The following presents a request of Ayatollah Seyed Hussein Kazemeini Boroujerdi’s followers to President Barack Hussein Obama, the winner of the 2009

Dear President Obama,
We congratulate you for winning the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize.
Being the leader of a powerful country whose principles rest on Democracy, you do not necessitate such credits in order to advance your goals of peace. Perhaps the advancement of peace in the world would have been expedited if such a prize was given to a person fighting for the establishment of peace and freedom within a dictatorship. In this respect, we would like to inform you of Ayatollah Boroujerdi, a fellow candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize, who for many years has worked extensively in Iran towards separation of religion from state along the establishment of an open referendum under the supervision of the international community. As a liberal leader Ayatollah Boroujerdi believes in the following principles:

1. The establishment of worldwide peace is not possible without local reforms.
2. The interference of religion in the state represents a danger for the maintenance of international peace.

As Ayatollah Boroujerdi's efforts in defending the poor received widespread public attention, Iran’s regime became alarmed and frightened. As a consequence, in October 2006 he and hundreds of his followers were arrested via a violent attack by the government.
For more than three years he has endured various physical, mental and drug induced methods of torture in different sections of prisons. He currently suffers from dangerous diseases.

By publishing different statements, high rank organizations defending Human Rights in the world have asked Iran’s regime to release Ayatollah Boroujerdi and to provide him with urgent and suitable medical care. They have also asked to establish an open trial, have access to all documents, and visit independent lawyers and representatives of the media, but unfortunately nothing has been done yet.

Mr. President, Iran’s regime continues to suppress not only Ayatollah Boroujerdi for his opposition to the Velayate-Faqih, but also other outstanding and liberal advocates and regular people protesting. Documents substantiate that this regime cannot be taken as a real representative for the majority of the Iranian people. We thus kindly request that you reconsider and revise your stance with respect to the nuclear issue, and ask that as the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize you consider Human Rights in Iran your first priority until human rights violations are solved in their totality.

In this regards, there are various petitions such as the following that approximately five hundred thousands people have signed, asking you and other high ranking authorities for your help with such matters.
http://www.petitiononline.com/naroda09/petition.html

Lastly, from prison Mr. Boroujerdi has sent you his congratulations for being elected president of the United States of America, as can be seen on the following website:
http://help-for-borojerdi.org/barackobama.htm

The physical condition of Mr. Kazemeini Boroujerdi is deteriorating in Evin prison day to day

The condition of the famous ideological prisoner, Seyyed Hosein Kazemeini Boroujerdi, in general section for clergies in Evin prison has been reported very grave and critical.
According to the statements of eyewitnesses; on Monday Oct 12, 2009 Mr. Boroujerdi fell down again because of lose of his balance and he was in coma for some minutes, it is necessary to say that he has fallen down several times during last week too. He is suffering from various diseases right now and there is fear of his affecting with brain tumor or stroke because of appearing some new symptoms such as continuous vertigoes and the lack of physical balance. By all unfortunately no measure has been taken to hospitalize and access to necessary medical examinations for him yet.
We would like hereby to ask Human Rights Watch of the UN, all Human Rights Defender organizations and international personalities too to intervene to release Mr. Boroujerdi and prevent from killing this well-known opponent of political religion in prison immediately and before that the opportunities be lost.

The relevant news on:
Mr. Boroujerdi hurt in prison again

Gravity of Mr. Boroujerdi’s physical condition

Mr. Boroujerdi hurt in prison again

This morning, Saturday Oct 10, Mr. Boroujerdi fell down for the second time because of intensifying the gravity of his physical condition and lost of balance. According to eye-witnesses his nose hurt seriously.
This clergy, who is critic of Velayat-e-Faghih, must immediately be treated because of heart, kidney, serious respiration problems, Parkinson’s disease, poor vision, spinal injury and severe bone and joint pains, but unfortunately the prison authorities have refused to give necessary medical facilities to this ideological prisoner as yet.
According to the report of Human Rights Activists in Iran, Mr. Boroujerdi lost his consciences last Saturday too because of an uncommon and sudden vertigo which hurt in his head and right hand.
It is necessary to say that Mr. Boroujerdi, who asks for separation of religion from government, was one of the candidates for Noble peace prize 2009 that was given to the president of the Unites States, Barak Obama, last few days.

Ruminating Mr. Boroujerdi’s thoughts in Tafsir-e-khabar (news interpretation) program on the satellite channel VOA - Oct 8, 2009

In this program, Mr. Chalangi, the presenter of the program said: Ayatollah Boroujerdi is a Shiite cleric who is spending third year of his jail in prison; why? This cleric expressed his opinion in a message that his believes in separation of religion from government; and he was detained and imprisoned because of this. He is being detained in prison as yet after three years.
Listen to a part of his words in his arrest day please,

Mr. Boroujerdi: this nation is poor and has problem, I gather the people are involved and have problem. I sooth and help them because of love to my homeland. If you are Iranian, if you are Muslim, why do you hit us instead of rewarding?! Don’t you say “we are here to protect Islam and Iran? You want protect by killing the youth of country and Islam?
O’ my lord; I swear you on your truth and holiness please save Iran and Iranians from oppression, crime, terror and tyranny. O’ God; grant Iran and Iranians freedom, independence, wealth and health please.

Ms Parisa Bahrololumi, one of Ayatollah Boroujerdi’s followers had a phone communication in the continuation of the program as follow:

Mr.Chalangi: Ms Parisa Bahrololumi, one of Ayatollah Boroujerdi’s followers is with us on phone line. Hello to you from Tehran.
Ms Parisa Bahrololumi: hello to you Mr.Chalangi and to your guests too.

Mr.Chalangi: Ms Bahrololumi; please tell me and our viewers briefly, what’s Mr. Boroujerdi’s say? What’s his main word and why is it interesting for you as an Iranian youth as caused you support him?
Ms Parisa Bahrololumi: he asks for separation of religion from politics, an open referendum under international control and peace between the followers of all religions in all over the world. He condemns all rough sentences like: death, stoning and flogging. So it is about 8 months that a petition with about 5hundred thousand signatures has been provided to present this prisoner clergy to the Committee for Noble Peace Prize 2009 in order to fulfill the effective efforts of Mr. Boroujerdi for his philanthropic ideals. We ask for absolute immunity for this liberal man. As an Iranian youth who live in Iran, I support him because he says: pray God in the way you like, be just and observe justice.

Mr. Chalangi: is this the more interesting and attractive point he says? And as a youth do you support him?
Ms Parisa Bahrololumi: yes

Mr. Chalangi: thank you Ms Parisa Bahrololumi,

Ms Parisa Bahrololumi: Mr. Chalangi; although his physical condition is so critical and he has been transferred from Yazd prison to Evin prison for about one month, but no measures has been taken yet to treat or hospitalize him even he has been deprived of access to drug. In addition a few days ago he fell down for vertigo and his brain, head and right part of his body hurt seriously, we are so worry about his health.

Mr.Chalangi: does he have access to lawyer?
Ms Parisa Bahrololumi: no, he has no permit to have an independent lawyer. The Special Court for Clergy has said his lawyer must be a clergy therefore they had taken a counsel briefed by the court, his name is Mr. Barzegar. Also he has a lawyer called Ms Giti Pourfazel who has chosen by his family. She has referred to Special Court for clergy many times, but she has been given no answer so she couldn’t do any thing.

Mr. Chalangi: thank you Ms Parisa Bahrololumi from Tehran. Thank you very much.
Ms Parisa Bahrololumi: your welcome and thanks for your time.

In continue, Mr. Chalangi ask Mr.Haghighi the guest and political analyzer of the program, as follow:
Mr. Haghighi; a Shiite cleric asks for separation of religion from government, but you see his destiny and condition as Ms Bahrololumi explained. What solution do you propose for coming out of that condition you name it crisis and also Mr. Rafsanjani too?
Mr.Haghighi (political analyzer): Mr.Kazemeini Boroujerdi who I talked about him last programs, had some indexes in his social movement anyway and he showed that as yet religion is the most powerful motive for social movements in Iran or for those women protected Mr. Kazemeini Boroujerdi and didn’t let him be arrested during those 15 days. It is one of the rare phenomena in political history of Iran and in my opinion it showed his influence on his followers.

Renewed request for awarding Nobel peace prize to Mr. Boroujerdi

At the fourth anniversary of Mr.Boroujeri’s detention on 8 October At the fourth anniversary of Mr.Boroujeri’s detention on 8 October 2006, his supporters sent an open letter entitled “Awarding the Noble Peace Prize for 2009” to the office of the Nobel Peace Prize Committee. A petition for the release of Mr. Boroujerdi has received more than four hundred and seventy thousands signatures in the last 8 months and represents an important document.
This petition entitled “Support Boroujerdi” marks one of the few top petitions with its number of signers on the http://www.petitiononline.com/website.
In this petition, all high rank authorities, governments, parliaments and organizations, active in Peace, Democracy and Human rights worldwide, specially the Nobel Peace Foundation have been asked to support Mr. Boroujerdi, a leader who advocates the separation of religion from Iran’s state.

http://www.petitiononline.com/naroda09/petition.html

The content of the petition is as follows:
We, the signers of this petition, know Seyed Hossein Kazemeini Boroujerdi, the Iranian liberal leader, who has suffered different kinds of torture, attacks, and slandering. He deserves immunity and the support of the international community for his efforts towards the realization of humanitarian ideals:
1) Separation of religion from the state and the rejection of political leadership at the hands of the clergy (Velayat-e Faqih).
2) The establishment of complete Democracy (freedom of religion, beliefs, press, speech and removal of gender and racial discrimination).

3) The practice of unity and friendship among the followers of different religions and the establishment of peace in the Middle East.
4) Removal of torture and rough penal punishments such as execution, stoning, whipping and imprisonment.
5) The establishment of a free referendum under international supervision.
Also there is another petition entitled “Free Ayatollah Boroujerdi” with more than four hundred and fifty thousands signatures.

http://www.petitiononline.com/Maat2/petition.html

Gravity of Mr. Boroujerdi’s physical condition

Saturday Oct 3rd Mr. Boroujerdi who is detained in general section for clergy in Evin prison and is suffering from various diseases, was affected by a sudden vertigo because of unknown reasons and fell down and his head and right hand hurt seriously as a result of this event.
Mr. Boroujerdi is so vulnerable because of many years detention in solitary confinement and general sections in different prisons of Iran and now he is suffering from heart, eye, tooth, kidney, bone and respiration problems and Parkinson’s disease too.
It is necessary to say that Mr. Boroujerdi was transferred from solitary confinement in Yazd central prison to Evin prison on Aug 19th because of the gravity of his physical and psychological condition, but he wasn’t not only hospitalized but was refused access to the heart drugs were prescribed before.
In the case of not hospitalizing Mr. Boroujerdi in a good and appropriate hospital and not access to appropriate medical care and facilities, the responsible for all probable events is the authorities of special Court for clergy and of Evin prison.

Attack on Ayatollah Boroujerdi for advocating Secularism and Separation of Religion from State

On the wake of the third anniversary of the violent attacks and the unlawful detention of Mr. Boroujerdi, along with hundreds of his followers, Iran’s state-run Media started new efforts in assassinating Mr. Boroujerdi’s scholarly and humanitarian characters. For instance, on October 1st the Keyhan Newspaper published its unfounded criticism of Mr. Boroujerdi’s widespread activities for the establishment of secularism and the separation of religion from Iran’s state.
Despite the support and backing of well-know and highly respected individuals and organizations, such attacks have taken place against Mr. Boroujerdi, a liberal, opposed to dictatorship. Seyyed Hossein Kazemeini Boroujedi had even been invited to make a presentation at the 5th annual conference on Peace and Religion, held on March 27th, 2009 at Kennesaw State University.
Mr. Boroujerdi’s invitation letter was sent to his lawyers by Professor Susan S. Raines, Chair of the Peace Conference Committee.

(To see the invitation letter, please click here)
http://www.kennesaw.edu/

His lecture notes investigated methods for Democratization and Secularization in Iran. The executive committee that introduced Mr. Boroujerdi on the basis of the statements made by Amnesty International wrote: Ayatollah Seyed Hossein Kazemeyni Boroujerdi, a 50-year-old Shiite’s cleric, is currently imprisoned in Evin Prison in Tehran for his peaceful religious opinions. Amnesty International considers him to be a prisoner of conscience. The committee also mentioned efforts taken for his nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009.

(To visit, please click here)

However, even though the abstract of his lecture, entitled “Secularism,” was sent to the conference, as a result of Mr. Boroujerdi’s imprisonment, he was unfortunately not allowed to participate in the conference.
In this paper, Mr. Boroujerdi claims that turning to secularism is Iran's only salvation for physical and spiritual regression. He writes: “At present, the time of accepting rudeness under the name of "Qur’an’s verses" has come to an end. People are tired of unjustified and illogical does and don'ts.”

(To see the complete text, please click here)

Human Rights and Freedom go hand in hand for His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Nazanin Afshin-Jam

On Sunday September 27th 2009, I had the opportunity to meet His Holiness the Dalai Lama at the Vancouver Peace Summit put on by the Dalai Lama Center for Peace and Education. I spoke to him about the plight of the Iranian people suffering grave human rights abuses under the stranglehold of the current regime and the urgency for the international community to take action, especially in light of the violence, deaths, detainments, disappearances and systematic rape since the fraudulent presidential elections in June.

I asked His Holiness if he would stand in solidarity with the Iranian people by holding a sign that says “Freedom for Iran” and “Human Rights for Iran”. When the Dalai Lama agreed without hesitation, I hugged and thanked him. I was so elated because I knew what an important symbol it would be for the people inside Iran. I want the Iranian people to know that they have not been forgotten and that the international community stands beside them.

The Dalai Lama had said over a decade ago when he received the Nobel Peace Prize:

“Peace can only last where human rights are respected, where people are fed, and where individuals and nations are free”.

May Iranians live in peace at last!