Each year, the New York-based Human Rights Watch awards the Hellman/Hammett grant to persecuted writers across the globe, awarding this year's grant to Mohammad Seddigh Kaboudvand, writer and human rights activists currently behind bars. In this connection, we have conducted an interview with Mohammad Seddigh Kaboudvand, which appears below.
In his short interview with Rooz from inside the Evin Prison, this detained activists said, "The fact that non-governmental human rights organizations, such as Human Rights Watch, are concerned about the fate of activists who operate under the worst oppressive conditions is appreciated."
The winner of the Hellman/Hammett grant added, "I request from all organizations defending human rights across the globe to continue to defend imprisoned human rights defenders whose only crime is the defense of human rights, and not embolden oppressive government institutions to carry on reprehensible acts with their silence and indifference."
Mohammad Seddigh Kaboudvand began his human rights activism in 1993. He was editor-in-chief of the poplar "Payam-e Mardom" magazine, which was banned after only thirteen issues.
After "Payam-e Mardom" was banned, along with several of his colleagues Kaboudvand established the Human Rights Organization of Kurdistan, the first human rights organization in Iran's Kurdish areas. Experts note that the Organization played a prominent role in exposing and publicizing human rights violations in Iran's Kurdish areas, recruiting more than 200 reporters across Iran's Kurdish areas.
Kaboudvand was arrested last June at his office in Tehran and spent several months in solitary confinement, suffering from various illnesses affecting his lungs, kidneys and skin. He even suffered two heart attacks while under arrest. His current physical condition is described as "unfavorable." Meanwhile, the judiciary sentenced him to a 10-year prison term for establishing the Human Rights Organization of Kurdistan and writing an open letter to former United Nations Secretary General, Kofi Anan. Kaboudvand's verdict was recently upheld by the supreme court.
