19 July 2007

use 60 seconds to make repreive for 18 year old iranian flautist sina paymard permanent...

i have good news to share with you all, and yes, i am going to ask you to use 60 seconds of your busy life to take an on-line action...the execution of 18-year-old sina paymard, which was planned to take place on 17 july, has been postponed...sina was sentenced to death in iran for a crime committed when he was just 16 years old...

we have a very reliable and accurate investigation network (sort of like a global veronica mars) and according to reports, paymard had been moved from reja'i shahr prison in karaj to tehran's evin prison for his execution to be carried out on 17 july...

however - and this is the good news - paymard's lawyer, human rights defender nasrin sotudeh, has reported that he was not executed, and his family have been given 10 days to reach a financial settlement with the victim's kin...if the money (blood money - weird, huh?) is not raised, then sina is likely to be executed...

now check this out - sina paymard, a musician, was originally due to be executed in september last year for murder...on the gallows, sina's last request was to play the ney (a middle eastern flute) just one more time...

the family of the victim were so moved by his playing that they granted him a last-minute reprieve...they asked for 150 million toumans (over u.s. $160,000) as compensation instead...sina's family have, so far, been unable to raise the full amount...

anyhoo, this temporary reprieve gives activists (that's YOU - really!) more time to campaign for sina paymard's life to be saved - take action to stop the execution (on amnesty international's u.k. section's website).

for further backstory information, please see: iran: execution of child offender imminent

peace out <3

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