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Iran executes peaceful human rights advocate Ya’qub Mehrnahad

          
          5/31/2011
          Iran executes peaceful human rights adv...
          Iran executes peaceful human rights advocate Ya'qub Mehrnahad
          August 21, 2008
          Other recent newsletters
          “God will bring no change in the conditions of any people
          unless they themselves set about to change their
          circumstances. These enlightened and sacred words are
          providing the motivation for all my activities. I believe that by
          turning these divine words into action, people can change
          their own and their society's conditions and move from
          darkness to light, from injustice, inequality, poverty, and
          tyranny to the ideals and the legitimate demands of
          humankind.”
          These words can be read on the first page of the blog kept by
          Ya'qub Mehrnahad, who was executed on August 4, 2008 .
          Although it attracted no international news coverage or
          official reaction, his death shocked human rights advocates
          who see in his case an escalation of violence by the Islamic
          Republic against its peaceful opponents. A 28-year-old father
          of three from Baluchestan*, Mehrnahad was the president of
          the Youth Voice of Justice Association (YVJA), a legally-
          registered organization, founded in 2002, that focuses on
          accountability, education and training, discrimination, and
          civic responsibility. He also worked for a local publication
          called Mardcimsa/ary (Democracy).
          Mehrnahad was arrested in May 2007 on charges of being a
          member of Jondollah, an armed group which engages in
          violent opposition to the Iranian government, just after he led
          the YVJA's fifth annual “Question and Answer” session with
          local authorities, at which participants discussed local
          problems.
          Mehrnahad was held incommunicado for five months and was
          reportedly tortured during interrogations that continued even
          after his closed door trial. At no time during his interrogation
          or trial was he allowed access to legal counsel.
          Throughout his trial, Mehrnahad rejected the charge of
          having associated with an armed group. In fact, rejecting
          violence had been one of the central themes of his campaign
          as a civil society activist. When, in 2006, the authorities
          rejected his candidacy for a city council position, he noted:
          “Some expected that by rejecting [ my] candidacy, they
          would attract young people into the arena of violent struggle,
          but they ignore the fact that young people are too aware
          and know how to fight for their ideals without violence. We
          will pursue a wide-scale struggle against monopoly and
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          >> And more.. .
          Visit the Human Rights and
          Democracy Library
          International Human Rights
          Organizations' Reports on Human Rights
          Abuses in Iran
          Testimonies of Victims and Perpetrators
          iran rights.org/engl ish/newsletter-7.php
          1/4
        
          
          5/31/2011 Iran executes peaceful human rights adv...
          tyranny by rejecting violence. We are convinced that the of Human Rights Abuses in Iran
          future is ours, and we will succeed by acting wisely and by
          rejecting violence, because if the oppressed use violence as Iran's Pro-democracy Voices
          do the oppressors, there is no difference between them.” >> And more.. .
          The execution of a civil society actor, whose peaceful
          activities were aimed at addressing the root causes of
          violence, does not bode well for the future of the human
          rights community in Iran. Nor does it encourage other
          Iranians to use peaceful means to call for their legitimate
          rights. The current escalation of violence in Iran is
          reminiscent of the post-revolutionary years, when the newly
          established Islamic Regime consolidated its hold on power by
          eliminating all voices of dissent and terrorizina Iranian civil
          society .
          The execution of Mr. Mehrnahad was not inevitable. In
          contrast to the early years following the Islamic Revolution,
          today the Iranian government feels compelled to recognize,
          at least on paper, the rights of its citizens. It has created
          human rights bodies and issued guidelines on the treatment
          of prisoners. Iran also takes an active stand on some human
          rights issues at the United Nations, demanding understanding
          for cultural differences and boasting about its efforts to
          eliminate discrimination.**
          Away from the international arena, however, the Islamic
          Republic views with hostility those who peacefully question its
          discriminatory laws and practices. The Iranian authorities
          detain and charge students, lournalists , and peaceful rights
          advocates with “ crimes against National security. ” Even
          doctors dedicated to the treatment and prevention of AIDS
          are not immune from absurd political accusations.
          The government cannot punish Iranians' peaceful attempts to
          associate and to promote their ideas and yet claim political
          and moral legitimacy. The Islamic Republic's leaders' claim to
          religious legitimacy is undermined when they systematically
          silence Muslim clerics who oppose their interpretation of
          Islam, intimidate or eliminate leaders and members of
          religious minorities, and threaten Muslims converts to other
          faiths with capital punishment.
          The execution, imprisonment, or the intimidation of activists
          who question peacefully the state's ideology and practices, is
          symptomatic of the Islamic Republic's inability to defend,
          morally and rationally, its laws and practices. Isolating the
          Iranian human rights activists and punishing journalists who
          relay their voices to the outside world is a sign of weakness
          rather than might. The recent and serious threats, in the
          semi-official Kayhan newspaper, against women's rights
          activists campaigning to end legal discrimination is the latest
          illustration of the government's inability to justify itself and
          adapt to a modernizing society. The Iranian government
          iran rights.org/engl ish/newsletter-7.php 2/4
        
          
          5/31/2011 Iran executes peaceful human rights adv...
          could and should have been confronted for arresting and
          sentencing to death Ya'qub Mehrnahad, an activist who fought
          peacefully against ethnic and religious discrimination in a
          region plagued by violence.***
          In the absence of any strong international reaction to the
          execution of Mr. Mehrna had, the Iranian government may
          consider itself free to execute other rights activists and civil
          society actors, such as Farzad Kamangar, Adnan HassanDour ,
          Hiva Boutimar, Habibollah Latifi (currently hospitalized after a
          three-months detention by the Iranian Intelligence), and
          many others, already sentenced to death on trumped-up
          charges. Many prisoners of conscience remain at risk in
          Iranian prisons. Ayatollah Seved Hossein Kazemeini
          Boroujerdi's situation is of particular concern, as he has been
          denied proper medical care and is in critical condition. The
          continued detentions of Baha'is and Christians is also
          especially worrisome in light of the suspicious stabbings of
          Zoroastrian**** activists in Europe, such as Manouchehr
          Farhangi (March 20, 2008, Madrid, Spain), and the death, in
          Esfahan, of a Muslim convert to Christianity, Mr. Abbas Amiri,
          who was reportedly beaten severely when reportedly
          plainclothes security officers raided his home on July 17th,
          2008.
          The Iranian government has skillfully used its nuclear
          ambitions to distract the international community from paying
          due attention to the sharp increase in the number of
          executions in Iran (81 in July alone) and its daily crackdown
          on civil society. However, the two problems are related and
          may be mutually reinforcing. The absence of consistent
          attention by the international community to the internal
          repression leaves the situation of Iranian rights activists
          precarious. It also may encourage the Iranian government to
          continue its current intransigent posture and to exploit the
          nuclear negotiations as a means of obtaining a free hand in
          quashing the still surviving voices of dissent inside Iran.
          In recent years, Iran has witnessed the birth of a peaceful
          democratic civil rights movement spearheaded by women,
          students, and ethnic and religious minorities. Civil rights
          activists, free from politics, refer only to universal human
          rights principles; this is a new and unprecedented
          phenomenon in this country and a necessary development
          for future peace and stability in the region. The emerging
          pattern of death sentences against peaceful
          advocates indicates the government's resolve to
          annihilate Iran's newly born civil rights movement.
          The Abdorrahman Boroumand Foundation calls upon the
          Iranian government to stop the execution of civil rights
          activists and urges the international community to use all
          available leverage to obtain the revocation of all death and
          prison sentences prescribed against peaceful Iranian civil
          iran rights.org/engl ish/newsletter-7.php 3/4
        
          
          5/31/2011 Iran executes peaceful human rights adv...
          rights advocates.
          * Sistãn o Baluchesthn (Persian: ciL c L ciL l) is
          one of the 30 provinces of Iran. It is in the southeast of the
          country, bordering Pakistan and Afghanistan, and its capital is
          Zahedan. The province is the largest in Iran, with an area of
          181,785 km 2 and a population of 4.1 million. The region is
          also home to Iran's Baluchi Sunni minority. In Wikipedia.
          With an estimated 2 to 3% of the Iranian population, is one
          the most under-resourced regions in Iran in terms of
          education and access to food, clean water, and basic health.
          Its inhabitants are mostly ethnic Baluchi and are Sunni
          Muslims. (See: hftp://www.undp.orq.ir/reports/nød/CCA.ødf )
          ** “The judiciary power of the Islamic Republic has also
          worked out a bill of citizens rights. One of the main principles
          incorporated in this bill ensures the enjoyment of every
          person of equal rights so that his individual rights and
          freedoms are guaranteed, irrespective of his ethnic origin
          and other factors such as race, color, sex, etc... ” Letter of the
          Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the Anti-
          Discrimination Unit of the Office of the United Nations High
          Commissioner for Human Rights, 14 March, 2008.
          *** Based on ABF's findings, in 2007, an estimated 15% of
          the officially reported executions took place in Baluchistan.
          **** Followers of Zoroastrian religion. Zoroastrianism is one
          of the world's oldest monotheistic religions. It was founded by
          the prophet Zoroaster (or Zarathustra) in ancient Iran
          approximately 3500 years ago. For 1000 years
          Zoroastrianism was the official religion of Persia (Iran) from
          600 BCE to 650 CE. It is now one of the world's smallest
          religions with around a quarter of a million followers
          worldwide. The Iranian revolution of 1979 and the eventual
          establishment of the Islamic Republic posed many initial
          setbacks for religious minorities. Today, the Zoroastrian
          community in Iran is estimated by some to number some
          22,000 - half the size of that in existence before the 1979
          Islamic revolution.
          Copyright © 2011, Abdorrahman Boroumand Foundation t Back to too
          iran rights.org/engl ish/newsletter-7.php 4/4
        

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