What is happening in Iran and Iran’s prisons?
In Iran,
people who express their views and actively pursue a better future for the
Iranian society, are imprisoned on fabricated charges. Even as prisoners, they
are deprived of their most fundametal rights. Their fellow inmates die under
highly questionable circumstances, while the prisoners themselves are subjected
to tremendous physical and psychological pressure to accept the charges and
endure the humiliations imposed on them by the government.
Should they
accept those fabricated charges? Should they remain silent?
What can
they do if they are neither able nor willing to endure the accusations and
humiliations?
How can
they protest and regain their right to a dignified life?
On 18.
June, 12 prominent political prisoners have gone on an indefinite hunger
strikes to protest against the killing of Haleh Sahabi and Hoda Saber. They
could not think of any other way to make their voices heard in the world.
It is a sad
truth, however, that as a result of the harsh prison conditions they are in a
severely weakened state, some of them have serious health problems. It is
likely that some of them will have to pay with their lives if the government
continues to refuse to listen to their demands.
According
to a report by International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, at least 18
political prisoners have died in prison since 2003 – 7 of them since the
presidential elections of 2009 alone.
In this
context, Iranian Nobel Peace Price laureate Shirin Ebadi claimed: „All in all
we are observing that the government in different stages is making attempts on
the lives of political prisoners. When a political prisoner refuses to bow
down, to give an interview or acquiesce to false confessions, they use every
method to break him/her, and one of these methods is physical abuse, which at
times leads to their death, as in the case of Hoda Saber.“
In view of
these facts, the families of the hunger strikers as well as large parts of the
Iranian society are deeply worried about the lives of these prisoners.
We too fear
for the lives of those virtuous men. We declare our solidarity with their
hunger strike and hold the prison officials accountable for their lives. We
declare:
The
Intelligence Ministry and the minister in charge, the judiciary and the head of
the judiciary, the government, the head of the government, as well as the
Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, Mr Khamenei, who claims to have
unchallengeable power over all government bodies and the entire Iranian
population, are to be held accountable.
We are
calling on you to do all in your power to ensure that the health and the lives
of those prisoners are protected. We are calling on you to remind those bearing
responsibility in the Islamic Republic of Iran – Mr Khamenei, Mr Sadegh
Larijani (the head of the judiciary) and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad - that they are responsible for the well-being
of the political prisoners and must respond to their demands immediately.
We are
calling on you to urge the United Nations to send their special rapporteur for
human rights to Iran for the crimes committed behind the walls of the prisons
in the Islamic Republic to be revealed and the brutal violations of human
rights in Iran to be made visible for the whole world to see.
Thank you
for your support.
German-Iranian Association „Deutsch-Iranisches Forum Aachen e.V.“ (Germany)
Green
Activist for a Democratic Iran
Iran Solidarity Committee „Iran Solidarität Komitee Aachen“ (Germany)
Kareshenasane
Iran Sabz (Green Experts of Iran)
Pooya e. V.
Köln (Germany)
Supporters
of Human Rights and Democracy in Iran, Essen (Germany)
Think Peace
United for
Iran Düsseldorf e. V. (Germany)
United for
Iran Köln–Bonn e. V. (Germany)