A supporter of the Iranian opposition. Photo thanks to SIR (Flickr)
Today, the Iranian authorities have executed the first two people connected with the post-election violence. Mohammad Reza Ali Zamani and Arash Rahmanipour are being executed for “trying to topple the Islamic Regime” and “for membership of armed opposition groups”.
I have blogged before about the human rights situation in Iran after the elections of June 2009 (see https://stevehynd.wordpress.com/2010/01/19/fac-and-iran-the-time-for-ashton-to-prove-herself/). Worryingly there are hundreds more detained after the elections that are facing torture and arbitrary detention. There are reports of torture, including sexual abuse and rape being used against detainees. According to recent reports at least 5 of these prisoners are now facing the death penalty.
I wonder, am I just tired, or is there no chance of things improving any time soon in Iran? They are happy to ignore the EU (and all its Member States) and the US is in a diplomatic no-mans land. What’s the answer…an Iranian revolution – take 2? It seems unlikely (and quite undesirable). Before I really give up, I will wait and see what happens in the lead up to, during, and after the UPR process (http://www.upr-info.org/-Iran-.html). It looks like the UPR is the only international mechanism that Iran has not openly ignored.
To keep up-dated about the disappearances, detentions and executions have a look at the Guardian’s regularly up-dated spread sheet: http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2010/jan/28/iran-dead-detained-protests-elections-spreadsheet
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