Ceremony for Student Peace Prize Winner

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The biennial Student Peace Prize ceremony will be held on Friday in Trondheim to officially award Majid Tavakoli, an Iranian university student activist of the 2013 prize. Since Majid is in prison his award must be presented to him in absentia. The ceremony will be streamed live on isfit.org.

The Student Peace Prize honors students who, like Majid, fight for democracy, peace, and human rights. The ceremony will begin at 19:00 Central European Time in the Olavshallen, a historical concert hall famous for holding large musical or cultural events. Throughout the night attendees will enjoy music from diverse acts, including an indie rock band and the Trondheim Symphony Orchestra. Writer and blogger, Maria Amelie is set to host the ceremony.

An hour and a half before the start of the program, a public torchlight procession called, Walk for Peace will begin at Studentersamnfundet, lead through the Walk of Peace in Jomfrugata and end at the Olavshallen. Participants are planning to hold pictures of Majid Tavakoli.

Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, the spokesperson of Iran Human Rights, an international NGO based in Norway, is among the speakers of the night. He says, “Majid Tavakoli, a leader of the Iranian Student Movement, has been barred from education and sentenced to a total of nine years in prison for expressing his opinion and standing up for fundamental human rights in Iran. The Student Peace Prize is an expression of support for Majid and a call for the international community to also show their support to Iranian students deprived of their rights.”

After hearing Majid won, Bob Runciman, a Canadian Senator who spoke about Majid in Canada’s Senate Chambers in 2012, sent his congratulations. He said in an official statement, “The awarding of the Student Peace Prize is a sign that Majid Tavakoli has not been forgotten, that he is having an impact, and it should be a warning to the Iranian regime that the world is watching.” He added, “He is being held unlawfully by any civilized standard and I call for his immediate release.”

Iranian student activists and members of student organizations were elated to hear about Majid’s win. “The Student Peace Prize award means a lot. It means that the world and student activists in democratic countries have not forgotten that Iranian students are imprisoned and their families are under pressure,” says a member of Tahkim Vahdat, the largest student body based in Iran.

Majid Tavakoli was arrested on December 7, 2009 (on National Student Day in Iran) and has been imprisoned since then. The 26-year-old student activist is currently held in Rajai Shahr Prison in Karaj. The effects of confinement, torture, and multiple hunger strikes have caused him to experience abdominal bleeding and contract a lung condition. Iranian authorities have ignored calls by human rights activists and international bodies to release Majid Tavakoli from prison. Today, more than 30 students suffer behind bars in Iran. Some of them have been imprisoned for more than three years, while others are serving heavier sentences.