International Campaign to Demand the Release of Ayatollah Boroujerdi from Prison in Iran

 Date: 24 July 2014

His Excellency Ban-Ki Moon

Secretary General of United Nations

The United Nations

New York, NY 10017

Re: International Campaign to Demand the Release of Ayatollah Boroujerdi from Prison in Iran

Your Excellency,

I join my fellow compatriots in urging the international community to support our campaign for the immediate release of Ayatollah Seyed Hossein Kazemeiny Boroujerdi, a well-respected clergyman and a long time vocal advocate of secularism, from prison in Iran. We beseech you to intervene without hesitation, as Ayatollah Boroujerdi’s life has been under threat since his imprisonment in October 2006, and his health has been deteriorating under poor conditions due to physical and psychological torture as well as poor medical treatment.

We would like to draw the attention of the world community to recent events at the Special Clerical Ward of the notorious Evin Prison in Tehran, where Ayatollah Boroujerdi was subjected to the latest round of psychological torture. In early July 2014, the Special Clerical Ward was deliberately set on fire and Ayatollah Boroujerdi was threatened with more physical torture unless he would agree to publicly renounce his opposition to the Islamic Republic, endorse the ruling theocracy, apologize to the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic Ali Khamenei, and sever future contact with his supporters. As Ayatollah Boroujerdi refuses to accept these conditions, we are seriously concerned about the newly issued ultimatums, and threats of torture and death.

We appeal to freedom loving people around the world, to demand that the Islamic Republic respects the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, to which Iran has long been a signatory. Iranians across the political spectrum find the ongoing humans rights violations in their beloved homeland appalling and unacceptable. Iranians with different political ideals and ideological beliefs view human rights as a universal value, and emphasize a non-violent solution for the future of their country based on the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Thus, we have formed the National Council of Iran for Free Elections in 2013 with the ultimate vision to hold free, fair and transparent elections in our homeland. This vision can be realized with the moral support of the international community for the unconditional release of all prisoners of conscience.

I thank you sincerely for your consideration and offer my unconditional assistance on this urgent matter.

Yours sincerely,

Reza Pahlavi

President of the Iran National Council Iran for Free Elections