The Islamic Republic of Iran is considering Sakineh Mohamadi Ashtiani’s execution
This is an attempt to gauge the international response
International Committee against Stoning, Press Release 26 December 2011
Malek Ajdar Sharifi, the head of East Azerbaijan province’s justice department, has announced that the Islamic Republic of Iran is considering changing Sakineh Mohamadi Ashtiani’s stoning sentence to execution by hanging and said that they are waiting for the go-ahead from the Ministry of Justice to execute Sakineh.
Clearly, the regime has been unable to stone Sakineh to death because of the global outrage. The regime arrested her lawyer and son and forced her and her son to ‘confess’ on Press TV and incriminate themselves. They have been barred from contacting international institutions.
By planning to execute Sakineh, the Islamic regime is trying to show the world that despite public outrage, it will continue its execution machinery in order to ensure its survival.
The International Committee against Stoning declares:
This is a shameless attempt by the regime and its criminal judicial system to test the reaction of world public opinion in order to create the groundwork for Sakineh’s murder.
Sakineh’s image has become a global symbol against stoning and Sharia laws. The world has risen up in defence of Sakineh and declared it would not ever allow sadists and murderers to stone women and men to death again. By executing Sakineh, the Islamic regime wants to destroy all efforts in her support.
Every year during the New Year period the Islamic regime tries to kill-off well-known cases. Last year it executed Shahla Jahed and this year they are trying to murder Sakineh.
The International Committee against Stoning will not allow Sakineh to be executed. All people and organisations that have stood up before to save Sakineh from death by stoning must once again stand up to help save Sakineh’s life.
International Committee against Stoning
International Committee against Execution
http://notonemoreexecution.org
http://stopstonningnow.com/wpress/
Urgent Call for the Immediate Release of Houtan Kian
Update: Thee Washington Post reports on Oct. 15, 2011, that Houtan Kian is still imprisoned and has been tortured: "Kian has reportedly been sentenced on charges of spreading anti-government propaganda and conspiring to disrupt Iran’s internal security. Information collected by human rights groups indicates that he has sustained injuries requiring hospitalization. Naqi Mahmudi, a lawyer who was forced to leave Iran in September after defending cultural rights activists, told me last month that, after some effort, he was allowed to see Kian for half an hour. Kian has lost significant weight and is missing several teeth, Mahmudi noted, and there are cigarette burns on his body. Kian takes painkillers and tranquilizers daily, he said, to ease his physical and mental anguish"
Sign a petition for the release for Houtan Kian here!
stopstonningnow.com/wpress/4328
PR No. 120, February 25, 2011
Urgent Call for the Immediate Release of Houtan Kian
The execution of Sakineh Ashtiani’s lawyer is imminent.
According to the latest news received by the International Committees against Stoning and Execution, the Islamic Republic of Iran’s judiciary has sentenced Mr. Kian to four consecutive death sentences! Three of these have been revoked, but the fourth, which is to be execution by the method of hanging, is to be carried out. Mr. Kian has been told that his sentence will be implemented imminently.
Mr. Kian was arrested on October 10, 2010, along with two German reporters and Mrs. Ashtiani’s son, Sajjad Ghaderzadeh. He was first imprisoned in Tabriz, Iran and was later moved to section 209 of the infamous Evin Prison in Tehran, Iran. Our latest news from Mr. Kian is that he has been under prolonged and severe torture, and that his body is covered with bruises and cigarette burns. He has been transferred to the prison in Tabriz, Iran where they are planning his execution.
Mr. Kian’s mother, who resides in America, is currently in Iran to help release her son; however, she has been forbidden to talk to reporters and she is not allowed to leave Iran. Her husband, Houtan’s father, was executed by the Islamic Republic regime in 1981.
In a recent statement issued after the release of the two German reporters, the Islamic Republic has declared guilty and upheld the sentence for the fourth detainee, Mr. Kian.
Mr. Kian is a lawyer. He represents all political prisoners who are on death row in Iran. And his most famous client is Sakineh Ashtiani.
We ask all human rights organization, at both local and international levels, as well as all groups and individuals who have been active in advocating for Sakineh’s release, to urgently call upon the Iranian regime to immediately release both Houtan Kian and Sakineh Ashtiani.
We are very concerned and time is running out to save Houtan Kian.
International Committee Against Stoning
International Committee Against Execution
International Committee against Stoning (http://stopstonningnow.com)
International Committee against Execution (http://notonemoreexecution.org)
Spokesperson: Mina Ahadi minaahadi(at)aol(dot)com 0049-177-569-2413
Translation by Soheila Nikpour
Mina Ahadi: Do only lives of German citizens count for Westerwelle?
German Foreign Minister Westerwelle ignores the imminent execution of the Iranian lawyer of Sakineh Ashtiani and lets the Iranian regime bank EIH continue to operate in Hamburg.
STOP THE BOMB press statement, Feb. 28, 2011
The hanging of Houtan Kian, the lawyer of Sakineh Ashtiani, is imminent, according to information from the International Committee against Stoning and Execution. Ashtiani is an Iranian woman threatened to be stoned. [1] Kian was arrested together with the two German journalists Jens Koch und Markus Hellwig on October 10, 2010, in his office in Tabriz. The journalists have been released on February 19, 2011, during an Iran journey by the German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, where Westerwelle met with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi.
Mina Ahadi, spokesperson of the International Committee against Stoning and Execution, yesterday talked about Kian on a rally in Hamburg: “Do only lives of German citizens count for Westerwelle? Instead of promoting political and economic ties with the regime at the expense of human rights, the German government should speak out on Iran as clearly as on Libya, and ostracize and isolate the dictatorship in Iran.”
Mina Ahadi spoke at a protest rally against the Iranian EIH bank in Hamburg. The EIH bank is one of the most important loopholes in the international Iran sanctions. It can continue to operate despite being involved in deals for the Iranian nuclear weapons program and massive international protests. [2]
“The announced execution of the human rights lawyer Houtan Kian shortly after Westerwelle’s trip to Iran demonstrates how useless human rights appeals to the rulers in Tehran are. To the contrary, the announcement by the German Foreign Minister in Tehran to expand the German-Iranian relations and cooperations only emboldened the regime to continue the current wave of executions”, said Jonathan Weckerle, spokesperson of the campaign STOP THE BOMB, who organized the rally.
A broad coalition of exile-Iranian, Jewish, Christian and secular political organizations demanded together with STOP THE BOMB the immediate closure of the Iranian regime bank in Hamburg, and called for a “stop of the German soft line approach towards the Iranian regime”. It was time to isolate the Iranian torture regime politically and economically and to massively support the Iranian freedom movement.
But Germany undauntedly continues its policy of dialogue with the unscrupulous Islamist rulers in Iran.
Directly following the Iran trip of Westerwelle, Kazem Jalali traveled to Germany last week. Jalali is the Spokesman for the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of Iran's Parliament. In Germany he met with Barbara Lochbihler from the Green Party, who is chairwoman of the Iran delegation of the European Parliament. Westerwelle and Lochbihler in their meetings with the representatives of the Iranian regime talked about further dialogue meetings, cooperation in many sectors and even the extension of the economic ties. [3]
[1] http://stopstonningnow.com/wpress/4328
[2] http://de.stopthebomb.net/de/d-iran/eih.html (For Westerwelle in Iran see http://de.stopthebomb.net/en/press/press-releases.html#c1962)
[3] http://www.presstv.ir/detail/166606.html and http://www.tagesschau.de/ausland/iran1382.html
Freedom for Marcus Hellwig and Jens Koch!
An English translation will be provided soon!
Texts and videos on Hellwig and Koch (selection)
Washington Post - Victims of Iranian ‘justice’ (15.10.2011)
Eine Stellungnahme von Mina Ahadi: Die iranische Gottesdiktatur muss sich entschuldigen und nicht der Axel-Springer-Verlag (10.1.2011)
Mariam Lau, Die Zeit: Man darf es Barbarei nennen. Iran muss die beiden gefangenen deutschen Reporter sofort freilassen (8.1.2011)
Jamsheed Faroughi, Deutsche Welle: Druck auf Iran muss erhöht werden (4.1.2011)
Nics Bloghaus: Interview mit Mina Ahadi (2.1.2011)
New York Times: 2 Germans Detained in Iran Meet Family Members (27.12.2010)
Thomas von der Osten-Sacken, Free Iran now: Weihnachten in iranischen Knästen (24.12.2010)
Ulrich Schmid, NZZ: Solidarität als halbherzige Pflichtübung. Das seltsame Stillschweigen der deutschen Medien zum Fall der in Iran inhaftierten Journalisten passt zur diplomatischen Linie Berlins (13.12.2010)
Matthias Küntzel, Perlentaucher: Brennende Sorge. Warum erwähnt das jüngst verabschiedete Papier des Bundestags zur Menschenrechtslage im Iran die beiden Journalisten Marcus Hellwig und Jens Koch nicht? (6.12.2010)
Matthias Küntzel, Deutschlandradio Kultur: Die Schwäche des Westens im Umgang mit dem Iran (3.12.2010)
Fathiyeh Naghibzadeh, Jungle World: Sharia ohne Gnade (2.12.2010)
Matthias Küntzel (Video), Die Deutschen und der Iran - über Sakineh Ashtiani und die beiden im Iran festgehaltenen Journalisten Hellwig und Koch (1.12.2010)
Kazem Moussavi, Offener Brief an Bundeskanzlerin Merkel (29.11.2010)
Mina Ahadi im Interview mit der Jungle World, "Die iranische Justiz ist eine Mordmaschine" (25.11.2010)
Walter Mayer, Bild am Sonntag: Wir sind in großer Sorge um zwei Kollegen (20.11.2010)
Thierry Chervel, Perlentaucher, Im Ententeich: Die Logik der Beschwichtigung (18.11.2010)
Bild am Sonntag: Iran führt Deutsche wie Geiseln im TV vor (16.11.2010)
Mina Ahadi, Deutschlandradio: Vielleicht können wir Frau Ashtiani retten (11.11.2010)
Mina Ahadi, Interview mit Welt online: "Bei einer Steinigung wird jeder zum Komplizen" (11.8.2010)
Mina Ahadi (Video), Rede vor dem Brandenburger Tor: Gegen Hinrichtungen und Islamische Republik
