Press Release
The ISJ strongly condemns the cruel execution of three more protesters in Iran on the orders of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Saleh Mirhashemi, Majid Kazemi and Said Yaghoubi, were hanged on 19 May 2023 in Isfahan, accused of links to the main democratic opposition, the People’s Mojahedin of Iran (PMOI/MEK), and of “waging war against God”.
These executions not only highlight the Iranian regime’s vulnerability, but also its desperate attempts to suppress the voice of the Iranian people who are yearning for democratic change. However, these crimes will not deter the Iranian people in their quest for freedom and justice, and will amplify their calls for democratic governance, social equality, and respect for human rights.
These political hangings come on top of a wave of executions that swept through Iran in May, taking the lives of more than 100 prisoners, including women and some 30 Baluchis, a severely repressed ethnic minority.
This massive bloodshed is deeply alarming for the international community and demands urgent and efficient action. It is crucial for the United Nations to play an active role in addressing the deteriorating human rights situation in Iran. The UN should establish an international tribunal to prosecute perpetrators of these crimes that constitute a crime against humanity.
It is time for the international community to lend its support to the Iranian people and resistance fighting for freedom and democracy. In this respect specific measures must be taken including recognition of the man democratic opposition coalition movement – the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) and the ten-point plan presented by Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the NCRI, which calls for a free, secular and democratic republic with free elections, individual freedoms, an end to the death penalty, gender equality, separation of religion and a non-nuclear Iran.
