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A week to save a young Iranian, Saman Naseem from execution


A week flies by very quickly in our twenties, especially for someone who is awaiting his execution.
Saman Naseem has only a few days left.
This young Kurdish man was sentenced to death for taking part in a gun battle between Iran’s most powerful security and military organisation (the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps - IRGC) and the armed opposition group (Party For Free Life of Kurdistan), when he was just 17 years old. Those armed activities led to the death of a member of the IRGC.

Saman Naseem, now 22 years old, is awaiting execution for events that occurred when he was a child.  He was tortured by authorities to obtain a ‘confession’ before his trial, sentenced to death first two years ago and then again in April 2013 - after a lower court reviewed the case. His lawyer has also been stopped from pursuing his case for the past six months.
Saman’s conviction and death sentence go against Iran’s international commitments on the use of the death penalty against juvenile offenders. Iran has ratified two treaties (the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child), which strictly prohibits sentencing people to death, who were under 18 years of age at the time of the crime.
Iran has been reminded by other UN member states, especially over the past few months, to respect its commitments and abolish the death penalty, but evidently, with no effect.
Saman needs our help. Therefore, we, supporters of human rights, need to team up, raise awareness to his case and call on the authorities to halt his execution.
Send a tweet calling on Iran to stop the execution of Saman:
Suggested Tweets and Hashtags:
#Iran must halt #SamanNaseem’s execution & end #DeathPenalty for juvenile offenders #SaveSaman http://bit.ly/1M8U9jQ @khamenei_ir
Please halt #deathpenalty of #SamanNaseem & grant him a judicial review @khamenei_ir #SaveSaman #StopTorture  http://bit.ly/1M8U9jQ

At Iran’s review of the #CRC, how will it explain sentencing #SamanNaseem to death? http://bit.ly/1M8U9jQ @HassanRouhani
Twitter Handles & Hashtags of members of government:
Key Targets:
  • Supreme Leader – Ali Khamenei: @khamenei_ir (English-language account)
  • President of Iran – Hassan Rouhani: @HassanRouhani (English-language account)
Other Targets:
  • Press Officer – Iran’s Mission to the United Nations – Hamid Babaei: @babaei77
  • Minister of Foreign Affairs – Javad Zarif: @JZarif
  • Ministry of Foreign Affairs – @IranMFA [general account]
  • Vice President of Women and Family Affairs – Shahindokht Molaverdi: @mowlaverdi
Send an email to Iran’s leader asking him to halt the execution of Saman using the attached sample letter:

 Sample letter
Leader of the Islamic Republic: Ayatollah Sayed ‘Ali Khamenei
Email: info_leader@leader.ir or via web http://www.leader.ir/langs/en/index.php?p=letter
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