DEBATE: The more silence, the more executions

Iranian activists cry out ‘silence is violence’, and that is true. Silence is exactly the type of support that the Islamic Republic needs for its death-machine to function.

INTERNATIONAL PROTESTS:  A protest in Canada against the murder of Mahsa Jina Amini by the Iranian religious police. 

Photo: Taymaz Valley/flickR

The movement ‘Woman, Life, Freedom’, is the hope for a better future in Iran. For 44 years, every single of these concepts has been under siege in this country. But now more than ever, Iranians are crying out, as the lives of the courageous pioneers of this revolution are in immense danger.

The laws of the Islamic Republic are tangled and safeguarded with death. Under the rule of the Islamic Republic, not only dance, music and festivity as tangible reflections of life are demeaned, but also any variance from the Islamic Republic`s definition of Islam. Any other version of religiosity, any other ideology or any different way of living a  life is considered disrespectful and consequently doomed or punishable by death.

So many lives have been taken by the Islamic Republic during the last 44 years, but after Mahsa Jina Amini’s demise, prevalence of death has touched vast and more divergent social and age groups. The Islamic Republic has killed demonstrators in the streets and in prisons. We have witnessed mysterious deaths of so many detainees immediately after release.

Now, the regime is gradually executing protestors and other political prisoners as a means of spreading fear. Death sentence is an irreversible verdict and the Islamic Republic is an unfair, unqualified, and unjudicial judge.

Believe me, these messages cannot be unheard and unseen after reaching you. They painfully stick with you, until you find a way to fight against this unjust system

Some of the demonstrators with death sentences have sent out their heartbreaking messages from prison, their desperate recorded voices, their trembled handwritings on the first page of a book from the prison library and their last telephone calls, asking for help, explaining the hardship they have experienced in prison, the forced confessions, the physical and psychological torture and helplessly, their last wishes. Believe me, these messages cannot be unheard and unseen after reaching you. They painfully stick with you, until you find a way to fight against this unjust system.

Iranian activists cry out ‘silence is violence’, and that is true. Silence is exactly the type of support that the Islamic Republic needs for its death machine to function. Interestingly, they adjust the quantity and speed of their actions based on international reactions. The more silence, the more executions.

Some parliament members from Europe have been ‘political sponsors’ as human right advocates for protesters who are imprisoned by the  Islamic Republic. This is good, but it should be consistent and continuous. I sent an email to Anniken Huitfeldt the day before the execution of three detainees, known as the ‘Isfehan House case’ and asked her for urgent action. She was among very few ministers of foreign affairs who condemned the executions after the incident. Iranian strivers need more severe international reaction, definitely before and absolutely after such a devil deed. We cannot let the Islamic Republic continue such behavior. To cease the extension, evil must be stopped.

We demand a fair trial which secures the right to life.

Mohsen Shekari, Majid Reza Rahnavard, Mohammad Mehdi Karami, Mohammad Hosseini, Saleh Mirhashemi, Majid Kazemi and Saeed Yaghoubi, they are executed among demonstrators. Yousef Mehrad and Sadrollah Fazeli Zare are executed among religious prisoners for blasphemy. These names and histories have come out to news agencies. Unfortunately, there are so many whose stories do not get the attention of the media, news attention such as deaths in Zahedan, Baluchistan, Kurdistan and other places in Iran. These individuals were all brave human beings with dreams and hopes for a better future, who stood for their needs and beliefs, to have a normal life, with the desire to change the circumstances for everyone. Sadly, their lives were ended by the brutal hands of the Islamic Republic. With wet eyes and burned hearts, we do not forget; we do not forgive. We demand a fair trial which secures the right to life.

Tags: Iran, human rights, Menneskerettigheter By Tabassom Fanaian, lecturer and independent researcher
Published June 7, 2023 4:41 PM - Last modified June 7, 2023 4:41 PM
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