NCRI – On May 9, Hassan Qashqavi, spokesman for the Iranian regime’s Foreign Ministry, responded to widespread international protests against the deteriorating human rights situation in Iran and the increasing trend of arbitrary executions, specifically the execution of minors. He brazenly defended these punishments, saying, “We have serious differences with the West over democracy, human rights, and freedom of expression. … We even have very serious problems over an issue like execution. … This year, Amnesty International has said that the total number of the dead is 3,000. … These are serious human rights discussions.”
Qashqavi added: “What we are saying is that our cultural principles are different. … You believe that execution is wrong. … What is the difference between bombings and a firing squad? Bombings are mass executions, more so than firing squads. People over 18 and under 18 are bombed without trial.”
The mullahs’ Foreign Ministry spokesman, who could not hide his rage over a wave of international protests against human rights violations in Iran, said: “What is the purpose of campaigns, signatures, and protests in front of embassies against executions? … [Why] do they take into account Amnesty International’s statistics on executions? These are very basic arguments and are not some simple matters that could be resolved easily between ourselves and the West.”
Separately, Alireza Jamshidi, the spokesman for the mullahs’ Judiciary, while pointing to international pressure to end executions in Iran, vowed the continuation of such punishments, saying: [Execution] is enshrined in our laws. … We will carry out what has been stipulated in our laws, especially by the Islamic code, which we are obliged to conduct (State-run TV, May 9, 2009).
These remarks demonstrate that in its final phase, the only way out for the clerical regime in face of growing popular resistance against its rule is cruel and medieval punishments.
The Iranian regime’s explicit and unveiled support for systematic and cruel human rights violations makes more urgent the imperative of referring Iran’s human rights violations dossier to the UN Security Council for adoption of binding measures against the religious fascism ruling Iran. The clerical regime is a stain on today’s humanity, has no relevance whatsoever to the 21st Century and must be shunned by the international community.
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
May 11, 2009
Photo: Delara Darabi, 23, was hanged on May 1, 2009, despite widespread international opposition. Her execution shocked all freedom loving and democratic forces around the world. Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, described the execution of the young woman, who at the time of the crime attributed to her was only 17 as a sign of savagery, barbarism and misogyny of the medieval regime ruling Iran. She urged the international community to condemn this unprecedented and hideous crime.