50 people were executed by public hanging in Iran’s islamic republic in one week

international | anti-war / imperialism | other press Tuesday August 14, 2007 18:32 by Yassamine Mather - Hands Off the People of Iran

Communists and democrats must take a clear stand

Yassamine Mather writes on the judicial murder of 50 people in Iran. She also points out that according to Iranian Govt figures, 150,000 women have been arrested for wearing an "improper hijab" (ie letting their hair show). Full article at link.

At the end of July and beginning of August 2007, in less than a week, over 50 people were executed by public hanging in Iran’s islamic republic. This has taken place against the background of a campaign entitled ‘enforcement of national security’, under which over one million Iranians have faced questioning. Meanwhile, the state claims that it has arrested 4,000 ‘delinquents’ and detained 43,000 accused of drug offences. Just as alarmingly, anti-war, anti-imperialist activists such as Mansour Ossanlou and Mahmoud Salehi, as well as many workers and students, are held in prison on trumped-up charges.

According to government figures, 150,000 young women have been apprehended for wearing a ‘poor hijab’ (their fringe or a few strands of hair had been showing under their headscarf). There are also reports that a young woman was stoned to death, the second in two months, in mid-July. The Iranian media reported that Maryam Ayyubi, in her early 30s, was put to death at dawn on July 11.

Of course, as we had predicted, US pressure on Iran, the threat of war, sanctions and plans for regime change from above, Bush-style, will only lead to further repression, executions and detention of the very activists who lead genuine anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist struggles - while Iran’s islamic regime is busy negotiating with the US and UK governments over the terms of all three parties’ interference in the internal affairs of imperialist-occupied Iraq.