Explosive campaign on Change.org asks Sweden’s minister for migration and asylum policy to reconsider deportation of 20 Iranian Kurds facing prosecution and possible execution in Iran.
Amsterdam – More than 56,000 people from over 40 countries have joined a popular campaign on Change.org demanding the Swedish government grant asylum to 20 Iranian Kurds who face prosecution and possible execution in Iran.
Carin Zallerman, a concerned New York City resident, launched the campaign on Change.org after Swedish authorities decided to deny the activists refugee status and send them back to Iran. In response to this decision, all 20 people went on a hunger strike, sewing their lips together and coordinating street actions with Zallerman’s online campaign.
“It is a violation of human rights that the Swedish government still continues to deport refugees seeking asylum back to Iran, where they face torture and/or execution,” said Caren Zallerman, who launched the campaign on Change.org, the world’s fastest-growing platform for social change. “Sweden must drastically change its current asylum policy and halt all deportations of political activists to Iran.”
The group of Iranian activists has run its social media-driven campaign from a tent in the center of Stockholm, attracting global attention and increasing pressure on Tobias Billström, Sweden’s minister for migration and asylum policy.
“This campaign is a unique example of close cooperation between the hunger strikers at the square and a global community of concerned citizens,” said Change.org Human Rights Organizer Dmitry Savelau. “Since their lips are sewn shut, they’ve been campaigning internationally using the Internet and, together with Carin Zallerman, have managed to recruit thousands of supporters from over 40 countries to their cause. Change.org is about empowering individuals all over the world to demand action on the issues that matter to them, and it has been remarkable to watch Carin’s campaign take off.”
Among the tens of thousands of supporters is Shirin Ebadi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate who condemned the actions of Swedish authorities and met with the Iranian activists this past Saturday.
Live signature totals from Carin Zallerman’s campaign:
http://www.change.org/petitions/sweden-stop-deportation-of-refugees-facing-execution-in-iran
Journalists interested in contacting the Swedish Migration Office’s public relations staff should try:
Linda Norberg, Press Secretary of Tobias Billström
Email via http://www.regeringen.se/sb/d/14159/a/158627
+46 08-405-57-96
+46 70-226-09-04
Johan Rahm, Head of the Press Unit, Swedish Migration Board
[email protected]
+ 46 10-485-66-55 (office hours)
+ 46 70-830-83-40 (outside of office hours)
Bodil Sundén, Press Information Officer, Swedish Migration Board
[email protected]
+1 (202) 555-1213
For more information on Change.org, please visit:
http://www.change.org/about
