Submitted by admin on Wednesday, July 14 2010
‘Today, my work has just begun,’ mother of executed political prisoner, Farzad Kamangar ‘If we stay silent, these executions will continue,’ Mohammad Amin Kamangar, brother of executed political prisoner Farzad Kamangar.
ENGLISH - GERMAN- ITALIANO
TO THE EU, UN AND THE WIDER PUBLIC
We turn to you with the urgent request to protest against executions carried out in Iran. We ask the EU and the UN to oppose with any political means necessary the excessive practice of imposing and implementing the death penalty in the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Particularly we call upon the UN and the EU to support a resolution on the alarming state of human rights in Iran in the forthcoming 14th meeting of the UN human rights commission in Geneva.
Worldwide, Iran is leading in its implementation of death penalties. In proportion to its population, more people than in any other country get executed in Iran. Since the controversial and contested presidential elections in June 2009, nine political prisoners got executed. Only recently – on 9 May 2010 – five political prisoners were secretly executed. These were the Kurdish democrats Farzad Kamangar, Shirin Alam Houli, Ali Heidarian, Farhad Vakili and Mehdi Eslamian.
Iran has been repeatedly violating international laws and standards on the protection of rights of prisoners and people condemned to the death penalty. Iran’s legal system is not independent being increasingly controlled by secret services and military powers. In such a system fair legal trials are impossible. Torture is used regularly to obtain confessions which in turn are used as sole justifications for the imposition and implementation of the death penalty.
During the last year, the horror of these executions has become even more acute. The death penalty has become a systematic political tool for the Iranian government to oppress peaceful protests of democrats as well as representatives of minority groups. The number of executions increased dramatically after the beginning of the protests against the ruling regime. According to Amnesty International, a total of 388 executions were carried out in 2009.
In the context of these protests, at least six people were arrested and sentenced to death on the grounds of ‘enmity towards God’. This category of criminal offence is used liberally and randomly by Iranian courts automatically leading to the death penalty. Dozens of political prisoners – mostly from minority groups such as Kurds, Balutschis and Arabs – are awaiting their execution on these grounds.
This is about many human lives and the integrity of UN human rights standards. The UN must use its influence bilaterally and in cooperation with European and international partners to put an end to the inhuman practice of executions in Iran.
We therefore ask for your support of a resolution of the UN human rights commission condemning the Iranian government for its abuse of the death penalty and other cases of serious human rights violation.
Also we call upon the EU and the UN to lend their support to the democratisation of Iran and to fight for a democratic solution of the Kurdish question in the country. We ask the EU to prevent the Iranian government to continue its bloody execution policy – with the help of European courts as well as diplomatic and economic sanctions in cooperation with all relevant international actors.
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