On October 30, Ms. Narges Mohammadi at the memorial ceremony of Sattar Beheshti, worker and blogger who was killed two years ago under torture in the regime’s detention center, said: “How is it that the MPs in Majlis (parliament) have tabled the proposal of ‘promotion of virtue and prevention of vice’, whilst Sattar’s mother has been crying over his grave, calling Sattar, Sattar… and no preventer of vice raised any voice so far?”
She also reiterated: “Is there a greater evil than killing innocent people like Sattar Beheshti, like Homa Saber, like Haleh Sahabi, like Neda Agh Sultan, like Sohrab Aerabi, and 1,000 & 1,000 others? Has a society experienced greater evil than this? So why don’t you prevent it? Why do the courts address these killings? Which one of these cases has been resolved?”
Ms. Mohammadi and a number of civil activists also participated in a gathering on October 22 in front of the Iranian regime’s parliament to protest against acid attacks on Iranian women and girls in Isfahan where most acid attacks occurred.
She received a warning from Iranian regime authorities on April 30 after she met with Catherine Ashton, the European Union foreign policy chief at the time. Her passport was revoked back then and she was barred from leaving the country. She has also been accused of working and propagating against the mullahs’ theocracy.
Catherine Ashton, in her trip to Iran on March 8, on the occasion of International Women’s Day met with a number of women’s rights activists including Narges Mohammadi and Gohar Eshghi (mother of Sattar Beheshti) in the Austrian embassy in Tehran.
Part of Ms. Mohammadi’s speech at Sattar Beheshti’s memorial ceremony is as follows:
… and Sattar’s torturer, in the presence of Sattar’s mother, and his lawyer, Mrs. Poorfazel, who is here, and the judge dealing with his case, confessed that he killed Sattar under torture. “Sattar was laughing and I was beating him. I beat him so much that he died.” This must be recorded in history. In a court where the torturer confesses: “I beat him so much until he died beneath my hands”. Have you ever seen a criminal case being so explicit that the torturer confesses “I beat him to death”? And say this at the presence of his mother! They don’t understand the meaning of motherhood. They do not understand a mother’s love and do not know what they have done to this mother to the last moment of her life. Instances of Sattar’s torture had been noted in his dossier and all of it was read to his mother. And the mother is being tormented with each and every second of Sattar’s torture.
So what is the outcome of these few sentences of mine? I ask you all friends, is there in fact a greater sin than that? Whether you have a faith or haven’t, whether you are religious or not, you are a human being after all. Is there a greater sin than killing a human being? As mentioned in the text of Holy Quran, if an individual is killed unjustly it is as if the whole of human society is being killed. Is the slaying of society and the cruel slaying of Sattar a sin that can be ignored? If not, then what have these “promoters of virtue and preventers of vice” done in the past two years?
How is it that the MPs in Majlis, have tabled the proposal of “promotion of virtue and prevention of vice”, whilst this mother has been crying over this grave, calling Sattar, Sattar… and no vice preventer raised any voice so far? Why are those MPs planning to support vice-preventers who are forming the authority? But, no one defended the voice of this mother, as a vice-preventer, preventing the evil of murdering a human being under torture? Which vice are you going to prevent, which virtue are you going to promote? Is there a greater evil than killing innocent people like Sattar Beheshti, like Homa Saber, like Haleh Sahabi, like Neda Agh Sultan, like Sohrab Aerabi, and 1,000 & 1,000 others? Has a society experienced greater evil than this? So why don’t you prevent it? Why do the courts address these killings? Which one of these cases has been resolved?
They have looted a nation’s wealth, embezzlements that even the journalists cannot write about, or the ears unable to hear them. Is there a greater vice than looting a nation’s wealth? Why don’t you prohibit it? Why have none of these lawsuits been resolved? Is my hair as evil as an Iranian woman that all of you rallied together? Why 4,000 motorcyclists should plan to mobilize in the streets of Tehran to combat mal-veiling? Is this because my mal-veiling is a vice? But where these 4,000 were, when the moaning of murdered mothers rose out of their chest.
Brothers and Sisters, (parallel to) these days, (Imam) Hussein is heading to (the city of) Karbala for a great promotion of virtue. Hussein is an enjoiner, who revolted against a regime, that regime was a tyrannical regime. Hussein used “promotion of virtue and prevention of vice” against the regime not against his family and his nation. There are plenty of vices in this society. We are all aware of that. But we have not witnessed any of these vices being sanctioned to have people judgments or courts judgments against it or the authorities having placed in their agenda.
Today is the second anniversary of the death of Sattar Beheshti under torture. I express both my condolences and congratulations to his mother. Sattar had pure blood, like the blood of Hussein, like Siavosh’s blood that is running along the entire history. I congratulate her for raising such a son with all the suffering of an Iranian mother and bestowing him on the society. But I express my condolence, a condolence that is addressed to us in the first place, for keeping quiet against such flaws and I request forgiveness from Sattar’s mother.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hibHguSIsI&index=11&list=TLYud6hIBMaOk
