MULLAHS USE EUROPEAN POLITICIANS TO WASH IRANIAN’S BLOOD OFF THEIR HANDS

By Zohair Ahmad

On July 5th, 2017, there was a well-orchestrated visit by European politicians from 45 different countries, to the notorious Evin prison in Iran. This visit is the latest attempt from the Mullahs regime to repeal claims of human rights abuse in Iranian prisons. The day before the visit, Javad Larijani, the head of the Iranian regime’s so-called «Human Rights Organisation», claimed there are no political prisoners in Iran.ث

Following the visit, Tasnim News Agency, which is close to the hardliners in Iran claimed that several Ambassadors were astonished by the quality of the prison. What a shame, it is a disgrace that politicians are so caught up with profit that they choose to ignore the truth about Iran regime’s human rights abuses, not only against prisoners but also against ordinary citizens.  None of the Political Prisoners who are serving time after bogus trials participated in the meetings. According to a political activist who spent 13 years in prison all visits are staged, they prepare a room and a few specially selected prisoners. It is a known fact that authorities have closed Evin prison to independent international and national human rights investigators for more than a decade.  Meanwhile, political prisoners continue to linger under unbearable conditions in prisons that no foreign diplomat is allowed to visit. 

In an open letter to human rights activists, political prisoner, Reza , Monfared, incarcerated in Gohardasht prison, in his letter he spoke of the more than 60 condemnations on the regime for human rights abuses, he also told about mothers whose 6 children were killed by the mullahs regime. He asks us this question; if the regime is honest in its claims why did they not allow  Mr. Ahmad Shaheed, the former UN special rapporteur to visit the country, and also despite insistence of Ms. Asma Jahangir, the UN special rapporteur for human rights in Iran, why does the regime not allow her to meet and speak with the political prisoners and prisoners of conscience in various prisons across Iran?

The last UN delegation who was allowed to visit Evin was the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and the Special Rapporteur On the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression in 2003, including Ward 209, where political prisoners are kept under Ministry of Intelligence supervision. As of today, there are at least ten standing requests by different UN human rights experts to visit Iran, in addition to regular requests from human rights groups, including Human Rights Watch, to meet with officials in Iran and discuss rights concerns with them.

According to the latest report from Amnesty International (2017), the situation is not as good as portrayed in this staged visit. the report speaks of how women are marginalized by laws that give the father right to marry a girl off at the age of 9, that means also that she will be considered an adult at the age of 9 and can be sentenced to death. Compulsory veiling (Hijab) laws violate women’s rights to equality, privacy, and freedom of expression, belief, and religion. This law empowers police and paramilitary forces to target women for harassment, violence and imprisonment.

  The Regime plan to execute 120 prisoners the authorities continue to use the death penalty extensively, including against juvenile offenders and this visit from European politicians will only empower the regime and we will see a rise in executions across Iran.

Don't whitewash the Iranian regime's crimes

Last week, the Iranian regime took the ambassadors of 45 foreign countries for a tour of the notorious Evin prison in Tehran to judge for themselves how the state treats prisoners. The tour came one day after Javad Larijani, the head of the Iranian regime's so-called "Human Rights Organization," claimed there are no political prisoners in Iran.

This was an attempt to debunk the increasing wave of international criticism at Iran's human rights violations, especially in its prisons.

In the evidently pre-arranged setting, visitors were taken to distinct locations where prisoners were shown to have access to education, media, communications, and work. Disappointingly, some of the attendants, including the ambassadors of Indonesia, Portugal, and South Korea, praised the regime for the humane conditions in its prisons and its treatment of prisoners, according to state-run media.

Meanwhile, political prisoners continue to linger under unbearable conditions in prisons that no foreign diplomat is allowed to visit.

One example is Majid Assadi, a political activist who was arrested by agents of the regime's intelligence ministry on Feb. 18. Assadi was kept in solitary confinement under severe duress for 50 days, and was incarcerated in Evin's wards 209 and 240 for months before being transferred to the Gohadasht prison in Karaj, west of Tehran. Incidentally, his transfer took place a short while before the foreign ambassadors' tour of Evin.

After months, Assadi still awaits to be tried for charges of supporting the opposition group People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran.

Assadi previously served another four-year prison term from 2011 to 2015 for attending a ceremony commemorating the victims of the 1999 student protests in Tehran.

Assadi is one of the countless political prisoners who have suffered or continue to suffer at the hands of the Iranian regime.

The regime's treatment toward dissidents, especially members and supporters of MEK, has been brutal throughout the years. In 1988, in a massive purge of Iran's prisons, the regime executed 30,000 political prisoners, most being linked to MEK. Mostafa Pourmohamadi, Iran's current justice minister, was one of the main orchestrators of the heinous crime. Ebrahim Raisi, a presidential candidate in the recent presidential elections, was another key player in the event that has become known as the "1988 massacre."

Recent years have seen no decline in the harsh treatment of activists and dissidents.

A few weeks ago, Shabnam Madadzadeh, a political activist who recently escaped Iran, gave a harrowing account of the conditions in Gohardasht prison, where Assadi is now being held. During her incarceration, Madadzadeh was threatened to be executed, beaten, deprived of family visits, and phone calls, and she was kept in solitary confinement for long periods.

In 2014, the regime executed political prisoner Gholamreza Khosravi, defying a widespread international campaign to halt the sentence.

In 2012, Sattar Beheshti, a blogger, was tortured to death in Evin prison, the same complex that the foreign ambassadors toured, for having posted online content that criticized the regime's judicial system.

These are just some of the many examples of how the regime treats dissidents. The truth is, the crimes that the Iranian regime has committed against its people and especially in its prisons will not be washed away with any amount of charade setups such as the one it held last week in the Evin prison.

However, whether made out of ignorance or in hopes of currying economic and political favors, the irresponsible remarks made by foreign diplomats will give the regime free rein to continue persecuting, torturing and executing dissidents while it still clings on to power.

The Iranian people will not forget nor forgive the regime's crimes, and will not relent until its officials are held to full account for their atrocities. The least that the international community can do is not to attempt whitewashing the crimes of their murderers.

Amir Basiri (@amir_bas) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner's Beltway Confidential blog. He is an Iranian human rights activist.

If you would like to write an op-ed for the Washington Examiner, please read our guidelines on submissions here.