Letter from 350 artists and cultural activists in support of Aras Amiri
A group of Iranian artists, writers, and cultural activists wrote a letter to the heads of the three branches of government calling for a review of the sentence of Aras Amiri Larijani, a student imprisoned at Kingston University in Iran.
More than 350 Iranian artists, writers, and cultural activists wrote a letter to members of parliament, Ebrahim Raisi, Hassan Rouhani, Ali Larijani, and the heads of the judiciary, executive, and legislative branches of Iran, calling for a review of Aras Amiri Larijani's 10-year prison sentence.
Aras Amiri Larijani, a master's student in the "Philosophy of Art" program at Kingston University in the United Kingdom, was arrested on March 13, 2017, while traveling to Iran to visit his family, on charges of "acting against national security" and was temporarily released on bail of 500 million Tomans in June 2018. He was arrested again in September 2018 and sentenced to ten years in prison in May 2019.
According to a letter published on the Facebook page of Mohsen Omrani, a close associate of Aras Amiri, she is described as a "promising" young woman who "has made and continues to make a significant contribution to remembering the history and culture of this country and respecting it among the people of the world by presenting Iranian art and culture in the international arena."
Aras Amiri, who previously complained about his 10-year prison sentence in a letter to Ebrahim Raisi, writes that the reason for his arrest was his job at the British Council, which had an official office in Iran until 2008.
He says that after six years of studying in the UK, he applied for the position of Iran's artistic director at the British Council through a job advertisement and was a regular employee at the institution.
Amiri wrote that his defenses were never heard; that he only has Iranian citizenship, that he did not have access to confidential and classified information, and that he merely had ideas for artistic programs that were never implemented: "The country's judicial system must determine which crime I committed under this article, namely forming or managing which group, group or organization? The British Council or the Iranian branch of the British Council?"
He also writes that he was sentenced to 10 years in prison after rejecting the security agencies' explicit request for cooperation.
The letter, signed by more than 350 art activists, including well-known artists such as Hedieh Tehrani, a film actress, Esmail Khoei, a poet, and Mehdi Zare, a writer, states that the signatories of the letter called for support for art in Iran and “support for art and all those” who “love it and play a role in recognizing and introducing it.”
It continues: "People like Aras Amiri, who introduce Iranian art to the people of the world, deserve support and appreciation, not imprisonment, slander, and deprivation."
The authors of the letter have called for Aras Amiri's prison sentence to be reconsidered "so that, while supporting Iran's cultural and artistic community and its members inside and outside the country, there will be a basis for "encouragement and enthusiasm among those" who "each believes they have a role to play in introducing and preserving the values, customs, and art of this land."
Aras Amiri wrote in a letter to Ebrahim Raisi that the British Council is a 100% government institution that was established 85 years ago, and its Iran-related section is 77 years old: "It is not clear on what basis, logic, and legal reasoning I was introduced as the founder or administrator of an institution that was active more than 50 years before my birth, and my activity in this British government institution is considered an example of the crime under Article 498 of the Islamic Penal Code?"
He called on the head of Iran's judiciary to "investigate and pursue the illegal actions and insults against him and his family."
Source: DW
