Letter from death row political prisoners in Iran to EU and human rights organisations
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rights, freedoms and repression |
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Monday August 27, 2007 17:27
by Mina Ahadi - International Committee Against Executions
Minaahadi at aol dot com
Here, Political Prisoners on death row in Iran ask for your help.Do not let them down. Full story at the link.
Work for the abolition of the death penalty and save the lives of those sentenced to death!”
For around two years now the Islamic Republic government has stepped up the execution and torturing of political prisoners and dissidents on the pretext of security. The largest numbers of executions have taken place in the provinces of Khuzestan, Kurdistan, Azarbaijan and Tehran. All those sentenced to death have been sentenced behind closed doors and without any regard for international conventions.
In Tehran, prisoners on death row, mostly political prisoners, have been transferred from around the country to Rejaee Shahr Prison. Two of those prisoners, Fazel Ramazani and Hajat Morad Mohammadi, both political dissidents and activists who had spent 9 years in prison, were executed along with prisoners which the government labels as “rogues and ruffians”.
We, the undersigned political prisoners, who have been sentenced to death, request the European Union, all international bodies and human rights organisations in democratic states to act urgently and appropriately for the abolition of the death penalty and the following up of our demands and those of other prisoners on death row.
Khaled Hardani
Nasser Kheirollahi
Shahram Pour-Mansouri
Latif Mohammadi
Mostafa Salimi
Farhang Pour-Mansouri
Minaahadi@aol.com
Comments (2 of 2)
Jump To Comment: 1 2This the edited text of a letter sent to Amnesty International on behalf of the prisoners. The full text of the letter may be accessed at the link.
Dear Sir / Madam
As you know, the Islamic Republic regime in Iran has launched a new wave of torture and executions in Iran’s prisons. This has led to deep concerns amongst prisoners who are under a sentence of death.
On Tuesday July 3rd a number of political prisoners, as well as ordinary prisoners, in Evin Prison managed to contact me by phone to let me know of their concerns over the events of the last few weeks in prisons and of their request for immediate international measures to stop the Islamic regime committing further atrocities. A number of political prisoners in Gohardasht Prison called me to tell me about their fears over a rumour that the wholesale executions of political prisoners which were carried out in1981 and 1988 may be repeated. Also political prisoners from prisons in Tabriz, Shiraz and Zahedan have in the past few days told their friends and families about their concerns over the new wave of executions in Iran and called for actions both inside Iran and internationally to put an end to this barbarity.
A number of civil rights activists in Iran have also asked me to help set up meetings with the representatives of the UN, of the embassies of the European states and of the European Union in Iran. There is now more urgency than ever for concerted efforts to exert strong pressure on the Islamic Republic to stop the executions. However, we should also bear in mind that the Islamic government in Iran often yields to international pressure temporarily but resumes its atrocities once the pressures have subsided.
Respectfully
Mina Ahadi
August 3, 2007
“We, who are imprisoned and who are on the death row in … Iranian prisons, call upon you all to come out on September 7, 2007 in a global action to bring attention to our situation in order to prevent these executions… Execution is unjust and should be abolished in Iran and all over the world.”
This is part of a letter by 26 political prisoners and death-row inmates in Iran which was published on 25th August. The Worker-communist Party of Iran (WPI) calls on all concerned people throughout the world, all Iranian opposition organisations and all international human rights and labour organisations to respond to this call of the political prisoners by protesting on 7th September everywhere and in any way they can against executions and for the abolition of the death penalty in Iran. We call on you to hold and/or take part in rallies, send email and fax messages to the Iranian regime and its embassies abroad and pressurize the governments of the world and international bodies.
Full text at link.
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