Execution, Prosecution, Hostage-Taking, Kidnapping of Dissidents and Detention of Civil Activists

Execution, Prosecution, Hostage-Taking, Kidnapping of Dissidents and Detention of Civil Activists

Spreading the Repression by the Islamic Republic at the Height of the Corona Crisis!

While the public outrage over the execution of Navid Afkari and Ruhollah Zam has not yet subsided, the execution of three prisoners in Baluchistan are reported and a few other Baluch compatriots are on death row. Some Baluch sources have named the two executed prisoners as "Henam Rigi" and "Shoeib Rigi". The Rasanak website, the website of human rights activists in Baluchistan also confirmed that the third executed person, Abdul Basit Khasht, was from the village of Banest in the Konarak district and had been executed in Dozap Central Prison. According to the published information, he has been in prison since 2012. Security situation in Baluchistan has made it difficult to obtain accurate information on these cases.

It has been a while since Ahmad Reza Jalali, a Swedish-Iranian citizen, was transferred to solitary confinement and is in danger of being executed. The fate of Golrokh Erayi, a political prisoner who was transferred to Ward 2A of Evin Prison, belonging to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), is unknown. The family's attempt to contact her was unsuccessful. IRGC’s intelligence interrogators are working on a new case against her. She was arrested and convicted in November 2016 and was released after serving her sentence. But she was re-arrested with a new frame-up in prison against her. Golrokh is currently serving a three-year and seven-month sentence, which was handed down to her after serving her sentence in the first round. Her husband, Arash Sadeghi, is an imprisoned civil activist. The two are also denied the right to contact and meet each other.

It was also announced on Wednesday, December 23rd, that Soheil Arabi had been charged with "propaganda activities against the regime" through a video conference. In contact with his family, he informed that he had been in solitary confinement in the IRGC’s Ward 2A Prison for 33 days, had been interrogated, and had been transferred to Rajai Shahr Prison on November 8th. Soheil Arabi has been imprisoned since November 7, 2013 on charges of "insulting religious sanctities, propaganda activities against the system and leadership", "spreading canard with the intention of agitating the public mind" and "propaganda against the system".

Detention of civil activists continues. Mehdi Mahmoudian and Amin Moradi have been arrested in Tehran and a few others in other cities. The prison sentences of the participants in the May 1 rally last year have been carried out. Keyvan Samimi, editor of Iran Farda publication, has been returned to prison. Despite widespread protests by civil society activists, three members of the Iranian Writers' Association, who have been sentenced to prison in the Islamic Republic's courts on insubstantial charges remain in prison. For standing up for her humane positions and despite her illness, Nasrin Sotoudeh, a committed and honorable lawyer of our country, is in prison and in unfavorable conditions. Labor activists, women's and human rights defenders and journalists continue to be under pressure of the regime repression.

The Left Party of Iran (People’s Fadaian) considers the execution to be a premeditated murder by the regime and condemns the execution of Baluch compatriots, the framing-up against political prisoners and the detention of women activists, workers, writers, journalists and civil activists. We call on progressive humanity and international human rights institutions to confront these crimes. With the aim of halting the death sentences and freeing political and civil prisoners, we urge political, civil and human rights activists to spare no effort to force the Islamic Republic to retreat. The experience of the last four decades has shown that the Islamic Republic can be forced to retreat only through a united and nationwide struggle. Let us not to let the criminal regime to shed the blood of the children of the Iranian people.

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

December 24, 2020