Honourable senators, I stand before you in solidarity with students who have been imprisoned in Iran, and I will be highlighting two such cases for you today.

Sakhi Reigi, an Iranian from the country's Baluch ethnic minority, was a blogger and university student majoring in software development when he was arrested by Iranian authorities in the summer of 2009. He was 31 years old at the time of his arrest and had only two more terms to complete before graduating.

Sakhi was also a student volunteer for the presidential campaign of Mir Hossein Mousavi, and his arrest occurred only a few days after the results of the 2009 Iranian presidential election were announced. An Iranian court subsequently sentenced Sakhi to 20 years in prison for allegedly acting against national security and spreading propaganda against the regime.

Aside from the Kurdish political prisoner Habib Latifi, who has been sentenced to death, Sakhi arguably may have received the harshest prison sentence handed down by an Iranian court to a university student. Sakhi is currently being held in Karoun Prison, located in the Iranian southwestern city of Ahwaz. While in prison, it has been reported that he has endured long durations in solitary confinement and has been subjected to repeated physical and psychological torture. Sakhi is in his seventh year of imprisonment.

Another student imprisoned in Iran is Misagh Yazdan Nejad, who studied English and translation at Payame Noor University in Tehran. He was arrested in September of 2007 for participating in an event on the nineteenth anniversary of the mass execution of political prisoners in Iran in 1988 and was accused of having relations with exiled Iranian opposition group MEC. For this alleged offence, he was sentenced to 13 years in prison.

Like Sakhi, it has been reported that Misagh has endured long durations in solitary confinement and has been both physically and psychologically tortured. He is currently in his ninth year of imprisonment.

Honourable senators, the situation for university students in Iran is dire. Not only are the students regularly expelled or banned from pursuing post-secondary education, but they also face threats and harassment for daring to learn and speak up for justice and human rights.

I stand in condemnation of the detention and abuse of Iranian students and call for the immediate release of student political prisoners Sakhi Reigi and Misagh Yazdan Nejad.

Honourable senators, I just learned a few minutes ago that Misagh has been released. It's as though they knew about this speech in the Senate today. I welcome the great news and hope that Saki too will be freed soon. Thank you.