BPCIF strongly condemns the execution of 16 political prisoners in Zahedan, Iran
31 October 2013
The British Parliamentary Committee for Iran Freedom (BPCIF) strongly condemns the execution of 16 political prisoners
in Zahedan, Iran on 4 October 2013. The prisoners were executed collectively. According to Mohammad Marzieh, the
prosecutor general of the city of Zahedan, all of the prisoners were executed in revenge for the killing of a number of
revolutionary guards in Saravan.
These arbitrary executions took place when no group has taken responsibility for the attack on the revolutionary guards
and Hedayatollah Mir-Moradzehi, Saravan’s representative in Iran’s Parliament, told the Qods Force Tasnim news agency
that it is still unclear who carried out the attacks. He stated “Information on this incident is still sketchy”.
BPCIF draws attention to this clear case of collective punishment, which is in violation of international human rights
law.
BPCIF further notes that 9 of the 16 executed, in a statement relating to the 1 September attack on Camp Ashraf, Iraq
stated: “PMOI members were killed because of defending the rights of Iranian nation… they left their homes and homeland
to defend justice and rights of Iranian nation. We, political prisoners, condemn this terrorist atrocity by the Qods
Force that was implemented by the army under command of Maliki and we call on supporters of human rights and UN member
states to stop these terrorist operations by Iranian regime’s Qods Force and to punish perpetrators and sponsors of
these operations.” Executed to strike fear in the people of Sistan and Baluchestan Province, these executions were
politically motivated and constitute a crime against humanity.
BPCIF notes that since the inauguration of the new Iranian President, Hassan Rouhani, there have been over 270
executions in Iran. BPCIF deplores the number of executions in Iran and supports the call by Mrs Maryam Rajavi, the
President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran to refer the Iranian regimes human rights file to the UN
Security Council and to the United Nations Human Rights Council for review.
ENDS