My Blog has Moved to freethoughtblogs.com since 1 November 2011

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

An open letter to Facebook founder on Maryam and Mina's Facebook accounts

UPDATE 21 September 2010: No further action required - both Mina and my Facebook accounts have been reinstated. Thanks for all your help on this!


Mr Mark Zuckerberg
Facebook Headquarters
156 University Avenue
Palo Alto
California 94301-1605

Dear Mr Zuckerberg,

I am writing to ask that you reinstate the Facebook accounts of Maryam Namazie and Mina Ahadi as a matter of urgency. Their accounts were disabled without warning on Monday 13 September 2010. As well as reinstating these accounts, we ask that an explanation is provided as to why they were disabled.

Maryam Namazie and Mina Ahadi are well known human rights campaigners who have worked globally to end the barbaric practice of stoning, as well as other human rights abuses. Both have been awarded Secularist of the Year by the National Secular Society (UK) and named in the top 45 ‘women of the year’ by Elle magazine in Canada.

Ms Namazie and Ms Ahadi’s campaign to save the life of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani – an Iranian woman recently sentenced to death by stoning for adultery – has undoubtedly contributed to the prevention of her execution. Therefore, it is vital that their Facebook accounts be reinstated and their campaigns allowed to continue unfettered; Facebook provides them with an important communications tool and method of increasing support for their work.

Not only were these accounts disabled without warning, but without reason. At present therefore, we have little choice but to assume that their Facebook accounts have disabled for political reasons.

Please clarify the reasons for these accounts being disabled, and whether or not Facebook respects the rights of human rights campaigners to work freely and without prejudice on your website.

We look forward to your immediate response.

Anne Marie Waters, Spokesperson, One Law for All, UK
Terry Sanderson, President, National Secular Society, UK
Ophelia Benson, Editor, Butterflies and Wheels, USA
Hassan Radwan, Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain, UK
Joan Smith, Journalist, UK
Professor A. C. Grayling, Philosopher, UK
Fariborz Pooya, Iranian Secular Society, UK
Mahin Alipour, Equal Rights Now, Sweden
Annie Sugier, President, Ligue du Droit Internaitonal des Femmes, France
Nazanin Afshin-Jam, Human Rights Activist and President, Stop Child Executions, Canada
Maria Hagberg, Chair person of the Network Against Honour Related Violence, Sweden
Issam Shukri, Organization to Defend Secularism and Civil Rights in Iraq, Canada
Sonja Eggerickx, President, International Humanist and Ethical Union, Belgium

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I support Maryam's petition.

Sicerely,
Facebook User & Journalist

Anonymous said...

Not Facebook and not any other internet service provider has the right to disable or cancel unilaterally a personal account where communication material and personal data are storage in the person's account.


At the time there is all the technology and means to monitor and control what the subscribers are downloading and importing into their account and can be stopped from any misuse of the rules, why instead methodically facebook and any other internet provider taking this harsh and abusive method of disabling personal accounts and depriving humans from their undeniable right to communication with people of their life and also been deprived from having access to their own personal data and valuable documents...

People are falling into facebook promotional offer and opting to join, abandoning other internet programs and habits, In order to venture facebook promotional offer and by doing so, they are becoming vulnerable in to the hands of these arrogant people named; facebook Team, who they have no education in Human relations and thinking that they own the souls of the people who are supporting them.

We are living in a free civilize society and no body is above the constitution and the laws of the Country we live.

In my opinion this disabling action and practice is abusive, outdated unethical, unsocial and greatly disturbing!!!,

This kind of practice belong to third world countries and not to the North America where is based facebook. This is an Insult to the American Liberty Symbol and to the Whole Civilize free world!!!

Also is against to the facebook slogan that; facebook helps you connect and share with the people of your life!!!

Therefore, I Would like to see facebook Team before the Canadian or American and or European courts for abusively disabling personal accounts and depriving people from their undeniable right to communicate and having access to their own personal data!!!

Modesto Glykis

Montreal-Laval, Quebec.Canada

Anonymous said...

Just post nasty stuff all over facebook groups from different accounts when they wrongly delete u. its really the only recourse. While i dont like the idea of having to make other facebook users miserable because of what facebook has done to me, the fact remains that they r using a website that has wronged me, and that use helps a website that wronged me to grow and expand.