner in which the authorities have addressed the obvious and legitimate discontent of Iranian citizens. Over the past several weeks, an additional 1500 people have been arbitrarily detained, in addition to over 5000 jailed after the election-related protests. Political executions, torture, unfair trials, the persecution of students and denial of education based on their political and religions views, and many other grave human rights problems have all been documented.

The Human Rights Council must do all it can to prevent the Islamic Republic from following the violent course of Libya, and encourage the Iranian authorities to adhere to human rights principles and standards. A monitoring mechanism will provide a platform for information-gathering and, hopefully, constructive dialogue with the authorities on changing practices which, if they continue, can only lead to more unrest.

As human rights groups working mainly on behalf of the rights of citizens of Muslim countries, we would be deeply grateful for your support and assistance. We hope you will give positive consideration to a resolution that will help change the negative human rights dynamic affecting the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Sincerely,

1. African Democracy Forum
2. Andalus Institute for Tolerance and Anti-Violence Studies (Egypt)
3. Arab Foundation for Civil Society and Human Rights Support (Egypt)
4. Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (Egypt)
5. Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA)
6. Arab Organization for Human Rights (Palestine)
7. Bahrain Center for Human Rights (Bahrain)
8. Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (Egypt)
9. Coalition of Families of Missing Persons in Algeria (Algeria)
10. Committees for the Defense of Democracy Freedom and Human Rights (Syria)
11. Damascus Center for Human Rights Studies (Syria)
12. East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Network (Uganda)
13. The Egyptian Association for Community Participation Enhancement (Egypt)
14. Egyptian Center for the Rights of the Child (Egypt)
15. The Egyptian Center for Women’s Rights (Egypt)
16. Egyptian Foundation for Advancement of the Childhood Condition (Egypt)
17. Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (Egypt)
18. Hesham Mubarak Law Center (Egypt)
19. Human Rights Agenda (Nigeria)
20. Human Rights Organization in Syria – MAF (Syria)
21. Human Rights Working Group – Indonesia’s NGO Coalition for International Human Rights Advocacy (Indonesia)
22. Imparsial (Indonesia)
23. International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran (Iran)
24. Iraqi Human Rights Organization – Denmark (Iraq)
25. KontraS (Indonesia)
26. Kurdish Committee for Human Rights-Rased (Syria)
27. Kurdish Organization for the Defence of Human Rights and Public Freedoms in Syria- DAD (Syria)
28. Land Center for Human Rights (Egypt)
29. Legal Resources Consortium (Nigeria)
30. National Organization for Human Rights (Syria)
31. Palestinian Human Rights Organization (Lebanon)
32. Partnership for Justice (Nigeria)
33. Sisters Arab Forum for Human Rights (Yemen)
34. Suara Rakyat Malaysia -SUARAM (Malaysia)
35. Syrian Human Rights Committee (Syria)
36. West African Bar Association (Nigeria)
37. West African Human Rights Defenders Network
38. Yemeni Organization for Defending Human Rights and Democratic Freedoms (Yemen)