CP(M)A: "Stand up against the execution of Afghanistan immigrants in Iran!"

by Drew - WPRM Thu Jun 24, 2010 15:30

Following are excerpts from a statement by entitled the Communist Party of Iran (Marxist-Leninist-Maoist). Translations by A World to Win News Service.

CPI(MLM): On the Iranian regime's execution of immigrants from Afghanistan

Over the last few months there have been reports that the reactionary Islamic Republic of Iran has executed immigrants from Afghanistan. These reports have angered the people, especially the toiling people of Afghanistan who have protested against these executions in various ways and condemned the criminal heads of the Iranian regime.

It seems that the execution of tens of thousands of Kurdish, Arab, Bloch, Azeri, Turkmen, Persian and other people since the Islamic regime came to power in 1979 has not satisfied the bloodthirsty Islamic Republic of Iran, which is now rushing to murder immigrants from Afghanistan.

The Islamic Republic of Iran has refused so far to provide an accurate count of the numbers of immigrants from Afghanistan imprisoned in Iran and of those sentenced to death. On the occasions when officials have mentioned the number of prisoners, they have been contradictory. This indicates that those statistics are not real and that the regime wants to hide the real figures. News agencies have reported that so far more than 40 Afghanistan citizens have been executed in Iran. Some people believe that the real number might be more. The Iranian regime has only confirmed the execution of three Afghanistan citizens, while according to some reports the bodies of six executed people have been handed over to their families in exchange for large sums of money.

There have been several demonstrations in Afghanistan protesting these executions, including two in front of the Iranian consulate in Kabul, one in Jalalabad (in the eastern province of Nangarhar) and another in the western province of Herat. People chanted slogans against the heads of the Iranian Islamic regime. Many of those who took part in these protests had one or more of their family members working in Iran or in prison there. A woman demonstrator told a BBC reporter,"This means we have been suppressed in Pakistan, we have been suppressed in Afghanistan, and we have also been suppressed in Iran."

But the Islamic Republic of Iran, which claims the right to commit any crime, has been outraged by these protests and has had the Afghanistan puppet regime stop them. The Afghanistan regime, equally an enemy of the people, has cooperated with the Islamic Republic of Iran. There is no doubt that the two regimes have a common interest in suppressing the Iranian and Afghanistan masses. For example, when huge numbers of people in Iran took to the streets against the coup by the Khamenei/Ahmadinejad gang following the last presidential election, Karzai was the first foreign head of state to congratulate Ahmadinejad. In turn, despite its superficial slogans against the U.S. occupation of Afghanistan, the Islamic Republic of Iran supported the invasion and has backed the continuation of the occupation in different forms. Seeking a strong foothold in the country for its own influence, it has always supported the corrupt Karzai regime.

The Iranian regime claims that the executed had been arrested on drug-related charges. Many people don't believe them. But even if we assume that this is true, people are asking questions that demand an answer.

First, has the execution of thousands of drug addicts and petty dealers since the founding of the Islamic Republic been able to eliminate or reduce the consumption of drugs in Iran, the avowed purpose of these executions? The statistics speak for themselves. Drug consumption has surpassed 1,000 tonnes per year. The number of drug addicts is shocking. According to the authorities, there are more than 1.2 million addicts and more then two million consumers in total – however this figure is probably a gross underestimation.

Isn't it true that after 31 years of the Islamic Republic's rule by prison and execution, the number of drug addicts has been multiplied several times over and the consumption of heroin and opium has reached an unbelievable level? There is hardly a family among the poor without one or two young members who are drug victims. Therefore, even if the regime is telling the truth with its claim that those executed were arrested on drug charges, both the people and the regime are well aware that these executions will not reduce the number of addicts or even reverse the spread of this plague.

Iran is the main corridor through which thousands of tonnes of drugs move from Afghanistan to the European and Middle Eastern markets. It is hard to believe that the quantity of drugs passing through or consumed in Iran can be hidden in the bundles of Afghanistan immigrants crossing the border. Instead, large loads are carried in lorries or airplanes and possibly escorted along certain routes. Further, is it possible to imagine that such a quantity could pass through Iran without the knowledge of the mafia-style gangs connected to the Islamic Republic and Pasdaran (Revolutionary Guards), or that these criminals are staying out of this highly profitable trade that has found its way into every corner of the country, including prisons, schools and other places under government supervision? In fact, drug use first began to soar during the Iran-Iraq war, when the Islamic Republic allowed it among front-line soldiers. Is it possible to imagine that the Pasdaran corps is unaware of the existence and paths of the drug trade and does not seek to at least extort ("tax") these caravans? At least that is not what the ordinary people in both Iran and Afghanistan believe.

Another question is this: while the Iranian regime suppresses immigrants from Afghanistan, who are its friends across the border? Isn't that true that they have close relations with a section of the ruling class in Afghanistan that holds the monopoly on drugs tightly in its hand? The production and trafficking of drugs plays a vital role in Afghanistan's economy. It is now common knowledge that Ahmad Vali Karzai, the brother of Hamid Karzai, runs the empire of opium collection and production in southern Afghanistan and in particular Kandahar and is trying to extend its reach throughout the whole country. Everyone also knows about the involvement of other warlords such as Ghasim Fahim, Karzai's vice-president, and many other officials, commanders and governors.

And finally there is this question: To a significant degree, isn't the friendship between the heads of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the occupier-appointed Karzai regime a reflection of their mutually-beneficial cooperation in the drug trade? People in both countries are asking themselves these questions, and most think they know the answers. Few people seriously believe the Iranian Islamic regime's phoney "resolve to fight the drug trade".

Despite all these question marks hanging over the heads of the Iranian regime, they and their media continue to act with equal degrees of chauvinism and insanity in portraying people from Afghanistan as the cause of drug use, crime, economic problems, currency shortages, unemployment, the "abuse of social services", and so on. Every single problem is blamed on these people to justify their brutal exploitation and abuse.

For example, Taghi Ghaemi, in charge of "Foreign citizens and immigration" at the Interior Ministry, said in February that Afghanistan citizens send or take out of the country an amount of currency equal to that country's entire national budget. He calculated this based on the supposition that each of the approximately 1 million Afghanistan citizens living "illegally" in Iran have savings of 250,000 Tuman (about 250 dollars). What he did not say is that these workers produce profits many times greater than what they send abroad, most of which goes to gangs linked to the regime and the Pasdaran corps. He did not mention that many employers hold back the wages of these immigrants for weeks at a time, and sometimes they are fired before being paid. He deliberately forgot to say that those who after so much difficulty succeed in saving a little money will see it all extorted or stolen by Pasdaran, border police or other patrol forces. Even worse, Islamic Republic officials like Ghaemi deliberately encourage these kinds of crimes.

The Islamic Republic of Iran continuously rounds up immigrants from Afghanistan and expels them by force. According to Afghanistan officials responsible for "citizens returning from abroad", in two months alone (from mid-March to mid-May), Iran expelled more than 80,000 Afghanistanis, almost always in the most brutal manner and often without even informing their family members.

At the beginning of the Islamic revolution the Iranian regime tried to use immigrants from Afghanistan to spread anti-communist propaganda. Then it tried to use them to gain influence in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Now the Islamic Republic is struggling for its shameless life and madly resorting to execution, murder, torture, rape and imprisonment. The immigrants from Afghanistan who are among the most oppressed masses in Iran are not exempt from these brutalities, but they form a weak link in the whole country as far as the regime is concerned, and it is especially anxious to terrify them.

There is no doubt that the chauvinist and oppressive policies of the Islamic Republic can have very negative effects on the relationship between the masses of the two countries. This is why conscious efforts by people and the revolutionary forces of these two countries to neutralise them are of vital importance. The masses of Afghanistan who protested against the Iranian regime acted in this way. For example, people in Jalalabad carried pictures of Farzad Kamangar, Neda Agha-Soltan, Shirin Alam Houly and others executed or murdered by the Iranian regime over the last year. One of them, a woman, spoke to a BBC reporter about the recent execution of five political prisoners in Iran: "They were fighting to liberate their country and the entire world. They were not spies or gangsters. That is why we feel sympathy with the people of Iran." It is also important to mention that in the recent uprising of the Iranian people, immigrants from Afghanistan in Iran courageously took part in the protests against the Islamic regime. Ten of them were arrested and there has been no news of their fate in the regime's prisons. It is very likely that they are among those executed or those awaiting execution for "drug-related charges".

Based on the common interests of the oppressed masses and international solidarity, the people and the revolutionary forces in both countries should stand together against their common enemies, the reactionary regime of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the occupier-appointed regime in Afghanistan and the imperialists who are trying to dominate the region. They should unite their ranks and strongly condemn and oppose the Islamic regime's crimes against the immigrants from Afghanistan.

by opus diablos - the regressive hypocrite party Thu Jun 24, 2010 17:54

Or thoughtlessly provocative. I've travelled in Iran, Afghanistan, Turkey, Pakistan and a few other corners.Even forty years ago when there might be one radio in a village they were following the Ulster situation with interest.Often more interest than southern Irish people.Just because people dont have jacuzzis and jeeps does not mean they are as up themselves as western culture.Your comment does not support the contention that travel broadens the mind.Besides we are all under the same Pax Americana.And much as I admire China's achievements,I dont really figure them for the cavalry galloping to the rescue.We should be working more closely with smaller non-aligned states to generate a more equitable planet, rather than dancing to the tunes of Sam and corporate Europe.Unfortunately our misleaders seem to share your ostrich vision.
But back at the topic.Britannia controlled the opium trade since it used the poppy as a lever to extract its bullion back out of the self-sufficient China of the 19th century, and as a tool to corrupt officials and undermine Chinese autonomy.The same companies gave up their control of this lucrative market out of a Damascan conversion to morality?Sure, and the queen is Polyanna.
The Mafia has been deep into US politics for at least a century.The Taliban had reduced production to something like 5% of pre-Taliban levels.You think the looting of the Iraqi treasures was spontaneous?These boys always ride in with the tanks, whether Panzer or Churchill.The smack is now flooding southern Russia and the former Soviet republics, before it trickles on to keep European and Yankee kids distracted and strung out.Sure I believe in coincidence,and dont cultivate paranoia when there is a more plausible possibility, but past form can be a guide.Washington is Westminster on steroids, and the CIA are long documented in the narco trade.If these kiddies do not have qualms about Napalming villages and scattering depleted Uranium across the planet they sure aint going to turn a farm of poppies into spud production.

by Finian Fri Jun 25, 2010 15:38

Its good to see the perfidy of the Iranian Government exposed by people who also oppose the US and their puppets. Yopday in the Irish Times I saw a letter by Dr David Landy Chair of the IPSC in which he takes the Iranian Ambassador to task.

Madam, – I read the letter of the Iranian ambassador to Ireland (June 16th) with some bemusement. One of the people manhandled by Iranian security guards for the “crime” of protesting was a personal friend, as well as a longstanding member of the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC).

Yet it was not that which caused bemusement, as much as the reference the Iranian ambassador made to the Israeli massacre of innocent aid activists in the Mediterranean. While the IPSC had co-operated with many elements of Irish society and were in communication with the Turkish embassy in responding to this massacre, this was the first that I or anyone else involved in Palestinian solidarity had heard from the Iranian embassy about the matter.

It seems its only interest in Israeli crimes was to divert attention from their own crimes.

Genuine solidarity, whether with Palestinians or with Iranians attacked by their own regime, is indivisible. I offer my solidarity and support to those Iranians fighting for justice in their own country, just as they in the past have supported the Palestinian struggle for their own freedom. – Yours, etc,

DAVID LANDY,

St Thomas Road, Dublin 8.

by opus diablos - the regressive hypocrite party Fri Jun 25, 2010 17:52

Just as many of the Middle East states demonise Israel and divert the discontent of their populations onto the 'evil' of Israel and its crimes against the Palestinians, Israel in turn parades the excesses of these same regimes(usually propped by the same interests that prop Israel)as diversions from its illegal brutality, and to parade itself as an island of democratic liberalism in a savage sea.And while the warriors posture in their resource wars, the civilians catch the shit.And if these same Euro/American interests had not aborted Mosaddeq's democratic attempts in 1953 and ushered in the puppet Shah, Iran might never have heard of its bin Laden predecessing Ayatollah, beyond his mosque.

That said, at the present time, with Israel's increasing blatancy in flouting any and all conventions,UN, Geneva, diplomatic passport rights, random assassinations, and ever-expansionary intent, I am inclined to think triage dictates the major focus must be the egregious behaviour of Tel Aviv.
The decider for me is that Israel is nuclear armed, non-signatory to non-proliferation, and not even attempting cosmetic camouflage of its contempt for external constructive feedback.
It systematically destroyed Lebanon just as that country was beginning to recover from years of vicious wars simply because it will brook no economic competitor in the region.It repeated the systematic 'lesson' to Hamas(whom it had initially supported to undermine the PA) with its Cast Lead blitzkreig, and is straining to see Iran get the same treatment it set up for Iraq, with the Bushwhackers sub-contracting the 'shock and awe'.
There are many vicious regimes in the region, but Israel is no fit candidate for sheriff. And Obama is failing to stop the buck.
Estimates are it will be several years before Iran could begin to be nuked up.Evidence is that Israel is primed and eager.