The Iranian government is desperately trying to quell dissent by using threats and intimidation to silence the opposition. Last week Iran executed two prisoners who were accused of being part of the Monarchist conspiracy, Davoud Rahmanipour and Mohammad-Reza Ali-Zamani. Rahmanipour was only 18 at the time of arrest and 19 at the time of his execution by hanging. Rahmanipour was accused of contacting an illegal foreign organization. The government intimidated Rahmanipour’s family by intimidating his pregnant sister, who later miscarried, in order to solicit a confession from the young man. There are 9 other sentenced prisoners currently awaiting execution, the crime they are charged with is “moharebeh” roughly translated as warring with God.
Hardliners have called for more executions while the opposition leaders Karroubi and Moussavi pleaded with their followers not to be intimidated by government tactics and to come out to protest on February 11, 2010, the anniversary of the takeover of Iran by the Islamic Revolution.
In a familiar move, the Iranian government blamed foreign “agents” such as Great Britain, the United States and Israel for the unrest in the country. The Iranian government has established a pattern of blaming foreign governments and other groups whenever it commits an act of brutality. A case in point is the mysterious murder of professor of Massoud Ali- Mohammadi; the professor was a low-level nuclear scientist who was very vocal about his anti-government views just weeks before a bomb exploded outside of his home and caused his demise. After the professor’s death Iran state television blamed “Zionist entities” and Great Britain for the killing. Many opposition groups and media outlets were skeptical about the government’ s claims, since they saw no reason for foreign entities to target Mohammadi but plenty of reasons for the Iranian government to do so.
The chief prosecutor of Iran attempted to obfuscate the crimes of the executed prisoners by trying them along with those who were arrested during the violence on Ashura, which took place on December 27, 2010. The state television participated in the deception by stating that Zamani and Rahmanipour were among those arrested during the Ashura unrest. Iran is ostensibly attempting to create an atmosphere of fear among those who oppose the current regime. The Iranian government wants the opposition to know that it will have no leniency toward any crime small or large, which is aimed at reforming and/or destroying the regime. It seems that the Iranian government is feeling the tethers of power slipping from its grasp. As any good dictatorship regime would, Khamenei and Co. will use as much violence, threats and bloodshed as necessary to keep its people under control. Please see a video from Al Jazeera English describing the execution of Davoud Rahmanipour below
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These executions won’t stop their demise. This regime has to go.
There is a flaw in this report: the two who were executed were already in custody at the time of Iranian elections in June 09. They were monarchists and that made it easier for the government to execute them and use their punishment as a signal to the rest. The Iranian government has not crossed the line of executing protesters yet.
Thank you for your correction. However, the government accuses them of being Monarchists but since the two men were not given a proper trial, with due process, with sufficient access to their attorneys we cannot really say whether or not they were in fact Monarchists. Especially heartbreaking is Rahmanipour’s plight since he was a minor when accused and confessed under duress. Likewise, 9 others have been handed down death sentences, at least 5 of them are sentenced to death on account of their participation in the Ashura riots.
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