Open letter to:
UN Secretary General, Mr. Ban Ki-moon
President of the European Parliament, Mr. Hans-Ger Pöttering
Amnesty International
It is with deep sorrow that I have to inform you of the following horrifying news. Mr. Ebrahim Lotfollaahi, student at the University of Sanandaj in Iran, was kidnapped by the agents of the Ministry of Intelligence of Islamic Republic of Iran after having completed an exam on December 6, 2007. Except for a short visit with him in prison, his family had no knowledge of his whereabouts until January 16, 2008, on which day the news of his killing spread throughout the prison. His family was informed by the Ministry of Intelligence of his burial place. They were at the same time warned that not they not exhume his body and refrain from spreading the news of his death. Ebrahim was murdered under torture without having committed a crime, or even being put on trial, and his family was threatened to keep it secret.
Ebrahim’s murder is not the first of its kind. You are presumably aware of the execution of Maakwaan Mowludizaade, for the simple reason that Ayatolaah Khamenei’s representative in Saqez, Kurdistan, thought the youth in that town had become too impertinent and must be taught a lesson.
You are presumably aware of the murder of Dr. Zahra Baniyaghub who was raped and killed in the city of Hamadaan after being arrested in a park for walking and talking with her fiancé in public.
You are presumably aware of the fate of Zahra Kazemi, the Iranian-Canadian photo-journalist who was tortured, and killed by “some rogue agent in the Ministry of Intelligence” in Evin prison, as the Iranian regime later confessed under international pressure.
These are not exceptional examples of the brutal treatment of the youth by the Islamic regime in Iran but indicative of a trend which, if not thwarted, will turn into the rule.
What adds to the above concerns and becomes particularly disturbing is that, for instance (and I am sure you are informed about this) there are forty-odd students currently held incommunicado in solitary cells and subjected to all kinds of physical and emotional torture for the “crime” of celebrating Students’ Day (December 7th) by holding peaceful protest rallies at the universities.
The above-mentioned instances of murder, besides a track record showing a 29-year-long history of suppression, execution, torture, cutting off limbs, gouging eyes, stoning, and constant harassment and persecution of the people even in the streets, are strong indications of immense potentials of the ruling Islamic regime for committing crimes of the most unthinkable and unspeakable sorts. It is simply such facts that have been the source of serious worries for the life of the jailed students, and political prisoners at large, among the families as well as among the nation in general.
Therefore, on behalf of all the youth, women and working people of Iran who condemn such murderous conditions, I urge you to exert pressure on the Islamic Republic to release all political prisoners, including the recently arrested students, immediately and unconditionally, and to bring to justice all those responsible for the killings of the youth in the country.
Navid Minaai
Secretary of the Youth Communist Organization
January 19, 2008