No Regime can Perdure by Resorting to Crime!

No Regime can Perdure by Resorting to Crime!

On the eve of the anniversary of the massacre of political prisoners in 1988, when thousands of political prisoners were imprisoned and massacred by Khomeini’s order, the Islamic Republic (IR) executed thirty-year old Mostafa Salehi, who was arrested in December 2017 in Kahrizsang, Najafabad, Isfahan, for participating in protests. With this execution, the criminal record of the IR became darker.

In the IR, protesting citizens can always be handed over to the death squad for various reasons and general sentences. In this regime’s life, the wave of executions has always been relatively high but at times the killings have peaked. The year 1988 is one of the bloodiest periods in which political prisoners were massacred in the madness of the IR. At that time, the current head of the judiciary branch, Ibrahim Ra'isi, was a member of the death squad. He has been rewarded for the crimes he has committed over the years by being appointed to the highest judicial rank.

The IR is worried about the uprising of the people. The reasons that took people to the streets in January 2017 and November 2018 are not only still there, but also the misery and poverty of the people, especially after the Corona pandemic have intensified. In this situation, the regime has considered intimidation as a solution and has resorted to further executions. In order to create fear and intimidation and prevent the angry people from protesting against the current miserable situation, the regime intends to send a number of detainees of the November and January protests to the execution squad. The list of protesters participating in the January 2017 and November 2018 demonstrations who have been sentenced to death has grown longer and they are in danger of execution at any moment.

The workers' protests and strikes are spreading across the country. Workers of Haft Tappeh have been on strike for nearly two months, workers of several refineries, Qazvin Meter Production and Hepco have been on strike for several days. During this time, despite the outbreak of Corona pandemic, nurses, teachers and retirees have seen no choice but to go on strike. In such a situation where the workers have not been paid for months and half of the people of the country are living below the poverty line, the regime is thinking of increasing the budget of the security and repression organs.

The Left Party of Iran (People's Fadaian), while expressing its disgust with the execution of Mostafa Salehi, expresses its sympathy with his family and friends. Lives of another number of imprisoned protesters are in danger. We call on all political organizations and civil society organizations to confront the regime, which has made the execution of protesting citizens a means of survival, in any way they can and prevent execution of more of our compatriots by the ruling criminals.

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

August 6, 2020