Pressure Iran to stop executions
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اللاعنف
Jul 23, 2009, 8:48:25 AM7/23/09
to حقوق الإنسان واللاعنف
Pressure Iran to stop executionsPresident Ahmadinejad is intensifying
his repression of the Baluch minority, with 19 campaigners executed
since last month
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Peter Tatchell guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 22 July 2009 21.00 BST
Article history
Three more Baluch activists are due to be executed in Iran in the next
few days, according to Ebrahim Hamidi, chief justice of Sistan and
Baluchistan province.
Already, 19 Baluch political prisoners have been hanged since last
month's fraudulent presidential election.
All were sent to the gallows after short, summary trials behind closed
doors, without having access to defence lawyers and without any right
to call witnesses or appeal the death sentences.
On one day last week, 14 July, the government of Iran executed 13
members of its Baluch ethnic minority. They were hanged by the
barbaric slow strangulation method, which is endorsed by the country's
dictator, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
To see an example of the prolonged death caused by slow strangulation,
watch this video of an Iranian execution.
The 13 executions went ahead, despite pleas for clemency by Amnesty
International.
"The men did not receive a fair trial and these executions must not go
ahead," urged Malcolm Smart, director of Amnesty International Middle
East and North Africa Programme, just days before the hangings. "The
Iranian authorities must abide by their international obligations to
uphold human rights and guarantee fair trials, which is all the more
essential in death penalty cases."The evidence against the condemned
men is disputed, with Baluch nationalists claiming they were framed
for their political opposition to Tehran's domination of the
Baluchistan region and its suppression of Baluch culture.
A total of 14 men were scheduled to be hanged last week, but one
condemned man had his execution deferred to allow him to be further
interrogated, most likely under torture, in a bid to get him to
incriminate others.
Some of the hangman's victims were alleged members of the PRMI
(People's Resistance Movement of Iran), also known as Jondallah, a
Baluch armed opposition group, which is campaigning against what it
sees as Persian and Shia Muslim oppression of their Baluch Sunni
Muslim nation. However, the evidence of their membership of Jondallah
is suspect and would certainly not be deemed proven in the courts of
countries such as South Africa, Brazil, India, Venezuela, Ghana or the
Philippines.
The 13 convicted defendants were hanged in the city of Zahedan, south-
east Iran. They were sentenced for moharebeh – "enmity against God" –
for allegedly participating in armed rebellion against the Tehran
government and other offences, including drug smuggling, hostage-
taking and contacts with western powers. Their alleged crimes are
disputed by Baluch activists.
Some of the men who were sent to the gallows were arrested prior to
the commission of the crimes they allegedly perpetrated.
These executions have little to do with the victims' guilt or
innocence. They are part of a pattern of terror and intimidation in
Iranian-occupied Baluchistan.
Human Rights Watch reported last year that an Iranian parliament
member, Hossein Ali Shahryari, confirmed that 700 people were awaiting
execution in Sistan and Baluchistan province, which is only one of
Iran's 30 provinces. Many of those on death row are Baluch political
prisoners. This staggering number of death sentences is evidence of
the violent ethnic repression that is taking place under the
leadership of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
The Iranian regime is notorious for framing political critics and
opponents on trumped-up charges of hooliganism, drug trafficking,
terrorism, homosexuality and spying. The hanged men's guilt is
therefore open to question.
Student activist Meisam Lofti was executed in 2007 on the false
charges of being a gang member and acts of criminality, according to
Iranian websites and the International Federation for Human Rights
(FIDH).
In 2004, in the city of Neka, a 16-year-old girl, Atefah Rajabi
Sahaaleh, who had been raped several times, was convicted and executed
for "crimes against chastity" and "adultery". Her male rapist got 95
lashes. Atefah's execution for adultery was particularly shocking,
given that she was not married and therefore could not have been an
adulterer. In an attempt to avoid bad publicity and accusations that
it executes minors, the Iranian dictatorship falsely claimed that
Atefah was 22 at the time of her hanging. But her father was able to
produce her birth certificate, proving she was only 16; thereby
exposing the Tehran regime as liars and child killers.
The regime's dishonesty is also evidenced by its practice of torturing
detainees to make them confess publicly to crimes they have not
committed.
Roxana Saberi, an American-Iranian journalist who was arrested in
Tehran this year, was forced to confess to spying. After her release,
she confirmed that she had been pressured by threats and menaces to
confess to criminal acts that she had never perpetrated.
The Baluch people are systematically oppressed for seeking equality of
rights and opportunities with other Iranians. Baluch human rights
campaigners report that under the country's constitution, and under
other laws passed by the Iranian parliament, Sunni Muslims are
prohibited from becoming supreme leader, president, minister, deputy
minister, army general, ambassador or any other high state official.
The official religion of the Iranian state is Shia Islam. All non-Shia
Muslims are subjected to discrimination and sometimes outright
victimisation.
The Sunni Muslims of Baluchistan are deemed a political and religious
threat to the state. They are a persecuted ethnic and faith minority.
Those who express their Baluch identity and campaign for human rights
risk arrest, imprisonment, torture and execution.
Help save the lives of the three men awaiting execution. There are
three things you can do:
1) Email your MP and ask them to urgently protest to the Iranian
Embassy (Movah...@iran-embassy.org.uk).
2) Email the foreign secretary, David Miliband,
(private...@fco.gov.uk) asking him to protest to the government in
Tehran.
3) Email the Iranian Embassy directly (Movahedian@iran-
embassy.org.uk), urging clemency for the condemned men.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jul/22/iran-executes-baluch-activists
his repression of the Baluch minority, with 19 campaigners executed
since last month
Comments (97)
Buzz up!
Digg it
Peter Tatchell guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 22 July 2009 21.00 BST
Article history
Three more Baluch activists are due to be executed in Iran in the next
few days, according to Ebrahim Hamidi, chief justice of Sistan and
Baluchistan province.
Already, 19 Baluch political prisoners have been hanged since last
month's fraudulent presidential election.
All were sent to the gallows after short, summary trials behind closed
doors, without having access to defence lawyers and without any right
to call witnesses or appeal the death sentences.
On one day last week, 14 July, the government of Iran executed 13
members of its Baluch ethnic minority. They were hanged by the
barbaric slow strangulation method, which is endorsed by the country's
dictator, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
To see an example of the prolonged death caused by slow strangulation,
watch this video of an Iranian execution.
The 13 executions went ahead, despite pleas for clemency by Amnesty
International.
"The men did not receive a fair trial and these executions must not go
ahead," urged Malcolm Smart, director of Amnesty International Middle
East and North Africa Programme, just days before the hangings. "The
Iranian authorities must abide by their international obligations to
uphold human rights and guarantee fair trials, which is all the more
essential in death penalty cases."The evidence against the condemned
men is disputed, with Baluch nationalists claiming they were framed
for their political opposition to Tehran's domination of the
Baluchistan region and its suppression of Baluch culture.
A total of 14 men were scheduled to be hanged last week, but one
condemned man had his execution deferred to allow him to be further
interrogated, most likely under torture, in a bid to get him to
incriminate others.
Some of the hangman's victims were alleged members of the PRMI
(People's Resistance Movement of Iran), also known as Jondallah, a
Baluch armed opposition group, which is campaigning against what it
sees as Persian and Shia Muslim oppression of their Baluch Sunni
Muslim nation. However, the evidence of their membership of Jondallah
is suspect and would certainly not be deemed proven in the courts of
countries such as South Africa, Brazil, India, Venezuela, Ghana or the
Philippines.
The 13 convicted defendants were hanged in the city of Zahedan, south-
east Iran. They were sentenced for moharebeh – "enmity against God" –
for allegedly participating in armed rebellion against the Tehran
government and other offences, including drug smuggling, hostage-
taking and contacts with western powers. Their alleged crimes are
disputed by Baluch activists.
Some of the men who were sent to the gallows were arrested prior to
the commission of the crimes they allegedly perpetrated.
These executions have little to do with the victims' guilt or
innocence. They are part of a pattern of terror and intimidation in
Iranian-occupied Baluchistan.
Human Rights Watch reported last year that an Iranian parliament
member, Hossein Ali Shahryari, confirmed that 700 people were awaiting
execution in Sistan and Baluchistan province, which is only one of
Iran's 30 provinces. Many of those on death row are Baluch political
prisoners. This staggering number of death sentences is evidence of
the violent ethnic repression that is taking place under the
leadership of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
The Iranian regime is notorious for framing political critics and
opponents on trumped-up charges of hooliganism, drug trafficking,
terrorism, homosexuality and spying. The hanged men's guilt is
therefore open to question.
Student activist Meisam Lofti was executed in 2007 on the false
charges of being a gang member and acts of criminality, according to
Iranian websites and the International Federation for Human Rights
(FIDH).
In 2004, in the city of Neka, a 16-year-old girl, Atefah Rajabi
Sahaaleh, who had been raped several times, was convicted and executed
for "crimes against chastity" and "adultery". Her male rapist got 95
lashes. Atefah's execution for adultery was particularly shocking,
given that she was not married and therefore could not have been an
adulterer. In an attempt to avoid bad publicity and accusations that
it executes minors, the Iranian dictatorship falsely claimed that
Atefah was 22 at the time of her hanging. But her father was able to
produce her birth certificate, proving she was only 16; thereby
exposing the Tehran regime as liars and child killers.
The regime's dishonesty is also evidenced by its practice of torturing
detainees to make them confess publicly to crimes they have not
committed.
Roxana Saberi, an American-Iranian journalist who was arrested in
Tehran this year, was forced to confess to spying. After her release,
she confirmed that she had been pressured by threats and menaces to
confess to criminal acts that she had never perpetrated.
The Baluch people are systematically oppressed for seeking equality of
rights and opportunities with other Iranians. Baluch human rights
campaigners report that under the country's constitution, and under
other laws passed by the Iranian parliament, Sunni Muslims are
prohibited from becoming supreme leader, president, minister, deputy
minister, army general, ambassador or any other high state official.
The official religion of the Iranian state is Shia Islam. All non-Shia
Muslims are subjected to discrimination and sometimes outright
victimisation.
The Sunni Muslims of Baluchistan are deemed a political and religious
threat to the state. They are a persecuted ethnic and faith minority.
Those who express their Baluch identity and campaign for human rights
risk arrest, imprisonment, torture and execution.
Help save the lives of the three men awaiting execution. There are
three things you can do:
1) Email your MP and ask them to urgently protest to the Iranian
Embassy (Movah...@iran-embassy.org.uk).
2) Email the foreign secretary, David Miliband,
(private...@fco.gov.uk) asking him to protest to the government in
Tehran.
3) Email the Iranian Embassy directly (Movahedian@iran-
embassy.org.uk), urging clemency for the condemned men.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jul/22/iran-executes-baluch-activists
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