Supporters of National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI)demonstrated today outside DIMIA against attempts to pressure Iranian refugees to return to Iran. They held placards and displayed photos of public executions, floggings, and other evidence of the barbarity of the current regime:

Media release:

Demand Action against Violation of Human Rights in Iran

January 30, 2002

The official figure of executions in Iran for 2002 is 474. Most of these were carried out in public. There were at least three cases of stoning and four such sentences. Other atrocities committed by the ruling mullahs include killing by throwing off cliff, public mutilation of limbs, abduction and forced disappearance, and various kinds of physical and psychological torture. Hundreds were arrested during recent anti-government demonstrations, with the fate of many still unknown. The body of a female student, Leila Nourgostari, was found dumped in a street, a few days after her abduction by the Revolutionary Guards in Shiraz.

The claim of a temporary moratorium on stoning is designed to deceive international public opinion. On December 28 2002, a member of the powerful Guardian Council said: “Stoning cannot be replaced by any other form of punishment and its validity is not subject to the [considerations of] time and place.” Hossein Ali Amiri, Head of the Justice Department in Fars province told the BBC on December 27: “We have not been notified of any written or official directive and I have no knowledge of an order by the honorable Head of the Judiciary canceling stoning until this very moment that I am talking with you.” Commenting on a possible bill to abolish stoning, a pro-Khatami Majlis deputy Elahe Koulaii said: “This is a lie. No proposal to abolish stoning has been submitted to the Majlis.” (State-run Khorassan daily, December 17, 2002).

This is a dismal situation. Australia must impress on the Iranian regime its opposition to all and any violation of human rights under any guise. We also ask that the Australian government immediately release Iranian asylum seekers.

A Public Action will be held at Casselden Place on Friday, January 31, at 12 PM to raise these demands.

Note (added 10 Dec 2012): for more on this issue visit http://home.vicnet.net.au/~mdwatch/iran.html and for photos handed out at the above rally see http://home.vicnet.net.au/~mdwatch/iran2.html.Warning – these images are not pleasant viewing.