Committee for Defense of Freedom and Human Rights

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COMMITTEE FOR DEFENSE OF FREEDOM AND HUMAN RIGHTS

the first independent human rights organization in iran's history.

The Iranian Committee for the Defense of Freedom and Human Rights was established in Tehran in fall 1977. It was founded by twenty-nine members of the opposition to the government of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, including Shahpur Bakhtiar and Mehdi Bazargan, both future prime ministers of Iran. Their first act was to draft a letter of protest to the secretary general of the United Nations, de-crying human rights abuses in Iran. The committee's various activities contributed to the onset of the Iranian Revolution of 1979.

see also bakhtiar, shapur; bazargan, mehdi; iranian revolution (1979); pahlavi, mohammad reza.


Bibliography


Abrahamian, Ervand. Iran between Two Revolutions. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1982.

Neguin Yavari

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Committee for Defense of Freedom and Human Rights