Iran: Hunger strike to protest the recent executions of political prisoners in Iran and to commemorate the 1988 massacre of 30,000 political prisoners
Major anti-execution demonstrations by Dutch-Iranians to take place August 20th at The Hague
The demonstration will highlight Iran’s extremely high and
frequently arbitrary use of the death penalty, particularly in the last two
weeks. Over 2,600 people have been killed during the tenure of President Hassan
Rouhani, who was elected on a liberal, reformist platform.
The protestors will be raising awareness of the 1988 massacre of
30,000 political prisoners by the Iranian state. Most of those killed were
members of the then-legal opposition group, the People’s Mojahedin of Iran
(PMOI), or had somehow supported it.
Recently, an audio tape was made public that
demonstrated the extent to which the Iranian state was complicit in the
massacres. In the tape, Hossein-Al Montazeri, Supreme Ruler Khomeini’s former
heir, argues to a “death council” composed of Iranian cabinet members that
history will condemn the unprecedented wave of killings.
Taken together, these factors constitute a
decisive moment for the Iranian resistance, many members of which now live in
exile throughout Europe.
The Hague, the center of political power in the Netherlands, has
recently seen other protests by Dutch-Iranians.
Two
weeks ago, it was learned that the Iranian regime executed more than 20
political prisoners, most of them Sunni Muslims and members of the Kurdish
ethnic minority, who were being held in Gohardasht prison.
The
prisoners are believed to have been jailed on trumped-up charges with hasty,
unfair trials. Although the prisoners’ families were notified of the
impending executions, the prisoners were killed while their family members were
en route to see them (the families were redirected to the cemetery where their
loved ones’ remains had been sent.)
The facts:
- More then 30,000 political prisonners were massacred in Iran in the summer of 1988
- The massacre was carried out on the basis of a fatwa by Khomeini.
- The vast majority of the victims were activists of the opposition PMOI (MEK).
- A Death Committee approved all the death sentences.
- Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi, a member of the Death Committee, is today Hassan Rouhani’s Justice Minister
- The perpetrators of the 1988 massacre have never been brought to justice.
Comments
Post a Comment