International Day Against the Death Penalty; Iranian Protests in the US, Norway, and Germany

On the occasion of October 8, the International Day Against the Death Penalty, demonstrations and protest rallies were held in a number of American cities, as well as in Norway and Germany.

On this occasion, on Friday, October 6, a group of Iranians living in the United States participated in marches and protest rallies in the cities of Washington and Los Angeles.

Holding Iranian flags and carrying photos and profiles of executed political prisoners, the participants chanted slogans against the continuation of the death penalty in Iran and the widespread repression of the people.

In a ceremony held in the US capital, profiles and photographs of a number of political prisoners executed in the 1960s, as well as images of the Khavaran Cemetery, were mounted on the bodies of several trucks and driven through the main streets of Washington.

In Oslo, Norway, a number of supporters of the People's Mojahedin Organization and supporters of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, along with a group of families of political prisoners executed in the 1960s, participated in a protest rally while holding a photo exhibition.

Heiman Ghorbani, the son of death row prisoner Heydar Ghorbani, also participated in a similar demonstration in Stuttgart, Germany.

Two other gatherings were also held in Berlin. The first gathering on Saturday, October 8, was attended by members of the "Berlin Iranian Political Refugees Center" and the "Berlin Iranian Political Prisoners Defense Committee."

The second rally, held by the Council of Resistance of Iran in front of the office of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, was also attended by some family members of political prisoners who had testified in Hamid Nouri's trial in Sweden.

A number of German parliamentarians and political figures attended the rally.

Those present at the rally, while condemning the systematic violations of human rights and the increasing number of executions in Iran, called for the trial of the leaders of the Islamic Republic and those responsible for the mass executions in the 1960s.

Source: Voice of America