The World Must Not Remain Silent About The Crimes Of The Mullah Regime

“My father and his friends are in prison and are to be executed. Please help us so that my father doesn’t have to die,” pleaded Sabah, son of Mohammad Faramarzi. Only five years old, he knows exactly what his father and his friends Mohsen Mazloum, Vafa Azarbar and Pejman Fatehi will face if he is not heard. Faramarzi’s wife Maria Mahmoudi and Bayan Azimi, wife of Pejman Fatehi, have found refuge in Germany with their children. During a visit to the ISHR office on 25 January, they made a last desperate appeal to the German government to help save the prisoners. They received support from the Tehran-born mayor of Frankfurt, Nargess Eskandari-Grünberg. “It is high time for Germany to stand in solidarity with the freedom movement in Iran”. Although their families left no stone unturned, the shocking news of the execution of the four men followed four days later. The execution took place on the basis of a trial lasting just a few minutes on the charge of “co-operation with Israel”.

The mullah regime reacted to the street protests of the revolutionary movement “Woman, Life, Freedom” with intensified repression. Observers tell ISHR that the atmosphere in Iran is currently oppressive. Many people are outraged by the brutality of the mullah regime, particularly the increasing use of the death penalty. In relation to the size of the population, the Islamist dictatorship is the world leader in executions. Due to the rapid increase in arrests and the use of torture to force confessions, the ISHR has been drawing attention to new cases almost every week since July 2023 in its Iran newsletter (see also www.igfm.de/iran) and appealing to politicians and the media to do more to stop the Iranian regime or persuade it to change its ways.

According to ISHR research from mid-February 2024, a further 14 prisoners are at risk of execution. These include Reza Rasaei and Mojahed Kourkour, who were arrested at the end of 2022 for their involvement in the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement.  Their files are already with the court department responsible for executions. The fate of Mojahed Kourkour in particular reveals how brutal and manipulative the regime’s institutions are:

On 20 December 2022, security forces from the ranks of the Revolutionary Guards, the Ministry of Intelligence and the Iranian Law Enforcement Command attacked a house in a village in Khuzestan province at gunpoint. Two people were killed in the attack; Kourkour was injured and arrested and accused of murdering nine-year-old Kian Pirfalak on 16 November 2022. However, the child’s parents are convinced that Kourkour is being framed for a crime he did not commit, as two other minors and other demonstrators were shot dead by security forces during protests that day. Six days after his arrest, while he lay injured in hospital, he was forced to make a confession on camera, which was broadcast on television. According to reports, Kourkour was severely tortured. Since his arrest, he has been held in solitary confinement in Sheyban prison in the city of Ahvaz (Khuzestan province).

Many names of political prisoners sentenced to death and prisoners belonging to religious or other minorities are known to the ISHR. The ISHR Iran Unit observes, analyses and documents the latest developments on the growing list of names, which has already included 279 names since July, and leaves no stone unturned in its efforts to find sponsors (members of the EU Parliament, the German Bundestag and the state parliaments and other personalities) who will try to change these fates for the better in political talks. For those affected and their families, it is definitely important that we in the safe West do not remain silent about the crimes of the mullah regime. This task requires the most careful research and the presentation of the fates, despite all the atrocities, in a language that does not violate anyone’s dignity. The ISHR hopes to be able to continue this work with the same intensity in the future.</p