Thank you everyone for attending our event on Saturday! Good to see that so many are concerned about human rights in Iran.

And special thanks to  Parvin and Reza of course, our invited speakers, who gave us a deeper understanding and also shared something of their personal experiences.

It has been relatively quiet about the situation in Iran since the election 2009. Quiet about what happened to all those people who were tortured and imprisoned merely for struggling for democracy and freedom. Quiet about all those who still get imprisoned and tortured.

We in Amnesty International would like to increase the awareness about the human rights situation in the country.

What happened to all those who were imprisoned? What is happening with the democracy movement in Iran today? And how may the human rights situation improve?

Program:
13:00 Presentations of speakers and introduction. Documentary “This is not a film“.
14:25 Coffee break. (The Cafeteria will be open)
14:45 Documentary “Letters from Iran”
16:00 Discussion with invited speakers

Invited speakers:
Parvin Ardalan is a leading Iranian women’s rights activist, writer and journalist. She was awarded the Olof Palme Prize in 2007 for her struggle for equal rights for men and women in Iran.

Reza Arjmand is a visiting professor at the Centre for Middle Eastern Studies, Lund University. He was previously at Columbia University and has been guest lecturer, researcher and advisor at UNESCO, IDEA, World Bank, Stockholm University, Oslo University and Karolinska Institute.

Films:
“This is not a film” (Shortlisted for Best Documentary Oscar 2013)
Renowned Iranian director, Jafar Panahi, received a 6-year prison sentence and a 20-year ban from filmmaking and conducting interviews with foreign press due to his open support of the opposition party in Iran’s 2009 election. This documentary was secretly shot on an iPhone and a modest DV camera by Panahi’s close friend Mojtaba Mirtahmasb and smuggled into France in a cake for a last-minute submission to Cannes.

“Letters From Iran” (Grand Prix & Audience Award, FIGRA 2012)
Manon Loizeau has been following a group of Iranians inside Iran. Many lost loved ones or were tortured themselves in the aftermath of the elections. A portrait of the aftermath of the Green Revolution.

Location: The Cathedral Forum/Domkyrkoforum next to the Cathedral in Lund (map here)

We will show two recent award-winning documentaries from Iran. Afterwards there will be a general discussion with two specially invited guests who both have unique knowledge about the current human rights situation in Iran.

Iran has one of the worst human rights records in the world.
At the same time it is also one of the worst countries in terms of freedom of the press, which means that there is little knowledge about what goes on.

One example would be the blogger Sattar Beheshti who was arrested in October for something he had written. His family received no information until a week later when they were told to pick up his dead body at the prison.

The political situation in Iran seems quite unstable with the presidential election coming up and an economy in turmoil.

There is also a considerable risk of a war in Iran this year. An international panel of experts recently put the risk as high as 40%.

Entrance: 40 SEK

Welcome!