No More Youth Killing!

Joint Statement

Terrified of the People's Protest Uprising, the Islamic Republic is Spreading Fear!

No More Youth Killing!

Fearing a popular uprising against the current intolerable situation and people’s presence on the streets, Similar to January 2017 and November 2019 uprisings, the Islamic Republic (IR) has resorted to the execution of the country's youth and increased the dimensions of repression. The regime recently sentenced three demonstrators of the November 2019 uprising to death, which was forced to halt the execution because of protest of millions of people inside and outside the country on cyberspace. However, the Islamic regime now wants to send another young man to the execution squad. The judiciary of the IR has sentenced Navid Afkari, a wrestler with a national championship, to two death sentences, six and a half years in prison and 74 lashes, and has sentenced his brothers Vahid and Habib to 54 and 27 years in prison, respectively. In order to obtain Navid’s forced confession of participating in the August 2018 protests in Shiraz and the "murdering of a security agent," the interrogators have subjected him to severe physical and psychological torture at the Intelligence center.

The news of the execution of Navid Afkari has been widely spread among famous Iranian and world athletes, political and civil activists. A number of prominent Iranian wrestlers and Olympic and world freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling champions have joined the campaign and have expressed their protest against the sentence.

At the same time as issuing these harsh sentences by the IR, Amnesty International released a detailed report stating what criminal actions were taken by law enforcement, intelligence and security officials and prison officials, with the complicity of judges and prosecutors to menace the November 2019 protesters. The report, entitled "Destroyers of Humanity: Massive Detentions, Disappearances, and Torture in the wake of the November 2019 protests in Iran," is based on the horrific narratives of dozens of protesters, passers-by, and others who were forcibly arrested, disappeared, kept in solitary confinement and repeatedly tortured for confession. These are narratives of part of the 7,000 men, women and children who were arrested in a few days in November last year. In this report, Amnesty International lists the names and identities of more than 500 protesters, media activists, and human rights defenders who were prosecuted in connection with the November 2019 uprising. This organization had previously reported the killing of 304 people, at least 23 of whom were children, in connection with the November last year uprising.

Pressure on political prisoners has increased. They have gone on hunger strike to protest the inhumane condition of prisons and the judiciary's disregard for the risk of Covid-19, but the regime has not complied with their demands. Nasrin Sotoudeh, a lawyer and human rights activist, has been on a hunger strike since August 11, 2020. Sentenced to 38 years in prison and 148 lashes on trumped-up charges, she went on an indefinite hunger strike to protest the plight of political prisoners, the inattention of prison guards to the health of prisoners and the risk of the Corona virus spreading among them and demanded the release of all political prisoners. Dozens of political prisoners have joined her in the protest. Despite the life danger to Nasrin Sotoudeh and the widespread support of political and civil activists for her, the regime officials have continued to ignore her demands. The Vice President of the European Parliament called on the international community, especially EU diplomats, to work hard to defend Nasrin Sotoudeh. According to the German daily newspaper “der Tagesspiegel”, the European Parliament, the American Pen Association, the International Human Rights Society, Omid Nouripour (German Green Foreign Policy Spokesman), Frank Schwaben (a senior member of the German Social Democrats and member of the Parliamentary Human Rights Committee (Bundestag)) and Iranian Twitter users are all participating in the solidarity campaign. They are all concerned about the life of Nasrin Sotoudeh, the prominent lawyer who has been on a hunger strike since August 11 in Tehran's notorious Evin Prison and whose health is deteriorating.

The IR is not content with killing of the dissidents. Within the framework of the fight against smuggling, Its agents in the western borders of the country are not concerned about lives of those who carry heavy loads (“Carriers”) from one side of the border to the other to bring a piece of bread on their table. Recently, border guards shot and killed four “Carriers”. Statistics recorded by the Statistics and Documentation Center of the Human Rights Organization (HaNegav, a Kurdish human rights organization) show that at least twenty “Carriers” were killed or wounded on the borders of Kurdistan during August of this year, over 70% of which occurred with direct fire from the armed forces of the IR regime.

The IR is resorting to all means to cover up its crimes, but with the help of the media and social networks, the crimes of the authoritarian regime have been exposed, the whole world has become aware of them and are protesting. In another step to intensify the repression, the parliament elected by Ali Khamenei is seeking to block cyberspace in order to hide the regime's crimes and prevent activities of millions on social media. In the framework of the 25-year cooperation document between Iran and China, the Rouhani government intends to launch a national Internet to deprive people of access to opposition networks and sites.

But the IR will not be able to cover up its crimes, stop the rise of the poor, shut the mouths, and create a grave atmosphere through executions, killings, torture, escalating pressure in prisons, blocking social networks and launching a national Internet. There is not a day that workers, retirees, nurses and teachers do not protest against the current miserable situation and against the policies and actions of the regime.

We, the three secular and democratic Republican currents, in unison with the international community and the country's freedom-loving forces, demand the abolition of the death sentence of Navid Afkari and the conviction of his two brothers, the release of political prisoners, including those arrested in November of last year, a positive response to Nasrin Sotoudeh's legitimate demands and end to the killing of “Carriers”. We call on civil society and human rights activists and organizations to continue to protest to prevent the IR of further killings of people who challenge it in the streets. No more youth execution.

Political-Executive Boards of:

United Republicans of Iran

The Left Party of Iran (People’s Fadaian)

Union for Secular Republic and Human Rights in Iran (USRHR)

September 6, 2020