Letter from death row political prisoners in Iran to EU and human rights organisations

“Work for the abolition of the death penalty and save the lives of those sentenced to death!”

For around two years now the Islamic Republic government has stepped up the execution and torturing of political prisoners and dissidents on the pretext of security. The largest numbers of executions have taken place in the provinces of Khuzestan, Kurdistan, Azarbaijan and Tehran. All those sentenced to death have been sentenced behind closed doors and without any regard for international conventions.

These days in Tehran a number of prisoners on death row, mostly political prisoners, have been transferred from around the country to Rejaee Shahr Prison. Two of those prisoners, Mr Fazel Ramazani and Mr Hajat Morad Mohammadi, both political dissidents and activists who had spent 9 years in prison, were executed along with prisoners which the government labels as “rogues and ruffians”.

A few months ago Hojjat Zamani was executed. The torture of the prisoners is so severe that last year two prisoners, namely Akbar Mohammadi and Valiollah Feiz Mahdavi, were killed under mysterious circumstances. It is feared that the executions and tortures will continue.

We, the undersigned political prisoners, who have been sentenced to death, request the European Union, all international bodies and human rights organisations in democratic states to act urgently and appropriately for the abolition of the death penalty and the following up of our demands and those of other prisoners on death row.

Khaled Hardani
Nasser Kheirollahi
Shahram Pour-Mansouri
Latif Mohammadi
Mostafa Salimi
Farhang Pour-Mansouri

It should be noted that Shahram Pour-Mansouri was under 18 at the time of his arrest.

13 August 2007