Statement by 260 social activists: We have received a precise message: We will suffocate
Women and social activists inside Iran have issued a statement protesting the increasing and widespread repression of social activists. They have called for the unconditional release of all political and ideological prisoners.
260 women’s activists and other social activists inside Iran have protested the “massive repression of social activists” in a statement. The statement began with a sentence by Houshang Golshiri, who said at the funeral of Mohammad Mokhtari, one of the victims of the political serial killings in the fall of 1998: “They have poured so much mourning on us that we do not have time to mourn, the precise message has reached us: We will suffocate. We are ready too! Aren’t we supposed to make sacrifices for civil society and freedom of expression? We are ready!”
The authors of the statement, referring to domestic problems such as “increasing restrictions on free services, including health and education, rent-seeking and increasing domestic corruption,” point to the increasing risk of war and note that they are “witnessing an increase in popular organization and protests,” but “the response of the ruling institutions to these legitimate protests has been nothing but increased organized pressure on various segments of the population and social and political activists and the denial of their right to assemble or organize.”
The authors of this statement, noting the increasing trend of "telephone and written summonses; house searches; arrests on false charges; organized media efforts to create cases and discredit the defendants before issuing final sentences," also mentioned the violated rights of prisoners, and listed such things as "deprivation of prisoners of basic rights, including the right to access a lawyer, access to medical services and basic facilities in prison, telephone calls, regular in-person visits, and the use of leave, extension of detention orders after the end of the interrogation period, imposing a large portion of prison costs on the prisoner and cutting off the prisoner's source of livelihood, setting heavy bail that is disproportionate to the charges of the arrested person, and then the judge's refusal to accept the same bail, and ultimately issuing heavy sentences" as among the pressures on imprisoned activists.
The statement, while criticizing the performance of the new head of the judiciary, states: "The new head of the judiciary came to office with the slogan "the sweet taste of justice," but so far, activists have received nothing but the bitter taste of heavy sentences and astronomical bail. In this short period of time, many social activists have faced long sentences with flogging, and many others are still in detention indefinitely."
The authors of this statement, while condemning all these cases, "demand that prisoners be afforded a fair trial and that all political and ideological prisoners who spend their lives behind bars because of their legitimate demands and protests are released without any conditions."
Rooh Anizgiz Karachi, Zara Amjadian, Jelveh Javaheri, Banafsheh Jamali, Sanaz Mohsenpour, Talat Taghinia, Fatemeh Sadeghi, Fatemeh Gavarai, and Fariborz Raisdana are among the signatories of this statement.
Source: DW
