Iran Daneshjoo Organization News Service - http://www.iran-daneshjoo.org
A Urgent Request from the UN Secretary General
SMCCDI Urgent Action Notice September 1, 2000
Dear Freedom Lovers:
Your help is needed. An immediate letter from you can make a difference. To assist you, details with a Sample Letter
follow this letter.
Here is the situation:
Mr. Khatami, the Islamic Republic president, will be at the United Nations in the first week of September. His task is
to save a failing regime denounced by a people exasperated by twenty-one years of Theocracy and Dictatorship.
Despite the propaganda spread by some well known lobbyists of the regime through various so-called "Iranian American"
associations, our people have shown their rejection of this regime in many riots in the last months.
Gatherings in the Baharestan of Tehran and riots in Khalkhal, Haftgel, Mashahd, Abadan, Eslamshahr and finally
Khorram-Abad are just a few of many examples of our people's action demonstrating that they no longer want such a
regime.
More than ever it is upon you to support the struggle of your people by alerting the World to the lies and propaganda of
those referenced lobbyists who will have to answer in the near future about their complicity with the regime in "Crimes
Against Humanity."
The necessary information (Fax and e-mail) needed to sign and send your protest letter to Mr. Kofi Annan, the Secretary
General of the UN, are listed below.
Just remember that millions of eyes are looking for your prompt action in facing down the vigilantes and militiamen
known for their cruelty.
Your fellow Iranians everywhere thank you for your help. Each and every one of your letters makes a difference!
(See below.)
---Letter Format:---
Date:
His Excellency Kofi Annan Secretary General United Nations New York, NY 10017 USA
Fax: (212) 963-4879
Your Excellency:
I have learned that Mr. Mohammad Khatami, President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, is planning to attend the United
Nations Assembly in the first week of September, 2000, in New York.
Mr. Khatami has been advocating a "Dialogue among Civilizations" while he has forgotten or ignored the vital notion of
establishing a "dialogue with his own people." Only occasionally and usually following bloody crackdowns on peaceful
demonstrations do we hear from him--apathetically bidding the frustrated populace to show faith in his empty promises of
a "civil society."
Mr. Khatami aims to prolong the life of a brutal regime which over the past two decades has executed 120,000 persons on
trumped-up political charges and imprisoned and severely tortured hundreds of thousands more.
Iran, thanks to this un-Iranian regime, is now the poorest oil-rich nation in the world with over 80% of its population
living under the poverty line.
To expect the water not to boil atop the fire is what Mr. Khatami and other demagogues preach to their now disenchanted
constituency.
During Mr. Khatami's tenure, 670 public executions have taken place, and 13 persons have been publicly stoned to death.
Inhuman medieval punishments such as gouging out eyes and amputation, are routine.
The persecution of religious and ethnic minorities has continued unabated. On June 10, ten members of the Jewish
community were sentenced to long prison terms on bogus charges of "spying."
A President who boasts, writes and speaks of "civil society" must be answerable to its citizenry who witness the
persecution of its journalists and the shutting down of nearly two dozen newspapers and magazines.
He publicly endorsed the crackdown on a Student movement which was comprised of his primary supporters who wished
nothing other than the implementation of what Mr. Khatami promised during his electoral campaign.
As of today, hundreds of prisoners of conscience including University students Ahmad Batebi (pictured on the cover of
the London Economist), Hamid Alizadeh, Heshmatollah Tabarzadi, Manouchehr Mohammadi, Saeed Kashiloo, Hassan Zare-Zade,
Akbar Mohammadi and Behie Gilani are still captive and have done nothing more than denounce the bloody crackdown on the
Iranian Student Movement in July, 1999.
As you are aware, another peaceful gathering of the Iranian students in the city of Khorram-Abad was transformed to a
bloodbath earlier this week by the regime's vigilantes and militiamen, thus, opening the way to a popular insurrection.
This incident follows several other riots which took place during the last six months in several Iranian cities for
various reasons, all linked to theunpopularity of the Islamic Republic regime.
As another example, and to make matters worse, Mr. Khatami's government responded to the kindhearted people of Abadan
who were protesting the mismanagement of their scarce water resources, with bullets!
Under these conditions, Mr. Khatami's presence at a prestigious institution such as the United Nations, created to
promote democracy, contradicts all the universally respected principles upon which the United Nations itself has been
founded.
Welcoming the President of such a regime is tantamount to ignoring the values espoused by the United Nations and to
sanctioning the atrocities committed by the theocratic rulers in Iran.
I, the undersigned, condemn the Islamic Republic regime for its "Crimes against Humanity" and support the Iranian
people's rightful struggle against despotism.
Your Excellency, Mr. Kofi Annan, the Secretary General of the UN, I respectfully request that the United Nations
publicly condemn Mr. Khatami's silence and ban the Islamic Republic's delegation at the UN if the ruling regime in Iran
fails to free all its prisoners of conscience and to respect the UN charter.
The clerical regime must be reminded that having a permanent seat for the Iranian nation requires an unwavering respect
for the UN charter which openly condemns any repressive policies.
Anxiously awaiting your response, I am...
Respectfully yours,
First Name: Last Name:
Address:
Fax: E-Mail: