Reports from Iran indicate the mullahs’ regime has executed another woman. This recent execution brings the number of women executed during Hassan Rouhani’s tenure as President to 109. This execution, in line with other, once again debunks the myth of moderation in the mullahs’ regime and shows its true misogynous nature.
According to the state-run ROKNA news agency, the executed woman identified as Razieh, a 37-year-old single woman and head of household, was on death row for four years. According to ROKNA, Razieh was executed for alleged murder out of poverty. The regime’s wrong economic policies have pushed more people into the swamp of poverty inside Iran. Therefore, Razieh is another victim of the mullahs’ regime.
Before Razieh, the Iranian regime hanged Mahtab Sharifi on September 23. The execution of Razieh brings the number of executed women during Rouhani’s tenure to 109.
Since the so-called moderate president took office in 2013, over 4300 people have been executed. A number of protesters arrested during the major Iran protests in 2018 and 2019, such as Navid Afkari and Mostafa Salehi, are among the people executed. In addition, the regime’s security forces killed over 1500 protesters during the nationwide Iran protests in November 2019.
How inaction in face of regime’s unpunished crimes emboldens mullahs?
Shortly after the 1979 revolution in Iran, the mullahs’ regime started prosecuting dissidents. The mullahs’ crimes reached its height in the summer of 1988, when they executed over 30,000 Iranian political prisoners, mostly members and supporters of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK). Despite undeniable evidence of this massacre, the perpetrators of this heinous massacre have never been brought to justice. The regime has even rewarded them by giving them top positions. One of these criminals, Ebrahim Raisi, is the regime’s current Judiciary Chief and continues the same pattern he followed in 1988 in oppressing dissidents.
Yet, instead of taking firm actions against the regime’s crimes such as the 1988 massacre, the world community, particularly European countries, have turned a blind eye to the human rights violations in Iran. The recent execution of Navid Afkari, despite global and domestic protests, is a testament to the failure of the western governments’ appeasement policy.
On October 7, 2020, dozens of Members of the European Parliament, during an online conference, called on the European leaders to stand by the European democratic principles in defending the Iranian people, rather than pursuing the appeasement policy toward the mullahs’ regime. Ivan Štefanec, MEP from Slovakia, said: “Our European democratic principles demand that the EU takes the lead in defending the Iranian people’s human rights and protesting against the regime for its atrocities. We cannot use soft language to call for restraint when the repressive regime was killing the impoverished protesters in the hundreds during the November 2019 protests in Iran.”
.@IvanStefanec: Our European democratic principles demand that the EU takes the lead in defending the Iranian people’s human rights and protesting against Iran's regime for its atrocities. #NoImpunity4Mullahs https://t.co/aWMOQDv7GX
— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) October 7, 2020
Lars Patrick Berg, MEP from Germany, also said that the time has come “for action by the world’s democratic governments. Words of condemnation are not enough; we need concrete actions.”
.@LarsPatrickBerg: I was appalled to hear that Iran's regime executed young Iranian national sports hero #NavidAfkari This total disregard for human life is very outrageous. It is time for action by the world’s democratic governments. #NoImpunity4Mullahs https://t.co/U4HYD2XYSw
— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) October 7, 2020
As the Iranian Resistance has repeatedly said, the best way to end human rights violations in Iran is to hold the regime to account for its crimes. The United Nations should officially recognize the 1988 massacre and hold its perpetrators to account for their heinous crime. In addition, the UN should send fact finding missions to Iranian prisons to prevent further human rights violations.
In addition, it shows how the mullahs’ regime enjoys impunity due to the international community’s inaction. The rising number of executions of youth and women in Iran also portrays the mullahs’ fear of the restive society and how desperate they are to control this society.
