Culture Action Europe wants to bring your attention a petition furthered by members of the Art Rights and Justice (ARJ) working group.
For more information on ARJ, please see : http://cultureactioneurope.org/milestone/arj-arts-rights-justice/
In January 2016, a petition was initiated expressing concern on the imprisonment and sentencing of two Iranian musicians (Mehdi Rajabian and Emadi) and a filmmaker (Hossein Rajabian, brother of Mehdi Rajabian). All three artists were allegedly charged for “insulting the sacred” as well as for “propaganda against the state” through the production and promotion of underground music. They were also fined 200 million tomans (about €60 000) each.
A letter was sent to Ayatollah Sadeq Larijani (Office of the Head of the Judiciary), Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran), Hassan Rouhani (President of the Islamic Republic of Iran), the Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations, as well as the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Copenhagen.
The petition was signed by the following 16 members of the ARJ group:
We, at Culture Action Europe, will keep you updated on the outcome of this operation and others carried in defense of freedom of expression, political pluralism and artistic diversity.
