Mohammad Mostafaei

Mostafaei speaking at The Times' "Imprisoned in Iran" event.

Mohammad Mostafaei (Persian: محمد مصطفایی) is an Iranian human rights lawyer specializing in death penalty cases, particularly those with juvenile defendants and other human rights cases. In 2010, he moved to Norway, having left Iran due to alleged persecution by authorities for his defense of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani.[1]

Background

Mostafaei remembered his childhood as difficult due to his family's poverty and his father's extreme mood swings. At the age of 14, he attended a public hanging of "a very young man" and was profoundly disturbed by the sight, an incident he later credited with his decision to study law.[2]

Mostafaei is married to Fereshteh Halimi. They have two daughters.[1]

Legal work

Mostafaei states that he appealed forty death sentences of juvenile defendants during his work in Iran, of which eighteen were overturned. Four of his clients were executed in 2008 and 2009.[1]

Mostafaei became widely known for his work on human rights cases specially on death penalty and stoning cases in Iran and defense of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, a woman condemned to death by stoning for adultery. He wrote a series of blog posts on her case, attracting international attention and protest.[3] The stoning sentence was commuted in July 2010 in the face of world pressure.

During the case, Mostafaei's wife, father-in-law, and brother-in-law were imprisoned in what Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty described as "an apparent attempt to pressure him to back down."[4] Mostafaei then illegally crossed the border into Turkey and sought asylum in Norway. The Norwegian government granted the asylum, Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Store calling Mostafaei "a courageous man who raises cases -- difficult cases -- which the authorities don't like".[1] A Mostafaei stated that though the case had forced him to leave Iran, he felt he had made the right choice: "I had a nice house, a good job, nice office, a good car. Iran was my home but it was not important."[5] He continued to work on human rights issues in Norway, describing himself as "maybe 10 times more [active]" than he had been in Iran.[5]

In 2011, Norwegian PEN awarded Mostafaei its Ossietsky prize, an "annual prize for outstanding achievements in the field of free expression".[6]

In 2012 Mohammad Mostafaei, established Universal Tolerance organization in Norway.(www.universaltolerance.org).

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Ivan Watson (3 September 2010). "Human rights lawyer who fled Iran is reunited with family". CNN. Archived from the original on 3 January 2013. Retrieved 3 January 2013.
  2. ↑ "Transcript of video: One Iranian lawyer's fight against capital punishment". The Guardian. 28 March 2012. Archived from the original on 3 January 2013. Retrieved 3 January 2013.
  3. ↑ Raphael G. Satter (8 July 2012). "Iran stoning sentence for adultery draws outrage". Associated Press. Retrieved 3 January 2013.
  4. ↑ "Lawyer Who Fled Iran Insists: 'I Had The Right To Defend Sakineh Mohammadi'". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. 5 August 2010. Archived from the original on 3 January 2013. Retrieved 3 January 2013.
  5. 1 2 Sarah Bardon (11 October 2011). "I lost a nice house, good job, nice office, a good car ... but I've no regrets defending mum of two from stoning". Daily Mirror.  – via HighBeam Research (subscription required) . Retrieved 3 January 2013.
  6. ↑ "Mohammad Mostafaei awarded the 2011 Ossietzky prize". Norskpen.no. 9 November 2011. Archived from the original on 3 January 2013. Retrieved 3 January 2013.

External links

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