Iranian Cowardice
Editorial
Iran’s ruling tyrants
have executed yet another political prisoner. 49-year-old Gholamreza
Khosravi Savadjani was hanged by authorities at a prison in the city of
Karaj, west of Tehran at dawn, Sunday, June 1. The news came despite
widespread international calls to halt the hanging. A day earlier,
Canada’s Foreign Minister had condemned the regime, and Amnesty
International had issued an urgent call, saying that Mr. Khosravi had
been deprived of fair trial “in total disregard of both international
law and the Iranian law.” And the United Nations Special Rapporteur on
the situation of human rights in Iran, Dr. Ahmed Shaheed said he was,
“Shocked and saddened by Iran’s execution of a political prisoner in
flagrant violation of international law!”
Since his second arrest in 2008, Mr. Khosravi was reportedly held for
over 40 months in solitary confinement. Neither his family nor his
lawyers were informed of his imminent execution. He is survived by his
17-year-old son.
Since the mass uprisings that swept the country in 2009,
Tehran has hanged a number of dissidents on bogus charges.
Mr. Khosravi, an average Iranian family man and a welder on oil rigs in
the Persian Gulf, was accused of “enmity against God.” The prosecutors
alleged that he provided financial support to the main Iranian
opposition, Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK), which Tehran sees as an existential
threat. Some observers point to this and dozens of similar cases to
underline both the regime’s brutal nature as well as the popular support
the MEK enjoys among average Iranians, who are willing to provide
financial and other forms of support to the organization while fully
aware of the deadly consequences.
Mr. Khosravi was reportedly placed under torture to speak against the
MEK on television, but had firmly refused. He was initially sentenced
to three years in prison but was later inexplicably and quite suddenly
sentenced to execution. Some analysts see this as an indication that the
regime is worried about the MEK’s growing reach and apeal inside Iran
and intends to dissuade others from supporting the movement. Tehran
apparently decided that fighting the MEK at home is more sensible than
avoiding a diplomatic backlash internationally.
Indeed, there is sufficient evidence to show that Iranian rulers are
worried about domestic crises. Amnesty says reliable reports indicate
that the regime has executed “
at least 180″ people
in addition to “151 executions acknolwedeged by the authorites or
state-sanctioned media” this year alone. Almost 800 have been executed
since the so-called “moderate” President Hassan Rouhani took office last
year. That is a terrifying statistic by any standards, and belies the
regime’s claims of moderation. Indeed, Tehran’s actions speak louder
than its rhetoric.
Why is the West ignoring abhorrent
human rights violations in Iran? The ongoing nuclear negotiations with Tehran are simply not an excuse.
A regime that says something and openly does the opposite is plainly
saying to the world that it is profoundly untrustworthy. Rouhani has
found it opportune to use the atmosphere of negotiations abroad to
settle the score with the opposition at home. With every passing day,
the decision by the West to ignore that, and engage such a government in
talks, without even raising the human rights situation, appears more
politically unjustifiable, and even worse, immoral.
