“This time we will occupy the streets shouting ‘Stop the executions!'” Some of the political prisoners who published the condemnation notice
The execution yesterday (Monday) early morning of Majid Reza Rahnvard, the arrester of the uprising in Iran – three weeks after his arrest and only five days after the execution of another protester, Mohsen Shakari – ignited, as expected, another wave of anger in the streets of Iran, along with protests international.
Rahnward was executed on the charge of killing with cold weapons two Basij men, the repressive forces of the Revolutionary Guards, and injuring six others. The regime’s media channels even published his confession, which was obtained under torture, and photos from the “trial” that was held for him, where Rahnevard is seen bruised and his hand is bandaged.
In contrast to the ostentatious executions that the Iranian regime usually carries out, in the documentation of Rahnevard’s execution that was distributed on the Iranian networks, only a few security personnel are seen, with their faces covered. The surrounding roads were blocked to pedestrians.
As mentioned, the execution of a second protester in less than a week sparked a wave of angry reactions around the world. Along with the expansion of sanctions on the Revolutionary Guards, senior leaders and diplomats strongly condemned the Iranian regime.
Margot Wallström, former foreign minister of Sweden, f called For the international community to cancel the visas of the heads of the regime and their families outside of Iran, and to declare the Revolutionary Guards a terrorist organization. Joseph Borrell, the European Union’s foreign policy commissioner, announced that the EU intends to approve a tough package of sanctions against the Iranian regime. The US is expected to submit a proposal tomorrow to expel Iran from the UN Commission on the Status of Women.
However, it seems that the series of international condemnations do not make an impression on the Iranian leadership, which responded: “It is a sad joke that the foreign ministers of America and other countries, mostly Western, arrogantly accuse the Islamic Republic of violating women’s rights and consider themselves the defenders of their rights,” and blamed the countries In an attempt to “impose their bad ideas about women on the rest of the world”.
Rahnvard’s execution, as expected, also increased public outrage within Iran itself. Upon learning of his execution, comforters Many flocked to Rahnvard’s house to express solidarity with his family – where they were dispersed, according to reports, by the security forces.
The public protest over the execution did not take long to reach the streets as well. Here A protester can be seen on the street in the city of Mashhad, where Rehnvard was executed, standing between cars with a hanging rope around her neck. In some universities, students expressed their protest against the execution on the boards and doors of the classrooms, and some offices of the Revolutionary Guards and the Basij were set on fire in different cities.
“The height of folly and lack of reason”
Some of the prisoners who signed the statements of opinion
One of the bravest voices against the executions was actually heard from within the walls of Evin Prison, where most of the political prisoners are held.
After the execution of Mohsen Shakari, 13 political prisoners, including Ali Reza Parshi and Akbar Naimi, activists of the Azerbaijani National Movement, as well as the two well-known directors Jaafar Panahi and Mohammad Rasulof, published a statement in which they express solidarity with the demonstrators and call on the regime to cease violence:
“The non-violent uprising that in recent months brought the brave young people of the homeland to the squares in every city and volume, as part of the Iranian freedom movement since the constitutional revolution until today, is a tremendous and valuable resource that echoes the hope for progress, democracy and justice in Iran. In the face of the uprising, the only thing the power-hungry are able to do And the gatekeepers of the existing situation, who are unable to understand their language and the call of ‘woman, life, freedom’, is to suppress them by force, out of the illusion that they can extinguish the fire of the uprising by open violence.
“The execution of a 23-year-old young man, the late Mohsen Shekari, symbolizes the height of stupidity and lack of reason. When the current protest paves its way on the foundations of hope, life, peace, brotherhood, tranquility and non-violence, it must not be met with prisons, imprisonment and executions. Do not let the rulers believe that they will be able to reach a safe shore and stay on the throne of their rule through violence and the iron fist policy. Have executions, prisons and disenfranchisement thwarted past or present insurgencies who imagine that murdering and executing young minds will stop their pursuit of building a better life in a prosperous and free Iran?
“Know that the flames of violence and hatred that you ignite will also reach the edges of your robes. You continue to imprison, and do not understand that the prison will never extinguish the prisoner; you raise to the gallows and believe that the hanging rope is the source of your strength. But the execution of every protester is proof of your despair and embarrassment, and strengthens The protestors’ stance, as if you never learned that anyone who murders an innocent, murders an entire society.
“We, a group of political prisoners in Evin Prison, condemn the increase in violence, and call for a halt to the policy and violent conduct, especially death sentences and their execution, and undertake to act as much as we can alongside those seeking progress, freedom, democracy and justice in Iran, with the aim of stopping the wheels of violence of the government.”
“to stop the wheels of death of the government”
Majid Reza Rehanvard’s grandmother’s house, after his execution
With the execution of the second protester, Majid Reza Rahanvard, a group of 18 political prisoners in the same prison, including the journalist and political activist Nargas Mohammadi, who won the Freedom Prize of Reporters Without Borders this week, and women’s rights activist Saba Kurd-Afshari also issued a similar statement:
“We, the pursuers of freedom and equality in Iran, have embarked in recent months on a common path with the aim of overthrowing the dictatorial regime of the Islamic Republic. We raised our heads in the cities, in the villages, in the streets and in our homes, inside and outside the homeland.
“The barbaric and extensive repression by the regime throughout the country caused the dispersion of the powerful street protest in recent days. Instead of retreating from the repression and murder in the streets, the government took another step forward, and began to execute in order to create fear. The execution of people who stood shoulder to shoulder in the streets.
“In the name of the covenant that burns in our hearts, in the name of the warmth of our clasped hands, in the name of the cry that rises from our hearts, in the name of the sobs in our throats, we must not abandon them to their souls. We must rise up to save the souls and stop the wheels of murder of the government. We must rise up to tear the ropes around my neck Our young people, to break the gallows of death, because there is no other way!
“This time we will occupy the streets shouting ‘Stop the executions!’ And we will continue with strikes and protests even more strongly.
“We declare our standing by your side, even if from the prison, on the streets from which we were excluded due to our imprisonment. We declare our opposition to the policy of executions by chanting slogans (the protest) in the office of the commander of the women’s wing at Evin Prison.”
According to the reports, after the disclosure of the opinion was published, the phones in the political prisoners wing of the prison were disconnected.
