His Excellency Mr. Ban Ki Moon 760 United Nations Plaza New York, NY 10017 USA Your Excellency, I am a concerned Iranian citizen who would like to bring the case of Pastor Yousef Nadarakhani to your attention. As you are probably aware, Mr. Nadarkhani is a 32 year old father of 2 boys, who converted to Christianity at the tender age of 19. Since then, he has became the pastor of a small evangelical church in the northern Iranian city of Rasht. He has also requested that his children receive an education in Christian religious morals and ethics, rather than Islamic ones. You are probably also aware that all of these courageous actions(converting from Islam, becoming a pastor and requesting your children to receive a Christian education if you were originally Muslim,) are against Iranian Law, and that apostasy, as it is known, is punishable by death. Every time Mahmoud Ahmadinejad visits New York, he claims that the Islamic Republic of Iran is doing everything within its power to promote and maintain human rights within its jurisdiction. It is alarmingly evident however, with the case of Mr. Nadarkhani, that this not the case. This lack of regard for human rights, has also been demonstrated in the past, by the unjustified and savage murder of Pastor Hossein Soudmand, (another ex-Muslim who converted to Christianity and began to minister to others) who was killed in 1990, leaving an obviously strong and courageous wife, to take care of his half-orphaned children. Psator Haik Hovsepian, who was not even an ex-Muslim and had been a devout, loving, Christian his whole life, and who had assumed the role that was the ultimate test of his faith, that is the role of the leadership of the Protestant churches of Iran, was stabbed to death by the vicious and inhumane agents of the Islamic Republic, in 1994. He also left a widowed wife and children. His children have founded Hovsepian ministries, after immigrating to the United States, in order to continue their father’s legacy of love for Jesus. Your Excellency, knowing the Islamic Republic of Iran’s past reputation of not honoring its so-called “commitments to human rights,” I have a strong conviction that it is your responsibility to take on this leadership role, since you are very capable of exerting pressure on the leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran, due to your highly respectful position on the world stage. It is also your responsibility to be at the forefront of the battle for Mr. Naderkhani’s life, because not doing so, would mean that you are violating the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which you of all people in the world, are most expected to uphold. The 2nd article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights Explicitly states: “Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.” The first freedom set out in the document, which is very relevant to Mr. Naderkhani’s case, is aptly written in the third article of the document: “Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of the person.” Your excellency, I urge you again to take immediate action against Mr. Naderkhani’s further indictment, to demonstrate the validity of the claim that the UN is strongly committed to human rights, and does indeed uphold the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. I thank you again for your time and your consideration of this case. With bountiful respect, A Concerned Iranian Citizen