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Italy: Iranian Kurdish journalists on
death row honoured in Siena
1.12.2007
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December 1, 2007
Siena, Italy,-- Two Kurdish journalists,
Adnan Hassanpour and Khalil Boutimar, condemned to
death in Iran, have been awarded a prestigious
Italian prize for freedom of the press.
The City of Siena - ISF award was announced in the
historical Tuscan city in a ceremony at the Town
Hall on Friday.
The prize is organised jointly by Information,
Safety & Freedom (ISF) and the municipality of
Siena.
Leyli Hassanpour, sister of Adnan and Hadi Boutimar,
brother of Hiwa, attended the ceremony to represent
their jailed siblings.
Stefano Marcelli, president of ISF, said "this
decision is above all a determined attempt to save
both their lives," he said. |
Kurdish journalists
Adnan Hassanpur (L) and Hiwa Botimar sentenced to death
by the Iranian Islamic regime
عدنان حسن پور و هیوا بوتیمار |
But Khalil Bahramian, one of the lawyers defending
the jailed Iranian journalists, was absent from the
award ceremony.
He was due to attend but was arrested in Tehran just
before boarding a flight for Italy via Istanbul on
Tuesday.
Bahramian was stopped by plainclothes police just
after immigration officials told him he could not
leave the country.
The families of the two Kurdish journalists,
condemned to death by the Iranian Revolutionary
Court of Sanandaj (Sina) in Iranian Kurdistan, were
later welcomed by the Regional Council of Tuscany on
Friday
President of Tuscany's Regional Council, Riccardo
Nencini, expressed his opposition to the decision by
the Iranian government to block Bahramian's
departure.
"Stopping Bahramian is an outrageous act," he said
in a statement.
Boutimar and Hassanpour, who are cousins, were in
July sentenced to death by an Iranian Revolutionary
court.www.ekurd.net
They wrote for the
Kurdish-Farsi news magazine Asu (Waves) which was
closed by the Iranian authorities in August 2005
following widespread unrest in Kurdish areas.
Hassanpour is as an advocate of cultural rights for
Iranian Kurds and Boutimar is an environmental
activist.
Two Italian rights groups, Article 21 and
Information, Safety & Freedom have petitioned the
Italian government and the European Union to
intervene on their behalf.
Proceedings before Revolutionary Courts in Iran do
not meet international standards for fair trial,
according to campaign group Amnesty International.
adnkronos com
Sign the petition on behalf of
the journalists who have been sentenced to death in
Iran
Iranian Kurdistan
**
Iranian Kurdistan (Kurdish: Kurdistana Îranę or
Kurdistana Rojhilat (Eastern Kurdistan) or Rojhilatę
Kurdistan (East of Kurdistan)) is an unofficial name
for the parts of Iran inhabited by Kurds and has
borders with Iraq and Turkey. It includes the
greater parts of West Azerbaijan province, Kurdistan
Province, Kermanshah Province, and Ilam Province.
Kurds form the majority of the population of this
region with an estimated population of 4 million.
The region is the eastern part of the greater
cultural-geographical area called Kurdistan.
More about Iranian Kurdistan
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