Access, a global Internet freedom advocacy group, has launched a "No To
Nokia" petition as part of a campaign supporting Iranian journalist Issa Saharkiz's
lawsuit against Nokia Siemens. The Saharkiz lawsuit claims that
sales of mobile tracking technology to Iran was instrumental in allowing the Iranian government
to locate the journalist when he went into hiding, and led to his
subsequent "inhuman and degrading treatment" in prison. Access' petition
demands that Nokia and the countries of the E.U. and U.S. "completely
end all sales, support, and service of tracking and surveillance
technology to governments with a record of human rights abuses. "
The Saharkiz case is being pursued through the U.S. court system using that
country's Alien Torts Act, a statute from 1789 that lets American courts
hear human rights cases brought by foreign citizens for conduct outside the
United States. It's not the first time this 18th-century law has been
used to address 21st-century press freedom issues. The mother of Shi
Tao, the Chinese journalist arrested after information taken from his Yahoo!
email account was passed onto the Chinese authorites, sued the American search
engine under the same law in 2007. Yahoo! eventually settled that case.
Saharkiz is currently serving a three year sentence for "insulting the
Supreme Leader" and "propagating against the regime". In May, Saharkhiz was
transferred to a prison in Rajaee Shahr, near Karaj, according to the
reformist news website Kalame, where he reportedly suffered a heart
attack. CPJ has been unable to determine his current state of health.
(Image: Isa Saharkhiz, a Creative Commons Attribution (2.0) image from sabzphoto's photostream)