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The Price Of Freedom: Human Rights Abuse in Iran Intesifies

Jila Kazerounian - 5/23/2006

While the world is occupied with Iran’s nuclear program and how to solve the dilemma, the clerical government intensifies its internal suppression. A new wave of arrests and executions has begun since Ahmadinejad came to office. The hard-line president, himself a former member of the notorious Revolutionary Guard, is a fundamentalist Muslim who believes in “paving the path” for the appearance of Shiite “hidden Imam”. His goal is to expand fundamentalist Islamic empire ruled by Islamic religious law (Sharia). Defying the United Nations, he continues Iran’s nuclear program, regularly threatens to “wipe Israel off the map” and questions the veracity of the Holocaust.

Using religion as a weapon, Ahmadinejad’s regime conducts public hanging, execution, arrests and crackdown to intimidate the public and silence dissident. In the past six to nine months, there have been numerous cases of teenage public hangings, crackdown on Sufi’s protests or labor sit-ins, arrests of bloggers and journalists, and more systemic crackdown on women regularly including public flogging for mal-veiling.

Most notably has been the renewed wave of execution of the political prisoners. Reports from Iran indicate constant and rising threats by officials have continued due to international pressure on Tehran’s nuclear case. Moghanian, the warden of Gohardasht prison and staff in charge of political prisoners ward, recently told the prisoners that “don’t ever think that by going to the Security Council, we will leave you be. If something happens to us, we will cut you to pieces.”

On February 7, 2006, Hojjat Zamani, member of Iran’s main opposition group, People’s Moujahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), was executed followed by the government’s announcement on more death decrees of other PMOI members. Among them is Valiollah Feiz-Mahdavi, in Gohardasht prison. He was arrested in 2001 and moved to Gohardasht prison in Karaj (west of Tehran). Valiollah was handed a death sentence scheduled for May 16th. In the coming days, the 28-year-old Valiollah, whose only “crime” is to fight for freedom, will face execution. Families of political prisoners report that as the last step by the fundamentalist regime, Valiollah was forced to sign the commandment to his execution in Gohardasht prison, which was put into place by the Judgment Enforcement of the Court of Justice and brought to him by Ali Mohammadi, the prison’s director.

Recently, Women’s Forum Against Fundamentalism, obtained the translation of Valiollah’s recorded voice message from the prison, in which he says: “In the course of my struggle I learned that for freedom fighters it is not all that important to personally see realized the ultimate aim of their efforts and sacrifice. What is paramount for them is steadfastness in struggle. I truly believe that freedom, democracy and justice are as vital to human life as the air one breathes. I thus permit myself to ask you not to abandon Iran’s just fight against the oppressive regime of the mullahs. I also have a few words for the leaders and minions of the regime: we will never resign ourselves to the ignominy of surrendering to your repressive dictatorship, even if it will cost us our lives.”

In concluding his message, Valiollah calls for an Iran free of “injustice, oppression and exploitation”, a reminding us of the price of freedom.

The past 27 years has demonstrated that silence and inaction by the international community only emboldens the tyrants in Tehran. While there is a loud and clear voice in Iran calling for the end of tyrannical regime, many are too quick to judge the solution is through foreign war or continued appeasement of the regime in Tehran.

To start with, the member states of the United Nations Security Council must halt any talks of incentive to the fundamentalist regime in Tehran and the Council must hold Ahamdinejad’s regime responsible for posing a threat to 70 millions Iranians. Forgetting Tehran’s continued gross human rights violations, systemic oppression of women, and more importantly turning blind eyes on the on going executions which have cost the Iranian nation tens of thousands of innocent lives is not just immoral but irresponsible. The world needs to pressure the Iranian government to stop the execution of Valliollah and all other political prisoners.

In response to role of international community, Maryam Rajavi, the eloquent female leader of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), says “the only viable way to end the terrorism, nuclear program, human rights violations and internal suppression imposed by the fundamentalist government of the Islamic Republic of Iran”, is to support “change by the Iranian people and their resistance.”

Valiollah Feiz-Mahdavi is a brave member of this growing resistance movement and is fully aware of the price of freedom. Let us hope the international community acts in time to come to his aid.