Farzad Kamangar 1975 – 2010

Is it possible to carry the heavy burden of being a teacher and be responsible for spreading the seeds of knowledge and still be silent?

Source:

May 14, 2010

The news release was brief.  They executed them.

At dawn on Sunday, 19 Ordibehesht 1389 (May 09, 2010), five political activists were sent to the gallows to join those who have been executed over the past three decades.  Their families, who for years have marked time behind the prison gates, sat waiting for their corpses.

The experience of mass executions of the 1980s, the public executions of those who had already served their sentences, as well as the execution of others still serving time, is still raw in the minds of our people.  Because there has been no official explanation to date, and no claims of responsibility for the public executions, doubts and guesswork abound regarding these recent executions.

Over the past few days, news of the executions of another group charged with drug possession has been published.  Although these executions have different origins, we know fully well that no court abiding by even the most basic human rights principles has issued these death sentences.  No independent organizations or journalists were present in the courtroom, and all of the accused were deprived of counsel during interrogation.

In addition, executing people such as Mr. Farzad Kamangar, venerable teacher and human rights activist, has created grave doubts in the minds of people about the foundations upon which these charges have been made.

Today, over 120 countries have formally abolished the death penalty, and many others do not carry out the death penalty despite its formal legal existence.  Most organizations advocating basic human rights believe the death penalty to be inhumane, and many global campaigns exist opposing it.  According to available statistics, Iran is second in the world after China for the greatest number of executions.

Considering the population of each country, however, Iran carries out over twenty times the number of executions relative to China.  (In the past year, 700 executions have taken place in China and 380 have taken place in Iran.  China has 18 times the population of Iran.)

These statistics demonstrate that the death penalty in Iran is not used to carry out justice, but is a device to foment terror and fear in the Iranian people.  Otherwise, if the death penalty was a matter of justice, Iranians would be considered one of the most criminal populations, and crime in Iran would be about twenty times that of China.  Thirty years since the first mass executions took place for charges of drug activity, the drug trade has actually expanded in our society.  This strengthens the argument that profiteering and the influence of centers of power has resulted in most of the executed victims being small time addicts and drug smugglers.  These individuals are themselves victims of economic, social and political inequality, and these measures have been ineffective in curbing the drug problem.

We are expected to accept the idea that those executed were common criminals, but we realize that most of them were actually political dissidents who were sacrificed due to their beliefs and thoughts opposing the ruling government.  Is it true, for example, that those who were murdered at gunpoint last year were in possession of guns and explosives, as their formal charges state?  The rulers, those issuing orders, and those carrying out executions and murder of the people, must realize that these efforts cannot create an obstacle against the peoples’ rightful demands.  If these executions and the escalation of violence in society were capable of strengthening power, numerous powerful historical figures would still be in command.  Not only have executions been unable to provide the security that the Capitalists and ruling powers so declare, but these actions have actually marginalized them with each passing day, and have caused the public to increasingly detest them.  Examples of this were the expansive and multiple protests by millions this past year.  These protests continue, and with each day increasingly marginalize the ruling powers.

We hereby condemn all forms of capital punishment and declare that over the past thirty years, the judiciary has had a long record of unjust issuance of death sentences.  The judiciary is incapable of being a legitimate institution of justice.  These executions will not deter our people from pursuing their designated path to justice and righteousness.