A call from and to people in the U.S. to join and develop the campaign for political prisoners in Iran right now
We Demand Justice and Freedom for All Political Prisoners in Iran NOW
November 30, 2020 | revcom.us
Since October 2020, a new rash of widespread, illegal and illegitimate
crackdowns against political and social activists was carried out in
Iran by the brutal regime of the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI). Among
those arrested are supporters of labor movements, teachers, students,
and family members of known activists, Baha’i religious forces,
long-time and recent liberal, radical and revolutionary dissidents
against the reactionary IRI.
Most of these prisoners are being held without any charges or trial, but
at least one (a secretary of the Tehran Teachers Center) is charged with
“collusion against the security of the state” and given two years in
prison. That is, many are unidentified with no known charges or access
to lawyers, which is a violation of the human rights and basic legal
rights of the accused.
Beside imprisonment, they face rape, torture, execution, now torment and
death by coronavirus infection. Some of these political prisoners are
dehumanized in solitary confinement in Evin prison, a notorious torture
and death chamber, including several who have dual citizenships with
German (and other) passports that have been confiscated by the IRI
without cause.
These raids coincided closely with the one-year anniversary of the
November 2019 uprising that had rocked Iran. The IRI fears the
resistance forces inside Iran who were planning to hold commemorations
of that rebellion. Set off by massive inflation, high unemployment and a
harsh economic slowdown brought on by cruel U.S. sanctions, mass
protests engulfed 100-200 large and small cities across Iran in 2019.
The Islamic regime responded not only with mass arrests but water
cannons, tear gas, live ammunition fired from rooftops, helicopters and
police forces on the ground—shooting some protesters at close range or
as they were running away. Estimates are of hundreds killed (some were
children), thousands wounded and arrested with reports of hospitals
overflowing with the wounded. The IRI blacked out the internet to hide
the true scale and scope of their murderous rampage on protesters and
its aftermath.
If the modern history of Iran has shown us anything, it is the
irrepressible heroic spirit of generations of Iranian people against
oppressive regimes. A people who resisted the CIA coup in 1953; who
overthrew the U.S. puppet Shah Pahlavi’s blood-soaked rule in the
revolution of 1979; who for the past 40+ years, rose up repeatedly
against a theocracy that had taken power with the help of the U.S. The
resistance continues even as the IRI had massacred tens of thousands of
political prisoners in 1988, and as generations of women have been
imprisoned and tortured for refusing forced hijab and medieval Sharia
law.
U.S. imperialists such as U.S. Secretary of State Pompeo have NO right
to speak when it comes to the suffering they help inflict on people in
Iran. Years of vicious U.S. sanctions have served to batter the body and
spirit of the 80+ million people in Iran—depriving them of food,
medicine, books, fuel and other daily necessities but providing a club
to the IRI to beat down any dissent as “support for U.S. imperialism.”
Recent threats by the fascist Trump/Pence regime towards Iran, the
Trump-ordered murder of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani in January 2020,
and now the suspicious murder of top Iranian nuclear scientist Moshen
Fakhrizadeh are all vile aggressions by the U.S. These acts may also
give further impetus for the IRI to crack down under vague “national
security” and “foreign meddling” accusations against all forms of
opposition to its rule.
The U.S. and IRI regimes have their interests, but the people of these
countries have our interests. It is in the interest of the people all
over the world to unite and defend the political prisoners of Iran whose
lives and dignity are in mortal and imminent danger. People in the U.S.
have a special responsibility and opportunity to unite across all social
and political movements or divides against this vile repression by the
IRI, and to actively oppose any war moves by the U.S. government that
will bring even more horrific suffering to the people of Iran.
We support all political protesters against the IRI and the U.S. inside
and outside Iran. We join the urgent cries for justice and freedom by
each new wave of Iranian political prisoners. We are taking up the fight
now to free them ahead of fresh atrocities and deaths. Free all
political prisoners in Iran until every cage is empty.
***
This statement was initiated by Carol Downer and Dolly Veale (November
۲۰۲۰).
To sign this solidarity statement, to join this effort or for more
information, please email FreeIransPoliticalPrisonersNOW@gmail.com.
Suggested solidarity actions:
We urge that you endorse/sign and circulate the above statement or make
your own statement to news media, and organizations you belong to. In
either case, or for more info, email us at
FreeIransPoliticalPrisonersNOW@gmail.com
Contact human rights and legal organizations (Amnesty International,
ACLU, National Lawyers Guild, etc) to take action for the release of
these political prisoners in Iran as part of their human rights efforts.
Organize mass film screenings on Zoom and Facebook to expose the IRI and
U.S. political repression and other crimes in Iran (e.g., Coup 53 by
Taghi Amirani, Taxi by Jafar Panahi, Nasrin by Jeff Kaufman and Marcia
Ross, etc.).
Also can organise reading and discussing this book on 1988 massacre of political prisoners in Iran:
Voices of a Massacre: Untold Stories of Life and Death in Iran, 1988
Edited by Nasser Mohajer
Call your own or join protests against U.S. war moves on Iran and in
support of Iranian political prisoners. Call or join a protest, do
banner drops, and hold cultural events on December 10—International
Human Rights Day.
Demand the German government secure the release of German-Iranian dual
citizens from Iran’s Prison and Torture Chambers. The German Consul
General’s contact info in Los Angeles is 6222 Wilshire Blvd, Unit 500,
Los Angeles, CA 90048. Phone: +1 323 930 2703. In New York, it is 871
United Nations Plaza, New York, NY 10017. Phone: +1 212 610 9700.
Write your protest letter to the Iran Foreign Ministry and launch a twitter storm demanding Free All Political Prisoners in Iran NOW!
Address: Tehran Province, Tehran, District 12, Emam Khomeyni Street، ۱۱۳۶۹ ۱۴۸۱۱, Iran
Iran Foreign Ministry 🇮🇷 (@IRIMFA_EN) · Twitter
Also send a copy to:
Council of Europe
Office of the Commissioner for Human Rights
۶۷۰۷۵ Strasbourg Cedex
FRANCE
Tel: +33 (0)3 88 41 34 21
Fax: +33 (0)3 90 21 50 53
Email: commissioner @ coe.int
@CoESpokesperson