Stop the Islamic Republic of Iran’s executions!
In the past three months since the start of the revolutionary uprising of the Iranian people in September under the slogan of Women, Life, Freedom, the Republic killed more than 500 protesters, at least 50 of whom were children. The names and statistics of those killed are available from the websites of human rights organizations.
Targets of the killings were from almost all areas of Iran, but most of those killed were from the two deprived provinces, Sistan-Baluchistan and Kurdistan.
The regime arrested more than 20 thousand peaceful demonstrators with the majority being young women and men because of their participation in civil protests in the streets and universities all over Iran and their call for freedom and democracy. The list of those arrested has also been published by human rights organizations and the number is increasing daily.
Now, the Islamic Republic appears to be planning to start the mass killing of the detainees who are held in different known or top-secret prisons. The detainees are subjected to severe psychological and physical torture routinely. We know this from testimonies provided by the detainees, their relatives, or their cellmates.
The medieval courts have sentenced some of these freedom-loving and justice-seeking people to death without the presence of any defense lawyer, which amount to arbitrary murder. At dawn on December 8, 2022, one of the detainees, Mohsen Shekari, who was only 23 years old, was executed for ”road obstruction” without even the right to defend himself or to appeal his grossly unfair trial. Days later on 12 December, Majidreza Rahnavard, also 23, was executed in Mashad apparently with some members of the paramilitary force, the Basiij, watching.
The bitter experience of the execution of thousands of Iranian political prisoners and dissidents in 1988 has taught us that if we do not protest strongly against the Islamic Republic of Iran, we will face another prison massacre.
In the entire judicial and political structure of the Islamic Republic, there is no sign of respect for the law, the right of citizen, or human dignity.
International bodies and civil organizations in various countries have shown in different ways their abhorrence to the violence against demonstrators in the streets and the execution of the detained demonstrators; they have condemned or taken measures including specific sanctions against the Islamic Republic. However, history as well as and the experience of living under the Islamic Republic’s cruel regime in the past 43 years show that while these actions have been helpful, they have never been strongly enforced or enough to stop the regime’s crimes against Iranian citizens. There is currently a serious risk of mass execution of the detained demonstrators, calling for stronger measures by the international community to stop them.
We, the signatories of this statement, call on the governments, parliamentarians, freedom-loving people, civil and human rights organizations, and commercial and cultural enterprises to fulfill their political and humanitarian duties without delay to prevent further massacres in Iran by taking the following measures:
1. Put the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Judicial system of the Islamic Republic of Iran on the terrorist list. Because all the verdicts and killings of innocent people inside and outside of Iran are done by the orders of these two bodies.
2. Cut your diplomatic relations with the Islamic Republic or minimize it by recalling your ambassadors from Iran and expelling Iranian ambassadors from your country.
3. Sanction the airspace of Iran.
4. The state-owned enterprises and private companies should be urged to suspend their business relations with government owned companies.
5. The people who represent your country in international forums are requested to echo the voice of the Iranian people by using their votes and capabilities, and bring disgrace to the rulers of the Islamic Republic through their speeches, writings, and actions to stop imminent executions, or the death penalty forever.
All Iranian or non-Iranian parties, organizations, civil institutions, and persons who want that their names appear under this statement, send the names to this email: stoppex0098@gmail.com
This statement with appended signatures will be sent to the ministries of foreign affairs of democratic countries and international forums.
The deadline for submitting names is 12 noon CET, 2:30 p.m. Iran time Tuesday, December 20, 2022.
Please write your names, occupation and name of country in English!