Tag Archives: nazanin afshin-jam

CNN interview with Nazanin about Wall of Shame rally

The President of Iran will have to get past the Ahmadinejad Wall of Shame – a visual display and demonstration across the United Nations Headquarters- before entering the opening of the General Assembly. Time: 12-2pm Date: September 23rd, 2008 Location: UN Headquarter New York Dag Hammarskjold Plaza (47th St. & 2nd Ave.) Groups and individuals participating in the Wall of Shame demonstration include those who have faced oppression under the current regime such as women under gender apartheid, students who have been imprisoned and tortured and ethnic and religious minorities who have been persecuted. Focus will also be given to other human rights atrocities in Iran including stoning to death, dismembering of limbs, and throwing people from heights as methods of punishment. Stop Child Executions invites all media and the general public to join this demonstration for Human Rights. SCE will release the latest list of minors facing the death penalty, and an 8 part plan of recommendations addressed to Iran’s heads of state, Parliament, Judiciary , United Nations and international community which will also be made available on the https://www.stopchildexecutions.com/ website following the rally. For more information contact info@nazanin.ca. For an interview with Nazanin Afshin-Jam please contact Leslie Taylor at Big Machine Media at 212-572-0760 or leslie@bigmachinemedia.com.

Nazanin Afshin-Jam’s speach in NY – Monday

““Change in Iran will not come through war and bombs; that’s exactly what Ahmadinejad wants. Change will only come from a revolt by the Iranian people, backed by the West, which needs to cry out today on behalf of these children and against Iran’s violation of human rights.”   Nazanin Afshin-Jam

Following is a part of speech by Nazanin Afshin-Jam at a rally in front of the United Nations on September 22, 2008 :

SCE “Wall of Shame” rally TODAY 12:00 NOON at UN

PRESS RELEASE 

President Ahmadinejad Will Face “Wall of Shame” at the UN Headquarters via Stop Child Executions

NEW YORK, NY, Sep 11, 2008  –  The President of Iran will have to get past the “Ahmadinejad Wall of Shame” — a visual display and demonstration across the United Nations Headquarters — before entering the opening of the General Assembly.

The rally will run from 12-2pm on September 23rd at Dag Hammarskjold Plaza (47th St. & 2nd Ave.) and feature Iranian/American groups each directly challenging Ahmadinejad on the surge in human rights abuses in Iran.
Organizing the event, Nazanin Afshin-Jam, an international human rights activist and former Miss World Canada, will lead off the line up of the “Wall of Shame” by asking: “Ahmadinejad why are you executing children?”
Nazanin’s actions on behalf of the children on death row in Iran began when she was told of a young girl on her namesake that was going to be executed for stabbing one of three men who attempted to rape her. Nazanin was instrumental in saving this girl and since then has been dedicated to saving more lives.
“There has been 6 children hanged this year alone in Iran and over 130 children on death row awaiting execution,” said Nazanin Afshin-Jam, President and co-founder of the Stop Child Executions (SCE) organization.
“While the UN legitimizes Ahmadinejad as the leader of Iran by having the door open to him at the General Assembly, the Iranian people feel betrayed by the false representation. In face of the west’s obsession with Iran’s nuclear development, the voices of the Iranian people have been stifled and human rights abuses have been overshadowed. This ‘Wall of Shame’ demonstration is hoping to give a ‘voice to the voiceless’ and address the concerns of the vast majority of Iranian people who believe in a united, secular, democratic Iran based on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and no military intervention on Iran,” said Nazanin.
Groups and individuals participating in the “Wall of Shame” demonstration include those who have faced oppression under the current regime such as women under gender apartheid, students who have been imprisoned and tortured and ethnic and religious minorities who have been persecuted. Focus will also be given to other human rights atrocities in Iran including stoning to death, dismembering of limbs, and throwing people from heights as methods of punishment.
Nazanin states, “The government of Iran cannot on the one hand expect the international community to trust its leaders with nuclear energy while it openly disregards the most basic internationally recognized child rights conventions such as the UN’s International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the Charter of the Rights of the Child (CRC) to which it is state party.”
Stop Child Executions invites all media and the general public to join this demonstration for Human Rights. SCE will release the latest list of minors facing the death penalty, and an 8 part plan of recommendations addressed to Iran’s heads of state, Parliament, Judiciary, United Nations and international community which will also be made available on the https://www.stopchildexecutions.com/ website following the rally.
For Further information or an interview with Nazanin Afshin-Jam please contact Leslie Taylor at Big Machine Media at 212-572-0760 or leslie@bigmachinemedia.com.
Stop Child Executions is the leading organization providing information and updates on the situation of minors on death row in Iran. It is a volunteer based, independent, non-political human rights group whose aim is to put a permanent end to child executions in Iran and abroad. https://www.stopchildexecutions.com/
Contact:



Leslie Taylor



Big Machine Media



212-572-0760



Email Contact



«ديوار شرم» در انتظار احمدی نژاد

رادیو فردا

مقام های جمهوری اسلامی ایران اعلام کرده اند که محمود احمدی نژاد، رييس جمهوری، قرار است که روز دوم مهر در مجمع عمومی سازمان ملل متحد سخنرانی کند. این سومین بار خواهد که آقای احمدی نژاد در دوران ریاست جمهوری خود به مقر سازمان ملل سفر کرده و در مجمع عمومی سخنرانی خواهد کرد. در همین حال برخی از فعالان مدنی و مخالف با اعدام افرادی که زیر سن ۱۸ سالگی مرتکب جرم شده اند می گویند که در تدارک برگزاری تظاهراتی تحت عنوان «ديوار شرم» عليه محمود احمدی نژاد همزمان با سفر او به نیویورک هستند.

در همين زمینه، نازنین افشین جم، ملکه زيبايی سابق کانادا و فعال حقوق بشر، اعلام کرده است که با «ديوار شرم» در انتظار محمود احمدی نژاد است. وی با انتشار بیانیه ای گفت که «ديوار شرم» برای «دفاع از حقوق پايمال شده کودکان و تمامی ايرانيانی که صدايشان شنيده نمی شود» و در

به گفته نازنين افشار جم، در اقدام اعتراضی «ديوار شرم»، نمايندگانی از زنان ايرانی که مورد تبعيض جنسيتی قرار گرفته اند، دانشجويانی که زندانی و شکنجه شده اند، و نيز نمايندگان اقليت های قومی و مذهبی ايران که مورد سرکوبگری قرار دارند، مشارکت خواهند داشت. «وی گفت که در اين اقدام به «فجايعی که در زمينه حقوق بشر در ايران می گذرد، مانند سنگسار، قطع اعضای بدن، اعدام از طريق پرتاب از بلندی» اعتراض خواهد شد.

اين در حالی است که مجلس شورای اسلامی در روزهای اخير لايحه «مجازات اسلامی» را مورد تصويب قرار داد، که در صورت تصويب شدن از سوی شورای نگهبان، اين گونه مجازات ها را رسميت بيشتری خواهد بخشيد. وی گفت: «درحالی که توجه غرب تنها معطوف به برنامه های هسته ای جمهوری اسلامی است، اساسی ترين حقوق فردی ايرانيان پايمال می شود و صدای مردم ايران سرکوب شده است.» نازنين افشين جم گفت: «حکومت ايران نمی تواند از يک سو انتظار داشته باشد که جامعه جهانی به اهدافش در طرح های هسته ای اعتماد کند، ولی از سوی ديگر، منشور حقوق کودک را که از سوی تمامی جهانيان به رسميت شناخته شده، و ايران نيز عضو آن است، به طور گسترده پايمال کند و حقوق اساسی و آزادی های سياسی مردم ايران را مورد بی حرمتی قرار دهد.»

خانم افشين جم افزود: می کوشد که «صدای بی صدايان» باشد، و تاکيد می کند که «صدای اکثريت ايرانيانی است که به منشور حقوق بشر پايبند هستند و نظامی مردم سالار و لائيک می خواهند و در عين حال، با  مداخله نظامی در ايران مخالفند.» نازنين افشين جم در سال ۱۳۵۸ خورشيدی در ايران به دنيا آمد و هنگامی که هنوز يکساله نشده بود، خانواده اش از ايران مهاجرت کردند. او در سال ۲۰۰۳  با رسيدن به مقام ملکه زيبايی کانادا به شهرت بين المللی دست يافت و همزمان، ايرانيان درون ايران و ميليون ها ايرانی پراکنده در جهان نيز برای نخستين بار با نام او آشنا شدند. خانم افشين جم در آن سال در مسابقات ملکه زيبايی جهان به مقام دوم رسيد و نايب ملکه زيبايی دنيا شد.

تمرکز بر «نقض حقوق بشر» در ایران

او در سال های اخير با بهره گيری از شهرت و توجه بين المللی به زيبايی اش، به پيشبرد حقوق پايمال شده ايرانيان درون ايران اهتمام زيادی نشان داده و ترانه هایی را نيز در آلبوم های خود به اين امر اختصاص داده است. نازنين افشين جم در ترانه مشهور خود به زبان انگليسی به نام «يک روز» از آرزويش برای رسيدن به صلح و رعايت حرمت انسانی در ايران سخن می گويد. وی هنگامی به فعاليت های سياسی و حقوق بشری خود جنبه بين المللی بخشيد که  به او خبر دادند دختری جوان در ايران که مورد تجاوز جنسی قرار گرفته بود، در آستانه سنگسار قرار دارد.  سرانجام، فعاليت های بين المللی نازنين افشين جم توانست موجب لغو حکم مرگ نازنين فاتحی شود. خانم افشين جم با خرسندی از اين موفقيت، تلاش های حقوق بشری خود را دنبال کرد، و تمامی توجه خود را به آشنا کردن جهانيان با اعدام جوانانی در ايران معطوف کرد که به دليل ارتکاب جرايمی در سنين کودکی، اعدام می شوند. وی در اين خصوص اخيرا در اروپا رشته تظاهراتی برگزار کرد و در برابر مقر سازمان عفو بين الملل به اعتراض برخاست.

خانم افشين جم تاکيد دارد که می خواهد ازاعدام ديگر کودکانی که در ايران در آستانه اعدام هستند، جلوگيری کند. نازنين افشين جم  يادآور شده است که تنها از آغاز سال ۲۰۰۸ ميلادی بدين سو، طبق آمار رسمی مقامات ايرانی، شش جوان به اتهام قتل هايی که در سنين کودکی مرتکب شدند، پای چوبه دار رفته اند.  وی يادآوری کرده است که «بيش از ۱۳۰ نوجوان ديگر حکم اعدام گرفته اند» و «پرنده مرگ بر فراز سر آنها  پرواز می کند.»

خانم شيرين عبادی، برنده جايزه صلح نوبل، و ساير فعالان حقوق بشر در ايران نيز می گويند اين نوجوانان هنگامی که به هیجده سالگی می رسند، اعدام می شوند. اين در حالی است که مواردی از اعدام آنان در سنين زير هیجده سالگی نيز ثبت شده است که يک نمونه آن، اعدام يک نوجوان کرد در ماه های اخير بود که طبق شناسنامه اش هنوز هفده سال داشت. در عين حال، دو جوان در هفته های گذشته به اتهام قتلی که در زمان نوجوانی انجام داده بودند، به رغم قول مسئولان قوه قضاييه، بدون حضور وکيل مدافع و حتی بدون آگاهی خانواده شان اعدام شدند.

نازنين افشين جم برای نجات جان اين محکوم شدگان به اعدام در ايران، بنيادی را با نام «اعدام کودکان را متوقف کنيد» تاسيس کرده است.

خيابان اصلی مقر سازمان ملل متحد در انتظار رييس جمهوری اسلامی ايران خواهد بود. محمود احمدی نژاد برای رسيدن به ساختمان سازمان ملل متحد بايد از اين خیابان عبور کند.

Getting to know NAZANIN :Co-founder & President of SCE

Join Nazanin Afshin-Jam at the UN headquarter in New York between 12-2pm on September 23rd at Dag Hammarskjold Plaza (47th St. & 2nd Ave.) and challenge Iran’s president Ahmadinejad on the human rights abuses in Iran. For more information about the rally visit: http://scenews.blog.com/3849157/

Get to know Nazanin :

Nazanin in solidarity Rally as Olympic begins

Epoch Times – August 9, 2008

Nazanin asks rally attendees to wave at a chinese embassy
official who was filming the event from the embassy window.

Ottawa
—Diverse groups whose members are suffering oppression in China are rallying together to call for an end to the Chinese regime’s human rights violations as the Olympic Games begin. Members of the Uyghur, Darfurian, Tibetan, Vietnamese, Taiwanese, Burmese, and Falun Gong communities joined Reporters without Borders and leading politicians and activists at a protest in front of the Chinese embassy in Ottawa on August 7.

“We’re gathered here today to show solidarity with the people of China. We stand behind their human rights,” said rally host Nazanin Afshin-Jam, a former Miss World Canada and president and co-founder of the Stop Child Executions organization. 

The groups demanded that China honour its promise to respect human rights, a condition upon which it was awarded the Games in 2001.

They also called on the world’s governments to pressure the Chinese regime to live up to its promises. “Those now in Beijing should insist that the host honour its commitments,” said former Secretary of State for Asia-Pacific David Kilgour.

“They should ask for the release of imprisoned Chinese journalists, the remaining Tiananmen prisoners, those jailed for peaceful Olympic criticism, and an end to the persecution of the Falun Gong community,” he said, adding that “human rights across China—already among the most systematically violated — have deteriorated further over the past year.”

‘Their Deeds Mock Their Words’

The rally followed a press conference on Parliament Hill where Liberal MP and former Minister of Justice Irwin Cotler released a report identifying 11 key areas of human rights violations in China. 

Included among these were the regime’s crackdown on Tibetans, Falun Gong practitioners and other persecuted groups, the death penalty, suppression of the press and its support for the violent regimes of Darfur, Zimbabwe, Burma, and Nepal. 

Mr. Cotler protested the awarding of the games to China seven years ago.

“I said, we should not be rewarding a culture of impunity,” he said. “When the games were awarded, the Chinese government said, we will respect human rights, we will respect media freedom, and as they put it, ‘we will translate these words into deeds.’ Well, seven years later, their deeds mock their words.”


Abuses Needing Media Attention

While the speakers decried the awarding of the games to the Chinese regime, many also saw the Olympics as an opportunity to shine a spotlight on its human rights abuses.

“Everything has gone wrong for them and maybe it’s a blessing in disguise. I think now a lot of people are seeing the true state of the Chinese state in China,” said Mr. Kilgour in an interview following the rally. 

Mr. Kilgour and Winnipeg-based international human rights lawyer David Matas co-authored an independent report on the regime’s systematic organ harvesting of Falun Gong practitioners.

Mr. Kilgour also condemned China’s forced labour camps in which prisoners of conscience are jailed without trial and forced to work 16-hour days with little food and no pay creating products that range from chopsticks to Christmas decorations.

He particularly noted recent reports that well-known lawyer Gao Zhisheng is suffering torture in Chinese custody. Mr. Gao has strongly and publicly spoken out on behalf of many oppressed groups in China. 

“David Matas and I nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize. He is one the bravest human beings on this earth and he is being tortured, I gather, right now,” said Mr. Kilgour.

Pamela McLennan of the Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong said her organization has published a reporters’ guide to Beijing’s labour camps. It includes directions, contact information, and prisoners’ profiles of some of China’s most infamous labour camps near Olympic venues.

Thousands of Falun Gong practitioners are unlawfully detained in these camps for their spiritual belief, she said.

‘Create a New Reality’

Kevin McLeod, director of Canadian Friends of Burma, said the military regime in Burma “can’t continue to do their oppression without support of allies like China, Russia, and India.” He called on Canadians and multi-national corporations to know where their investments are going when they invest in regimes like Burma and China.

Kalbinur Semseddin of the Uyghur Canadian Association noted that her people are under the control of China and “there is no human rights, no religious freedom, no chance to learn our own languages.” She urged Canada to help Uyghur-Canadian Huseyin Celil, who has been imprisoned in China since March 2006.

Johannes Sawassi, who is writing a book on Darfur, said that in Darfur the Chinese regime is “arming a certain group in order to get rich from the other group” and “90 per cent are suffering because of your mistreatment.”

“The Chinese communist regime has more than 1,300 missiles pointed at Taiwan,” said Mr. Chen of the Taiwanese-Canadian Association about the regime’s aggression toward Taiwan.

RWB executive director Katherine Borlongan said, “Reporters without Borders has been asking for liberations and we put emphasis on Olympic prisoners…. the journalists, human rights activists and cyber dissidents that are behind bars.”

Beryl Wajsman, president of the Institute for Public Affairs of Montreal, called on Canadians to stand up against oppression and join the “wave of freedom.

Words make reality. Actions like this create a new reality… And just as the Wall came down in Berlin, so will all walls come down,” he said.

We will not be silent, we will not be indifferent, we will continue, we will be relentless in raising our voice and acting in the pursuit of freedom for all,” said Mr. Cotler

Nazanin: “China Olympics, a blessing in disguise”

” journalists are finally seeing just how restrictive the satellites are… “

Epoch Times
OTTAWA—On the eve of the Beijing Olympics, Liberal MP Irwin Cotler released a report that highly criticizes China’s ongoing human rights abuses despite promising to make improvements when awarded the Games in 2001.

“What we are witnessing today in China is a persistent and pervasive assault on human rights — a betrayal of the Olympic Charter, the modern Olympic movement, and China’s pledge to respect both,” said Mr. Cotler at a press conference on Parliament Hill.

The report identifies 11 key areas of human rights violations by the Chinese regime. They include Tibetans, Falun Gong practitioners and other persecuted groups; the crackdown on press freedom; mistreatment of prisoners; the death penalty; and complicity in genocide and rights abuses in countries such as Darfur, Zimbabwe, Burma, and Nepal.

“China undertook, in their words, to respect human rights, to respect media freedom, and then they added, ‘we will translate these words into deeds,’” Mr. Cotler said at an interview following the press conference. “Yet seven years later, the deeds mock the words.”

Mr. Cotler urged foreign governments to “speak up and speak out” and in particular asked world leaders attending the Beijing Olympics to call publicly for the release of political prisoners.

His report includes names of specific prisoners and makes recommendations with respect to each category.


“It concludes both with the need to hold China to account to end the culture of impunity, and to secure the promises that China originally gave that it would have press freedom and advance the cause of human rights,” said Mr. Cotler

At the press conference he was accompanied by former Secretary of State for Asia-Pacific David Kilgour, international human rights activist and Miss World Canada 2003 Nazanin Afshin-Jam, and Beryl Wajsman, president of the Institute for Public Affairs of Montreal.

Mr. Cotler is a former Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada and currently the Official Opposition Human Rights Critic. He noted that “there is an inter-relationship between trade and human rights and we cannot proceed in terms of business as usual.”  Mr. Cotler added that “we can’t just be sending trade missions — we should be sending human rights missions to China as well.”

After the press conference the speakers joined a demonstration at the Chinese embassy that drew over 250 people, including representatives from Reporters without Borders and the Uyghur, Dafrurian, Tibetan, Vietnamese, Taiwanese, Burmese, and Falun Gong communities.

“It’s been close to my heart to try to help all the oppressed in the world,” said Ms. Afshin-Jam, whose idea it was to hold the event. “We decided to organize an event here in our capital to show Canadian people’s solidarity for the people of China. Simultaneously around the world other groups are gathering at various Chinese embassies and other meeting points.”

This event shows the government of China that “unlike other protests this is a protest that is bringing diverse groups together to speak with one single voice,” said Dermod Travis, CTC’s executive director.

Ms. Afshin-Jam said she is seeing the Olympics as a “blessing in disguise. “Our journalists are finally seeing just how restrictive the satellites are… This will get our journalists to spread the message and put more pressure on the Chinese government to make change.”

Pamela McLennan of the Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong noted that her organization has provided a journalists’ guide to forced labour camps near Olympic venues where thousands of Falun Gong adherents are incarcerated for their belief. She encouraged international journalists attending the games to investigate human rights abuses in China. 

( SCE: Nazanin invited Chinese Ambassador Lu Shumin to speak to the crowd. There was no response. “I didn’t expect anyone from the embassy to come out,” said Nazanin Afshin-Jam ) 

Nazanin speaking at demonstration in front of chinese embassy

Attention News/Assignment Editors:

Reporters Without Borders calls for a demonstration in front of the Chinese embassy in Ottawa on Thursday August 7

MONTREAL, Aug. 6 /CNW Telbec/ – Reporters Without Borders isco-organizing a demonstration in front of the Chinese embassy on August 7.Reporters Without Borders will be taking part in many other demonstrationsaround the world on August 7 and 8. Peaceful rallies will be held in London, Madrid, Berlin, Rome, Washington, Stockholm and Lausanne . For those who willnot be able to make it all the way to these cities, we are also calling onInternet users to join us for a cyber-demonstration on

www.rsfbeijing2008.org.Internet users from all over the world will have the opportunity to protestoutside a virtual version of Beijing’s Olympic Stadium, waving a placard withthe slogan of their choice. The aim of demonstration in Ottawa is to call for the release of imprisoned Chinese journalists and human rights activists. We will also bedemanding China to put an end to the harassment and permanent surveillance ofjournalists. When Beijing was designated as host-city for the 2008 SummerOlympic Games, China made solemn promises to improve the situation of humanrights. Unfortunately, no significant improvement has been observed over thepast seven years. Various renowned speakers will be present at the event, including Katherine Borlongan (Secretary General of Reporters Without Borders Canada),Nazanin Afshin-Jam (former Miss Canada and Miss World 1st runner up), DavidKilgour (Secretary of state Asia-Pacific), Irwin Cotler (former Minister ofJustice), Beryl Wajsman (editor-in-chief for the Suburban),Scott Reid (DeputyLeader of the Government in the House of Commons), as wellas Kevin McLeod(co-director of the Canadian Friends of Burma) and Thubten Samdup(representative of the Tibetan Government in exile). A few hours before the opening ceremony of the Olympics, ReportersWithout Borders remains resolutely mobilized and continues to remind Chinaof its promises. China got “their” Olympics ; it is now time for the country to show the world that it can keep their promises and stop violating human rights. The demonstration will take place: on Thursday August 7 at noon in front of the Chinese embassy (515 Saint-Patrick Street) For further information: Damien Bizot, (514) 521-4111 (Wednesday, August6), (514) 258-4208 (Thursday, August 7), rsfcanada4@rsf.org

Nazanin Afshin-Jam in UK

                                                

Nazanin Afshin-Jam was invited by CIS(UK) for a series of events and meetings, from 6th July to 11th July 2008, to highlight the Human Rights abuses in the Islamic Republic of Iran and solicit the international public support for the pro-democracy movement inside Iran.

The highlight of her visit was a speech in the House of Commons on 8th July, which coincided with the 9th anniversary of the student uprising in Iran.