Action Alert- Articles categorized under "Action Alert"
Jahanshah Rashidian
Five Scheduled Executions in Iran
Appeal to U.N. for Stopping Execution of Political Prisoners in Iran
To Mr. Ban Ki-Moon, the General Secretary of the United Nations
(Also to all freedom-loving people and all governments of the Free World)
Five prisoners are scheduled to be executed in Iran on charges of taking part in protests following the fraudulent presidential election in June. All freedom-loving people, free-world governments, and particularly the U.N. must intervene in this gross violation of human rights by the Iranian Islamic regime.
Following the fraudulent presidential election in Iranian, Tehran's Revolutionary Court has recently sentenced five political activists to death, and their execution has been scheduled. With all due respect, we all freedom-loving Iranians expect you, the people and authorities of the free world, to call on the Iranian authorities to halt these death sentences.
Among those five activists, Mohammad Ali Zamani was sentenced to death on October 18. He is among the hundreds of detainees, who were brought before Tehran's Revolutionary Court on June 12. In reality, Zamani was arrested before the presidential election for his membership to a monarchist circle. He was, thus, in prison during the election, as well as, during the post-election revolution in Iran. However, he has been sentenced to death on the charge of taking part in the post-election protests.
Three other prisoners waiting for their execution, namely Arash Rahmanpour, Hamed Rouhaninejad and Davoud Faricheh Mirardebili, were convicted of being members of a monarchist circle. The fifth prisoner, Nasser Abdolhosseini, awaiting execution, is sentenced to death for his connection with the People's Mojahedin Organization. The accused, deprived of their right to defence, were forced to confess against themselves by repeating a fabricated readout of the judicial authorities.
Reports say that these scheduled executions can be a prelude to wide-ranging executions of political prisoners in the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI). The IRI has frequently committed such crimes, the 1988 massacre of political prisoners being a notorious example. It has been charged with genocide for killing several thousand political prisoners between June and September 1988, when all factions of the regime worked side by side.
Human rights violation has a long history in Iran. It has now turned critical after the sham June election. The Iranian regime uses various methods of torture (including psychological torture), torture of persons close to prisoners, rape, and drugging in order to crush their resistance. Human rights violation in Iran is widely documented; there are many pictorial evidences and video films showing violent actions of the IRI security forces toward peaceful demonstrators. Other reports refer to many cases of torture and mistreatment of political prisoners.
Given the biased and atrocious character of the Iranian judiciary, we solicit you for an immediate intervention by pressuring the Iranian regime to stop these scheduled executions. There is no way that the Iranian people can go to court and use lawful ways to contest these death sentences, because the Iranian judiciary is a tool of repression of Islamic regime. Mr. Secretary General, please express your concern about these planned executions by reminding the Iranian authorities that Iran is a signatory to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).
We also believe that the ongoing Iranian nuclear issue should not overshadow your concern about the human rights catastrophes in Iran. It is expected that your esteemed institution would send a human rights panel to scrutinize and control the violation of human rights in Iran.
FFI received this email today. I am not sure whether it is already too late but I am posting it nonetheless and request everyone to please send an email or fax the authorities in UK to save Hussain Muradi's life. Hussain is about to be deported to Afghanistan where he will most certainly be executed for apostasy.
It is ironic that the same UK government that offers asylum to the Somali pirates, foolishly believing that the Islamic government of Somalia will chop the hands of these criminals for trying to steal the ship of a Kafir country like USA that all Muslims regard as legitimate target for jihad, thinks it is okay to send a young innocent man to his certain death when his only crime is using his brain and denouncing the religion of hate in which he was born. What is wrong with UK?
September 12, 2009
Hussain Muradi, activist of the Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain [CEMB] and One Law for All Campaign, has been detained on September 10, 2009 and is facing imminent deportation back to Afghanistan where he will face the death penalty for ‘apostasy.’
As part of his fight against the Islamists, Hussain has publicly renounced Islam in order to break the taboo that comes with such a renunciation and push for the right to leave religion, particularly crucial given that apostasy is punishable by death under Sharia law.
As Hussain has said on the CEMB’s website: ‘I was not born to be a Muslim and be afraid of God and more importantly I did not sign an agreement with him/her /it to worship him. As a child, religion has been forced upon me. I have been forced to pray, fast, etc… In Afghanistan where I was living, questioning the existence of god or religion is deemed blasphemy and punishable by stoning to death. Now in the UK I have the opportunity and courage to declare who I am. I AM A FREE MAN WITHOUT ANY EXTRA BONDAGE ON ME.’
Hussain was detained after being summoned to the Gillingham police station in Kent on September 10. In a statement right before he was detained, he said: ‘If I went back to Afghanistan myself, I would call it a suicide; if I am sent back to Afghanistan, I would see it as an execution.’ You can see the rest of his statement here:
Despite having a pending fresh claim that was likely not have been reviewed until 2011 and despite the fact that the police informed CEMB members who accompanied him that he would be released shortly, he was issued a Home Office refusal letter that very afternoon and told he would be deported to Afghanistan in a couple of days. The authorities initially tried to force him to sign his removal order and refused him any calls until he persisted.
Ironically, only a few days earlier, he had texted us to tell us that Perwiz Kambakhsh had been released. Perwiz Kambakhsh is a young Afghan who was initially given the death penalty and later 20 years imprisonment for downloading information on the status of women under Islam from the internet. Only after an international campaign was he pardoned; he nonetheless still had to be sent out of Afghanistan for his own safety. Hussain called for the release of Perwiz Kambakhsh on a number of occasions including when carrying out an act of solidarity with the resisting people of Iran against the Islamic regime on September 1 [http://iransolidarity.blogspot.com/2009/09/hussein-muradis-act-of-solidarity.html].
Hussain’s removal to Afghanistan will create yet another Perwiz Kambakhsh with far worse consequences because of the severity of his ‘crime.’
Clearly, Hussan Muradi cannot be sent back to Afghanistan. He – and all ‘apostates’ of Islam – have a right to asylum and must be immediately granted protection.
On September 8, Hussain sent an email saying: ‘I am asking for your support as a fellow human being to prevent my execution under Islamic barbaric laws that I have renounced a long time ago.'
We ask you to take a few minutes of your time to help stop Hussain’s deportation. It is now up to each and every one of us to save his life.
Below is a sample letter you can fax or email. Please call the Minister of Immigration or his MP if you can.
For more information, please contact:
Maryam Namazie
Spokesperson
Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain
BM Box 1919, London WC1N 3XX, UK
Tel: +44 [0] 7719166731
exmuslimcouncil@gmail.com
www.ex-muslim.org.uk
We must stop his removal. Full Stop.
Sample Letter
Re: Hussain Muradi, Home Office ref No: M1140634
Mr Phil Woolas
Minister of State [Borders and Immigration]
2 Marsham Street, London SW1P 4DF
Telephone: 020 7035 4848
Fax: 020 7035 4745
E-mail: woolasp@parliament.uk
Commons and constituency details for him
House of Commons Phone number: 020 7219 1149
House of Commons Fax number: 020 7219 0992
I am writing to ask that Mr Hussain Muradi, an activist of the Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain and the One Law for All Campaign against Sharia Law in Britain, be granted protection. He is currently detained and under imminent threat of removal to Afghanistan.
If Afghanistan is not safe for Perwiz Kambakhsh who recently was pardoned and spirited out of the country after having been sentenced to death and later 20 years in prison for merely downloading materials on the status of women under Islam, it is certainly not safe for Hussain Muradi.
Hussain is an ex-Muslim atheist who has publicly renounced Islam in order to resist the threats and intimidations and to break the taboo that comes with such a renunciation. As you well know, apostasy is a crime punishable by death in Afghanistan and under Sharia law.
I urge the Home Office to immediately release Hussain and grant him protection.
Needless to say, his life and safety is the Home Office’s responsibility.
I look forward to a positive and speedy resolution of this situation.
Yours Sincerely,
Name:
Address:
Date:
Copy to:
Husain Muradi’s MP Robert Marshall-Andrews, Medway Constituency Office: marshallandrewsr@parliament.uk; fax: 01634831294; Telephone: 01634 814687.
