HASAN ROUHANI
PRESIDENT OF THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN
Dear President,
We regretfully follow the systematic executions that take place in your country very similar to those that have been carried out three years ago. According to the official figures, 82 people have been executed in Iran since the day of your election in August 2013. The execution of the 16 prisoners of whom two were Kurds and the executions of another 17 prisoners of also whom two were Kurdish on respectively October 26, November 21 and November 23, the execution of Simko Hurşudi in the Dizil Abad prison, the death sentences given to thirty political and religious Kurdish opposition members and the fact that even family members were notified of these executions through news broadcasts have aroused a great wave of indignation.
The executions of opposition members are state-led murders and are certainly not acceptable in this century. The right to live is an inherent and internationally recognized and protected right. There can be no excuse that deems the termination of the right to live justifiable. “This is an internal [affairs] issue” cannot justify for an excuse as basic rights and freedom are monitored and protected by humanity and are universal.
The statements taken under torture and the judicial problems regarding the absence of fair and impartial trials that conclude the termination of the right to live constitute the other issues with the decisions that were undertaken.
The one universal utopia we all should agree on should be development of a system in which everyone can freely exercise their rights regardless of their language, religion, gender, ethnicity and political views. A world in which the right to live and human dignity are restored should not be too much to ask.
There is no doubt that the termination of the rulings and practices that violate the right to live [of primarily political prisoners], will not only change our country’s views but also present a better image of what your remarks project for the new view of Iran.
We, as Peoples’ Democratic Congress, that demands everyone an equal and free opportunity to exercise their rights and freedom regardless of their language, religion, ethnicity, political view or gender, call upon you.
We hope that you will recognize this call in consideration with our historical and cultural neighbor relations and international norms to put an end to the executions in your country.
Peoples’ Democratic Congress
Human Rights and Justice Commission
May 8, 2014