Note: this online event has been postponed to a later date

Towards Abolition of the Death Penalty Series
Saturday June 14, 12:30 EST (10:30am in Saskatchewan)

To register on Zoom, go to: 

https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_1s-SyrY4Q7Cl2iaslhZpsg#/registration

Hello Everyone:

This Saturday is the 5th of 10 webinars featuring some of the most important commentators on human rights from around the world. We are hearing from philosophers, artists, lawyers, journalists, actors, victims of political violence, historians, sociologists, researchers, and human rights campaigners from across North America, UK, Europe, and the Middle East.

Session 5: Islam and the Death Penalty

Our panelists will discuss Shia and Sunni Islamic perspectives on the death penalty. It’s the general impression that Islamic countries favour the death penalty as a religiously-endorsed punitive measure against a wide range of crime, including drug trafficking, ‘corruption on earth’, sedition, murder. But Islam is not so straight forward as that. Many believe it offers possibilities not for the perpetuation of the death penalty, but for its abolition. 

Our panelists are:

1. Dr Sedigheh Vasmaghi, a renowned poet, theologian, teacher of jurisprudence, and defender of women’s rights;
2. Shole Pakravan, an actress whose daughter was executed in 2014. who told her story in the multiple-award winning documentary Seven Winters in Tehran;
3. Sarmad Ali, a legal expert with the High Court of Pakistan, whose life is dedicated to end the death penalty in his country and bring justice reform for juvenile offenders. 

Our moderator, Samira Mohyeddin, is a journalist, CBC radio host, and Fellow at the University of Toronto.

Share this with anyone you think might be interested. 

This is the 5th in a series of 10 webinars – if you missed the previous one you can watch the recording here

Partners

Amnesty International Canada | English Speaking https://amnesty.ca/
Carleton University Youth & Justice Lab https://carleton.ca/law/youthandjusticelab/
The Human Rights Research and Education Centre https://www.uottawa.ca/research-innovation/hrrec
The Canadian International Council | Saskatchewan Branch https://thecic.org/saskatoon/
The Mardom Foundation https://mardomfoundation.org/
The Paivand Society https://www.paivand-society.ca/

This Series is Presented by ‘United Against Executions in Iran/Unis contre les exécutions en Iran’
 We are a network of Iranian-Canadian and Amnesty Canada groups and supporters. Our goal is the abolition of the death penalty in Iran. Our methods include public education initiatives, advocating non-partisan conversations in Parliament, urging more effective actions by the Government of Canada, joining forces with networks like ours in North America and beyond, and persuading local organizations to speak out – to act out – on this urgent issue.

Ending executions in Iran will be a giant step in abolishing the death penalty everywhere.