“Ending executions in Iran Step by Step”
Since coming to power in Iran in 1979, the Islamic regime has held one of the darkest records of executions in modern history. This record started with the indiscriminate execution of the officials of the Shah’s regime, followed by the execution of political dissidents, leading to the mass execution of more than 4000 political prisoners in summer 1988. These barbaric acts were followed by the assassination of activists and writers during the 1990s. All the while, the regime has also engaged in the public and non-public execution of criminals.
These forms of punishments such as public executions have not deterred the criminals of committing unlawful acts, and have instead created a culture of vengeance among the families and loved ones.
In the past seven months after the election of Hassan Rouhani as president, around seven hundred people have been executed, some in public. As a result of these failures on the part of Iranian judicial system, some of the well known political and social activists in Iran have initiated a campaign under the name of “Ending Executions Step by Step”, with the Persian acronym LEGAM.
As a first step, LEGAM aims to eliminate public executions that create a deep wound in the Iranian psyche and subsequently initiate a discourse to eliminate executions from the IRI criminal justice system once and for all.
We call upon all individuals, organizations, states and local officials, who support human rights and condemn the loss of lives of individuals through execution to join us to support “LEGAM” campaign.
The following is the second public statement of LEGAM:
Supporting the gradual abolition of capital punishment in Iran
To the people of Iran and all progressive individuals of the world:
Physical, verbal and legally enforced violence impede any type of social and individual progress in any society and lower any chance of reform from within.
If we accept the act of taking one’s life through execution as against upholding any human dignity, doing so publicly is reprehensible under any condition and has to be stopped.
It is upon us to seek other measures instead of resorting to capital punishment and pursue educational and rehabilitative measures in this regard.
Pursuant to our strong belief in rejecting violence and execution as its jarring manifestation, we recommend the following action steps and urge all like-minded individuals to help us achieve these objectives.
1. To expeditiously educate suspects and those who have committed crimes, instead of resorting to capital punishment and considering this a matter of national urgency
2. To treat cases of juvenile delinquency with leniency and reduce their sentence with the understanding that they might not have committed these misdeeds if they had reached the age of maturity
3. To urgently outlaw inhuman and barbaric acts of punishment stipulated in the law such as public hanging or dismembering of body parts
4. To eliminate the act of stoning from criminal law and consider it as inhuman, brutal and barbaric
5. To reconsider the sentences of political prisoners in execution row, as their engagement in political activities is in compliance with their basic rights as citizens and their freedom of conscience and expression.
We urge all Iranians who advocate non-violent measures to help us pursue and spread the message of this campaign.
Signatories:
Babak Ahmadi (Author and translator)
Simin Behbahani (Writer and poet)
JafarPanahi (Filmmaker)
Alireza Jabari (Writer and translator)
FariborzRais Dana (Economist)
ParvinFahimi (Human Right Activist)
Esmail MoftiZadeh (Human Right Activist)
Mohammad Maleki (Political Activist)
Mohammad NouriZad( Writer)
