Zahra Rahnavard: Why executions?

Source: The Green Voice of Freedom

Zahra Rahnavard, wife of opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, has expressed her outrage over the horrific executions of the five political prisoners last Sunday. The full translated text of her written piece published by Jaras website is as follows:

The provocative and violent executions carried out by the regime in recent days, especially the execution of five young individuals on Sunday 9 May under the pretext that they belonged to antirevolutionary groups raises different questions for the mind of any freedom seeking and critical person. Questions such as:

• Why execution? Why are the worst types of punishment applied against individuals and the nation?

• Were the judicial proceedings carried out in a just way? Do confessions obtained under torture have any legal worth?

• Were these actions, rulings and executions carried out by the judiciary independently or did they take place under pressure exerted by security forces?

• Were these hasty executions a way of taking vengeance on the people just before the first anniversary of the 12th of June?

• The Green Movement, with all its diversity and pluralism seeks the strengthening of central rule and national unity among all of Iran’s ethnic groups while respecting minority rights. Yet why is it that the current rulers move towards provoking an ancient ethnic group by oppression and execution of Kurdish minority and youth? And the key question is: are these actions in favour of national unity or in the favour of separatism with all its implications?

• Is execution and violence against God’s most benign subjects a cause for pride for the regime or a sign of weakness and desperation? This, despite our prophet description of women as a flowers.

• Despite all the regime’s claims of being an Islamic one, have these violent actions, interrogations, long-term imprisonments and the executions made Islam more appealing for women or have they indeed caused the cynicism of women and the youth towards Islam in a way that even fundamental practices such as praying and fasting are being questioned? This slaughter of women means that the regime has finally given in to the calls for it to eliminate discrimination; however this time it has done so by applying the same level of oppression to everyone, both men and women through imprisonment, torture, interrogations, subpoenas and execution. And at the same time, the regime prevents measures banning discriminatory and dominating laws in its relevant bodies and courts. Finally, as Zahra Rahnavard, a small member of this nation, I would like to send a message to all the mourning mothers and women whose sons and husbands have either been executed or murdered on the streets at the hands of mercenaries: Oh brave and courageous women! I am with you in this time of sadness and grief, and know that the bloods will culminate in victory and the reward for the heavy price of losing the youth will be freedom and democracy, but alas, for the regime oppresses the nation; a nation that has no sanctuary but God himself.