Human rights organization files complaint against Iran to UN for arresting and pressuring Shaparak Shajarizadeh
The New York-based Human Rights Foundation has filed a complaint with the United Nations against the arrest of Iranian women's rights activist Shaparak Shajarizadeh.
In a statement released on Thursday, the foundation said it had submitted its complaint to the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and called for an official investigation into the arrest and conviction of the women's rights activist.
Ms. Shajarizadeh was arrested in Tehran on February 20 of this year and then transferred to the “Ministers’ Detention Center.” The Human Rights Foundation says Ms. Shajarizadeh’s arrest violates several articles of the “Universal Declaration of Human Rights” and the “International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.”
Earlier, a court in Tehran sentenced Ms. Shajarizadeh, 43, to two years in prison, suspended for 18 years, for removing her hijab in public. She has now left Iran.
The Human Rights Foundation says that he was subjected to severe beatings and interrogations during his detention because he denied the accusation of being a "Western spy." In addition, in the Wazira detention center, authorities forcibly injected him with an unknown substance.
The legal advisor to the Human Rights Foundation has stated that Ms. Shajarizadeh's deprivation of liberty was the result of her peaceful activism against compulsory hijab in Iran, and as a result, this conviction is contrary to international law.
The foundation's past complaints against other countries have resulted in the foundation's opinion being upheld and a request for compensation issued under international law.
Source: Voice of America
