Another crime committed by Islamic Republic

Another crime committed by Islamic Republic!

The execution of Shayan Saeedpour and continued trend of arrests and repression is condemned

On April 21, 2020 the Islamic Republic of Iran committed another crime by executing Shayan Saeedpour. Shayan who was 17 years old at the time of his arrest was executed in retaliation for escaping amid the fears of widespread Coronavirus epidemic in prison. Shayan Saeedpour was one of the 80 prisoners who escaped on March 28, 2020 but he was arrested a few days later in the city of Baneh and transferred to Saqez Prison and consequently was murdered. Earlier, another Saqez prisoner escapee, Mustafa Salimi was executed on April 11, 2020 upon his re-arrest. According to human rights organizations the lives of Mohammad Kalhor and Barzan Nasrullahzadeh – both imprisoned in Saqez - are in serious danger.

After several decades of repression, incompetence and corruption, the Islamic Republic has brought the society to the brink of an explosion. Widespread poverty, inflation and economic bankruptcy have caused the continuation of governing the country under question mark. The outbreak of the deadly coronavirus and the inability to manage it have further darkened the future prospects and exacerbated the government's inability. Fear of growing popular struggles has further intimidated the regime and it has intensified repression to counter future social unrests. In the past two weeks alone, dozens of civil and political activists have been summoned, arrested and sentenced to prison. Judicial courts led by the murderer Ebrahim Raisi, an appointee by the supreme leader Khamenei, have sentenced political and civil activists amid the spread of Coronavirus in prisons. Recently the political activist, Keyvan Samimi, was sentenced to 5 years in prison for participating in the International Workers Day’s march. Labor activist Ismail Abdi was re-arrested and Nahid Khodajo, another labor activist, was sentenced to prison terms. Nasser Ashjari, a civil activist who was charged with "insulting sacred entities", "propaganda against the regime" and "conspiracy to commit a crime" has been summoned by authorities. Homeland Security have summoned University students and the Physics Olympiad medal winners, Amir Hossein Moradi and Ali Younesi. They were detained by security forces in Tehran and taken to an unknown location. In addition, Fariba Adelkhah along with her friend and colleague, Roland Marshall, a French researcher who had been taken hostages by the Islamic State, has been tried after a year of detention and is awaiting sentencing by the Revolutionary Court. According to Amnesty International's annual report, the Islamic Republic ranks second in the world with 251 executions.

The Left Party of Iran (People’s Fadaian) strongly condemns the execution of Shayan Saeedpour and calls on all associations and human rights organizations and political parties to put pressure on the Islamic Republic for issuance and execution orders, for harsh and repressive treatment of prisoners, and the arrest of political and civil rights activists. The serial killings by Islamic Republic is not going to stop and now the lives of Mohammad Kalhor and Barzan Nasrallahzadeh are in danger.

Let's stop the execution and repression machine of the Islamic Republic when the humanity in general and prisoners in particular have been victimized by the Coronavirus catastrophe.

Political-Executive Board of the Left Party of Iran (People's Fadaian)