Tuesday, January 09, 2007

Go Nazanin Afshin-Jam!


Here's some of the latest coverage of Former Miss World Canada, Nazanin Afshin-Jam's (pictured) campaign to save the life of Nazanin Fatehi. The retrial will happen TONIGHT (for the Western Hemisphere, Wednesday local time).

On Wednesday, both women will find out if Fatehi will live or die.
"She is always with me," Afshin-Jam said yesterday. "She is always on my mind. I've been nervous about this for the last 10 months."
The pageant winner and pop singer learned Fatehi's story last winter when she was contacted by a stranger who thought it was interesting the two shared a name.
Before that, Afshin-Jam had never heard of Fatehi, who was sentenced Jan. 3, 2006, to hang after admitting she stabbed to death one of three men who tried to rape her and a 16-year-old niece. Fatehi was 17 at the time.
"When I learned Nazanin's story I was horrified," said Afshin-Jam, 26. "I couldn't get it out of my mind. I felt I had to do something."
Using her fame as Miss World Canada and knowledge gained through an international relations degree, Afshin-Jam started a petition to save Nazanin. So far, she has collected more than 232,000 signatures, which have been delivered to the Iranian government.
She has also visited Ottawa and the United Nations headquarters in New York, asking politicians to put political pressure on Iran to stop the execution.
In June, Fatehi's death sentence was stayed and a retrial ordered. The second trial is scheduled to end Wednesday in Tehran.
"This isn't just about Nazanin," said Afshin-Jam, whose family left Iran when she was two years old. "This is about the right for all people to have a fair trial. It's something that affects us all as human beings."
If Fatehi had allowed the men to rape her, she would have been given 100 lashes under Iranian law. If she had been married at the time, she could have been found guilty of adultery and sentenced to death by stoning. "It's a double-edged sword," said Afshin-Jam. "Women [in Iran] have no option . . . I feel like I need to be a voice for those who don't have a voice."


Read the rest here.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Nazanin is truly a hero for her work. Beauty, brains and purpose, what a combination.