While EU officials merely focus on placating the Iranian regime, and have been desperately trying to provide artificial respiration to a brutal theocracy and continue business as usual, the gallows have been extinguishing lives of innocent Iranians around the clock.
The latest victim of the domestic crackdown is Mohammad Salas, a 51-year-old member of the Gonabadi Dervish (a Sufi minority in Iran), who had been arrested in February 2018 during the protests in Tehran. He was executed at dawn on Monday, June18, after being severely tortured in prison.
He had his teeth, nose and ribs broken; he needed 17 stitches on his head. He lost his vision and consciousness and was forced to sign a false “confession,” which was later used to sentence him to death.
Amnesty International called on the international community to “Do everything in their power to stop the execution,” according to a statement by the respected NGO following this ruthless execution.
“The Iranian authorities have a deplorable track record when it comes to the use of the death penalty,” Amnesty said in its statement. “This execution is a travesty of justice that is abhorrent and unconscionable. It flies in the face of the huge public outcry in the country and is vengeance, not justice.”
Amnesty International and other humanitarian NGOs have maintained that the trial against Mohammad Salas was grossly unfair and that Mr. Salas was forced under torture to make a “confession” against himself.
This “confession,” taken from his hospital bed, was broadcast on state television weeks before his trial and used as the only piece of evidence to convict him. He was not allowed access to his chosen lawyer at any point before or during his trial, and his independent lawyer’s repeated demands to the authorities to allow critical evidence indicating his innocence were dismissed outright, according to an Amnesty report.
The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) strongly condemned the criminal execution of Mr. Salas and said, “The reign of terror and crime in Iran, which is a disgrace for contemporary humanity, must be rejected from the family of nations. All the perpetrators guilty of killing of the Iranian people should be subject to the most severe sanctions and penalties and should be held accountable before international tribunals.”
European governments have closed their eyes to these vicious, arbitrary killings by a regime which is despised by millions of Iranians who have taken to streets since the beginning of 2018 to call for the overthrow of the theocratic regime.
While all signs indicate that the theocracy in Tehran is entering its final phase, any investments in the clerical regime are doomed to fail. The Iranian people will never forget that Europe is providing a lifeline to rescue the falling regime.
As Philip Luther, Research and Advocacy Director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International said, “This case (Mohammad Salas) has laid bare the flaws in Iran’s criminal justice system for all to see.” The Amnesty International report is an undeniable testimony of the violations of the most basic human rights in Iran, prompting condemnations and protest from awakened consciences around the globe.
The Iranian people — in particular, the women, youth, political prisoners and the families of those who have been executed — expect human rights and women’s rights defenders in Europe to take action and ask the European leaders and governments to stand on the side of millions of Iranians, and not the mullahs. The tyrannical regime of the Ayatollahs is on a slippery slope towards downfall and the mullahs days are numbered.
Around 100,000 Iranians will voice this message again at their annual gathering in Paris on June 30th in support of a free and democratic Iran.
Hossein Abedini is an official of the Iranian Parliament in exile of the Iranian resistance.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of The Daily Caller.