This Magazine has written about CHRI and used an interview Q&A done by Ali K Bangi to complete the article.

We use cycling as a tool to raise awareness. Cycling from Toronto to New York is kind of a mental and physical challenge that we believe is kind of similar to those facing many Iranian students, activists and political leaders that have been imprisoned for exercising their right to freedom of expression and assembly, which are both recognized rights by Iran’s constitution and the universal human rights. Cycling also keeps us together. – From the Article

Find the complete article here.

Dear CHRI members and supporters,

Mr. Khatibzadeh, second secretary at the Iranian embassy in Ottawa called me today, September 9, 2009 at around 1200pm and confirmed that he sent the Amnesty International (AI) petition to Tehran. The petition was signed by about 4,000 people and was delivered to the Embassy by a group of 35 CHRI cyclists and crew members.

I thanked Mr. Khatibzadeh for accepting the petition and sending it to Tehran. He responded that he did his duty and it was the embassy’s responsibility to send the petition to Tehran.

More information about the petition please check out the Amnesty International website.

Thank you all CHRI members and supporters! I believe this was a successful campaign as we managed to express our concern for the situation of human rights in Iran to Iranian government and send our message of support to Iranian people, who unfortunately, their human rights have been violated.

Thank you Amnesty International Canada for this successful partnership and your support!

Ali K. Bangi

On Monday, July 27th, CHRI crew were warmly received by the  Amnesty International chapter in Ottawa. After meet and greet we talked about our journey and about our goals for the day. The cyclists were then accompanied by A.I. staff in a ride to the Parliament and The Human Rights monument before making their way to the Iranian Embassy. The cyclists entered the embassy as a group and delivered the Amnesty International petition to the embassy.

CHRI holds a final meeting in Amnesty International office in Ottawa

We held our last meeting in Amnesty International office celebrating our great success before heading back to Toronto.

Here is a more detailed report of the events of the last day:

3,919 people Signed the Amnesty International petition in support of Human Rights in Iran. We cycled 450km from Toronto to Ottawa and delivered this petition to the Iranian Embassy.

Mr. Khatibi, 2nd secretary at the Embassy informed us (on  Ali Karimzadeh Bangi’s cell phone), on Monday, July 27, morning that no representative from the embassy would meet with us and the embassy would not accept the petition.

He called again at around noon and informed us, through Ali, that only 4 of us, who had to be Iranian bikers could enter the embassy to deliver the petition because there was not enough room for all 20 of us and “the code of conduct” for non-Iranian citizens to enter the embassy was different, requiring a different procedure.

He called again at around 1:00pm and said that all of us, Iranians and Canadians, could go inside and deliver the petition.

CHRI at Iran embassy’s door in Ottawa

CHRI enters the Iranian embassy to deliver the Amnesty International petition

We arrived at the embassy at 2:00pm as planned, where we met two RCMP officers who accompanied us into the embassy. We met with Mr. Khatibi, read the petition in both Farsi and English and delivered the message of concerns of those who signed the petition to him.

He accepted the petition and told us that he would carry out his responsibility to send the petition to Iran. He also said that he would inform us, (by contacting Ali) of the date he would send the petition to Tehran.

He acknowledged that human rights was universal and said that he understood that we, as Iranians living abroad and Canadians, were concerned about the violation of human rights of those arrested [for the exercise of their rights to freedom of expression and assembly since the June 12th elections].

He continued that the human rights of those in Iran should be respected too, because they want to live in peace.

He also mentioned that he differentiated between us, concerned Iranians and Canadians, and those who belong to the “terrorist” groups. When he mentioned the word “terrorists”, he pointed out to outside, where a group of Iranians had gathered and were protesting by saying “death to the Islamic regime”. He did not mention the name of any particular group. However, he said the “terrorist” groups that have been recognize as “terrorist” by international community.

He said he was pleased to meet us, would meet with us again if necessary and would certainly send the petition to the Iranian government in Tehran.

CHRI rides in Ottawa after delivering the Amnesty International petition

Cycling for Human Rights in Iran was a successful campaign to inform the Iranian government about the concerns of many people regarding the violation of human rights in Iran. In addition, it sent a message of support to prisoners of conscience, their families and friends that they have not been forgotten.

Thank you again for your wonderful support. This campaign would not be possible without you.

We are in Ottawa. Yesterday was a great ride for everybody.
Today we are meeting at Amnesty International’s office at 10:00am and then delivering the petition to the Iranian Embassy at 2:00pm. Do come out and join us in delivering this 4000 signature petition.

We were received warmly by Ottawa and we all stayed with Iranian families in Ottawa. Wonderful memories and new friendships for all

more updates coming soon.

We had a first day full of adventures. Lot’s of cycling in heavy rain (not in pictures for the sake of our cameras! but we have great footage of it all). And sure enough beautiful sunshine and fields all around us as we get closer to our first stop in Kingston.

Now we are taking off for our second day, expect the next update from Ottawa!

Cycling for Human Rights in Iran will start in few hours.

Thank you very much everybody for your support, donations and for signing Amnesty International’s petition online.

Click here to follow Cycling for Human Rights in Iran on Twitter from Saturday 11am to Monday 2pm #CHRI09

Our t-shirts have been well received everywhere, in New York many of the Iranian academics and activist wore the shirt (Hamid Dabashi on the left, more pictures soon) and one t-shirt is being signed by them, in the picture there are signatures from Akbar Ganji, activist, and Shirin Neshat, artist.

There are very few shirts left, you can donate and get one.

Saturday, 18 July 2009 from noon to midnight
Mel Lastman Square AND Super Khorak

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=102249093173&ref=nf

Come out this Saturday, raise funds and engage the public in our nearing event!!

Our biggest and most enjoyable fundraising event is coming up this Saturday, July 18th. We are raising funds to cover the costs of our bike ride to Ottawa, more information below. We highly recommend you all to come out. Our cyclists are going to cycle from noon (12:00pm) to midnight (12:00am) on stationary bikes covering 450km, the distance from Toronto to Ottawa, in teams!

Mind you, this is an ideal time for all the cyclists to come out, talk to the Iranian/Canadian community about this event and most importantly, raise funds that they’ll be needing for this amazing bike trip!! And guess what? For those who have not attended any training sessions (myself included) this is a perfect opportunity to peddle and get a pre-event warm up!

This event will take place simultaneously in front of Super Khorak and at Mel Lastman Sq.

We will rock on that day!

A group of Iranians and Canadians will cycle over 450km from Toronto to deliver a petition initiated by Amnesty International, to the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Ottawa.  The petition, signed by over 3,500 supporters, calls on the authorities to respect the human rights of all Iranian citizens and for the immediate release of those arrested for expressing their critical opinions of the elections since June 12, 2009.

Participants can take part in the whole or parts of the bike ride, join the crew supporting the cyclists or take part in our campaign to collect more signatures for the petition.

Departure date: Saturday, July 25, 2009 at 11am
From: Queen’s Park (Outside the Ontario Legislative Building)
To: Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Ottawa
Arrival date: Monday, July 27, 2009 at 2pm

It is the responsibility of Iranians to reform Iran into a vibrant democracy. However, it is the responsibility of all citizens of the world to protest violation of human rights in Iran. As such, we invite people of all nations and backgrounds to Join Us for the event or to Sign the Petition Online.

Amnesty International Canada posted a news article about CHRI: http://www.amnesty.ca/blog_post2.php?id=999