Activists Say International Pressure Needed To Stop Executions In Iran
Iranian rights defenders say that if the world does not put more pressure on Iran's regime, it will kill more protesters after two young men were hanged Saturday.
Iranian rights defenders say that if the world does not put more pressure on Iran's regime, it will kill more protesters after two young men were hanged Saturday.
The Oslo-based Iran Human Rights Organization called the execution of Mohammad Mehdi Karami, 22, and Mohammad Hosseini, 39 was a "criminal act" and warned of "massive executions of protesters" if there is no "adequate response from the international community".
Both men were arrested for the killing of a Basij militiaman named Ruhollah Ajamian during the protests on November 3 in Karaj west of Tehran.
Canada-based activist Hamed Esmaeilion said in a tweet Saturday that “terrorists of the Islamic Republic murdered two innocent young men without access to the lawyers and behind closed doors. The time has come to expel their ambassadors.”
British-Iranian actress and human rights activist Nazanin Boniadi also condemned the executions saying, “Shame on the global community and leaders for not stopping the Islamic Republic’s atrocities.”
Masih Alinejad, another rights activist, also said in a tweet, "In our occupied land, our loved ones are being executed for chanting for freedom, for protesting against poverty, corruption and brutality."
Two protestors named Mohsen Shekari and Majidreza Rahnavard were executed in Tehran and Mashhad in December.
Following mass arrests of protestors in the last four months and hasty death sentences issued for 11 people in sham trials, human rights activists and some foreign officials have been calling for weeks to hold the Islamic Republic accountable.
Trudeau made the comments in a meeting with family members of victims of Ukraine International Airlines Flight PS752 that was shot down by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard on January 8, 2020.
Mélanie Joly, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Omar Alghabra, Minister of Transport and Ralph Goodale, High Commissioner in the United Kingdom were also present in the meeting which was held on the anniversary of the tragic event.
A statement published by Global Affairs Friday said, “Canada honors the victims of Flight PS752 and all air disasters and continues to stand in solidarity with their families and loved ones.”
“Canada and its partners in the Coordination Group—Sweden, Ukraine and the United Kingdom—continue to work together to hold Iran accountable for the downing of Flight PS752 and ensure full reparations are made for the deaths of 176 innocent people,” reads the statement.
On December 28, 2022, the Coordination Group of countries affected by the tragic incident announced an important step in the pursuit of accountability in accordance with international law. Members of the group Britain, Canada, Sweden, and Ukraine urged Iran to agree to arbitration as Tehran has stonewalled over an independent investigation and proper compensation.
The airliner was shot down by two air-defense missiles fired by the IRGC as it took off from Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport. Hours earlier, the IRGC had fired more than a dozen missiles at Iraqi bases hosting US troops in retaliation for the killing of the IRGC Quds Force Commander Ghasem Soleimani who was targeted by a US drone strike just five days earlier.
All 176 passengers and crew, including 63 Canadians and 10 from Sweden, as well as 82 Iranian citizens on the plane died in the disaster.
Iranian activist groups have called for large rallies both in Iran and abroad on Sunday, January 8 to mark the third anniversary of the incident, coupled with ongoing antigovernment protests.
The execution of two more protesters in Iran on Saturday may add to the intensity of the gatherings on Sunday.
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported January 6 that Ottawa is weighing the options regarding claims that Iran’s envoy to International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), Farhad Parvaresh might have had involvements with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.
Parvaresh is currently based in Canada and some are demanding that the federal government impose restrictions on his movements.
Parvaresh was the head of government airline, Iran Air during the years when the company’s aircraft were used to transport weapons to Syria, a task organized and controlled by IRGC’s extraterritorial Quds (Qods) Force.
In a confidential audio recording obtained by Iran International in April 2021, former foreign minister Javad Zarif told an Iranian journalist that Iran Air was extensively used to ferry weapons to Damascus. The authenticity of the long audio recording was not disputed. Zarif’s reference was to early and mid-2010s, when Parvaresh headed Iran Air.
