Release Emadeddin Baghi and All Arbitrarily Arrested

(29 December 2009) The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran called for the immediate and unconditional release of leading human rights defender Emadeddin Baghi, who was among numerous journalists and reformists detained on 28 December along with over 1,000 others, in the wake of violent crackdowns on Ashura protests. Also detained was the sister of Nobel Peace Laureate Shirin Ebadi, Dr. Nooshin Ebadi.

Baghi, one of the top human rights defenders in Iran who has received numerous international recognitions including the Martin Ennals Award in 2009, suffers from heart and nerve conditions that have been severely aggravated by his previous incarcerations following convictions for his writings and human rights advocacy.

Iranian Rights Defender Receives Martin Ennals Award

(21 May 2009) – The decision to present the prestigious Martin Ennals Award this year to Emad Baghi for his work on prisoners’ rights and efforts to end the death penalty will help focus international attention on the perilous human rights situation in Iran, Human Rights Watch and the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran said today.

“The award to Emad Baghi for his courageous efforts helps to keep the eyes of the world on the difficult human rights situation in Iran,” said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “Baghi has also been a leading advocate against capital punishment in the face of rising numbers of executions in Iran.”

Sharia and Islamic Jurisprudence Allow for Abolition of the Death Penalty

(1 December 2008) An Arabic translation of “Right to Life”, a book by Iranian human rights defender Emad Baghi, has been published by the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information and the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran. The book presents groundbreaking research in Islamic jurisprudence and Sharia supporting the suspension and abolition of capital punishment in countries following Islamic law.

“Right to Life” has been banned by Iranian authorities and Baghi has been imprisoned and interrogated several times for articles he wrote making the arguments collected in this book.

Emad Baghi

Emad Baghi (45), a prominent human rights defender, is serving a one- year sentence for articles he wrote a decade before, and for which he already spent three years in prison on the same charges. He is the founder of the Center for Defense of Prisoners’ Rights.

Emad Baghi’s Letter to the Judiciary

Letter by Emad Baghi to Head of the Judiciary, Ayatollah Shahroudi, about the jurisprudential process of capital punishment.

Spare Four Youths From Execution

(Geneva, 08 July 2008) Today 24 international and regional human rights organizations called on Iranian authorities to spare four youths facing execution and to stop imposing the death penalty for crimes committed by juvenile offenders – persons who commit crimes while under the age of 18, and to uphold their international obligation to enforce the absolute prohibition on the death penalty in such cases

Iran executed 16-year-old Mohammad Hassanzadeh, an Iranian Kurd on 10 June 2008 for a crime committed when he was 14. Four other juvenile offenders are at risk of execution between 11 and 25 July. The organizations called on the head of Iran’s judiciary to suspend these four executions immediately.

114 Child Offenders Awaiting Hangman’s Noose

(18 June 2008) The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran published a list of 114 child offenders awaiting execution in Iran today, the first time such a list has been made available detailing the practice, which has been banned in all but a handful of countries. The list is the result of comprehensive primary [...]