Melanie Needham is not a stranger to those who helped with the campaigns to save Nazanin Fatehi, Delara Darabi and other children facing execution. In addition to restless campaigning she has contribued with many artworks such as paintings of Nazanin and Delara.

Born in Alberta, Canada, Melanie works in the entertainment industry as a career consultant, managing and promoting musicians/artists. She is also an artist/graphics designer. Melanie is a mother to 5 children and this is what led her to start her volunteer work with The Stop Child Executions Campaign, feeling that children throughout the world deserve the same basic human rights as her own children. 

Melanie will be bringing a new energy to the SCE and Delara Darabi pages on myspace. Nazanin Afshin-Jam and the team at Stop Child Executions Campaign warmly welcome Melanie to our family.  

                                                                                                                                                                                        Donna and Graham Greene of Stop Child Executions Campaign, both talented Australian artists, have just released a new music track “Resonance (Spirit of Man)“ dedicated to all who have been involved with the ontinuing http://www.stopchildexecutions.com Campaign.

Donna Greene wrote today: “ I want you to know that I dedicate this track to you …  to the first 5 people (including Vincent) because this is what you brought out in us through our association with you … quite a powerful experience from our perspective.”

“ ….We love you guys from across the waters – particularly Nazanin Afshin-Jam, David Etebari, Kristian & Vincent who have all played a major role in keeping this real life drama at the top of people’s minds to help young people less fortunate than ourselves and to be the voice of the voiceless minors on death row in Iran. Mahan, Lucy, Dave for Saving Delara, Mel, Nikki and everyone else who is still doing their part to help this campaign… you are all amazing and we will be joined for life through this experience. Never give up.  Over the past several months it has been uncovered that there are not 23 minors on Death Row awaiting Execution in Iran (as first depicted on our Video Collage with Graham “Raven’s Eye Pt1.” as the music backdrop) – but in fact 74 minors who deserve fair play, not neglect and ignorance by a world who ‘think they know’. Keep up the international pressure. Shine a light brightly and support Amnesty International’s effort to support the SCE Campaign and to Stop Child Executions once and for all. “

Resonance (Spirit of Man) can be heard at Donna Greene’s myspace site: http://www.myspace.com/donnalgreene

Lyrics:

I didn’t know we could help you.
I don’t know how you feel inside
Now the world wants to save you
I always knew you were born to survive.
Coz I – I – I did.

Nazanin Afshin-jam and SCE Campaign wish to thank Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs , honorable Peter McKay and the Canadian Government for their immediate response to Nazanin’s urgent request to intervene in Sina Paymard’s execution yesterday. Ottawa issued a strong statement yesterday to Iranian authorities about Sina:

http://news.gc.ca:80/web/view/en/index.jsp?articleid=341929

Canada Calls upon Iran to Overturn Death Sentence of Sina Paymard

 Nazanin Afshin-Jam had a roundtable discussion about Iran on France’s largest TV news station LCI with former Ambassador of France to Iran Francois Nicoullaud – an author/economist, Thierry Coville – author and  former assistant at the French Research Institute in Iran ,  and Jean-Pierre Montanay the film director who made the recent documentary about Nazanin Fatehi in Iran. Following the program, François Nicoullaud signed the petition to Stop Child Executions in Iran.

Follwoing the program Mr.  Francois Nicoullaud signed the petition demanding an end to Child Executions in Iran.

 Nazanin Afshin-Jam and SCE campaign appreciate Mr. Nicoullaud’s support of the Stop Child Executions Campaign.

François Nicoullaud was the French ambassador to Iran from 2001 to July, 2005.  After the end of his mission has published a book in France called “The turban and the rose”, in which he strongly critisized the regime in Iran. In a segment of his book, Nicoullaud, the Egyptian-born French politician wrote that the rulers of Iran are violent and rude individuals whose motivation for their election are deceptive and based on hidden costs and that the government of Iran is a Stalinist system. He has also written that the regime of Tehran does pursue nuclear weapons and they will ultimately get their hands on them

Stop Child Executions Campaign continues to gain support among Human Rights organizations, writers, artists and advocates. Nazanin Afshin-Jam and SCE campaign thank Miss Neda Shahidyazdani (USA) and Mr. Tarek Fateh (Canada) for their support of the campaign to end child executions:

Ms. Shahidyazdani is an Iranian human rights lawyer at the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center where she helped to author a recently released report on the persecution of the Bahá’í religious minority in Iran. Her professional work has also concentrated on the rights of minorities. Ms. Shahidyazdani has assisted with projects at Human Rights First and the Center for International Law at New York Law School.   

Tarek Fatah is a secular Muslim Canadian political activist, writer and TV host. Founder of the Muslim Canadian Congress , Fatah’s advocates separation of religion and state in Isalic countries, opposition to Sharia law, and promotes what he calls a “progressive” form of Islam 

Born in Karachi, Pakistan, Fatah a student at the time was imprisoned under military governments and charged with sedition. A biochemist by training, Fatah entered journalism as a reporter for the Karachi Sun in 1970, and went on to become an investigative journalist for Pakistani television. He was fired after the coup that brought General Zia ul-Haq to power, and fled to Saudi Arabia, where he lived for a decade. In 1987, he emigrated to Canada and settled in Toronto.  He is host of the Muslim Chronicle TV show since 1996, which airs Saturday nights on CTS-TV. Tarek is also a frequent guest on many TV shows and has written for the Toronto Star, the Globe and Mail and TIME Magazine.

After receiving a series of death threats by Muslim extremists, in August 2006 Tarek Fatah resigned as the director of the Muslim Canadian Congress, severing all official ties with the organization he helped found. “It’s not just for me. It’s for my wife and my daughters” He said.

Fatah is the author of Chasing a Mirage: The Islamic State or a State of Islam, to be published in 2008.

Yanar Mohamad signed the petition to save Delara Darabi from execution. She is the head of the Organisation of Women’s Freedom in Iraq (OWFI), is a renowned activist, and highly regarded in the world today for her brave efforts in defending women’s rights in Iraq. She and the OWFI have been at the forefront of raising Iraqi women’s awareness of their rights, fighting for an egalitarian secular state and full equality for women, as well as advocating for the separation of religion from the state and educational system which is a precondition for guaranteeing women’s rights in Iraq.

Nazanin Afshin-Jam and SCE Campaign thank Ms. Mohamad for joining the campaign to save Delara Darabi. 

Nealy 15,000 have signed Delara’s petition to date.   

Muslim writer and activist IRSHAD MANJI signed the petition to Stop Child Executions in Iran. In a letter to Nazanin Afshin Jam she wrote : “I’m attaching a “prayer” from the reform-minded Muslims of Project Ijtihad, asking all Muslims of conscience and compassion to speak out against children executions now.”

Nazanin Afshin-Jam and SCE Campaign greatly appreciate Ms. Irashad Manji’s and project Ijtihad’s support of the campagin to stop child executions.

About Irshad Manji:  Irshad is a Canadian feminist Muslim, author, journalist, and activist. She is a well-known critic of radical Islam and orthodox interpretations of the Qur’an, calling herself a “Muslim refusenik”. The New York Times has dubbed Irshad Manji “Osama Bin Laden’s worst nightmare.” She takes that as a compliment. Irshad is the best-selling author of The The Trouble with Islam Today : A Muslim’s Call for Reform in Her Faith. The book has been published in 25 languages. In those countries that have banned her book, she is reaching readers by posting free translations in Arabic, Urdu, and Persian on her website at http://www.muslim-refusenik.com. Irshad Manji also maintains a myspace website. 

Irshad also travels the globe to lecture about the liberal reformation of Islam. Her audiences include Amnesty International, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the United Nations Press Corps, the Democratic Muslims of Denmark, the National Committee on American Foreign Policy, the International Women’s Forum, the Swedish Defense Research Agency, the Pentagon, the Jean Jacques Rousseau Institute, and universities from Cambridge to Notre Dame. Currently, Irshad is a Senior Fellow with the European Foundation for Democracy. She writes columns that are distributed worldwide by the New York Times Syndicate. She is also making a feature film about Islam. Among the ideas it will showcase is “ijtihad,” Islam’s lost tradition of independent thinking. has appeared on numerous television networks worldwide. US PBS Television network recently broadcasted a documentary by Irshad Manji titled: Faith without fear.  

As a social entrepreneur, Irshad has launched Project Ijtihad, an initiative to develop the world’s first leadership network for reform-minded Muslims. In that capacity, she was recently named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. Oprah Winfrey honored Irshad with the first annual Chutzpah Award for “audacity, nerve, boldness and conviction.” Ms. magazine chose Irshad as a “Feminist for the 21st Century.” Maclean’s, Canada’s national news magazine, selected her one of ten “Canadians Who Make a Difference.” And the Jakarta Post in Indonesia — the world’s largest Muslim country — identified Irshad as one of three women creating a positive change in Islam today.

THANK YOU HONORABLE MAY HANSEN OF NORWEGIAN PARLIAMENT:

THANK YOU TO THE NEW MEMBERS OF THE SWEDISH PARLIAMENT MEMBERS FOR SUPPORT OF STOP CHILD EXECUTIONS CAMPAIGN: (101 MP’s have signed the petition to date)

THANK YOU SAVE THE CHILDREN (Sweden) (Rädda Barnen i Sverige ) FOR YOUR SUPPORT:

6208 SIGNATURES AND GROWING…

THANK YOU ALL

Signatures Per Month:

Month	Signatures
2007.03	1323
2007.04	1646
2007.05	3180

A word of thanks to Nina for translation of How You Can Help Page to Persian.

- با امضا کردن بیانیه

- با تماس حاصل کردن با تمام آشنایان خود و درخواست امضا کردن بیانیه

- با نوشتن نامه های شخصی به سازمان ملل متّحد و درخواستِ تحت فشار گذاشتن دولت ایران در متوقّف کردن اعدام نوجوانانی که در حین ارتکاب جرایم، زیر ١٨ سال سن داشتند. نامه ها را لطفاً به دبیر کل سازمان ملل متّحد “بَن کی مون” و کمیسر ارشد حفظ حقوق انسانی “لوئیس آربر” به آدرس زیر ارسال فرمایید:

- با نوشتن نامه به مقامات رسمی و مسئولین در ایران

- با نوشتن به سازمان های بین الملل

Stop Child Executions Campaign greatly appreciate the overwhelming support of Swedish Parliamentary members:

Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

Former Member of Parliament

SCE encourage our campaign supporters to contact your country leaders & politicians, your local members of parliament and your minister of foreign affairs asking them to join the other worlld politicians in signing the SCE petition demanding the Government of Iran to stop child executions as well as asking the UN offices to demand Iran to comply with signed treaties. . (US Officials can be found here)

A word of thanks to Pia and Manocher for their continuous lobbying efforts in Sweden.

Nazanin met with the first elected female head of state in Africa, president of Liberia Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, at a luncheon organized by The Canada 20/20 Public Policy Conference. The president was invited by Canadian Member of Parliament Belinda Stronach.

Senator Rod A. Zimmer rose in the Canadian Senate to recognize Nazanin’s efforts in the Save Nazanin Campaign and to encourage the members of the Senate to support the new Stop Child Executions Campaign www.stopchildexecutions.com

Nazanin at a meeting with Mr. Stephen Harper the Prime Minister of Canada emphasized the importance of Canada taking an international leadership role in stopping the human and children violations in Iran.

Nazanin Afshin-Jam discussing the human right violations in Iran at a meeting with Canadian foreign minister, Peter MacKay.

At the Canadian Parliament Human Rights subcommitte hearing with Secretary of state Jason Kenny.

Stop Child Executions and Nazanin Afshin-Jam greatly appreciate the efforts of the Canadian government leaders in helping bring international awareness to the human rights and children rights violations in Iran. We also very much appreciate the opportunity to meet and discuss our concerns with President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Republic of Libera.

The Stop Child Executions Campaign is made possible with efforts of many individuals and organizations. Here are more names to add to our previous list. We would like to thank the following individuals for their restless refforts:

The Stop Child Executions Campaign is made possible with efforts of many individuals and organizations. To name only a few we especially would like to thank the following individuals and organizations:

Amnesty International – for their constant work on behalf of minors and human rights issues in Iran and for their continued collaboration (especially the UK and German office)

Mohammad Mostafaei – Attorney – (Iran) – for representing Nazanin Fatehi and Reza Alinejad

Shadi Sadr – Attorney – (Iran) – for representing Nazanin Fatehi

Abdolsamad Khoramshahi – Attorney – (Iran) - for representing Delara Darabi

Nasrin Sotoudeh – Attorney – (Iran) - for representing Sina Paymard

Mina Ahadi – Head of Internal Committee against Executions – (Germany) – Co-authoring and presentation of the resolution by European parliament members to end child executions in Iran and continuous support of campaign.

Honorable Belinda Stronach – Member of Parliament (Canada) for continuous support

Honorable Senator Rod Zimmer - (Canada) – for continuous support

Vincent Maunoury – (France) – Continuous support in research and development and translation of petition to French.

Ali Adab – Bodog Entertianment – (Canada) – Continuous support in media relations.

Inas Younis – Writer – (USA) – Initial edit of the petition draft.

Chey Peters – Writer – (USA) – Initial edit of the petition draft.

Shirin K – International Law attorney – (UK) – initial legal review of petition.

Jackeline Alegria – Attorney – (Guatemala) – Translation of petition to Spanish.

Krzysztof Kaczynski – (Poland) – For setting up Delara Darabi website in Polish

Graham Greene – Musician – (Australia) – Continuous help and support.

Nina L. – Student – (Canada) – Translation and campaig support

More names soon