Women’s
Forum Against Fundamentalism in Iran
FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PRESS RELEASE
Public Statement
CONTACT:
press@wfafi.org
January 23, 2009
The Iranian Regime Hangs 22 People in Two Days
BOSTON, MA-
The Iranian State-owned media reported that 22 people were executed in different
parts of the country on Tuesday January 20th and Wednesday January 21st. The
charges varied from "murder" to "robbery" and "drug trafficking". According to
the State-run Fars news agency, 6 people were executed in a prison in the
central city of Yazd on Tuesday. A man only identified by his first name, Gholam,
was hanged in Karaj in northern Tehran on the same day.
Another 3 men were hanged in Yazd on Wednesday. Ten people were mass executed in
Tehran while those awaiting execution in a month watched the horrifying images.
Two other individuals identified as Jan Mohammad M., 41; and Reza M., 34, were
hanged in a prison in the central province of Isfahan.
Tehran's regime has a long history of murdering dissidents and average citizens
on bogus charges. In the past several months numerous university students and
women's activists have been arrested all over the country for standing up and
voicing their opposition to the treatment they receive under the clerical rule
in Iran. Any voice of dissent is suppressed and anyone who dares to speak out is
incarcerated, tortured and executed. The scenes of public hangings of teenagers,
men, women, homosexuals and anyone who dares to oppose the tyranny are the
common sights in the streets of Iranian cities. Despite a moratorium announced
by their judiciary in 2002, the clerical regime has resumed the appalling and
inhumane practice of stoning. On January 13th, two people accused of adultery
were stoned to death in northeastern city of Mashad.
The Women's Forum Against Fundamentalism in Iran (WFAFI) calls upon President
Obama's Administration and other western governments, human rights organizations
and the United Nations to stand up to these brutalities of the ruling dictators
in Tehran. It is time to hold the clerics responsible for gross violations of
human rights including the brutal practices of stoning and hanging. The Islamic
Fundamentalist regime in Iran with all its leaders must be brought to justice
for severe violations of human rights,
WFAFI reiterates calls for an end to all the public hangings and stoning in
Iran. The world must pressure the Tehran to observe the rights of their
citizens. Iran's human rights dossier should be brought to the United Nations
Security Council and the regime's leaders must be tried in the International
Criminal Court.
WFAFI reminds Washington and the West that no amount of engagement with Tehran's
atrocious dictators would stop their brutal behavior. The history of the past 30
years has proven that appeasement of the theocracy in Iran has only embolden the
mullahs internal suppression. The policy towards the mullahs must be based on
the human rights values and support of the Iranian people. This horrific regime
must not be rewarded by more futile talks. The west must support Iranian people
and their just resistance against their oppressors.
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