NCPDA Statement
Contact: Nasser Rashidi
Dir. Tel: 202-487-6989
May 18, 2007
Escalating Oppression, Executions, and Other Human Rights Violations Amidst Iranian Regime-US Dialogue
Lost in the frenzy of interest and the misplaced hopes surrounding the upcoming US-Iran meeting is the unspeakable suffering of the Iranian people and the Ahmadinejad lead reign of terror.
Proponents of “constructive” dialogue with the tyrannical regime in Iran, and the majority of mainstream western media have sadly ignored the “destructive” crimes being perpetuated against the Iranian people.
According to one of Iran’s state run media (Qods daily), last Sunday the mullahs have cut off the hand of a man in public (in the city of Kermanshah). The same daily reported the hanging of 15 people in the Northeast city of Mashhad on Monday. It must be noted that Iranian authorities routinely execute dissidents on bogus charges such as armed robbery and drug smuggling. On April 27, Amnesty International reported that “Iran’s execution rate nearly doubled compared to 2005, with at least 177 people killed.”
On Monday, April 30th, the government sponsored paramilitary militias entered Tehran’s Polytechnic University (Amir Kabir University), stabbing and otherwise assaulting the student activists who were staging a peaceful rally in support of their detained classmates. In a May 8th, 2006 article, New York Times reported on the unrest in the student population. It noted that student democracy advocates continued to resist intimidation, and assaults. The article highlights the regime actions against the student protests as “part of a major social and political crackdown. Women and younger men have been the target of the vice police in the past two weeks”, it notes.
The people of Iran have already spoken. The regime in Iran is illegitimate and will not be tolerated by its people. As New York Times quoted an Iranian student this month, “the students reached the conclusion that he only way was to resist” this regime.
The National Coalition of Pro-Democracy Advocates condemns the continued breach of human rights in Iran and calls on the United Nations, NGOs, policy makers, human rights activists, and concerned citizens to protest the ongoing brutality committed against Iranians. Sadly, olive branches, overtures, and dialogue ventures towards the Iranian government have only empowered, legitimized, and increased the brutality committed by the mullahs.
