Posts
Iran arrests family of Kurdish activist due to be executed Iran has arrested the family of a Kurdish student whose execution,scheduled to take place on Boxing Day, was delayed because of protests outside the prison in which he has been held for three years.
A source close to the family of Habibollah Latifi, a 29-year-old student activist, said his parents and his three brothers and three sisters were arrested last night.
Human rights activists fear Iran might carry out the death penalty in secret.
At least 10 other Kurdish activists who have been active in the campaign to prevent Latifi's execution were also arrested. Among them was Simin Chaichi, a prominent Kurdish poet.
Latifi was scheduled to be executed yesterday , but the prison governor halted the execution when around 300 protesters gathered outside Sanandaj prison, where he has been since 23 October 2007.
His parents were then given permission to meet him after dawn.
PUK media, an official news website of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), reported that Jalal Talabani, the president of Iraq and the founder of the PUK, had intervened to persuade the Iranian authorities to stop Latifi's execution.
However, Iran's ILNA state news agency quoted Latifi's lawyer, Saleh Nikbakht, as saying that "the claim that some officials in the countries of our neighbourhood have intervened to prevent the executions of some culprits including Latifi is not true".
Shahab Sheikhi, a Kurdish journalist and human rights activist based in Germany, said: "I am absolutely sure that the reason Iran halted Latifi's execution temporarily is because of the protest outside the prison and also the international attention to his case.
"However, we are very worried that these arrests might be the indication that Iran wants to execute him in secret.
"Sentencing Latifi to death at this critical situation in Iran, when so many people are unsatisfied with the economic situation in the country, has different functions for the Islamic republic.
"Iran wants to show off its authority and control at this moment by executing an opposition activist like Latifi who has been very persistent to his innocence during interrogations and tortures that he had faced."
According to Sheikhi, telephone communications in Sanandaj faced interruptions last night as security officials raided the houses of several activists.
A Guardian phone interview with Latifi's sister, Elahe Latifi, on Friday was also repeatedly interrupted by intelligence services intercepting the conversation.
Iran says Latifi, a member of the Kurdish minority in Iran, is linked to a series of bombings in Kurdistan province in 2007 and is a member of the Kurdish Independent Life party (PJAK), an armed opposition group.
It has convicted him of Muharebeh (enmity against God), a crime punishable by death under Iranian law.
His family denies his connection with PJAK and claims the charges against him are fabricated.
According to Amnesty International, which has been campaigning to stop his execution, his trial was held behind closed doors and in the absence of his lawyer.
In France, six protesters chained themselves to the fences of the Iranian embassy in Paris in a recent show of support.
- order (Total 15 comments)
In order to post a comment you need to be registered and signed in.
http://www.businessnbeyond.com/2010/11/mrobama-indias-corporate-friend.html
Indeed you aren't.!
So let's see;
Kettling of "legitimate protesters" as opposed to "illegitimate political opposition".
The man is on death row because of his political beliefs and his entire family has been rounded up because they protested his death sentence.
I'd say that quite a huge step over and above "a notch or two" over "kettling of legitimate protesters'.
Agreed.
I have no idea why the EU has appointed Ms. Ashton to talk to the regime of Iran over their nuclear program.
Take a list of Iranian political prisoners to Turkey on your upcoming nuclear talkswith the regime and demand that the Islamic regime of Iran respects the rule of law and Human Rights in Iran before you continue to make concessions.
You owe it to European tax payers to stop proliferation by despotic and dangerous regimes like that of Iran's.
Do your job.!
Indeed you aren't.!
So let's see;
Kettling of "legitimate protesters" as opposed to "illegitimate political opposition".
The man is on death row because of his political beliefs and his entire family has been rounded up because they protested his death sentence.
I'd say that quite a huge step over and above "a notch or two" over "kettling of legitimate protesters'.
__________
Much more heavily targeted sanctions are needed for this belligerent and lunatic regime.