The meeting entitled “The Sanctity of human rights must be safeguarded and kept free of political manipulation” was chaired by former Labour MP Kerry Pollard and speakers included Geoffrey Bindman, a distinguished human rights lawyer and president of the Bindman Chambers, and …
Wilfred Wong, parliamentary chair of Jubilee Campaign; Elizabeth Sidney, chair of the International Federation of Women Against Fundamentalism and for Equality; Paul Richmond, a human rights lawyer; and Hossein Abedini, member of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the NCRI, who survived an assassination attempt in 1990.
Among 100 participants in this meeting were dozens of human rights and women’s rights activists, political figures, jurists and lawyers.
Reporting the meeting, the Associated Press wrote: “With hundreds gathered to watch, nooses hanging from lowered cranes were placed around the men’s heads. The arm of each crane was then straightened, killing the men and leaving their bodies dangling.
The National Council of Resistance of Iran said the video footage was shot in August 2004 in the Iranian town of Khoramabad by an opponent of the government. Omid Daavati, shown being hanged in the video, pleaded with his uniformed executioners to remove a white blindfold from his eyes. His hands were tied behind his back and his feet bound together. "I want to see the people," he said, "I have no fear. This has been my destiny."
Also shown was the hanging of a man identified as Ali Ilvanian. Another man, Safar Khashiani, was executed in the city on the same day.
"This is only the tip of the iceberg of human rights abuses in Iran," said Hossein Abedini, "The situation has badly deteriorated" in recent years, he stressed.
Press Association report indicated that: “Several members of the invited audience were moved to tears by the scenes.” It added: “Former Labor MP Kerry Pollard, who introduced the video, said: ‘I have never in my life seen anything like that before and hope never to see it again. It is beyond shocking – it is an abomination. How human beings can do things like that to other human beings, I do not know.’ He urged the Government and the European Union to cease what he described as ‘appeasement’ of the Iranian mullah regime.
PA noted that “according to the Home Office, the NCRI distributes anti-regime propaganda and supports Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK), a dissident organization which seeks to replace the mullahs with a democratic, socialist, Islamic republic.”
PA pointed out that in the video, large crowds, including children, were shown gathering to watch the executions.
The final words of the man before being hanged was quoted by PA saying: “We may have committed sins but we do not deserve to be executed.”
Wilfred Wong of the Christian human rights organization, said there were at least 159 executions in Iran last year.
“That is the second-highest number of state executions in the world – the first being China with a population of 1.2 billion and yet Iran has only 60 to 65 million,” he noted.
The Times of London also carried a report on the shocking footage and wrote: “The audience of human rights lawyers, Iranian dissidents and journalists watched in silence as the men had nooses placed around their necks and were lifted off the ground by a mechanical crane mounted on a flat-bed lorry. One woman cried audibly and several other members of the audience were moved to tears by the scenes.”
Geoffrey Bindman who was deeply affected by the footage found it difficult to speak but he reiterated on two things, first, the People’s Mojahedin Organization and the National Council of Resistance of Iran are liberation movements and terror label on them was a political decision bearing no legal bases, and second, the Human Rights Watch report was totally biased lacking any substance and it should be retracted.
Elizabeth Sidney also gave her accounts of women’s rights violations in Iran and mullahs’ misogyny.
