World Day Against the Death Penalty has been annually observed on October 10.  In Iran, thousands of people were executed for their thoughts in 41 years.  Families, whose relatives were executed, point out that the dead bodies of their relatives weren’t given to them. “This inhuman practice should be abolished,” they say.

ŞEHLA MEHMÛDÎ/SARA URMIYE

News Center- World Day Against the Death Penalty was put in place by a coalition of NGOs known as the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, in 2003. On October 10, events such as debates, concerts, and lectures have been held throughout the world to raise awareness of the issue of the death penalty and the global fight against it. While the executions are in decline globally, the practice remains widespread in Iran. In Iran, thousands of people were executed in 41 years. We spoke to families of executed people in Iran to mark the World Day Against the Death Penalty.

“They hanged Bijen like others”

We first spoke to Laden and Lale Bazirgan, sisters of Bijen Bazirgan, who was executed in 1988, in Iran. “My brother was a supporter of the Union of Iranian Republicans. He was arrested in 1982 and sentenced to 10 years in prison. Although he was sentenced to 10 years in prison, they hanged Bijen like others. He was held in prison for six years and three months. Iranian regime hanged him along with other political prisoners. We hadn’t received any news from him for four months before his execution. In 1082, he went out to see his friends but never came back. My mother waited for my brother for years but she died without seeing him. She had a heart attack at the age of 46,” human rights defender and lawyer Laden Bazirgan told us.

“People were executed for political reasons”

Activist Laden Bazirgan was nine years old when her brother was executed. “In the 1980s, we heard that people would be executed as naked. People were labeled as terrorists, smugglers and murderers but they were executed for political reasons. My cousin Ferburs Danşwer was arrested in 1980 in an anti-government protest. No one received any news after his arrest. After a while, we learned that he had been executed,” Laden Bazirgan said.

“We shouldn’t remain silent”

Death penalty should be abolished; Laden Bazirgan said that it is an inhuman practice. “The death penalty causes families to fall apart. This inhuman practice should be abolished. The chief judge Hamid Nouri is known as a torturer. We shouldn’t remain silent. We should use press and social media platforms to prevent people from electing a murderous president.”

Her husband and son were executed

İqbal Muradi (father) and Zanyar Muradi (son) were executed in different times in Iran. The Muradi family had to leave Iran to Southern Kurdistan due to the pressure of Iranian regime but Zanyar Muradi decided to stay in Iran. After being held in a prison in the Karaj city, he was executed on September 8, 2018. Amine Mehmud, whose husband and son were executed by the Iranian regime said, “Zanyar was innocent. Their only crime was that they were political.”

Amine Mehmud’s son Zanyar Muradi started a hunger strike in the prison after his friend Loqman was executed. “Zanyar and Loqman were innocent. We haven’t received their dead bodies yet because the Iranian regime is afraid of protests.”

“Don’t bow to the Iranian regime”

Amine Mehmud kept speaking as follows; “The Islamic Republican system is afraid of dead bodies. It arrests Arab, Kurdish, Persian, Turkish and Baloch peoples for seeking their rights. The system first holds the people in prison and then executes them. Dead bodies are not given to the families to prevent people from protesting the regime. As a mother, I ask all people to not bow to the Iranian regime.”