To: Pr.Bruxelles@agora.stm.it
Subject: Hands Off Cain
Dear friends,
I support the Hands Off Cain campaign and would like to join the list of names you published in http//:www.agora.stm.it/pr/hand.htm
I am a long-time campaigner against the death penalty, and at present Chair the Iranian Human Rights Working Group (IHRWG). I include a resume of myself below, and a copy of the a call issued by IHRWG on Human Rights Day to launch its campaign against the death penalty in Iran.
Hossein B. Zadeh
Chair of Iranian Human Rights Working Group (IHRWG)
***
Hossein Bagher Zadeh, 54, is an Iranian who arrived in Britain in 1982 as a refugee. He had already spent 9 years in Britain during the '70s, first as a student doing a Ph.D in Mathematics and then being involved in democratic movements and campaigns against the tyranny of the Shah. Just before the revolution, he set up and published the weekly quality paper Iranshahr (in Persian) in London dedicated to campaigning for democracy and human rights and distributed amongst Iranians around the world.
As a veteran campaigner for democracy and human rights, Dr Zadeh has suffered under the tyrannical regimes of both the Shah and the Ayatollahs. He was first arrested by the Shah's secret police (SAVAK) in 1964 along with a group of other activists on charges of setting up an organisation opposing the Shah. Though the military prosecutor had called for the death sentence for him and his co-defendants, they all received short sentences ranging from 3 to 18 months! However, at least on two other occasions, both before and after the revolution, he came close to being caught with a real threat of execution hanging over him, but on both these occasions he managed to flee (clandestinely) from the country and escaped a certain death.
In a letter to the Guardian in May 92 (Letters, 12th May, 1992) Hossein talked of "the 33 close relations and personal friends of mine who have been executed (11), otherwise killed (7) or just imprisoned and tortured (15) by the present regime [of whom] no less than 21 [had been] active against the Shah before the revolution". These included four brothers, one sister, and a number of in-laws, cousins etc.
He has a B.A. in Islamic Theology, Ph.D. in Pure Mathematics and M.Sc. in Computer Science. He has published a number of books (in Persian) and has written extensively on philosophical, social, political and human rights issues. In 1994, he founded the world-wide Internet-based Iranian Human Rights Working Group of which he has been the Chair ever since.
Late in 1995, Hossein went on the 5-day 150 km walk from his home town of Ipswich to Esher in England as a protest against the Covert & Operational Procurement Exhibition (COPEX) - the annual trade show for security equipment. COPEX was exposed as a trading place for torture equipment by the British Channel 4 TV where they also secretly filmed officials from Iran and some other tyrannical regimes taking part (for details of the walk, see http://ics.ascn3.uakron.edu/public/walk.html)
***
On the Occasion of Human Rights Day
IHRWG Launches Campaign Against the Death Penalty in Iran
Calling: ALL Iranians
ALL Iranian political groups
ALL lovers of humanity, justice and fairness
ALL campaigners for democracy and human rights in Iran
The government of the Islamic Republic of Iran
On the occasion of Human Rights Day (10th December), we call on the Iranian government to put a stop to all forms of executions, and call on all Iranian people to join us in the demand for the total abolishment of the death penalty in Iran.
Death penalty is morally WRONG - no human being (or society) should be allowed to take the life of another human being in cold blood.
Death penalty is socially CORRUPTIVE - it makes killing people an
acceptable behaviour.
Death penalty is socially DEGENERATING - violence breeds violence, and killing other people is the ultimate form of violence.
Death penalty is socially CRUEL - it punishes the relatives of the convicted person for a crime in which they have had no part.
Death penalty is socially UNJUST - it is mostly applied to the poor, the deprived and the wretched of the society.
Death penalty is socially a 'CRIMINAL' act - it is 'murder' committed by governments in a systematic way.
Death penalty is legally UNSAFE - far too many people get executed for the crimes they have been wrongly convicted of.
Death penalty is legally IRREVERSIBLE - dead victims of a miscarriage of justice can never be compensated.
Death penalty is legally CORRUPTIVE - it is a convenient way for torturers to eliminate the main witness of their crimes.
And finally:
Death penalty is a means of political SUPPRESSION - the death penalty has been, and can always be, applied to political opponents of the governing regime, no matter how 'democratic' or 'popular' it may be.
The Iranian people have suffered one of the worst records of executions in the modern world - and mostly for political 'crimes'.
Though a lot of killings have taken place, apparently, on criminal grounds too. And the result is there for all to see: a society full of hatred, discord, and crime. All these blood-lettings have solved no single social ill of the society (notably, drugs-related crimes) - but only have added to them.
Enough is enough. Iranians should adopt what has always been advocated by human rights bodies, like Amnesty International, and has already been accepted by more than half of the member countries of the United Nations: that execution is wrong and should be abolished. The vicious circle of violence has to stop.
Killing in cold blood (including judicial killing) has to become socially unacceptable in our culture, legally criminal, and politically reprehensible. Only if this happens, we may hope to see a break in the cycle of violence which has characterised the Iranian politics for a long time and which at its heights culminated in the mass executions of thousands of our compatriots in our recent history.
The time has come for the government to put a stop to all forms of executions, and for all Iranian political groups to take a stand on this issue: whatever your political outlook and agenda, you need to convince the Iranian people that YOU will never be party to the use of the death penalty for any 'crime'. There's no point in trying to separate the use of the death penalty for criminal offences as opposed to political ones. The line between the two is very fine and invisible. Experience has shown that wherever the punishment is in force it is bound to be used (as it has always been) for political purposes. And nobody should have the slightest doubt that as long as the death penalty is on the statute in Iran (no matter what government is in power) it will be used against political opponents. So, here is the test: unless a political group comes out specifically for the total ban on capital punishment, there's no guarantee that, given the chance, that group will not use it to crush their opposition.
We call on all lovers of humanity and justice, and campaigners for democracy and human rights in Iran to join us in the campaign to get the death penalty abolished in Iran by:
- publicizing this call by any possible means at your disposal,
- responding to us and declaring your support, and/or
- passing the name and address of any Iranian political group you may wish us to contact, and
- writing to the government, declaring your own support, and
- passing this message to any individual or Iranian political group you may have contact with.
And we call on ALL IRANIAN POLITICAL GROUPS to respond, by writing to us, and to declare their unqualified commitment to abolish the death penalty in Iran.
All supporting responses will be warmly received. At the same time, we will particularly welcome any responses by any Iranian political group to this call.
Iranian Human Rights Working Group (IHRWG)
Human Rights Day (10th December) 1996
email: ihrwg@Tehran.Stanford.EDU
WWW: http://www.ihrwg.org/
Post: PO Box 5095
North Branch, N.J.
U.S.A. 08876
Fax: (+1 908) 534-8551
***
Iranian Human Rights Working Group (IHRWG), founded in May 1994, is an Internet-based community of individuals committed to campaigning for the improvement of human rights in Iran. The group's aims and objectives are contained in its Charter which also sets out the structure of the group and the domain of its activities. The group has no political agenda, and makes no judgement on the legitimacy of the authorities in dealing with them, nor does it take the religious or political beliefs or personal attributes of individuals into consideration when it defends their human rights.
The group's Charter specifies its Aims and Objectives as follows:
- To discuss, inform, educate and campaign for the improvement of human rights in Iran and of Iranians abroad by all lawful means possible. In its activities, the group will campaign for the human rights of individuals regardless of their religious or political affiliations or personal attributes...
The group's membership is open to all individuals who BELIEVE in human right values as stipulated by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, ACCEPT the group's Charter, and COMMIT themselves to take part in the campaign for human rights in an atmosphere of mutual trust.
The group is run by an eight-member Steering Committee elected from amongst the membership for a term of two years.
The current members of Steering Committee are:
- Navid Badie (nbadie@oht.hydro.on.ca)
- Hossein Bagher Zadeh (hzadeh@srd.bt.co.uk)
- Goudarz Eghtedari (psu01016@odin.cc.pdx.edu)
- Shannon Lackey (svlackey@nrwpo.nurs.scarolina.edu)
- Yassamine Mather (yasmine@eng.gla.ac.uk)
- Marzieh Namazi (namazi@admin.mcc.mass.edu)
- Kourosh Parsa (kxp1@nynexst.com)
- Sassan Pejhan (sassanp@kodak.com)
If you like to get more information, including the text of the group's Charter, please send a message to:
- ihrwg-info@Tehran.Stanford.EDU
The Charter together with a list of the group's issued statements and declarations in the past, and their texts (English and/or Persian) may be found in the following web pages:
- http://www.ihrwg.org/
- http://ics.ascn3.uakron.edu/public/IHRWGNEW.HTML
- http://www.algonet.se/~farhad/ihrwg
