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Archives for November 2014

Communal tension and violence in different parts of Delhi – Citizens letter to the National Commission for Minorities

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Trilokpuri-riots

New Delhi: A delegation of social activists, citizens and academics met the National Commission for Minorities regarding the communally volatile situation which is developing in and around various resettlement colonies across Delhi.

The following representation was submitted to the NCM and later to Police Commissioner’s office and LG’s office.

The Chairperson
National Commission for Minorities
The Police Commissioner
The Lieutenant Governor
Delhi
November 3, 2014

Dear Sir,

We are writing to you to communicate our concern regarding recent spate of communal tension and violence in different areas and the rising sense of insecurity in the Muslim community of Delhi. At several instances, organized campaigns have been taken to spread hatred and create tension centering religious festivals. Trilokpuri riot is the latest instance of such violence. Since 1st November we are getting news of communal tension being created in Bawana. Several of us have communicated our concern regarding that to concerned authorities. Here we would like to point out these concerns as well as our appeal for proper steps to be taken in that context-

  1. A mahapanchayat was held in Bawana on the eve of Mohurram on 2nd November with a clear intent to create communal tension and polarize communities on religious lines. The Mahapanchayat didn’t have permission from any authority. The administration allowed it to happen in spite of several requests to stop it.

  2. In the above mentioned Mahapanchyat threatening language was used and it was announced that Tazia procession during Mohurram should not be allowed to happen.

  3. Muslim community in Bawana is under tremendous pressure and is feeling threatened.

  4. We have information that the leaders from the ruling party at the Centre are working in tandem with the organizers of the Mahapanchyat.

  5. The unlawful nature of this whole campaign against Muslims is evident from the poster announcing the Mahapanchayat which has been used to mobilize people for the same.

  6. There are reports of communal tension from Nandnagri, Majnu ka Tilla and Timarpur while the wounds of Trilokpuri are yet to be healed.

  7. In the context of Trilokpuri, the role of the police has raised several questions. Initially, the lack of action from the police emboldened the rioters to unleash violence. When the police acted, rather than arresting well known instigators of the riot, the police has arrested people and filed FIRs arbitrarily. It is also a matter of concern that most of the arrested people belong to the minority community. We have also reports of police brutality on the arrested people in Mayur Vihar police station. Those who are arrested right now are in Tihar Jail ( Jail no 8). We have come to know from the relatives of the arrested persons that several of them who are injured because of the police brutality in Mayur Vihar police station are not getting proper medical treatment. This is a request to you to ensure that all the arbitrary FIRs are cancelled, proper medical facility is given to those imprisoned in Tihar jail and action is initiated on those Police personals that are responsible for violence on arrested persons.

In view of the above mentioned events and facts, we would request you to kindly ensure that organizations and individuals indulging in communal mobilization are restricted and proper vigilance and security is in place and the religious rights of Muslims are safe guarded.

We would like to point out that in the wake of communal tension in Trilokpuri, Muslim community faced violence and arbitrary arrest at the hand of police. It is important that the trust of the members of minority community over administration is not shaken further.

We are also attaching the poster announcing the Mahapanchyat and recordings of speeches spreading communal hatred in Bawana along with this letter.

Thanking You,
Yours sincerely

On behalf of:

Devendra Bharti, Dhruv Sangari, Kiran Shaheen, Mohd Aamir, Naveen Chander, Nayan Jyoti, Om Prasad, Onkar Mittal, Ovais Sultan Khan, Prof Apoorvanand, Rakhi Gupta, Shabnam Hashmi, Subhashini, Sucheta De, Viren Lobo

Chappell sought to remove Dravid: Tendulkar

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Cricket, Playing it My Way

New Delhi: Dropping a bombshell, Sachin Tendulkar has disclosed that the then India coach Greg Chappell had made a “shocking” suggestion to him to take over India’s captaincy from Rahul Dravid months before the 2007 World Cup in West Indies.

“Together, we could control Indian cricket for years”, the Australian told Tendulkar during a visit to his home when he offered to “help me in taking over the reins of the side” from Dravid, the master batsman writes in his autobiography “Playing it My Way” due for release on Thursday.

Tendulkar is scathing in his criticism of Chappell who was the national coach from 2005 to 2007, describing him as a “ringmaster who imposed his ideas on the players without showing any signs of being concerned about whether they felt comfortable or not”.

Elaborating on the coach’s bid to replace Dravid, Tendulkar writes, “Just months before the World Cup, Chappell had come to see me at home and, to my dismay, suggested that I should take over the captaincy from Rahul Dravid.

“Anjali (Tendulkar’s wife), who was sitting with me was equally shocked to hear him say that ‘together, we could control Indian cricket for year’, and that he would help me in taking over the reins of the side.

“I was surprised to hear the coach not showing the slightest amount of respect for the captain, with cricket’s biggest tournament just months away”, Tendulkar writes.

He says that he had rejected Chappell’s proposition outright. “He stayed for a couple of hours, trying to convince me before finally leaving”.

So disgusted was Tendulkar with Chappell’s suggestion that a few days after the episode “I suggested to the BCCI that the best option would be to keep Greg back in India and not send him with the team to the World Cup”.

Tendulkar had suggested to the Board that senior players could take control of the side and keep the team together. “That is not what happened, of course, and the 2007 campaign ended in disaster”, he writes in the book excerpts of which were made available exclusively to PTI by publishers Hachette India.

India’s 2007 World Cup campaign ended in a fiasco with the team winning only one of the three group matches against lowly Bermuda, and losing to Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

Lashing out at Chappell, Tendulkar says that the Australian must take a lot of responsibility for the mess resulting from India’s performance in the World Cup. “I dont think I would be far off the mark if I said that most of us felt that the Indian cricket was going nowhere under Chappell”.

Chappell was publicly questioning “our committment and instead of asking us to take fresh guard, was making matters worse”, writes Tendulkar in the book co-authored by noted sports journalist and historian Boria Majumdar.

The master player says that several senior players were relieved to see Chappell go, “which was hardly surprising because, for reasons hard to comprehend, he had not treated them fairly”.

Tendulkar cites the coach’s attitude towards Sourav Ganguly which he describes as “astonishing”.

He writes,” Chappell is on record as saying that he may have got the job because of Sourav but that did not mean he was going to do favours to Sourav for the rest of his life.

“Frankly, Sourav is one of the best cricketers India has produced and he did not need favours from Chappell to be part of the team”. Tendulkar writes that Chappell wanted to drop senior players from the team.

“Chappell seemed intent on dropping all the older players and in the process damaged the harmony of the side. On one occasion, he asked VVS Laxman to consider opening the batting. Laxman politely turned him down, saying he had tried opening in the first half of his career because he was confused, but now he was settled in the middle order and Greg should consider him as a middle-order batsman.

“Greg’s response stunned us all. He told Laxman he should be careful, because making a comeback at the age of thirty-two might not be easy.”

“In fact, I later found out that Greg had spoken to the BCCI about the need to remove the senior players, no doubt hoping to refresh the team,” the maestro writes.

The 41-year-old player was critical of the former Australian coach’s propensity to hog limelight when the going was good but had the habit of leaving the players in the lurch when all went downhill.

“I also remember that every time India won, Greg could be seen leading the team to the hotel or into the team bus, but every time India lost he would thrust the players in front. In general John and Gary always preferred to stay in the background, but Greg liked to be prominent in the media.”

Tendulkar recollected how disappointed they were after the shock first round exit during the 2007 World Cup and how he was hurt when people questioned the commitment of the Indian players.

“After we returned to India, the media followed me back home and it hurt when I heard my own people doubting the commitment of the players. The media had every right to criticize us for failing, but to say we were not focused on the job was not fair.

“We had failed to fulfil the expectations of the fans, but that did not mean we should be labelled traitors. At times the reaction was surprisingly hostile and some of the players were worried about their safety,” he writes.

Tendulkar said that the thought of retirement did cross his mind after the 2007 Cup debacle but family and friends insisted that he should carry on.

“Headlines like ‘Endulkar’ hurt deeply. After eighteen years in international cricket, it was tough to see things come to this and retirement crossed my mind. My family and friends like Sanjay Nayak did all they could to cheer me up and after a week I decided to do something about it. I started to do some running, to try to sweat the World Cup out of my head.”

(PTI)

Communal tension escalates in Thirthahalli in Karnataka; agitation turns violent

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Thirthahalli

Thirthahalli: Even four days after the mysterious death of a 14-year-old girl, the communal tension has not subsided at Thirthahalli town in Shivamogga district.

The communal tensions erupted in the town following the rumours that a Hindu girl was abducted, raped and poisoned by three men belonging to Muslim community. However, police sources brushed aside the rumours and said that the girl committed suicide. A death note also recovered from the girl’s home.

The town witnessed complete bandh on Monday. Business establishments, cinema halls, government offices, schools and colleges remained closed. The movement of vehicles was paralysed.

Though police imposed prohibitory orders under Section 144 of CrPC within a five-km radius of the town, members of various women’s organisations gathered at the Town Panchayat grounds and staged a protest demanding the arrest of those responsible for the girl’s death. A police team led by Superintendent of Police (SP) Kaushalendra Kumar rushed to the spot and asked them to call off the protest.

Responding to it, the agitators observed one-minute silence to mourn the death of the girl and called off the protest. Former MLA and State BJP Raitha Morcha president Araga Jnanendra, Town Panchayat president Soppugudde Raghavendra and others took part in the protest.

However, a section of the agitators refused to call off the protest. Irked by this, police resorted to caning. This led to tension in the town and members of various organisations took out a protest rally. When the rally reached Koppa Circle, police caned the agitators again. An angry mob burnt tyres at major roads and circles. A series of protests were staged at various places of the taluk, including Balgaru, Kudumallige, Kannangi, Honnasagadde, Konandur, Ranjadakatte and Bidaragodu.

When police did not allow protest in the town, people intensified the agitation in villages. People in Ranjadakatte, Kaimara, Kuruvalli, Konandur, Bejjavalli, Araga and other places in the taluk staged protests, disrupting movement of vehicles. A group of people threw stones at a masjid at Ranjadakatte, which is the native place of the girl’s grandfather. Police personnel were also injured in the incident. Around 20 people were arrested and four from Udupi to take part in the protest, were also taken into custody.

Enraged by the decision of police not to allow protest, a group of youths threw stones at the vehicle of the SP at Koppa Circle. A window pane of the vehicle was damaged.

Business establishments and shops belonging to the minority community were damaged by miscreants. Kaushalendra Kumar had been camping in the town to maintain law and order.

Prohibitory orders will be in force in the taluk till 6 pm of November 5 and in the town till November 10. Holiday was declared for schools and colleges across the taluk on November 4 and 5. Police security has been beefed up.

Kaushalendra Kumar said, “As many as 43 persons have been arrested for flouting the Section 144 so far. The investigation is on and nobody has been arrested so far.”

CID questions top RSS leader Kalladka Prabhakar Bhat over suicide case

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Kalladka Prabhakar Bhat

Bengaluru: Officials of Criminal Investigation Department (CID) grilled senior RSS leader Kalladka Prabhakar Bhat on Monday in connection with the suicide of Shyama Prasad Shastri, brother of Diwakar Shastry whose wife has lodged a rape complaint against Raghaveshwara Bharathi, the pontiff of Ramachandrapur Mutt.

The CID officials had issued a notice to Prabhakar Bhat, asking him to appear before the investigating officer, in connection with the alleged abetment to suicide. Shyamprasad had shot himself using his licensed single bore breech loading (SBBL) gun at his house in Kedila near Puttur, after Diwakar’s wife accused the pontiff of raping her. Shyamprasad’s wife had lodged a complaint that a few followers of the pontiff had threatened her husband.

In this connection, the CID police had analysed call record details and found that Shastry and Prabhakhar Bhat had several conversations. The CID officials questioned Bhat to ascertain whether he had any role in the suicide. Sources said that Bhat denied any role in the suicide, saying that he had been a good friend of Shastry for a long time and that they chatted over phone regularly.

Pakistan win first test series against Australia in 20 years

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pakistan_cricket

Abu Dhabi: Pakistan achieved their first series win over Australia in 20 years with a thumping 356-run win in the second Test here today, taking the two-match series 2-0.

The elusive win lifts Pakistan to number three in International Cricket Council’s Test rankings behind number one South Africa and Australia.

Spinners Zulfiqar Babar (5-120) and Yasir Shah (3-44) rocked Australia once again for 246 in the second innings soon after lunch at Sheikh Zayed Stadium. Pakistan won the first Test by 221 runs in Dubai.

Pakistan had taken a big step forward after scoring a mammoth 570-6 declared in their first innings and getting a 309-run lead by dismissing Australia for 261. That never allowed Australia to stage a comeback and avoid series defeat for the first time since losing 1-0 in Pakistan in 1994.

The defeat was Australia’s third worst in all Test cricket behind their 675 run loss against England in Brisbane in 1928 and by 408 against the West Indies at Adelaide in 1980.

In contrast Pakistan registered their biggest win in terms of runs, beating their 341-run victory over India at Karachi in 2006.

Pakistan had to fight hard in the morning session as Steven Smith defied Pakistan during his resolute knock of 97, but once Smith departed, leg-before by Shah, Australia lost their last four wickets for the addition of just eight runs.

Smith added an invaluable 107 for the fifth wicket with Mitchell Marsh, who fell after scoring 47.

Smith missed a sharp turner from Shah who also bowled Mitchell Johnson and Mitchell Starc to finish with 12 wickets in the series. Babar had Nathan Lyon caught for his second fifth wicket haul, following up his first in the first Test in Dubai.

Babar finished with 14 wickets in the series as Pakistan did not miss ace spinner Saeed Ajmal’s absence who is suspended due to illegal bowling action. Before lunch Smith batted resolutely, using his feet against the spinners during his 204-ball knock and hitting a dozen boundaries.

Smith reached his eighth Test fifty with two boundaries off spinner Zulfiqar Babar, who failed to add to his three wickets on Sunday.

Marsh, who top-scored with 87 in Australia’s first innings, played Pakistan’s pace-cum spin attack confidently and he and Smith added 55 runs in the first hour.

But Mohammad Hafeez provided the breakthrough when he had Marsh caught by Asad Shafiq off an uppish flick. His 130-ball innings included six boundaries. Hafeez finished with 2-38.

The win is also special for skipper Misbah-ul Haq who equalled the most wins record by a Pakistani captain with 14. Imran Khan and Javed Miandad also won 14 Tests as captains.

Misbah set the world record for the fastest half-century and equalled the feat of fastest century in all Test cricket during his 101 not out on Sunday, capping a memorable Test match.

(AFP)

Doctoring history for political goals: Origin of Caste system in India

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Photo: Carol Mitchell

Photo: Carol Mitchell

Caste hierarchy is the major obstacle to the goal of social justice and it continues to be a major obstacle to social progress even today. There are many a theories, which have tried to understand its origin. The latest in the series is the attempt of RSS to show its genesis due to invasion of Muslim kings. Three books written by RSS ideologues argue that Islamic atrocities during medieval period resulted in emergence of untouchables and low castes. The books are “Hindu Charmakar Jati”, “Hindu Khatik Jati” and “Hindu Valmiki Jati”.

The Sangh leaders claimed that these castes had come into existence due to atrocities by foreign invaders and did not exist in Hindu religion earlier. According to Bhaiyyaji Joshi, number two in RSS hierarchy, ’shudras’ were never untouchables in Hindu scriptures. ’Islamic atrocities’ during the medieval age resulted in the emergence of untouchables, Dalits. Joshi further elaborated, “To violate Hindu swabhiman (dignity) of Chanwarvanshiya Kshatriyas, foreign invaders from Arab, Muslim rulers and beef-eaters, forced them to do abominable works like killing cows, skinning them and throwing their carcasses in deserted places. Foreign invaders thus created a caste of charma-karma (dealing with skin) by giving such works as punishment to proud Hindu prisoners.”

The truth is contrary to this. The foundations of the caste system are very old and untouchability came as an accompaniment of the caste system. The Aryans considered themselves superior, they called non-Aryans krshna varnya (dark skinned), anasa (those with no nose), and since non-Aryans worshipped the phallus, they were considered non-human or amanushya. (Rig Veda: X.22.9) There are quotes in the Rig Veda and Manusmriti to show that low castes were prohibited from coming close to the high castes and they were to live outside the village. While this does not imply that a full-fledged caste system had come into being in Rig Vedic times, the four-fold division of society into varnas did exist, which became a fairly rigid caste system by the time of the Manusmriti.

Untouchability became the accompaniment of the caste system sometime around the first century ad. The Manusmriti, written in the second–third centuries ad, codifies the existing practices which show with utmost clarity the type of despicable social practices that the oppressor castes were imposing upon the oppressed castes. The first major incursions of Muslim invaders into India began around the eleventh century ad, and the European conquests of India began in the seventeenth–eighteenth centuries.

Over time, the caste system became hereditary. The rules for social intercourse as well as establishing marriage relations were laid down by the caste system. Caste hierarchies also became rigid over time. The shudras began to be excluded from caste society, and ‘upper’ castes were barred from inter-dining or inter-marrying with them. Notions of ‘purity’ and ‘pollution’ were enforced strictly to maintain caste boundaries. Shudras became ‘untouchables’. It is this rigid social division that Manu’s Manav Dharmashastra (Human Law Code) codified.

Golwalkar, the major ideologue of RSS ideology defended it in a different way, ‘If a developed society realizes that the existing differences are due to the scientific social structure and that they indicate the different limbs of body social, the diversity (i.e. caste system, added) would not be construed as a blemish.’ (Organiser, 1 December 1952, p. 7) Deendayal Upadhyaya, another major ideologue of Sangh Parivar stated, ‘In our concept of four castes (varnas), they are thought of as different limbs of virat purush (the primeval man)… These limbs are not only complimentary to one another but even further there is individuality, unity. There is a complete identity of interests, identity, belonging… If this idea is not kept alive, the caste; instead of being complimentary can produce conflict. But then that is a distortion.’ (D. Upadhyaya, Integral Humanism, New Delhi, Bharatiya Jansangh, 1965, p. 43)

Social struggles to oppose this system and the struggles to escape the tyrannies of caste system are presented by Ambedkar as revolution and counter-revolution. He divides the ‘pre-Muslim’ period into three stages: (a) Brahmanism (the Vedic period); (b) Buddhism, connected with rise of first Magadh-Maurya states and representing the revolutionary denial of caste inequalities; and (c) ‘Hinduism’, or the counter revolution which consolidated brahman dominance and the caste hierarchy.

Much before the invasion of Muslim kings, shudras were treated as untouchables and were the most oppressed and exploited sections of society. The rigidity and cruelty of the caste system and untouchability became very intense from the post-Vedic to Gupta period. Later, new social movements like Bhakti, directly, and Sufi, indirectly, partly reduced the intensity of the caste oppression and untouchability. This doctoring of the history by Sangh ideologues is motivated by their political agenda and tries to hide the truth.

Bhopal gas disaster survivors to sit on an indefinite water-less fast in Delhi on the issue of compensation

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Bhopal gas disaster survivors

New Delhi: This December will mark the 30th anniversary of the Bhopal gas disaster. On 10th November survivors of the disaster will be coming down to Delhi and 5 of them will sit on an indefinite water-less fast at Jantar Mantar on the issue of compensation. They are demanding additional compensation for all survivors of the disaster and correction of figures of death and extent of injury in the curative petition filed in the Supreme Court. More than half a million gas victims have been denied compensation on an arbitary decision taken by Group of Minister on Bhopal in 2010. According to activists and various committees working for the welfare of the survivors, there is no scientific and legal basis to deny additional compensation to 93% of the victims.

The survivors say that they expect Prime Minister Narendra Modi to show the same keenness in getting adequate compensation to them, as keen he is to welcome American corporations to the country. They say that Bhopal is a good test for him.

For those who will be fasting that day, it will not be an easy task.

“We don’t think it is possible to continue the fast for more than 5 days without doing some serious damage to the fasters health and we are hoping the drastic nature of this action will pressure the PM to do something on this issue.”

For more information and to take part in the sit-in, you can contact:

Rashida Bi,
Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmchari Sangh
94256 88215

Nawab Khan,
Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha
8718035409

Balkrishna Namdeo,
Bhopal Gas Peedit Nirashrit Pensionbhogi Sangharsh Morcha
9826345423

Satinath Sarangi, Rachna Dhingra,
Bhopal Group for Information and Action
9826167369

Safreen Khan,
Children Against Dow Carbide

You can also sign the petition here: Revise figures of death & extent of injuries and move urgent hearing in the Supreme Court for the 1984 Union Carbide gas disaster in Bhopal.

RSS has a bitter and narrow vision of our tradition: Mahesh Bhatt in conversation with Teesta Setalvad

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Don’t narrow your band width to a bitter and hate ridden version of Hinduism as appropriated by the RSS, Mahesh Bhatt, award winning film maker exhorts the young Indian film maker in this Special Interview with Teesta Setalvad on Communalism Combat and Hillele TV; and use the creative medium to express dissent.

Army man facing probe in madrasa boy burning case in Hyderabad commits suicide

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mehdipatnam garrison

Hyderabad: A soldier, who was being questioned in a case in which an 11-year-old boy was burnt alive, committed suicide here early Monday, police said.

Lance Naik Appala Raju shot himself with his service rifle at the army garrisson in Mehdipatnam area in the heart of the city.

Police and army officials said no suicide note was found.

“Probably, the jawan was under immense mental stress due to the ongoing interrogation. The army is fully cooperating with police and wants the truth to come out at the earliest,” said a defence statement.

The lance naik was reportedly grilled by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) in connection with the Oct 9 incident in which a boy was burnt alive allegedly by armymen.

The army said the soldier’s suicide should not be taken as an indication of his involvement in the case.

They said the soldier was one of the over 70 people being interrogated by police in the case.

The boy was found with serious burn injuries near the main gate of the garrison. He told a magistrate in his dying declaration that some armymen poured kerosene on him and set him ablaze.

Mustafa, a madrasa student and a resident of Siddiq Nagar abutting the garrison, died the next day.

Police registered a case of murder against unidentified armymen and an SIT was constituted a few days ago to probe the incident.

(IANS)

British-Iranian woman jailed for a year for trying to watch volleyball game

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Law graduate from London found guilty of spreading ‘propaganda against regime’ following secret hearing in Iran

Ghoncheh Ghavami has already been detained for four months after being arrested at Azadi stadium in Tehran.

Ghoncheh Ghavami has already been detained for four months after being arrested at Azadi stadium in Tehran.

by Josh Halliday, The Guardian

A British-Iranian woman detained in Iran for trying to watch a volleyball game has been sentenced to one year in a notorious prison, according to her family and lawyer.

Ghoncheh Ghavami, 25, a law graduate from London, was found guilty of spreading “propaganda against the regime” following a secret hearing at Tehran’s revolutionary court.

Ghavami has been detained for 127 days in prison since being arrested on 20 June at Azadi (“Freedom” in Farsi) stadium in Tehran where Iran’s national volleyball team was scheduled to play Italy. Although she had been released within a few hours after the initial arrest she was rearrested days later.

Speaking to the Guardian, Ghavami’s brother Iman, 28, said the family felt “shattered” by the court verdict.

“We are really disappointed because we felt she would get out on bail immediately. She’s been through a lot and now it’s a full-year sentence and she’s already served four months,” he said.

No reason was given for the conviction, although Ghavami had been accused of spreading propaganda against the regime, an unspecific charge often used by Iran’s judiciary.

Ghavami’s parents, who have been based in Tehran throughout their daughter’s ordeal, were too distressed to talk after Saturday’s court hearing – which they were not allowed to attend.

“I found out the verdict from the lawyer. My parents were with him but were too emotional to talk. As we speak my parents are scrambling from one office to another to see if we can get leniency or bail,” said Iman.

Ghavami’s lawyer, Alizadeh Tabatabaie, was quoted in Iranian media as saying: “According to the verdict she was sentenced to one year.”

Asked if the sentence could be reduced, Tabatabaie, who has not been allowed to visit his client, said: “Considering that Ghoncheh Ghavami has no criminal record, the court can alleviate the verdict.

“In a meeting Ghoncheh had with her mother on Wednesday, she said no new charges have been filed against her.”

In early October Ghavami spent 14 days on hunger strike in protest at her detention. Her arrest has drawn condemnation from the highest political level. David Cameron underlined his concerns in a meeting with Iran’s president, Hassan Rouhani, in September at the UN general assembly in New York.

Iman, from London, said he hoped his sister would be moved to another wing of the notorious Evin prison, where she has been held since June in relative solitary confinement in a jail known for housing high-profile political prisoners and activists.

He said: “She will be in the same prison but we hope she’s going to be transferred to a general section of it where she can interact with other people because now she’s being held in solitary confinement. It’s hell for everyone who is kept there.”

A petition on the site Change.org started by Iman has amassed more than 700,000 signatories calling for Ghavami’s release.

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