Azadeh Shahshahani
Azadeh Shahshahani is the Director of the National Security/Immigrants'
Rights Project at the ACLU of Georgia. The project is aimed at bringing
Georgia and its localities into compliance with international human rights
and constitutional standards in treatment of refugee and immigrant communities,
including immigrant detainees. To that end, a variety of strategies are
employed, including the development of impact litigation, legislative advocacy,
providing training to attorneys, human rights documentation and the publishing
of reports, public education, and coalition and movement building.
Azadeh is the editor of two human rights reports on 287(g) and racial profiling:
"Terror and Isolation in Cobb: How Unchecked Police Power under 287(g) Has
Torn Families Apart and Threatened Public Safety" and "The Persistence of
Racial Profiling in Gwinnett: Time for Accountability, Transparency, and
an End to 287(g)."
Azadeh previously served as Interim Legal Director for the ACLU of Georgia.
Before her move to Atlanta, she worked with the ACLU of North Carolina as
Muslim/Middle Eastern Community Outreach Coordinator. In that capacity,
she initiated a statewide campaign against racial profiling; coordinated
a Continuing Legal Education seminar to train attorneys to represent Muslim
and Middle Eastern clients facing human rights violations; and led a statewide
campaign calling for the investigation of a North Carolina-based air carrier
which has transported foreign nationals to torture and detention.
Azadeh is a 2004 graduate of the University of Michigan Law School, where
she was a participant in the Third Colloquium on Challenges in International
Refugee Law and served as Article Editor for The Michigan Journal of International
Law. While in law school, Azadeh completed a fellowship with the United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Washington, DC; a research fellowship
with a women's rights organization in Iran; as well as an internship with
an immigrants' rights organization in Los Angeles.
Azadeh currently serves as the Southern Regional Vice President and International
Committee Co-Chair for the National Lawyers Guild; Chair of Georgia Detention
Watch; and Vice Chair of Refugee Women's Network. Azadeh is also one of
the Founders of Human Rights Atlanta and currently serves on its Coordinating
Council.
Azadeh was born in Iran and moved to the United States at age sixteen. She
is the recipient of the University of Georgia Law School 2009 Equal Justice
Foundation Public Interest Practitioner Award.