NCRI – The execution of 16 political prisoners in Iran is crime against humanity which should be investigated by the United Nations, British MPs have declared.
The death sentence bring the number of prisoners hanged in Iran under new ‘moderate’ president to more than 270, the British Parliamentary Committee for Iran Freedom said.
The committee added in a statement: “The BPCIF strongly condemns the execution of 16 political prisoners in Zahedan, Iran on October 4, 2013. The prisoners were executed collectively. According to Mohammad Marzieh, the prosecutor general of the city of Zahedan, all of the prisoners were executed in revenge for the killing of a number of revolutionary guards in Saravan.
“These arbitrary executions took place when no group has taken responsibility for the attack on the revolutionary guards.”
The committee noted that Hedayatollah Mir-Moradzehi, Saravan’s representative in Iran’s Parliament, told the Qods Force’s Tasnim news agency that information on who carried out the attacks was still ‘sketchy’.
The BPCIF statement added: “The BPCIF draws attention to this clear case of collective punishment, which is in violation of international human rights law.
Nine of the 16 executed had said in a their own statement regarding the September 1 massacre at Camp Ashraf: “PMOI members were killed because they were defending the rights of the Iranian nation. They left their homes and homeland to defend justice and the rights of the Iranian nation.
“We, political prisoners, condemn this terrorist atrocity by the Qods Force that was implemented by the army under the command of Maliki and we call on supporters of human rights and UN member states to stop these terrorist operations by Iranian regime’s Qods Force and to punish perpetrators and sponsors of these operations.”
The BPCIF added: “They were executed to strike fear in the people of Sistan and Baluchestan Province. These executions were politically motivated and constitute a crime against humanity.
“Since the inauguration of the new Iranian President, Hassan Rouhani, there have been over 270 executions in Iran.
“The BPCIF deplores the number of executions in Iran and supports the call by Mrs Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, to refer the Iranian regimes human rights file to the UN Security Council and to the United Nations Human Rights Council for review.”
