The Islamic Republic of Iran is a gender apartheidist and misogynist regime that has imposed the most severe discriminatory laws, the most brutal and insulting rules and regulations on women, and has deprived them of their basic rights. Women under Islamic rule are officially and legally considered sexual slaves to serve men. But women in Iran have not given in to this unfairness and have always been on the front lines of the fight against the regime of gender apartheid and misogyny. According to official documentation, every year hundreds of thousands of women are arrested and either punished or fined, or even executed or stoned. Their crimes are mainly disobedience against the unfair laws and regulations, wearing improper clothes, or having had sexual relations outside of marriage. Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, who was sentenced to death by stoning for having had extramarital sex, is a clear example.
The scale of women’s suppression is a vivid sign of the mass struggle women are leading that has truly exhausted the Islamic regime. Fighting full force and with all their might against gender apartheid and for their human rights has made women a great and influential social movement. In the recent uprising, women were in the vanguard in opposing the Islamic regime. In the past few years many organizations have been formed and lots of schemes and plans have been drawn up to further suppress the women’s movement and impose Islamic rules on them, but the scale of women’s resistance and struggle is such that all these plans have faced defeat one after the other.
This year on International Women’s Day you should show your solidarity with women in Iran. Women in Iran deserve the warmest support worldwide. Condemn the regime of gender apartheid and the misogynist Islamic Republic. Send your solidarity messages to Iranian women. Along with women and people of Iran, demand that the Islamic government be expelled from all international bodies and the United Nations. Demand all diplomatic ties with the Islamic government be broken by the west. Organize demonstrations wherever you can and when you go to your demonstration, bring banners in support of women’s rights in Iran.
The overthrow of the Islamic regime will be a great progress for women and people in Iran, for secularism and women’s liberation in the region, and a great step against Islamic terrorism and the political Islam movement in the world. People of the world must treat gender apartheid in Iran the same way as racial apartheid was treated in South Africa.
Join or intensify the fight! Together we can make a difference!
Please contact us and let us know of any plans you have to stand in solidarity with women’s struggle in Iran!
Equal Rights Now –
Organisation against Women’s Discrimination in Iran
Sohaila Sharifi
sohailasharifi@yahoo.co.uk 0044-771 911 1738
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Revolution in Tunisia: Forward and Onward!
On Friday 14th January, a month-old mass protest and struggle of the working class and people of Tunisia against unemployment and destitution and the corrupt police state resulted in the hasty flight of Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali, the President of Tunisia. This was the first achievement of the people of Tunisia in their fight for freedom and equality.
This is the beginning of a revolution whose victory cannot be anything short of the establishment of direct rule of citizens based on direct popular participation in administration of the state, complete overthrow of the current government, and the destruction of the oppressive machinery of the state which has been used against the people of Tunisia for more than half a century.
The swift victory of the people Tunisia in forcing Ben Ali, who has been at the helm of a fearsome machinery of terror, to flee, gave rise to optimism and was welcomed by the people of the world, particularly in Arab countries. In some countries, people demonstrated in support of the people of Tunisia, while a shadow of fear fell on the face of the dictators. In Iran the people eagerly watched the scenes similar to their own struggle against the Islamic regime in the 2009 revolution, and sent messages of support and congratulations following the flight of the Tunisian dictator; they felt stronger in their fight against the Islamic regime of Iran.
The start of the Tunisian revolution is an important development with a momentous impact on the region and in particular on the countries of the so-called ‘Arab World’. This revolution must move forward vigorously and achieve its victory. The ruling elite of Tunisia, in co-ordination with Western powers, particularly France and the United States, is trying to ‘put out of sight’ some of the hated figures of the Tunisian state and save the oppressive state machinery, such as the army and other oppressive organs; by inviting some nationalist, Islamist and reactionary elements of the opposition to form a government of ‘national unity’, they are trying to maintain and justify the current system of oppression and exploitation. The code name for this operation is the ‘Jasmine Revolution’, which is supposedly based on the model of the Velvet Revolution. By passing the power between different groups of the ruling class, the ruling elite aims to defeat the people’s revolution in Tunisia.
The people of Tunisia must advance their revolution; they must put forward such demands as the unconditional release of political prisoners, public trial of Ben Ali and all those responsible for the recent killings, an end to Marshal Law, abolition of all the oppressive organs of the state, publication of the all the documents of the theft and embezzlement by top government officials, direct and popular participation in all decision- making in industries, government organisations, universities and neighbourhoods, unconditional freedom of expression, strike, organisation and political activities, immediate rise in pay levels, etc. No government - ‘national unity’ or otherwise - has any legitimacy unless it recognises the above demands. Any government that fails to recognise these demands would be deemed as the continuation of the old dictatorship and consequently must stand aside.
Moving forward and achieving these demands is only possible by the mass organisation of the working class and people of Tunisia.
We are for the advance and comprehensive victory of the people of Tunisia; their victory will be a victory for the people of world, including the people Iran.
Worker-communist Party of Iran
16 January 2011
This is the beginning of a revolution whose victory cannot be anything short of the establishment of direct rule of citizens based on direct popular participation in administration of the state, complete overthrow of the current government, and the destruction of the oppressive machinery of the state which has been used against the people of Tunisia for more than half a century.
The swift victory of the people Tunisia in forcing Ben Ali, who has been at the helm of a fearsome machinery of terror, to flee, gave rise to optimism and was welcomed by the people of the world, particularly in Arab countries. In some countries, people demonstrated in support of the people of Tunisia, while a shadow of fear fell on the face of the dictators. In Iran the people eagerly watched the scenes similar to their own struggle against the Islamic regime in the 2009 revolution, and sent messages of support and congratulations following the flight of the Tunisian dictator; they felt stronger in their fight against the Islamic regime of Iran.
The start of the Tunisian revolution is an important development with a momentous impact on the region and in particular on the countries of the so-called ‘Arab World’. This revolution must move forward vigorously and achieve its victory. The ruling elite of Tunisia, in co-ordination with Western powers, particularly France and the United States, is trying to ‘put out of sight’ some of the hated figures of the Tunisian state and save the oppressive state machinery, such as the army and other oppressive organs; by inviting some nationalist, Islamist and reactionary elements of the opposition to form a government of ‘national unity’, they are trying to maintain and justify the current system of oppression and exploitation. The code name for this operation is the ‘Jasmine Revolution’, which is supposedly based on the model of the Velvet Revolution. By passing the power between different groups of the ruling class, the ruling elite aims to defeat the people’s revolution in Tunisia.
The people of Tunisia must advance their revolution; they must put forward such demands as the unconditional release of political prisoners, public trial of Ben Ali and all those responsible for the recent killings, an end to Marshal Law, abolition of all the oppressive organs of the state, publication of the all the documents of the theft and embezzlement by top government officials, direct and popular participation in all decision- making in industries, government organisations, universities and neighbourhoods, unconditional freedom of expression, strike, organisation and political activities, immediate rise in pay levels, etc. No government - ‘national unity’ or otherwise - has any legitimacy unless it recognises the above demands. Any government that fails to recognise these demands would be deemed as the continuation of the old dictatorship and consequently must stand aside.
Moving forward and achieving these demands is only possible by the mass organisation of the working class and people of Tunisia.
We are for the advance and comprehensive victory of the people of Tunisia; their victory will be a victory for the people of world, including the people Iran.
Worker-communist Party of Iran
16 January 2011
Monday, January 17, 2011
About the Revolutionary Developments in Tunisia!
After the evolvement of struggles of the unemployed, working class, and all oppressed in Tunisia, into mass protests and rallies attended by teachers, lawyers, and youth, and after the expansion of demonstrations to nearby cities and townships especially the capital Tunis, and the joining of trade unions, the government, represented by its oppressive forces, began to shoot live bullets at the demonstrators. It was announced that the death toll reached 60 and many were killed in prisons as well. The mass demonstrations and confrontations had lead to the escape of the dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali who was replaced by Mohamed Ghannouchi as president and the imposition of martial law. The army is now protecting the airport and major centers of government, but the streets are still filled with people who are still unconvinced of what is happening and who have formed several councils to manage the situation and protect public property from looting and vandalism of the gangs and looters who took advantage of the current situation.
The current protest in Tunisia is a mass revolution sparked by a toiler who burned himself in a show of protest against the police assault on his means of livelihood. This incident had escalated into flames of protests of thousands of unemployed workers in all of Tunisia and evolved into a demand to topple the regime, release of political prisoners, and wider political freedoms. The masses rose up courageously and led an uprising to topple the despotic tyrant who had fled in panic. But the current ruling regime, which claims to save the country, is but an extension of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. It is incapable of serving the interests and objectives of the egalitarian revolution of the Tunisian masses. The people did not rise up to form a national-unity nor a constitution based government, or to get some sedative solutions by which the ruling class aim to defuse the revolution and bring Islamists and nationalist reactionaries to power. The Islamic and nationalist forces which, along with the global propaganda media, promote a so-called national-unity rule and consolidation of democracy, want, in fact, to abort the uprising, and to domesticate it into another velvet democratic revolution (jasmine revolution!) and allude the masses into believing that the present government is capable of solving their troubles and problems, especially deprivation, unemployment, discrimination, oppression, inequality, and lack of rights and freedoms.
Our Party asserts that the bourgeois class, which came out after the defection of Ben Ali, will try to make promises to end the situation to peoples favor, but in fact, they aim to kill the revolution and distract the masses with trivial reforms in order to perpetuate their rule. Our Party asserts that the current reactionary Arab nationalists and Islamists, guards of the regime, and army officers, are all incapable to represent the revolution or to lead it towards its goals, and that the solution lies in the hands of the Tunisian working class and millions of toilers and their socialist, leftist, and secularist forces. Our party, while seeing in this revolution a new era of liberty and emancipation to the people in the Arab region, points out that the ultimate emancipation of the masses off their deprivation, abuse, poverty, lack of political freedoms and equality to women, will only be recognized through the victory of socialism. This requires sustaining the struggles to accomplish it by the working class of Tunisia itself.
There lie difficult tasks in front of the revolution, but the most important task at the moment is to block the way on the Tunisian bourgeoisie to deceive the masses by talking about democracy, human rights, coalition governments, and so on, so it could catch its breath and regain its grip with new faces. We emphasize the need to develop means of class struggle for the workers of Tunisia, and to escalate the struggle and reach the level of determining working class political alternatives towards socialism. The formation of councils in some cities and turning them into nuclei for people's councils, is a first step to take control of the situation, but leading the revolution requires a worker-communist party competent of leading the revolution to the victory of the Socialist Republic, is the only alternative for the direct and wide intervention of people and to restore their robbed humanity.
Victory of the Revolution of the masses of Tunisia!
Long live freedom and equality!
Long live the Socialist Republic!
The Left Worker-communist Party of Iraq - LWPI
17 January, 2011
The current protest in Tunisia is a mass revolution sparked by a toiler who burned himself in a show of protest against the police assault on his means of livelihood. This incident had escalated into flames of protests of thousands of unemployed workers in all of Tunisia and evolved into a demand to topple the regime, release of political prisoners, and wider political freedoms. The masses rose up courageously and led an uprising to topple the despotic tyrant who had fled in panic. But the current ruling regime, which claims to save the country, is but an extension of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. It is incapable of serving the interests and objectives of the egalitarian revolution of the Tunisian masses. The people did not rise up to form a national-unity nor a constitution based government, or to get some sedative solutions by which the ruling class aim to defuse the revolution and bring Islamists and nationalist reactionaries to power. The Islamic and nationalist forces which, along with the global propaganda media, promote a so-called national-unity rule and consolidation of democracy, want, in fact, to abort the uprising, and to domesticate it into another velvet democratic revolution (jasmine revolution!) and allude the masses into believing that the present government is capable of solving their troubles and problems, especially deprivation, unemployment, discrimination, oppression, inequality, and lack of rights and freedoms.
Our Party asserts that the bourgeois class, which came out after the defection of Ben Ali, will try to make promises to end the situation to peoples favor, but in fact, they aim to kill the revolution and distract the masses with trivial reforms in order to perpetuate their rule. Our Party asserts that the current reactionary Arab nationalists and Islamists, guards of the regime, and army officers, are all incapable to represent the revolution or to lead it towards its goals, and that the solution lies in the hands of the Tunisian working class and millions of toilers and their socialist, leftist, and secularist forces. Our party, while seeing in this revolution a new era of liberty and emancipation to the people in the Arab region, points out that the ultimate emancipation of the masses off their deprivation, abuse, poverty, lack of political freedoms and equality to women, will only be recognized through the victory of socialism. This requires sustaining the struggles to accomplish it by the working class of Tunisia itself.
There lie difficult tasks in front of the revolution, but the most important task at the moment is to block the way on the Tunisian bourgeoisie to deceive the masses by talking about democracy, human rights, coalition governments, and so on, so it could catch its breath and regain its grip with new faces. We emphasize the need to develop means of class struggle for the workers of Tunisia, and to escalate the struggle and reach the level of determining working class political alternatives towards socialism. The formation of councils in some cities and turning them into nuclei for people's councils, is a first step to take control of the situation, but leading the revolution requires a worker-communist party competent of leading the revolution to the victory of the Socialist Republic, is the only alternative for the direct and wide intervention of people and to restore their robbed humanity.
Victory of the Revolution of the masses of Tunisia!
Long live freedom and equality!
Long live the Socialist Republic!
The Left Worker-communist Party of Iraq - LWPI
17 January, 2011
The Islamic Regime of Iran is to execute two young men to death by stoning for homosexuality
According to the news we have received Ayub and Mosleh, 20 and 21 years old, are in danger of execution by stoning in the city of Piranshahr in the province of Kurdistan. The two young men are currently imprisoned in the city of Orumieh. They have been accused of having and filming homosexual relations. Pictures of President Ahmadinejad were incorporated into the film and loaded onto their mobile telephones. In additions, headshots of Khamenei pasted over a donkey were also found on the mobiles.
This film fell into the hands of the regime’s agents in Piranshahr who immediately ordered the young men’s execution by stoning to instill fear in the people of Iran. The news indicates that they will be stoned this Friday, Jan 21st 2011.
The International Committee Against Stoning calls for immediate action to protest the Islamic Regime’s medieval and brutal sentence against these two young men.
We particularly ask the people of Piranshahr to contact us immediately with further news about this case, and to prepare to prevent this heinous act. We urge the young people of Piranshahr to hasten to the aid of Ayub and Mosleh and declare that they will not permit this tragedy to occur in Piranshar. We must gather and collectively declare that we will not permit the Islamic Regime to murder and stone the youth of Iran in fear mongering acts.
We call on people everywhere to spread the news of the inhuman and medieval act against Ayub and Mosleh and do whatever they can to save them.
After the worldwide campaign against the stoning of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani that drove the Islamic Regime to a weakened position and brought the world out against the murderers of the Islamic Regime and against stoning, the Islamic Regime wants to show that it will not stop stoning and such depraved inhuman tactics. We must stand against stoning in Piranshahr.
The International Committee Against Stoning
Jan 16, 2011
This film fell into the hands of the regime’s agents in Piranshahr who immediately ordered the young men’s execution by stoning to instill fear in the people of Iran. The news indicates that they will be stoned this Friday, Jan 21st 2011.
The International Committee Against Stoning calls for immediate action to protest the Islamic Regime’s medieval and brutal sentence against these two young men.
We particularly ask the people of Piranshahr to contact us immediately with further news about this case, and to prepare to prevent this heinous act. We urge the young people of Piranshahr to hasten to the aid of Ayub and Mosleh and declare that they will not permit this tragedy to occur in Piranshar. We must gather and collectively declare that we will not permit the Islamic Regime to murder and stone the youth of Iran in fear mongering acts.
We call on people everywhere to spread the news of the inhuman and medieval act against Ayub and Mosleh and do whatever they can to save them.
After the worldwide campaign against the stoning of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani that drove the Islamic Regime to a weakened position and brought the world out against the murderers of the Islamic Regime and against stoning, the Islamic Regime wants to show that it will not stop stoning and such depraved inhuman tactics. We must stand against stoning in Piranshahr.
The International Committee Against Stoning
Jan 16, 2011
Sunday, January 16, 2011
It is time to act!
People of the World
It is time to Act
Let’s Bring an End to Executions
Free all Political Prisoners in Iran
The history of the Islamic regime of Iran is known to many; it is a history of darkness and suppression;
This is a regime of:
• Imposition of sexual apartheid
• Public lashing, torture and executions of its opponents and prisoners
• Imposition of medieval religious rules on 70 million people
• Stoning for sexual relations out of marriage
• Hostage taking of foreign nationals as a means of political bartering with other governments
• Execution of minors
• Denial of free thought and freedom of expression and belief
• Discrimination and appalling treatment of other religions, none-believers, humanists and atheists
• Imposition of the most barbaric labour law on working people justified by religious rules
• Active backing and arming of terrorist groups all over the world as the main pillar of its foreign policy
• Seeking nuclear weapons to be able to take the world hostage
• Arrest and imprisonment of lawyers for defending their clients
• and the list goes on and on
Now, to subdue the angry people of Iran, who are on the verge of mass revolt, the Islamic regime of Iran has intensified the execution of political prisoners and is announcing day after day lists of executions. In the last 3 weeks alone, it has carried out public executions of at least 50 people and most were allegedly for possession of drugs, the real ‘crimes’ are never known in the judicial system of the Islamic regime.
The intensification of public executions is a worrying development; the Islamic regime has a history of mass execution of political prisoners and on many occasions throwing in accusations of drug related activity, sexual deviancy, enmity with god and other made trump up charges as a means to silence and subdue the population. In 1988, the Islamic regime within a short period of time executed thousands of prisoners without any trial. (1) This can not happen again; that thousands of political prisoners and protesters are massacred and buried in unknown graves and the world remaining unaware of such atrocities. We will not allow this to be repeated.
In the past and on many occasions the world has come together to remove stains from human history; remember the global struggle and victory to put an end to the South Africa’s racial apartheid. Now is the time for the world to come together again and act to bring an end to a shame of 21st century and remove this stain that is the Islamic regime of Iran.
Many organizations and individuals have announced their serious concern about public executions and intensification of executions in Iran. Saturday 29th January 2011, has been declared as a day of global protest against executions and in defense of political prisoners in Iran.
We call on everyone to be part of this global day of protest and support the people of Iran. Solidarity with people of Iran and international pressure is a significant factor that helps people of Iran in their struggle to liberate themselves; protest works, remember the case of Sakineh Ashtiani!
1. Join or organize a protest in your city;
2. Let us know time and venue of your protest and action
3. publicize the news of the protest in your local paper, trade union and other organisations
4. Sign the declaration of the global day of action
5. Governments everywhere must come under pressure to break all diplomatic links with the Islamic regime of Iran
Sign the petition here.
Free all political prisoners
End capital punishment
International Committee Against Execution
January 15, 2011
http://notonemoreexecution.org/
http://stopstonningnow.com
Spokesperson: Mina Ahadi 0049 (0) 177 569 2413
(1) Geoffrey Robertson QC's report The Massacre of Political Prisoners in Iran 1988 can be downloaded here.
It is time to Act
Let’s Bring an End to Executions
Free all Political Prisoners in Iran
The history of the Islamic regime of Iran is known to many; it is a history of darkness and suppression;
This is a regime of:
• Imposition of sexual apartheid
• Public lashing, torture and executions of its opponents and prisoners
• Imposition of medieval religious rules on 70 million people
• Stoning for sexual relations out of marriage
• Hostage taking of foreign nationals as a means of political bartering with other governments
• Execution of minors
• Denial of free thought and freedom of expression and belief
• Discrimination and appalling treatment of other religions, none-believers, humanists and atheists
• Imposition of the most barbaric labour law on working people justified by religious rules
• Active backing and arming of terrorist groups all over the world as the main pillar of its foreign policy
• Seeking nuclear weapons to be able to take the world hostage
• Arrest and imprisonment of lawyers for defending their clients
• and the list goes on and on
Now, to subdue the angry people of Iran, who are on the verge of mass revolt, the Islamic regime of Iran has intensified the execution of political prisoners and is announcing day after day lists of executions. In the last 3 weeks alone, it has carried out public executions of at least 50 people and most were allegedly for possession of drugs, the real ‘crimes’ are never known in the judicial system of the Islamic regime.
The intensification of public executions is a worrying development; the Islamic regime has a history of mass execution of political prisoners and on many occasions throwing in accusations of drug related activity, sexual deviancy, enmity with god and other made trump up charges as a means to silence and subdue the population. In 1988, the Islamic regime within a short period of time executed thousands of prisoners without any trial. (1) This can not happen again; that thousands of political prisoners and protesters are massacred and buried in unknown graves and the world remaining unaware of such atrocities. We will not allow this to be repeated.
In the past and on many occasions the world has come together to remove stains from human history; remember the global struggle and victory to put an end to the South Africa’s racial apartheid. Now is the time for the world to come together again and act to bring an end to a shame of 21st century and remove this stain that is the Islamic regime of Iran.
Many organizations and individuals have announced their serious concern about public executions and intensification of executions in Iran. Saturday 29th January 2011, has been declared as a day of global protest against executions and in defense of political prisoners in Iran.
We call on everyone to be part of this global day of protest and support the people of Iran. Solidarity with people of Iran and international pressure is a significant factor that helps people of Iran in their struggle to liberate themselves; protest works, remember the case of Sakineh Ashtiani!
1. Join or organize a protest in your city;
2. Let us know time and venue of your protest and action
3. publicize the news of the protest in your local paper, trade union and other organisations
4. Sign the declaration of the global day of action
5. Governments everywhere must come under pressure to break all diplomatic links with the Islamic regime of Iran
Sign the petition here.
Free all political prisoners
End capital punishment
International Committee Against Execution
January 15, 2011
http://notonemoreexecution.org/
http://stopstonningnow.com
Spokesperson: Mina Ahadi 0049 (0) 177 569 2413
(1) Geoffrey Robertson QC's report The Massacre of Political Prisoners in Iran 1988 can be downloaded here.
Friday, January 14, 2011
In Defence of Political Prisoners & Against Executions in Iran - International Campaign
January 13, 2011
In Defence of Political Prisoners & Against Executions in Iran - International Campaign
Over the last three weeks alone the Islamic Republic of Iran has executed more than 50 people; among them several political prisoners.
Dozens of political prisoners have been sentenced to death; their execution imminent - like Jafar Kazemi and Zahra Bahrami. Many have been given hefty sentences - like lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh who has been sentenced to 11 years in prison and is banned from practicing law and leaving the country for 20 years.
Executions and repression have always been distinctive features of the Islamic regime in Iran; indeed they have been its most cherished tools of survival over the last 32 years.
It is no coincidence that with the ongoing and ever increasing pressure from the Iranian people against the regime, repression and executions of political prisoners, activists and the general public have been intensified.
No doubt, this carnage has only one aim: to terrorize and silence the people of Iran, to ensure the regime’s survival.
This wave of executions and repression is going to continue – unless we stop it.
In this atmosphere of terror, powerful urgent action at the international level to defend political prisoners and to prevent further executions is crucial. We have seen in the past that international attention and protests freed political prisoners and stopped executions.
Thus we are asking you to join the International Campaign in Defence of Political Prisoners and Against Executions in Iran.
Executions in Iran must stop! Political Prisoners must be released and their sentences revoked!
Join us and call for action on Saturday, 29 January 2011, a Day of International Protest. Please mark the day within your organisations, with your friends and colleagues. It could be a gathering, a protest, a letter, a march, a song or other things.
Please also take a moment to sign the declaration of support which can be found at
http://stopstonningnow.com/united/unite600.php?nr=22774802〈=en
and is currently available in English, Spanish, French, German, Farsi, Italian, and Dutch.
Dozens of Iranian opposition groups, organisations and individuals from across the globe have already joined the campaign and called for action on 29 January – we hope you will too.
International Committee against Execution
International Committee against Stoning
For more information, contact: Mina Ahadi
Email: minaahadi@aol.com
Tel: 0049 (0) 1775692413
http://notonemoreexecution.org
http://stopstonningnow.com
In Defence of Political Prisoners & Against Executions in Iran - International Campaign
Over the last three weeks alone the Islamic Republic of Iran has executed more than 50 people; among them several political prisoners.
Dozens of political prisoners have been sentenced to death; their execution imminent - like Jafar Kazemi and Zahra Bahrami. Many have been given hefty sentences - like lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh who has been sentenced to 11 years in prison and is banned from practicing law and leaving the country for 20 years.
Executions and repression have always been distinctive features of the Islamic regime in Iran; indeed they have been its most cherished tools of survival over the last 32 years.
It is no coincidence that with the ongoing and ever increasing pressure from the Iranian people against the regime, repression and executions of political prisoners, activists and the general public have been intensified.
No doubt, this carnage has only one aim: to terrorize and silence the people of Iran, to ensure the regime’s survival.
This wave of executions and repression is going to continue – unless we stop it.
In this atmosphere of terror, powerful urgent action at the international level to defend political prisoners and to prevent further executions is crucial. We have seen in the past that international attention and protests freed political prisoners and stopped executions.
Thus we are asking you to join the International Campaign in Defence of Political Prisoners and Against Executions in Iran.
Executions in Iran must stop! Political Prisoners must be released and their sentences revoked!
Join us and call for action on Saturday, 29 January 2011, a Day of International Protest. Please mark the day within your organisations, with your friends and colleagues. It could be a gathering, a protest, a letter, a march, a song or other things.
Please also take a moment to sign the declaration of support which can be found at
http://stopstonningnow.com/united/unite600.php?nr=22774802〈=en
and is currently available in English, Spanish, French, German, Farsi, Italian, and Dutch.
Dozens of Iranian opposition groups, organisations and individuals from across the globe have already joined the campaign and called for action on 29 January – we hope you will too.
International Committee against Execution
International Committee against Stoning
For more information, contact: Mina Ahadi
Email: minaahadi@aol.com
Tel: 0049 (0) 1775692413
http://notonemoreexecution.org
http://stopstonningnow.com
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Hold these dates of seminar, conference and event against Sharia law and Stoning and for Women's Rights
‘Enemies not Allies’ Seminar
26 January 2011, 18.30 – 20.00 (Registration begins at 18.00), Conway Hall, 25 Red Lion Square, London WC1R 4RL (Holborn Tube)
Bigots and neo-Nazis feigning to campaign for rights... ‘anti-racist’ groups promoting fascism... ‘anti-war’ rallies run by supporters of terrorism and dictatorship… Enough!
The One Law for All campaign is holding a seminar to expose how important debates including on Sharia law have been hijacked by the far-Right to promote their racist agenda, and by anti-racist and anti-war groups to defend Islamism, both at the expense of people’s rights and lives. The seminar will focus on: The British National Party, the English Defence League, Stop Islamisation of Europe (also Stop Islamization of America), the Stop the War Coalition, the Respect Party, and Unite Against Fascism.
Speakers at the seminar are Adam Barnett (One Law for All), Rahila Gupta (Women’s Rights Campaigner), Marieme Helie Lucas (Secularism is a Women’s Issue), Ghaffar Hussain (Quilliam Foundation), Douglas Murray (Centre for Social Cohesion), Maryam Namazie (One Law for All), and Shiraz Maher (International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation), with John Adams (Emeritus Professor at the University of Hertfordshire) to chair.
Entry fee: £5 individuals; £10 voluntary and statutory organisations. For booking form and speaker bios.
International Conference on Women’s Rights, Sharia Law and Secularism
12 March 2011, 10.00-19.00 hours, University of London Union, The Venue, Malet Street, London WC1E (Russell Square)
The one day conference to mark International Women’s Day will discuss the adverse impact of religious laws on the status of women.
Speakers include: Mina Ahadi (International Committee against Stoning), Karima Bennoune (Law Professor), Helle Merete Brix (Journalist), Nadia Geerts (Writer), Hammeda Hossain (South Asians for Human Rights), Monica Lanfranco (Journalist), Anne-marie Lizin (Honorary Speaker of Belgian Senate), Maryam Namazie (One Law for All and Iran Solidarity), Taslima Nasreen (Writer), Yasmin Rehman (Women’s Rights Activist), Nina Sankari (European Feminist Initiative Poland), Sohaila Sharifi (Equal Rights Now), Bahram Soroush (Civil Rights Activist), Daniel Salvatore Schiffer (Philosopher), Annie Sugier (la ligue du Droit International des Femmes), Anne Marie Waters (One Law for All), Linda Weil-Curiel (Lawyer), and Stasa Zajovic (Belgrade Women in Black).
Entry fee: £10 individuals; £3 unwaged and students. For booking form and speaker bios. The event is sponsored by the International Committee against Stoning, Iran Solidarity, Equal Rights Now and One Law for All.
Event against Stoning
9 July 2011, 14.00-17.30 hours, University of London Union, The Venue, Malet Street, London WC1E (Russell Square)
The Event against Stoning marks International Day against Stoning and will include a film screening of The Stoning of Soraya M followed by a panel discussion including with film director Cyrus Nowrasteh and campaigners Mina Ahadi and Maryam Namazie. The event will be dedicated to Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani.
Entry fee: £10 individuals; £3 unwaged and students. For more information. The event is sponsored by the International Committee against Stoning, Iran Solidarity, Equal Rights Now and One Law for All.
Save your place now
To register for the above events, send a completed booking form along with a cheque made payable to One Law for All to BM Box 2387, London WC1N 3XX, UK or pay via Paypal. Donations are also welcome.
For more information, contact:
Maryam Namazie
Spokesperson
One Law for All
BM Box 2387
London WC1N 3XX
onelawforall@gmail.com
www.onelawforall.org.uk
26 January 2011, 18.30 – 20.00 (Registration begins at 18.00), Conway Hall, 25 Red Lion Square, London WC1R 4RL (Holborn Tube)
Bigots and neo-Nazis feigning to campaign for rights... ‘anti-racist’ groups promoting fascism... ‘anti-war’ rallies run by supporters of terrorism and dictatorship… Enough!
The One Law for All campaign is holding a seminar to expose how important debates including on Sharia law have been hijacked by the far-Right to promote their racist agenda, and by anti-racist and anti-war groups to defend Islamism, both at the expense of people’s rights and lives. The seminar will focus on: The British National Party, the English Defence League, Stop Islamisation of Europe (also Stop Islamization of America), the Stop the War Coalition, the Respect Party, and Unite Against Fascism.
Speakers at the seminar are Adam Barnett (One Law for All), Rahila Gupta (Women’s Rights Campaigner), Marieme Helie Lucas (Secularism is a Women’s Issue), Ghaffar Hussain (Quilliam Foundation), Douglas Murray (Centre for Social Cohesion), Maryam Namazie (One Law for All), and Shiraz Maher (International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation), with John Adams (Emeritus Professor at the University of Hertfordshire) to chair.
Entry fee: £5 individuals; £10 voluntary and statutory organisations. For booking form and speaker bios.
International Conference on Women’s Rights, Sharia Law and Secularism
12 March 2011, 10.00-19.00 hours, University of London Union, The Venue, Malet Street, London WC1E (Russell Square)
The one day conference to mark International Women’s Day will discuss the adverse impact of religious laws on the status of women.
Speakers include: Mina Ahadi (International Committee against Stoning), Karima Bennoune (Law Professor), Helle Merete Brix (Journalist), Nadia Geerts (Writer), Hammeda Hossain (South Asians for Human Rights), Monica Lanfranco (Journalist), Anne-marie Lizin (Honorary Speaker of Belgian Senate), Maryam Namazie (One Law for All and Iran Solidarity), Taslima Nasreen (Writer), Yasmin Rehman (Women’s Rights Activist), Nina Sankari (European Feminist Initiative Poland), Sohaila Sharifi (Equal Rights Now), Bahram Soroush (Civil Rights Activist), Daniel Salvatore Schiffer (Philosopher), Annie Sugier (la ligue du Droit International des Femmes), Anne Marie Waters (One Law for All), Linda Weil-Curiel (Lawyer), and Stasa Zajovic (Belgrade Women in Black).
Entry fee: £10 individuals; £3 unwaged and students. For booking form and speaker bios. The event is sponsored by the International Committee against Stoning, Iran Solidarity, Equal Rights Now and One Law for All.
Event against Stoning
9 July 2011, 14.00-17.30 hours, University of London Union, The Venue, Malet Street, London WC1E (Russell Square)
The Event against Stoning marks International Day against Stoning and will include a film screening of The Stoning of Soraya M followed by a panel discussion including with film director Cyrus Nowrasteh and campaigners Mina Ahadi and Maryam Namazie. The event will be dedicated to Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani.
Entry fee: £10 individuals; £3 unwaged and students. For more information. The event is sponsored by the International Committee against Stoning, Iran Solidarity, Equal Rights Now and One Law for All.
Save your place now
To register for the above events, send a completed booking form along with a cheque made payable to One Law for All to BM Box 2387, London WC1N 3XX, UK or pay via Paypal. Donations are also welcome.
For more information, contact:
Maryam Namazie
Spokesperson
One Law for All
BM Box 2387
London WC1N 3XX
onelawforall@gmail.com
www.onelawforall.org.uk
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Is there nothing to learn from Sharia and the Stoning of Soraya M
Today I finally mustered up the courage to watch The Stoning of Soraya M after being in contact with the film's wonderful director Cyrus Nowrasteh. It's a heart wrenching account of one woman's life, the status of women in Iran and the brutalities of stoning and Sharia law. The stoning scene is one of those scenes that will leave anyone who watches it forever changed and hopefully more resolute in fighting to end stoning and Sharia law altogether.
On the same day - still reeling from the film - I received yet another rejection email from a funder saying amongst other things that one of the reasons for rejection was their "doubts" about "the absolute nature of the [One Law for All] campaign – is there nothing that British law can learn from Sharia courts?"
Whilst such statements no longer surprise me, I still cannot stop myself from being enranged at the ease with which the denial of the rights and freedoms of 'others' - those of supposedly different cultures and religions - are excused.
Perhaps I shouldn't have but I had to write back immediately and say: "All campaigns defending rights are absolutist in some sense. You cannot oppose torture and then believe that some forms of torture are alright. You can also not defend women’s rights if you believe that religious laws that deem women to be worth half that of a man have some merit."
I suggested in my response that the grant officer read our report on Sharia law in Britain to see why the law must be opposed, full stop. I'd also recommend that see The Stoning of Soraya M while he's at it.
On the same day - still reeling from the film - I received yet another rejection email from a funder saying amongst other things that one of the reasons for rejection was their "doubts" about "the absolute nature of the [One Law for All] campaign – is there nothing that British law can learn from Sharia courts?"
Whilst such statements no longer surprise me, I still cannot stop myself from being enranged at the ease with which the denial of the rights and freedoms of 'others' - those of supposedly different cultures and religions - are excused.
Perhaps I shouldn't have but I had to write back immediately and say: "All campaigns defending rights are absolutist in some sense. You cannot oppose torture and then believe that some forms of torture are alright. You can also not defend women’s rights if you believe that religious laws that deem women to be worth half that of a man have some merit."
I suggested in my response that the grant officer read our report on Sharia law in Britain to see why the law must be opposed, full stop. I'd also recommend that see The Stoning of Soraya M while he's at it.
Monday, January 10, 2011
Atheists and Agnostics Speak Out
See this video made by Hassan Radwan of the Council of Ex-Muslims and others in solidarity with those who are unable to renounce their religion in countries under Islamic laws:
Defend Political Prisoners; Protest Against Executions
The Islamic Republic has started a vicious wave of executions since two weeks ago against worker activists, political prisoners and the general public. We must stop it before it goes too far.
Currently available in English, Spanish, German, Farsi, Italian, and Dutch, please take a moment to sign the following declaration in defence of political prisoners and those on death row in Iran.
Sign petition here.
Defend Political Prisoners; Protest Against Executions
To subdue the angry people of Iran, who are on the verge of revolt, the Islamic regime of Iran has intensified the execution of political prisoners and is day after day announcing list of executions.
Recent successful protest in the city of Sanandaj backed by international outrage and campaign forced the Islamic regime to call off the execution of Habibolah Latifi. However the regime immediately executed two other prisoners, Ali Saremi and Ali Akbar Siyadat.
Millions are rightly outraged by these atrocities; it is important that the international campaign is coordinated and unified; We, the undersigned, therfore join this international protest and
1. Support the international campaign in support of the people of Iran to bring an end to executions and immediate release of all political prisoners. Capital punishment is an inhumane and must be ended.
2. Demand revoking of all execution orders;
3. Demand that all political prisoners, including students, worker activists, woman rights activists or anyone who has been imprisoned for their religious or non-religious views or sexuality are released immediately. Freedom of expression is a basic human right.
4. We condemn any appeasement of this regime and demand that all governments condemn these atrocities; break all diplomatic and political relations with the regime of Iran.
For more information, contact: Mina Ahadi
International Committee against Execution
International Committee against Stoning
Email: minaahadi@aol.com
Tel: 0049 (0) 1775692413
http://notonemoreexecution.org
http://stopstonningnow.com/wpress/
Currently available in English, Spanish, German, Farsi, Italian, and Dutch, please take a moment to sign the following declaration in defence of political prisoners and those on death row in Iran.
Sign petition here.
Defend Political Prisoners; Protest Against Executions
To subdue the angry people of Iran, who are on the verge of revolt, the Islamic regime of Iran has intensified the execution of political prisoners and is day after day announcing list of executions.
Recent successful protest in the city of Sanandaj backed by international outrage and campaign forced the Islamic regime to call off the execution of Habibolah Latifi. However the regime immediately executed two other prisoners, Ali Saremi and Ali Akbar Siyadat.
Millions are rightly outraged by these atrocities; it is important that the international campaign is coordinated and unified; We, the undersigned, therfore join this international protest and
1. Support the international campaign in support of the people of Iran to bring an end to executions and immediate release of all political prisoners. Capital punishment is an inhumane and must be ended.
2. Demand revoking of all execution orders;
3. Demand that all political prisoners, including students, worker activists, woman rights activists or anyone who has been imprisoned for their religious or non-religious views or sexuality are released immediately. Freedom of expression is a basic human right.
4. We condemn any appeasement of this regime and demand that all governments condemn these atrocities; break all diplomatic and political relations with the regime of Iran.
For more information, contact: Mina Ahadi
International Committee against Execution
International Committee against Stoning
Email: minaahadi@aol.com
Tel: 0049 (0) 1775692413
http://notonemoreexecution.org
http://stopstonningnow.com/wpress/
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