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Secretary-General of the United Nations

President of PEN International

This petition is prepared for Behrooz Arabzadeh who is an Iranian political activist, poet, writer and translator.

He is also a member of the "Writers' Association of Iran in Exile". Despite the problems of asylum, he has published eight books in different countries during these years and has increased his total writings to twelve volumes.

He was wanted by the Islamic Republic of Iran cause of writing critical books and cultural activities, and since 2014 he was forced to leave Iran and apply for asylum at the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. since 2018 his application was approved and he is recognized as a refugee.

In 2015, Turkish authorities transferred him to a city in the east of the country, and he suffered an erosive process in Turkish courts because of a "Five days of justified delay" in his introduction to the new city. Although the Turkish Court of Appeals ruled that the "five-day delay in introduction" was justified, the Turkish Supreme Court ruled that he should leave the Turkey.

He does not have a valid passport to leave Turkey and is currently under arrest and deportation to Iran. If deported to Iran, he could face long-term prison, torture and even execution.

Therefore, we, the writers, artists and political and civil activists who signed this petition, in accordance with the various clauses of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, including Articles: 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and especially 14 and 15 of you as Secretary-General of the United Nations, PEN International and as the House of Writers and Human Rights Defenders, we call on you to save the life of this Iranian writer and civil and political activist from the bitter fate that awaits him and to reside in a safe country.

After this letter, any unpleasant events that lead to deportation and imprisonment or execution to him, the organizations mentioned in this letter will be responsible for the consequences.

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