NOT ONE MORE EXECUTION

NEW: Poem: Life No Longer Mine

NOT ONE MORE EXECUTION!
FREE POLITICAL PRISONERS NOW!

Since its inception in 1979, the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) has used judicially-sanctioned murder to maintain its reign of terror over the people of Iran, and specifically to intimidate or eliminate political dissidents. We demand an immediate halt to all executions in Iran, and that all political prisoners be freed.

The Islamic Republic of Iran has earned its reputation as the Regime of 150,000 Executions by charging people with the “crime” of being a Mohareb (enemy of God) and on this basis executing the accused, even children as young as age 12. IRI is once again resurrecting the designation of Mohareb in conjunction with calls for mass executions of political protestors. These cannot be considered idle threats:

– IRI ranks first among 5 countries in the world that executes juvenile offenders – those whose alleged crimes were committed before the age of 18 years. Execution of juvenile offenders is expressly forbidden under international law according to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which IRI is a signatory. IRI, in desperate need of international political recognition, has signed onto international laws that expressly forbid such barbaric treatment of children. Yet by savagely disrespecting these very same laws and conventions through the execution of children, IRI humiliates the international community and its values.

– In numerous cases as recent as last week, the beatings and torture of prisoners have led to the victim’s death, constituting de facto execution. Physical torture is a legal and very commonly implemented punishment, and is often carried out in public in an effort to terrorize the populace. IRI has never denied the lashing, beating and torture and stoning of its citizens for “crimes” which are considered natural human behaviour, and human rights in a normal and civilized society.

– IRI has a documented history of implementing mass executions of its citizens. The most egregious example of this was the 1988 mass execution of political prisoners in Iran, in which up to 30,000 people were executed over a span of about 5 months. Most of these people were not serving death penalty sentences or had already completed their terms.

– In the Islamic Republic of Iran, executions constitute acts of terrorism. In recent years, public hangings from construction cranes have been a favored method of both execution and intimidation: held aloft by the crane to increase visibility, the victim’s remains are left hanging from the rope, forcing people to witness the depths of this regime’s inhumanity. In the wake of the June 2009 election, this regime has increased the number of executions of prisoners on various charges. While these brutal executions were meant to intimidate the Iranian people, the attempts are now failing: people have begun to attack the gallows in an effort to release and save the victims.

If the best children of a nation, worker’s union leaders, human rights activists, teachers, poets, writers, students, humanitarian nurses and doctors – the infrastructure of a civil society – are systematically executed according to the Islamic Regime’s penal code, and if the definition of “crime” in the context of this penal code contradicts the principles of international law and fundamental concepts of human rights, this definition must be condemned. The entity that imposes such a definition of crime is the true criminal and should be treated as one.

Executions in Iran: the gravity of the current situation
IRI has used execution as a tool of terror throughout its existence; however, this outlaw government increases its reliance on the use of executions during periods of civil unrest. In the wake of the June 2009 “elections,” there is accumulating evidence that IRI is again beginning to increase the pace at which death sentences are handed down, often during show trials, as well as the pace of executions themselves.

Alarmingly, the architects of the 1988 mass execution of tens of thousands of Iranian political prisoners have begun in recent days to advocate speeding up the rate of executions by using the same form of rapid trial (5-10 minutes long) with immediate subsequent execution that was used to summarily execute thousands in 1988.

The Islamic Republic has targeted selected groups in particular for intimidation, arrest, imprisonment, and execution: women’s rights activists, student activists, and labor leaders and union members in particular. This is in addition to IRI’s long-standing repression of activists in Kurdistan.

The world should be alarmed by these events. The Islamic Republic of Iran has previously demonstrated its willingness and ability to implement widespread mass-executions nearly unopposed. This time, the world is watching. But the world must also do more than just watch: we must act to ensure that these threatened executions are never allowed to get under way.

All executions in Iran must stop, and all political prisoners must be freed.

Historical and contemporary responses to the Islamic Republic of Iran
Despite witnessing the past 30 years of the Islamic Republic’s barbarism, the governments of the international community have tried to distance themselves from any serious action that could have jeopardized international relations with the Islamic regime. There are now signs that these governments are waking up to realize the dangers this regime has imposed on the world’s security through sponsoring international terrorism. They have fortunately reached this understanding due to the massive world wide support of the current revolution in Iran by the international public opinion: masses of freedom-loving honorable world citizens, our beloved brothers and sisters.

Now, at this moment in time, when Iranians are preparing the final blow to the foundation of this regime of terror and oppression, the governing bodies of the international community must fulfill their legal and moral responsibilities.

The Islamic Republic should not be recognized as a regime, but instead as a criminal establishment and an occupying militia in the guise of the modern state of Iran that was about to be built when the Islamic Republic countered the peoples’ democratic revolution. IRI is not a normal government; normal relationships should not be pursued with this entity. The IRI must be treated by the international community as the pariah that it is, and the citizens of the world must extend our unwavering support to those who are in imminent danger of execution by this criminal enterprise.

The international community must demand that all executions in Iran must stop, and all political prisoners must be freed.

Not one more execution in Iran!

We demand of Iran:
• There must not be one more execution in Iran.
• All political prisoners must be freed.
• All those involved in 30 years’ worth of executions of Iranian people must be indicted and tried for their crimes against humanity.

We demand of governments and of the United Nations:
• The IRI must be immediately expelled from the United Nations.
• Any government claiming a humane approach in its foreign policy must expel all diplomatic delegations of these gangs of terrorists and mass murderers immediately.
• The diplomatic immunity of the representatives of this terrorist regime must be revoked immediately.
• The international community must be prepared to press a case against IRI in the International Criminal Courts.

We hold Ban Ki-moon, Secretary General of the UN, accountable for the outcome of UN’s political actions or lack of actions.

We hold our respective governments accountable for their national postures towards the criminal enterprise of the Islamic Republic of Iran, which has terrorized, tortured, and murdered our sisters and brothers.

We will not leave the streets until our demands are met.