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Re: Petition by some Iranian lawyers for Iran's Presidential Election, 2009
Attn: The Secretary General of the United Nations
CC: Heads of all UN member states
Dear Mr. Ban Ki-moon,
We, a group of Iranian lawyers and others undersigned, regret to inform Your Excellency that, on the basis of substantial evidence, an extensive electoral fraud has been committed by Mr. Ahmadinejad, the present President of Iran, and his confederates. The evidence includes, but is not limited to, reliable reports by some election monitors and many individuals, results of a number of independent opinion surveys before and during the elections, a sizeable number of photos and videos, and other documents.
Presently (at the time of writing this petition, June 24, 2009), the Ahmadinejad administration, with the complicity of military and secret police forces, have disconnected all communications such as cell phones and Internet services, suppressed many opposition groups and their newspapers and websites, and launched a wave of assaults upon and arrests of dissidents. Although coercive suppression is not unprecedented in Iran, this time its extent is unbelievably vast. We have to ask why these measures are necessary, especially if, as the regime suggests, it has won a large victory. Surely this degree of coercion shows the exact opposite, namely, that it lost.
The people's right to determine their destiny, along with other legitimate and fundamental rights of the Iranians, have been trampled in a manner and degree rarely before seen in this country. The people are under the fiercest suppression by military and secret police forces.
We, a group of Iranian lawyers, and also the undersigned whose number will increase should the people in Iran have access to Internet, on the strength of:
- human rights laws stipulated in a number of major international instruments,
- the principle of a state's responsibility to protect its citizens and their fundamental human rights,
- the missions and mandates of the United Nations led by you as the Secretary General, and
- in light of the lack of will on the part of Iranian officials, such as the executive and judiciary, to honour their legal obligations derived from domestic and international laws,
respectfully but firmly petition for a solemn condemnation of the fraud in the recent election, and of the coercive suppression of the Iranian people by the government.
We also cordially invite heads of all states not to recognize Ahmadinejad's illegitimate and illegal Administration, and to consider severance of diplomatic relations with the Administration.
We urge all the world to fully support the disfranchised Iranian people against the illegitimate and illegal Ahmadinejad Administration.
With due respect,
A group of Iranian lawyers, and the other undersigned
