Mohammad Mostafaei will receive Norwegian award

Persian2English — On Tuesday November 15th, prominent human rights lawyer Mohammad Mostafaei will be awarded the Norwegian PEN’s Ossietzky prize for outstanding achievements in the field of free expression. The ceremony will take place in the evening at the House of Literature in Oslo. Mostafaei has saved more than 50 clients, mainly women and children, from execution in Iran.

In July 2010, a few days after being summoned to Evin prison’s Court Branch, Mostafaei visited the Evin prison Intelligence Prosecutor’s office and was interrogated for four hours. Later that afternoon, security forces went to Mostafaei’s office with an arrest warrant, but he was not there. Mostafaei had fled to Norway to seek protection from regime authorities after his wife and brother-in-law were taken hostage and held for ransom. In September 2010, the human rights lawyer’s wife and young daughter were able to also join him in Norway to begin their new life in exile.

In November 2010, Mostafaei was sentenced in absentia by the Tehran Revolutionary Court to six years prison exile in the town of Izeh. He was charged with “Acting against national security by giving interviews to Persian-language media” and “Propaganda against the regime”.

Mohammad Mostafaei gained international attention when he defended Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, a 43-year-old mother of two who had been sentenced to death by stoning on the charge of “Adultery”. Due to the massive international attention surrounding the Ashtiani case, the Iranian regime authorities have since cancelled the stoning sentence.
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