IRAN NATIONAL FRONT
Founded by Doctor M. Mossaddegh
(Organizatioans
Abroad)
Press COMMUNIQUE
We Condemn the Hostage Taking by the Iranian Government
In the previous few days, media
have reported the arrest of two German
journalists in Iran. The main charge leveled
against these journalists is that they
interviewed the son of Ms. Sakineh Ashtiani
who was sentenced to stoning. The arrested
foreign nationals in the Islamic Republic
are usually threatened with long prison
sentences or executions. Usually the Islamic
Republic arrests foreign nationals in order
to use than as a tool to put pressure on
their governments rather than for the
punishment of a violation of the laws. The
ruling regime in Iran wants to force the
foreign governments to submit to its
demands. According to its own judicial
codes, the Islamic Republic provides the
state a maximum of two months to evaluate an
alleged violation of the law and decide
whether or not to prosecute the accused.
However, the government holds those who are
arrested, especially foreign nationals, for
prolonged time in order to extract
advantageous price from the arrested -- or
to use a more accurate termed “the
hostages.” Last month, when one of the
officials of the regime was asked why the
other two American hikers were not released
along with Ms. Sarah Shourd, the official
said something to the effect that “if we
release them, what will we get in return?”
The people and the governments
of the United States, Germany, France, and
other countries whose citizens are regarded
as hostages of the regime ruling Iran,
should distinguish the hostage-taking
government of Iran from the people of Iran
who strongly condemn the behaviour of the
government in Iran. The people of Iran,
themselves, are hostages of this government
of terror and horror. For more than three
decades, the regime of the Islamic Republic
has used such tactics to grossly violate the
basic rights and liberties of the Iranian
people. The political prisoners in Iran do
not even have the right to have lawyers.
Those lawyers who under such harsh
conditions stand up and defend the rights of
the victims of this brutal dictatorship
themselves become victims of this repressive
regime. For example, few days, Ms. Nasreen
Sutoodeh, Esq. and Mr. Mohammad Oliyaee-Far,
Esq. two prominent defense attorneys of
political prisoners, were themselves
arrested and put in the prisons of the
Islamic Republic. These prominent defense
attorneys solely because of defending their
clients, but are now themselves victims of
the regime and have no other source to
demand justice and due process.
The Organizations of Iran National Front-Abroad, which struggles for the
establishment of freedom, democracy, and
separation of religion and the state in
Iran, strongly condemns the taking of
foreign nationals as hostages by the
government in Iran. We regard these hostage
takings as severe violations of human rights
and international law by the Islamic
Republic regime. We demand from the
international community that they express
their solidarity with the Iranian people in
their struggles to free themselves from this
oppressive regime, which has repeatedly
shown its utter disregard toward human
rights and international norms of conduct.
We demand from the international community
to defend those who defend human rights,
democracy, and freedom in Iran, and do not
ignore those women and men who have placed
their lives to defend the rights of their
compatriots and have stood up against the
repression and oppression in Iran and are
currently in prisons and being tortured. We
believe that the global community’s support
for citizenship rights in Iran as well as
condemnation of executions of political
dissidents and stoning in Iran, are
significant steps towards putting an end to
this tyrannical regime.
Executive Committee of the Organizations of
Iran National Front - Abroad
Engineer Kambiz Ghaemmagham, Engineer
Bahman Mobasheri, Dr. Homayoun Mehmaneche
13
October, 2010
Contact Europe:
Dr. Homayoun Mehmaneche, Tel.
00498974029525, Germany
Contact USA:
Mr. Kambiz Ghaemmagham, Tel. 0019092449425,
CA, USA
E-Mail Address:
info@iranazad.info
Internet:
www.iranazad.info
Address:
Organizations of Iran National Front –
Abroad (OINF-A);
P.O. Box 136, Audubon Station, New York
City, N. Y. 10032, USA
Original document in Farsi
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