Stop Child Executions Campaign continues to gain support among Human Rights organizations, writers, artists and advocates. Nazanin Afshin-Jam and SCE campaign thank Miss Neda Shahidyazdani (USA) and Mr. Tarek Fateh (Canada) for their support of the campaign to end child executions:
| 6375. | Neda Shahidyazdani | USA | Human Rights Lawyer |
Ms. Shahidyazdani is an Iranian human rights lawyer at the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center where she helped to author a recently released report on the persecution of the Bahá’í religious minority in Iran. Her professional work has also concentrated on the rights of minorities. Ms. Shahidyazdani has assisted with projects at Human Rights First and the Center for International Law at New York Law School.
| 6409. | Tarek Fatah | Canada | Founder, Muslim Canadian Congress |
Tarek Fatah is a secular Muslim Canadian political activist, writer and TV host. Founder of the Muslim Canadian 
Congress , Fatah’s advocates separation of religion and state in Isalic countries, opposition to Sharia law, and promotes what he calls a “progressive” form of Islam
Born in Karachi, Pakistan, Fatah a student at the time was imprisoned under military governments and charged with sedition. A biochemist by training, Fatah entered journalism as a reporter for the Karachi Sun in 1970, and went on to become an investigative journalist for Pakistani television. He was fired after the coup that brought General Zia ul-Haq to power, and fled to Saudi Arabia, where he lived for a decade. In 1987, he emigrated to Canada and settled in Toronto. He is host of the Muslim Chronicle TV show since 1996, which airs Saturday nights on CTS-TV. Tarek is also a frequent guest on many TV shows and has written for the Toronto Star, the Globe and Mail and TIME Magazine.
After receiving a series of death threats by Muslim extremists, in August 2006 Tarek Fatah resigned as the director of the Muslim Canadian Congress, severing all official ties with the organization he helped found. “It’s not just for me. It’s for my wife and my daughters” He said.
Fatah is the author of Chasing a Mirage: The Islamic State or a State of Islam, to be published in 2008.
ganisation of Women’s Freedom in Iraq (OWFI), is a renowned activist, and highly regarded in the world today for her brave efforts in defending women’s rights in Iraq. She and the OWFI have been at the forefront of raising Iraqi women’s awareness of their rights, fighting for an egalitarian secular state and full equality for women, as well as advocating for the separation of religion from the state and educational system which is a precondition for guaranteeing women’s rights in Iraq.
tination, it becomes dogma. That is what Islam has become in the official circles of Iran: a dangerous and dignity-killing dogma. 
well-known critic of radical Islam and orthodox interpretations of the Qur’an, calling herself a “Muslim refusenik”. The New York Times has dubbed Irshad Manji “Osama Bin Laden’s worst nightmare.” She takes that as a compliment. Irshad is the best-selling author of The 
THANK YOU TO THE NEW MEMBERS OF THE SWEDISH PARLIAMENT MEMBERS FOR SUPPORT OF STOP CHILD EXECUTIONS CAMPAIGN: (101 MP’s have signed the petition to date)
THANK YOU 
daily newspapers. While in Iran he called for constitutional referendum to rescind the powers of the Supreme Leader and Council of Guardians. After prior imprisonments on new years eve of 2000, AmirAbbas was taken from his home to the Evin prison and tortured heavily until he had to be transferred to hospital in Tehran for emergency treatment. Fakhravar had been imprisoned in Iran for his political activism 19 times, with his first experience at the age of 17, when he was still in high school.
is one of today’s preeminent Chicana writers. She has written several plays such as Simply Maria, Or the American Dream; Confessions of Women From East L.A.; Boyle Heights; Lola Goes To Roma; Food For The Dead; Unconquered Spirits; Queen of the Rumba and Real Women Have Curves. She is the co-screenwriter of the movie version of her play Real Women Have Curves, The movie garnered much acclaim, including at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival where the film won the “Audience Award” and a “Special Jury Award for Acting.” Josefina has written several other screenplays including Loteria for Juarez about the mysterious murders of women in the Mexico/US border town of Ciudad Juarez; Josefina has won several awards including a Gabriel Garcia Marquez award from L.A. Mayor in 2003. She was also recognized by the WGA as the cover story for the December 2002/January 2003 issue of the prestigious Writers’ Guild magazine “Written By,” entitled “Real Writers Have Courage.” Josefina and cowriter George LaVoo won the “Humanitas Award for Screenwriting” for Real Women Have Curves. She was awarded a Screenwriting Fellowship by the California Arts Council for 2001 and in 1988 she was recognized by California Senator Barbara Boxer as a “woman who has made history in the entertainment industry.” 
or her writings and speeches on women’s rights , has signed the petition to Stop Child Executions in Iran. Mrs’ Kar met Nazanin Afshin-Jam last week in New Jersey. 
he challenged and criticized the hardliners as well as the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei. She was the first to resign when the anti-reform measures of the Supreme Leader began to take shape. Her resignation was followed by few other pro-reform MP’s. In 2001, Ms. Haghighatjoo was sentenced to 20 months in prison, for “inciting public opinion and insulting the judiciary”. Her sentence—which she terms illegitimate and undemocratic, and which she has not served yet—was later reduced to 10 months. In 2005 Haghighatjoo was a fellow at MIT’s Center for International Relations. She is currently a fellow at Harvard University’s Women and Public Policy Program. 