Dear Mr Pres @BarackObama @Whitehouse @CNNIranDesk @SenJohnMcCain @Epersian_Radio @UNIC @BBC #Iranelection

Dear President Obama, Distinguished Members of the United States House and Senate, H.E. Navi Pillay and Deputy Director Craig Mokhiber OHCHR, High Commissioner Antonio Guterres UNHCR, respected members of human rights groups and news bureaus, members of the United Nations and the government of Turkey,


We would like to bring to everyone's attention some issues concerning Iran human rights and asylum seekers/refugees.

Since June of 2009, the world has witnessed the extreme violations of the 30 fundamental human rights that occurred in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Most of us know these violations existed for years prior to the 2009 presidential election in Iran. All of you seemingly did the right things by condemning the violence in the aftermath of the election, and we applaud you for your efforts.


Senators McCain, Bob Casey and others brought forth legislation to help the Iranian people. H.E. Ban Ki-moon made statements in support of the Iranian people, as did H.E. Navi Pillay. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, who condemned the violence, as did many others.


To get to the point, everyone we have addressed in this letter has played some part in addressing this issue. Many more have stood up in defense of the Iranian people and made their message clear, including Britain, France, Germany, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Denmark, etc. There seems to be little we can do for those who are imprisoned, or the Iranians fighting for Freedom and Democracy right now except to show solidarity and support for them in their present circumstances. Through the arrests, beatings, imprisonment, torture and even executions, you have all stood firm on your condemnations of these acts. The problem is, where you can really physically show support and actually help the Iranian people, you have not done so. Why then should they believe or trust you?


If you really want to help the Iranian people, then start with the ones that you can help. Show them that the words spoken in Washington, DC, France, Germany and Geneva are more than just words.


There are currently over 5,000 Iranian refugees in Turkey, maybe more. We don't know how many for sure because trying to get information out of the UNHCR is almost impossible. Human rights workers and special groups that want to help have their hands tied. Why, you ask? We don't know why because we can't get an answer from the UN, UNHCR, the U.S. Embassy or UNHCR in Turkey, the U.S. State Department, ICE, FBI, I.N.S., Homeland Security or any of the various other agencies we have been transferred to with each agency saying, "That isn't our job, call this person."


Yesterday our Director spent 6 hours getting transferred around every government office in the USA trying to get information for a victim of the most extreme torture you can imagine at the hands of the staff of Evin Prison. The victim is currently seeking refuge in Canada and/or the USA. The victim is scared, under extreme emotional distress, under a doctor's care and has been in Turkey for over 8 months waiting to get a status from the UNHCR so that one of the two countries mentioned will accept her.

This is the second case of this nature we have been involved in. We got the run around back in November working with another victim of the regime who was even tracked to Turkey and after nightfall, had three IRI persons try to break into the apartment where he was staying. Luckily, he is now safe here in the United States after efforts to have his case expedited were successful. Our second victim is not safe yet.

The first victim, Mr Ebrahim Sharifi, also known as Mir Karroubi's third witness against the prison officials in Iran, is willing to come before you and attest to the plight of Iranian refugees in Turkey. After being tortured himself at Evin Prison he fled to Turkey where members of the IRI tracked him and during the night tried to break into his apartment. He had to barricade his door with furniture to keep them from entering. This incident was brought to our attention via the Internet by friends of Ebrahim, whom we also know. A month after we reported the incident to numerous organizations including the U.S. State Department and the UNHCR in Washington, DC he was still in Turkey.

We persisted and notified the U.S. and U.N. agencies again and at the same time notified Ms.Sara Leah Whitson - Director of the Middle East Bureau for Human Rights Watch. While awaiting replies, our Director was checking other Human Rights pages, that we visit on a regular basis. One of those pages is Stop Child Executions in Iran. Ms Nazanin Afshin-jam, founder of SCE, had just made a post about the deplorable conditions in Ankara, Turkey. We notified her that we were having a similar problem and about our unanswered letters to officials about Mister Sharifi, Karroubi's witness. She asked if she could have a copy, and this was forwarded to her with all the agencies that it had been addressed to. She asked our Director's permission to use it with his signature and we agreed.

Later that same evening we received a call from Sarah Leah Whitson's Assistant Director at Human Rights Watch. He informed us Ms. Whitson had asked him to call about Mr Sharifi. He also took all the information and said they would look into the matter immediately. Everyone that we had notified was aware that Mr Sharifi was a witness. Finally after weeks of trying. two agencies came through. Because of the holidays there was a slight delay but Mr Sharifi case was finally heard after 4 months. We believe that the combined efforts of Nazanin Afshin-jam and Sarah Leah Whitson are what finally got Mr Sharifi's case expedited. It's hard to believe that a well known witness against the IRI would be left to fend for himself in Turkey, with everyone knowing the regime was after him. We can only say thank you to Ms Whitson and Ms Afshin-jam.

We would like you all to imagine your daughter going to a peaceful protest, being arrested, being taken to jail, blind folded, tortured, and then raped by her interrogator. Then we would like you to imagine your daughter being thrown into a solitary confinement cell. Then your daughter was brought back out, interrogated and beaten again, and then raped by at least two men. Then imagine your daughter going through that a third time, except this time, she is gang raped by an unknown number of men! Do you feel sick yet? Well there is more.


This victim (your daughter) luckily made it out of Evin Prison alive. She then fled to Turkey seeking help and refuge. She was severely injured in these attacks, so much so that she bled for 10 days, not to mention the other medical and emotional problems that she endured.


Now, do you think she is safe in Turkey? Guess again, because if the regime finds her she may not get another chance to escape. She is a potential witness against them. So what do you do? You leave her alone in Turkey, scared and sick for eight months, waiting for an appointment at UNHCR. Now ask yourselves why Iranians should trust you.


A few more points we will make briefly. You have all protested the arrest and torture of journalists in Iran such as Isa Saharkhiz, another torture victim who was simply doing his job, reporting news and corruption. We can only call for his release from Evin Prison while his son Mehdi waits patiently here in North Jersey.

On the other hand, you do nothing for the ones that managed to escape to Turkey in the middle of the night with just the clothes on their backs to avoid the torture that their colleagues are currently enduring. These are people that you all know will be subjected to abuse, imprisonment, and torture if returned to Iran by the Turkish government should UNHCR reject their application for asylum.

We could go on, Mister President, but we won't because we hope this clearly sends all of you a message. If you want Iranians to trust you, then go do something for the innocent victims of the regime that we can help. Show them that you really care. Show the Iranians who made it from one prison, Evin, to another in Turkey, that you really mean what you say about human rights.

Since 1993, HRW has filed reports on conditions for refugees in Turkey. The situation is worse now than it was then. Stop writing reports and do something constructive. Remember, this girl in Turkey has loved ones and parents too. They would like to know that their daughter is safe and protected, just as you would want to know if it were your daughter. You wouldn't leave your daughter totally alone in a room in a foreign country without family or friends for eight months after she had endured such brutal attacks, would you?

We support Turkey and the United Nations with hundreds of millions of dollars in aid and fees. It's time Turkey and the U.N. in NYC does its part. Charging Iranian refugees $450 every six months to stay in Turkey and charging those who fled their homes in the middle of the night to avoid tortures and possible execution is absolutely ridiculous, and one of the most inhumane things you could do to someone with nowhere else to go. Our American colleague find it embarrassing that a country they give aid to would fail to render that same aid to a refugee in dire need of assistance. The United States is also the largest financial contributer in the world to the United Nations. No one else pays anywhere near what they do in fees, we checked. Our question is what do we get for our money?

Lastly, an absolute must is better communications between U.N. offices and easier access to every agency involved in these matters. It shouldn't take us six hours on the phone getting shuffled from agency to agency on automated phone systems just to obtain a United Nations refugee information brochure written in Persian (Farsi) in order to better assist a refugee applicant with the process. Refugees must complete a time-consuming process while they are in danger to obtain the rights guaranteed them under international conventions. There is also the matter of security for these people that needs to be discussed but not in this letter.

If you would like further details and want to help expedite this or any other pending case, then please feel free to contact us. Thank you for your attention. Our hope is that I don't have to write this letter again. With all due respect, Mister President.

Sincerely Yours

Walton K. Martin III (Director) SeaofGreen World Wide
Dr. Gill Gillespie (Executive) #Iranelection
Mehran Divanbaigyzand (Executive)
The Iran Information Project
Contact: http://iran-information-project.org/pages/contact.php


*Note (The information above, about the girl, is true to the best of our knowledge. Our Director was present and had to ask these questions about the rape, through an interpreter via tele-communications. Gathering this information and being put in a position to have to ask these questions of a young lady who had already been put through enough trauma, was the only way we could fight to get her asylum application expedited by the UNHCR. The UNHCR requested proof of torture, and proof that she was in imminent danger from members of the IRI. We believe there is ample evidence; we just find it shameful that we had to put her through those questions again just so we could get someones attention.)

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