Home News Human Rights Hunger Strike Outside Parliament in Solidarity with Iran’s political prisoners

Hunger Strike Outside Parliament in Solidarity with Iran’s political prisoners

The strikers were joined by many supporters, as they demanded that the UK government speak out against the treatment of political prisoners in Iran.

The strikers were joined by many supporters, as they demanded that the UK government speak out against the treatment of political prisoners in Iran.

Sinclair reports that, “They also called for the government to recognise the victims and perpetrators of the 1988 massacre in Iran, in which state-sanctioned killings of political prisoners were carried out over several months leaving thousands of people dead.”

The Association of Iranian Political Prisoners, UK, issued a statement, “The participants urge the UK government to categorically condemn incessant cruel hangings and act with its western allies for an immediate halt to the executions and torture in Iran,” and added, “They also call on the UN Human Rights Council and the UN Security Council to form an international court to prosecute the officials of the regime responsible for these crimes.”

On the final day of the  three-day demonstration, the protesters held a mock execution.

One of them, 18-year-old Omid Ebrahimi, said, “My dad was very active in Iran and spent 10 years in prison there.  He was there at the time of the 1988 massacre and he whenever he talks about the memories he had and the friends he had that were taken from him and executed during this massacre I am astounded.” He also said, “Four of my mum’s relatives were executed by the regime – two during the massacre – and all of this motivates me to follow in the footsteps of my parents, because they are trying to raise awareness of the fact the regime is still there – many high ranking members who took a leading role in the massacre still hold key positions in the hierarchy of the regime.”

Another demonstrator, Naghmeh Rajabi, 29, said: “It is personal because I was victim of Iranian regime. My aunts were executed by the Iranian regime and I never got to meet them and it’s a person thing for me.  Living in a free society as an Iranian woman in exile, it is my responsibility to speak for the women who don’t have a voice and don’t have the basic minimum human rights.”

Demanding that those who took part in the 1988 massacre be held accountable, the protesters also want to raise awareness of the plight of political prisoners in Iran.  Their protest came less than a week after the execution of at least 20 Kurdish Sunni political prisoners in the country’s Gohardasht (Rajai-Shahr) Prison.

UK spokesperson for the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) Hossein Abedini said: “The situation inside the prison where the recent executions took place is very worrying and many people, many prisoners are on hunger strike there and there is very tight security.  There is a very worrying situation if the silence continues and robust measures are not introduced immediately.”

Ebrahimi said that despite going without food for three days, the protesters were in good shape compared with prisoners in Iran.

“We are on hunger strike with political prisoners who are also on hungers strike, but they are in worse conditions, they are tortured they are awaiting executions and we are doing it in a country where we are out of harm’s way and we are not under threat,” he said.

 

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