Reactions to Political Guarantees for Death Row Inmates
The execution of Mohammad Hosseini and Mohammad Mahdi Karami, whose political guarantees had previously been taken on by European Parliament representatives, sparked reactions.
A video circulated on social media regarding these guarantees suggests that only the people themselves can support one another and bring about revolution. These political guarantees not only failed to ease the people’s pain, but innocent youths were hanged without regard to them.
The video states: “We hope this video opens many people’s eyes. Harald Troch, an Austrian Parliament representative, had accepted political sponsorship for Mohammad Hosseini, a protester sentenced to death. Similarly, Helge Limburg, a German Parliament representative, had taken on political sponsorship for Mohammad Mahdi Karami. Kate Wellham and Aaron Violi, two Australian Parliament members, had also supported Mohammad Mahdi Karami. Some Iranians were pleased with these guarantees, hoping that the lives of these individuals would be safe and their death sentences would be commuted. But the matter is different. Not only were their sentences not commuted, they were carried out and the two young men were executed in a single day. The question is: where are these political guarantors now? The speaker says: must we lose a few more lives to understand that ‘no one scratches my back except my own fingernail’?”
All foreign support is merely a mirage, and relying on it has diminished our efforts, and its ineffectiveness will only further diminish our hope.
The path to liberation from dictatorship is collective awareness and national unity. We will not awaken unless we stay awake.”
Indeed, where are the Parliament representatives now and why have they shown no reaction to the execution of these sentences? Is it not that taking on political guarantees should result in the commutation of death sentences? How can the Islamic Republic execute the issued sentences without regard to these guarantees? Is there a hidden policy behind these crimes?
