BY: Keyvan salami
More than 2½ years after the smiling Hassan Rouhani took office, there are no signs of the “moderation” promised by many. Recent reports indicate four Sunni prisoners lost their lives under torture and due to being deprived of medical treatment. Another case shows dozens of Sunnis are on death row in a notorious prison west of the capital Tehran. While the international community is pursuing its appeasement policy vis-à-vis Iran for a disgraceful nuclear deal, the ayatollahs in Iran are taking full advantage and escalating their crackdown on religious and ethnic minorities, especially Sunni Muslims. The world must get its act together and take action against such atrocities. While condemnations are good, they are not enough.
The religious fascism ruling Iran deviously announced a “week of unity” marking the birth of Mohammed, the Prophet of Islam. While bull horning brotherhood and equality between Shiites and Sunnis, the ayatollahs have actually intensified their crackdown, executions and measures aimed at forcing Sunni inmates in various prisons across the country suffer to death.
From December 27th to the 30th, four Sunni prisoners lost their lives in Zahedan Central Prison (southeast Iran) under torture and due to being deprived of any medical care, activists reported from inside Iran.
On December 30th, Mr. Eghbal (Mehdi) Narouie, 23, a Baluchi Sunni detained in Zahedan Central Prison, lost his life under torture while in the quarantine ward, reports indicate. Prison guards attacked him after protested the use of torture by prison authorities, transferring him to the quarantine ward.
Three days prior to this Mr. Farzad Narouie, 40, held in ward 5 of Zahedan Central Prison, lost his life due to vicious torture and lack of medical care, human rights advocates reported. After enduring three days of torture in a police station in Zahedan, he was transferred to a ward while he had severe wounds on his back and legs. Despite his dire physical conditions the intelligence deputy of this jail prevented any medical care for this prisoner.
While providing medical treatment to any human being, prisoner or not, is considered an undeniable right across the globe, activists said on December 28th and the 29th Mr. Mehdi Narouie, 38, also lost his life due to the lack medical care. He had already endure six years behind bars. Another inmate, Mr. Gholam Rabbani, 40, behind bars for two years, was also deprived of medical care and perished.
The notorious Gohardasht Prison in the city of Karaj, west of Tehran, has a long history of mass executions and horrific practices of physical and psychological execution. Sunni prisoners in this jail, especially hall 10 – ward 4 section are all on death row whose convictions have all been upheld by the mullahs’ so-called Supreme Court. This is a prelude to many more executions to come. These Sunni inmates are sentenced to death on the bogus, ayatollah-fabricated charges of “propaganda against the state, corruption on earth and moharebe (defined as enmity against God)”.
Furthermore, in recent days this prison has witnessed barbaric raids by members of the Revolutionary Guards in the wards of Sunni prisoners, inspections, unannounced transfer to different areas of the prison and imposing increasing restrictions on the defenseless inmates.
What is certain is that the regime in Iran is the enemy of all people, be it Shiite, Sunni, Muslims or non-Muslims. The ayatollahs use religion merely as a tool for escalating their crackdown on the people. The equality and unity this regime boasts about is nothing but equality for all in the terms of repression, cruelty, execution, deprivation and poverty.
The international community, especially the United States and Europe, must end their silence in the face of such actions that belong to the Dark Ages. The United Nations Security Council should step in and take firm action to make the ayatollahs understand this systematic and barbaric form of human rights violations must come to an end, or there will be a price to pay. The 21st century is no place for inhumane measures.
Keyvan Salami tweets on @SalamiKeyvan