Fighting for condemned children

RNW is shifting its focus to promoting freedom of speech in regions where this is under threat. Over the coming weeks, we will be publishing a series of portraits of men and women around the world who have stood up for the right to speak their minds. Today, Iranian-Canadian Nazanin Afshin-Jam.
By Margot Grant
In 2006, Nazanin Afshin-Jam was at the top of her game. She had just signed a record deal for her debut album, Someday. Not only was she an accomplished singer and songwriter, she was also a beauty queen,having won the title of Miss World Canada, and become first runner-up for Miss World.
Another Nazanin
Then, on a bleak February afternoon in Vancouver, she received an email from a total stranger. He wrote that he was following the case of a 17-year old girl in Iran who had been sentenced to death for killing one of three men who tried to rape her. The girl’s name was also Nazanin, Nazanin Fatehi. He tried to find out more about her fate, but every time he typed “Nazanin” in Google, web pages about the famous Nazanin Afshin-Jam kept coming up. Would she be willing to use her fame to help and save her namesake in Iran?
Nazanin Afshin-Jam read the email with horror. The girl had had a very hard life and then, in a desperate attempt to fend off three rapists, had killed one of them. She was sentenced to die by hanging. This desperate tale struck a chord with Nazanin Afshin-Jam, whose family had fled Iran in 1979 after her father was tortured. They settled In Canada, where Nazanin obtained a degree in International Relations and Political Science and started working for the Red Cross as a Global Youth Educator for humanitarian causes.
“Don’t tell me what to do”
She also entered the Miss World competition, whose motto is “Beauty with a Purpose”. She was successful but was also criticised by those who asked if it was really necessary to parade on a stage in a bikini to draw attention to human rights and freedom of speech? Afshin-Jam thought it was a question of her own freedom. “Shouldn’t I have the choice? Don’t tell me what to wear, say or do,” was her response to the critics.
Her success led to modelling work and a budding career as a singer but these projects were put on the back burner when she learned of Nazanin’s plight. She decided to use her celebrity and contacts to try and save the Iranian girl. She pulled as many strings as possible and ultimately presented a petition signed by over 350,000 people to the United Nations. Within a year, Nazanin Fatehi was released from jail.
Campaign continues
Afshin-Jam had learned that there were at least 160 minors on death row in Iran and a handful of other countries, and she wanted to use her campaigning experience on their behalf. She founded the Stop Child Executions Organisation  and continues to work for humanitarian causes in the Middle East.
At the time of the fight for Nazanin, Afshin-Jam approached Peter MacKay, then Canadian minister of Foreign Affairs. He helped the cause, and told her to contact him again if other cases came up. She did, and he supported her efforts. They started to date and married earlier this year. Afshin-Jam continues to fight for humanitarian causes and freedom of speech and has released a song dedicated to Nazanin and written a book about her.
Fate unknown
But by 2010, Nazanin Fatehi had gone missing. What happened? Nazanin Afshin-Jam likes to think that she met a decent man and is living happily away from media attention. But a darker scenario is possible, too. Perhaps the Iranian authorities sought revenge. Or, possibly, the family of the victim has taken matters in their own hands.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jm81rd7MEZs