About Stop Child Executions organization
Stop Child Executions is the leading organization providing information and updates on the situation of minors on death row in Iran. SCE is run entirely by volunteers and is an independent, non-political human rights group whose aim is to put a permanent end to child executions.
SCE reported 8 juvenile executions in 2008 and has documented over 140 children waiting on death row in Iran despite its commitment under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention on the the Rights of the Child to which it is state party.
SCE lobbies governments and encourages politicians and private citizens to put pressure on offending countries to commute and ban executions of juveniles. SCE helps to act as a liaison between families seeking legal counsel and human rights lawyers; as well as channeling information from Iran to international human rights groups like Amnesty International and organizations like the United Nations.
SCE has initiated a petition with over 20,000 signatures, organized rallies, produced documentaries, participated in major human rights conferences, has conducted speeches in various parliaments worldwide and has been cited in major global newspapers, magazines, television and radio news programs.
SCE has now released a full report on child executions and recommendations prior to Iran’s Universal Periodic Review early 2010.
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About Nazanin Afshin-Jam (Canada)
Nazanin Afshin-Jam is an International human rights activist and recording artist. After leading a successful campaign to save the life of a young girl on death row named Nazanin Mahabad Fatehi (www.helpnazanin.com), she recognized the need to put a permanent end to executions of minors in Iran and abroad. She is now the co-founder and President of the ‘Stop Child Executions’ organization. |
About David Etebari (USA)
David Etebari is the co-founder of Stop Child Executions . Born in Tehran, Iran he has lived in the USA for 30 years. David has written many articles for major internet sites and blogs and he also has created video collages posted on YouTube and Google, some seen by more than 300,000 viewers.. Since the early days of the campaign to save Nazanin Fatehi, David spent countless hours bringing worldwide awareness to the plight of minors facing execution in Iran. He initiated the myspace site for Nazanin Fatehi which was viewed by more than 100,000 visitors. He later created the myspace page for Delara Darabi. The two sites were among the most interactive internet sites to address the issue of minors facing execution. He also initiated the wikipedia pages for Nazanin Fatehi, Delara Darabi and the Stop Child Executions. As the former campaign coordinator and vice president of Stop Child Executions, David played a major role in planning, organization and coordination of the SCE as well as research and editorial of the SCE news updates. David Etebari currently maintains an advisory and support role at SCE. |
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About Kristian (Norway)
Kristian is a Norwegian university student who began working on human rights after he read the story of Nazanin Fatehi in a newspaper. He was extremely moved by her story and tried to raise public awareness about Nazanin by writing to newspapers and internet blogs with limited success. Kristian decided to try another approach and made the Support Nazanin website which managed to raise a great amount of attention. Synchronicity played a part as the creation of the website coincided with the start of Nazanin Afshin-Jam’s petition for Nazanin Fatehi. |
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About D.W. Duke (USA)
D.W. Duke is a principle in the California law firm of Giardinelli & Duke, APC. He received his Juris Doctorate from Washington University School of Law. Mr. Duke is a noted lecturer on various legal matters and has published several books on legal topics including Principles of Liberty, a Practical Guide to Constitutional Law, Understanding and Avoiding Medical Malpractice and California Insurance Law. D.W. assists SCE Campaign with legal research with respect to international convention and obligations and also contributes articles and reports on the subject of Child Executions. |
About Donna Greene (Australia) Donna is a family woman, musician & entertainer, graphic artist & web designer from Australia running her own artwork & design business with husband & Australian music artist, Graham Greene. As well as being a member of Artists for Human Rights, Donna has been involved with the plight of ‘street-kids’ and their shortcomings from a very young age and has always endeavoured to help to guide them where ever possible through any medium she is involved with. Having been involved through her artistic and musical submissions to the MySpace ‘Save Nazanin’ and ‘Help Delara’ campaigns, she now lends her talents to the greater cause and is a contributing artist & website designer for the Stop Child Executions Campaign. |
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About Dave Rea (USA)
Born in California, Dave grew up in Alabama where he currently makes his home. After watching a film about Atefah Rajabi, a young girl who was executed at the age of 16 in the Islamic Republic Of Iran, he learned the story of Nazanin Fatehi, another young girl facing execution. Being deeply moved with compassion, he knew he had to do something to help in any way he could. He now campaigns to help raise awareness and get others involved in saving the lives of all the minors who sit on death row awaiting execution. In addition to campaigning, Dave Rea coordinates the volunteer workers of the campaign and manages the Stop Child Executions site at www.care2.com |
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About Aubrey Harris (Amnesty International Liaison)
Born in England, Aubrey moved to Canada with his family when he was 2 years old. Aubrey lives and works in Toronto, Ontario and is the Coordinator for the Campaign to Abolish the Death Penalty for Amnesty International’s Canadian Section (English-Speaking Branch). He holds an honours degree in philosophy from the University of Western Ontario and is also active with the Australian Football in Canada. In 2005 Aubrey was a member of Northwind, AFL Canada’s national football team, traveling to Australia for the International Cup. He is also a former Royal Canadian Sea Cadet who trained and worked as a medical assistant in British Columbia and achieved the ranks of Chief Petty Officer Second-Class and Regulating Petty Officer at his corps. As the liaison with Amnesty International Canada, Aubrey works with Stop Child Executions and Amnesty International to help coordinate and communicate the efforts of both organizations to end child executions everywhere. Amnesty International works to end all forms of executions as a violation of articles 3 and 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. |
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About Aida (Canada)
Aida was born 7 years after the 1979 revolution in Iran. Being political activists and in fear of their lives, Aida’s parents were forced to flee Iran when Aida was only 6 months old. After a long journey Aida eventually arrived in Canada at the age of 5 but her father had passed away before they completed their journey. “I am here now and following in his footsteps…I want Iran to change for the better,” Aida says. |
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About Hannah Bahmanpour (Canada) Hannah was born in Tehran, but her parents immigrated to Canada when she was seven years old, in hopes of liberty and a better future. Since childhood she has known that she wants to spend her life advocating and helping others in the fight for human rights. Currently, Hannah is completing her undergrad in a Bachelor of Honours in Criminology, and hopes to continue by obtaining a Masters degree in public policy or international relations and finally pursuing a law degree. In addition, she is an executive member of the Criminology Society, a member of AIDWYC (Association in the Defence for the Wrongly Convicted), a police auxiliary officer and a certified mediator working on the Iranian Family Well-Being Project. After hearing about Nazanin Afshin-Jam’s work to save Nazanin Fatehi from execution, Hannah felt certain that this was the direction she wanted her life to head towards. Currently she manages the SCE twitter blog and the SCE account on Iranian.com, and she is working towards expanding SCE to facilitate a group of volunteers in Toronto. Hannah says: “With all of the hard work and continuous fight for justice, I am optimistic that we will see change in the near future!”
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About Behnaz Shahriari (US) Behnaz Shahriari is a Chicago-based advocate of the Stop Child Executions Network who has been active in supporting causes ranging from women’s rights to democracy and human rights in Iran. She is a native of Iran who moved to the United States with her family after the 1979 revolution. She was the co-chairperson of the recent fund-raising event for Stop Child Execution in Chicago, Illinois on May 8, 2010. She has hosted or co-hosted leading human rights activists and cultural figures for lectures and performances in the Chicago area, and has actively participated in human rights gatherings in New York, Washington, and Chicago. |