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Project Nur Student Activists Protest Nokia's Role in Iran Crackdown Outside Manhattan Flagship Store

Posted on: Wednesday, 19 August 2009, 13:59 CDT

Protestors' chant: "Repression we can't condone; throw out your Nokia phone!"

"Flash mob" inside Penn Station in solidarity with fellow students under fire in Iran

NEW YORK, Aug. 19 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- On Thursday, August 20, at 4:30 p.m. American student activists will gather outside the Nokia Store at 5 East 57th Street in Manhattan to protest Nokia's complicity in the crackdown against Iranian protesters.

"Iran has cracked down on nonviolent protestors with surveillance technology developed by Nokia," stated co-organizer Ricky Chen, a student at Middlebury. "Over 10,000 people have sent protest letters to Nokia officials, yet the company continues to deny responsibility. Until Nokia severs its partnership with the Iranian regime, we are boycotting Nokia."

The protest is coordinated by Project Nur, a student-led initiative of the American Islamic Congress, in partnership with Students for Justice in Iran and with mobilizing assistance from the "Where Is My Vote?" initiative.

In one recent example journalist Issa Saharkhiz claims security forces used his Nokia phone to track him down and arrest him, breaking his ribs in the process.

After the rally outside the Nokia Store, students will then gather inside Penn Station at 7:00 pm for a flash mob. Participants gather, freeze, and then quickly disperse, offering an agitprop visual demonstration of support for those in the streets of Tehran braving tear gas and bullets.

"We want Nokia executives to know we will not be silent, and we want Iranian students to know we stand with them," said Alaleh Solati, a student organizer at American University. "The latest reports from Iran indicate that detained protestors have been raped in jail. Nokia should be ashamed for helping to enable this crackdown - and Iranian students need to see that we won't abandon them."

The rally's slogan is: "Nokia out of Iran!" Protestors will be chanting: "Repression we can't condone; throw out your Nokia phone!" The protests follow a demonstration last month outside the Nokia Research Center at MIT and a flash mob in Washington, DC. Students plan to expand the campaign to other cities.

Project Nur (www.projectnur.org) is a student-led initiative of the American Islamic Congress, a civil rights organization promoting tolerance and the exchange of ideas among Muslims and between other peoples.

SOURCE Project Nur

Source: PR Newswire

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