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“Be Our Voice!”
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London,
3 February 2010
- On 27 January 2010, a young man was executed in
Iran. At the time
of his alleged offence he could not have been more than 16 or 17. He is the
first juvenile offender convicted and executed on political charges. He made his
‘confession’ under duress while watching his pregnant sister being threatened by
security forces. She later lost the baby. Arrested two months before the
elections, he confessed to organising events after the June 2009 elections
because he was promised with a light sentence if he accepted all the charges. He
practiced his lines in his small cell every night before attending the show
trials of summer 2009 - trials where his defence lawyer was threatened with
arrest if she insisted on defending him. Arash Rahmanipour was only twenty years
old when he was executed.
Dancing the dance death at the end of the rope next to Arash Rahmanipour was
Mohammad Reza Ali Zamani. He met with the same fate. Also arrested two months
before the elections, his cellmate wrote, ‘Mohammad Reza would ask me about
events following the elections because he had no idea what was going on outside
the prison walls’. His cellmate added that Mohammad Reza was taken out of the
cell everyday to practice his lines for the show trials. Mohammad Reza Ali
Zamani was also promised a light sentence if he performed in court. Against the
Islamic Republic’s internal laws and procedural codes, the two men were executed
while their conviction of enmity against God was undergoing the appeals process
and their lawyers and families were not notified of the executions. They found
out the tragic news through the media. The world condemned the two executions.
We,
the undersigned, express grave concern at the ongoing violation of rights for
all those detained before and after the June 2009 elections, the increase in the
use of violence against protesters and prisoners, the immediate risk of
execution for nine people with confirmed death sentences and of another five
death sentences being issued subsequent to the present show trials. While
condemning the death penalty as a punishment
irrespective of whether it is according to Sharia law or otherwise, we
express our grave concern for the very real threat of harm and execution facing
the seven detained members of the Committee of Human Rights Reporters in
particular Kouhyar Goodarzi and Mehrdad Rahimi, two human rights activists who
have also been charged with ‘enmity against God’. We also express serious
concern over the fate of the detained members of the Baha’i community and the
imminent threat of execution.
We,
the undersigned, believe that all Iranians without distinction of any kind, such
as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national
or social origin, property, birth or other status are equal and for this reason
we condemn all cases of execution throughout Iran and
commit to full and mutual support for each other
We,
the undersigned, invite all individuals, groups,
organizations, parties and human rights activists and organizations to join us
in condemning the use of the ultimate violence, the death penalty, in
Iran.
With your help we can employ global networks and opportunities in order to
support the persecuted in
Iran
and end executions that are taking place all over
Iran
today.
May
we be the voice of the voiceless in Iran who are the helpless victims of
systematic and escalating state sponsored violence…
view signatures
sign petition:
http://gopetition.com/online/32775.html
or email:
london [at] aciiran [dot] com |
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