To: United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights

CC: Amnesty International, Reporters without Borders, Human Rights Watch

Arash Sigarchi, the outspoken Iranian newspaper editor and blogger, has been sentenced to 14 years in prison on blatantly false accusations. Amongst the offences fabricated by the country’s judiciary authorities are "disrespect towards the spiritual leader" and "espionage" – both of which are pure fiction and without any factual basis whatsoever.

His is amongst a recent wave of arrests of journalists and bloggers in which all detainees are accused of espionage amongst other made up crimes. These journalists and bloggers all have one thing in common which is their objection to and speaking up about the atrocious way the Islamic regime in Iran treats its citizens.

By falsely accusing Arash of serious crimes, the judiciary has enabled itself to sentence him to a savage sentence. All Mr. Sigarchi has done is to express his opinions, yet he shares the same sentence as serial offenders, who genuinely have committed atrocious acts.

We, the undersigned, demand Mr. Sigarchi's immediate release and urge you to take a firm stand against this and other unlawful arrests made by the Iranian authorities - all in clear violation of article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states “everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.”

Please Sign the Petition
http://www.petitiononline.com/arsi/petition.html