On February 11: Think Green

 ed. note: I've promoted this back to the top in order to remind people of what is happening in Iran.  Wear Green or think Green.

On January 28, Iran’s government executed another young Iranian to silence opposition forces protesting the re-election of Mahmud Ahmadinejad. Arash Rahmanipour, just 19 years-old, was one of a group of eleven people sentenced to death for “moharebeh”, which means “waging war against God”. I’ve posted his photo on the left, because his image is so unlike what one would expect given the accusation against him. It was taken in court as he faced his accusers. Arash looks like a lamb led to slaughter and that pretty much accurately describes what happened to him.

While the Iranian government spread its version of the story, Rahmanipour’s lawyer, Nasrin Sotoudeh, has told the truth as she witnessed it. Tehran’s Chief Prosecutor General said that Arash Rahmanipour confessed to crimes and had been tried in the presence of his lawyer. But Sotoudeh, said that the confessions were extracted under duress, and that she was not allowed to attend the trial. According to the Islamic Republic News Agency, Rahmanipour had been arrested during the post-election turmoil. Sotoudeh says he was arrested two months before the election, and his case had nothing to do with the post-election strife. 

Sotoudeh also said that her client’s pregnant sister was arrested and held for more than two months to pressure Rahmanipour, and the sister miscarried as a result of her experience. In addition, the young man’s father was forcibly kept from attending the trial. He was told that his son needed to make confessions.

The court did not let Sotoudeh attend any of her client’s court appearances. She says that in court, they forced him to confess to the things he didn’t do. In the middle of August, Rahmanipour’s “confession” was telecast on state-run television; he admitted planning to bomb shrines. In the end, Arash probably didn't know he was to be executed. His lawyer said: “They told us that his case had been sent to the appeals court, but before announcing any results from the court, suddenly we heard that Arash has been executed.” 

The Radio Free Europe website has an interview of the young man’s father posted on its website:

Radio Farda: You reportedly found out about the execution of your son through the media. Officials had not informed you, is that right?

 

Rahmanipour: Yes, on Monday night my son contacted me and told me that we could visit him on Thursday [January 28]. We were happy and on Thursday we went to visit him at Evin Prison, but there we were told that he has been transferred to Karaj. That’s all [the prison officials] said and we believed them. On the way we realized that state television had announced that he had been hanged that morning and became a martyr.

 

Radio Farda: This is a very great loss for your family. Can you tell us how this has affected your family?

 

Rahmanipour: Naturally we’re all very upset -- we’ve lost a loved one -- but what is important is Arash’s intentions. He was seeking justice and humanity; he faced some problems because of his young age, but he was always seeking justice.

 

Radio Farda: Have you been given the body of your son?

 

Rahmanipour: Unfortunately...they haven’t returned the body of my son to the father [who feels he too has died.]

 

Radio Farda: Did you try to do anything to prevent the execution of your son?

 

Rahmanipour: The sentence was very unjust. I tried to refer to Islam and Islamic kindness and told his judge that my son didn’t do anything, he didn’t spill anybody’s blood and didn’t use a bomb, he didn’t have weapons. They said he was planning to do this and that, but he didn’t even know how the next day was going to look. Even if we accept that he intended to commit [a crime], you can’t [punish] that person before he has committed a crime.

 

I wrote to the judge that my son hasn’t done anything, and that you can’t sentence him based on his childish thoughts. The judge didn’t even talk to my son for two minutes; he just talked to him for about a minute and a half. I was there. He just asked him how much his father makes, and how many siblings he has. There was another court session in which Arash made some confessions, and it’s not clear which part was true or whether it was dictated to him and was not true. Leave it to the future and history and awakening consciences.

Arash’s father will not be silenced. In a different interview with Al Jazeera television, he refused to accept condolences. He declared: 

  “My son is a martyr for democracy.”

The New York Times reported that experts believe the government hastily ordered the executions of Rahmanipour and another political prisoner, Mohammad-Reza Ali-Zamani (37), to intimidate the opposition and silence the Green Party movement.  At least nine other prisoners have also been charged under moharebeh, which led the Executive Director of the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran to make the following comment:

“The executions are clearly a sign of the government’s frustration to end the protests. There are fears that the government might engage in the kind of cleansing that it did between 1980 and 1988, when it executed more than 3,000 political prisoners.”                                                                                                                                                                                      

Recently, Ahmadinejad made a public statement warning that Iran will deliver a harsh blow to "global arrogance" on the 31st  anniversary of the Islamic Revolution. The anniversary falls on February 11th, the day that marks the collapse of the Shah of Iran's regime in 1979.  Iranians for the past thirty years  have taken to the streets to celebrate the day in rallies throughout Iran.

This year Ahmadinejad may not have the pulse of his country.The Internet, Twitter, and You Tube are indeed filled with comments about that February date, but young people do not post plans for celebration this year. Instead, they post hopes of public protest.                                 

These hopes are repeated by members of Iran's political opposition, who have called for peaceful anti-government demonstrations on that day. In an interview posted on his website, opposition leader Mir Hossein Musavii said that "the roots of tyranny and dictatorship" still exist in Iran and that the repression showed that the 1979 Islamic Revolution had failed to achieve its goals. He condemned the violence used against protesters and said "peaceful protests are Iranians' right."

Many Iranians thirst for freedom, but they have learned the hard way that freedom isn't free. These people are oppressed; they have suffered; and some have paid the ultimate price in their quest for what is a God-given right. Mark your calendars. Remember them on Thursday, February 11, and think Green.