Thursday, January 14, 2010

An interview with Parvin Mokhtareh, Kouhyar Goudarzi’s mother


Committee of Human Rights Reporters- Kouhyar Goudarzi is one of the leading activists in the opposition movements against death penalty in Iran, in particular that of juvenile offenders. He has made significant efforts in acquiring forgiveness for juvenile offenders, from the family of the slain, whom otherwise would have faced execution based on Sharia Law. Furthermore by raising public awareness on such issue, he has attempted to reduce the rate of such executions in Iran In November due to pressures from the Iranian government security forces, he was expelled from the Sanati Sharif University, where he was enrolled in aerospace engineering program. Also a human rights activist and semi-professional journalist, Kouhyar, had been a member of the Islamic association of the Sharif University; the former editor of the Committee of Human Rights Reporters (CHRR); one of the producers of Zamane radio and a member of the human rights committee of Advar Tahkim Vahdat organization. In a meeting with Parvin Mokhtareh, Kouhyar’s mother and also a members of the CHRR, she expressed grave concerns over her child’s captivity at block 209 of Evin Prison (1). Parvin Mokhtareh said:

“I have brought up my only child be a chess player at the age of six, attend gifted schools, become the editor of his school’s newspaper, gain his journalism degree by the age of sixteen and to achieve four hundredth place in the national post-secondary admission test (Konkoor). In a society where foolishness is nurtured over wisdom, it’s not a surprise that my son is being expelled from school and taken to prison. However, people should know that our children are no longer willing to blindly abide with what is dictated to them. It makes me sad that I have to hear news of only child’s arrest from Farda radio (2). Although it’s no surprise for our (State) media, where people’s suicide is referred to as an “unreasonable acts”, to hide news of such nature.” “The grand poet Sohrab Sepehri, who was a man in love with humanity, peace and nature says: In this land though our intellect is undesirable, our mothers are the opposite. I bow to my knees in front of mothers who are going through hardships and I am sure that Kouhyar is not alone in his cell. In a country where our children are snatched away from us and everyone is dealing with an inflicted sorrow, such life of suffering is no different than that experienced by our prisoners.”

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