We would like to invite you to show your solidarity with people in Iran by writing to:
The Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs of the Dutch House of Representatives
Ms. Pia Dijkstra, Chair
Mr. Joël Voordewind
To withdraw the invitation to meet with the Islamic Regime in Iran and instead pressurise the regime to free all political prisoners.
Send your message to:
The Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs of the Dutch House of Representatives
Ms. Pia Dijkstra, Chair
Mr. Joël Voordewind
Email: p.dijkstra@tweedekamer.nl
Tweet: @BuZaTweedekamer
@piadijkstra
Please use #BanIRI_Holland
To:
The Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs of the Dutch House of Representatives
Ms. Pia Dijkstra, Chair
Mr. Joël Voordewind
Re: Your official meeting with the delegates of the Islamic regime
We were informed that your government will be meeting the representatives of the Islamic Regime of Iran (IRI) on June 12th 2019 in the parliament. It is outrageous that your government has invited such a notorious regime that has been infamous for abusing human rights in Iran for 40 years on a grand scale that could only be compared with the fascist regimes around the globe. You have invited representatives of a regime that has imprisoned, tortured and executed hundreds of thousands of people in Iran. This is a regime that has:
- Plotted association of dissidents in the Netherland, Denmark and France. Your Foreign Minister, Mr Stef Blok, in a statement in January 2019, stated: “The AIVD has strong indications that Iran was involved in the assassinations of two Dutch nationals of Iranian origin, in Almere in 2015 and in The Hague in 2017. These individuals were opponents of the Iranian regime. In the Dutch government’s opinion, hostile acts of this kind flagrantly violate the sovereignty of the Netherlands and are unacceptable”.
- Executed the Iranian-Dutch citizen, Ms Zahra Bahrami by the regime in Iran in 2011.
- Deprived millions of people in Iran from their basic rights of exercising their freedom of expression. This is a regime that has committed crime against humanity by opposition cleansing during the 40 years of their dictatorship.
Furthermore, I would like to draw your attention to numerous crimes committed by the regime in Iran including the following:
- Presently, thousands of political prisoners are held in different prisons across Iran without access to a lawyer, without being charged or trial. Their ‘crimes’ range from possessing a book, an article, or a leaflet about how to participate in different protests. Among these political prisoners are lawyers, who have tried in vain to defend some of the prisoners, labour activists, human rights activists, women’s rights advocates, journalists, children rights activists, bloggers, artists, environmental activist members of banned opposition groups and the people of the Baha’i faith. This is just a fraction of what the regime has done in the past two years.
- Tens of labour activists are in prison including Mr Jafar Azimzadeh, Esmail Bakhshi and Sepideh Gholian. Following the May Day 2019 gathering in Iran, 45 labour activists were arrested; tens of them are still in prison. The labour activists and teachers are often being sentenced to flogging and lengthy jail sentences on the bogus charged of ‘acting against national security’.
- Women’s rights activists, including Ms Nahid Shaghaghi, Atena Dayemi, Narges Mohamadi, Nasrin Sotudeh are still in prison.
- Following the mass protests against poverty in various cities in Iran in December 2017 to January 2018, the Islamic regime has arrested and tortured more than 3000 people, has killed 22 protesters on the street and killed at least 6 detainees under torture.
- More than 262 truck drivers were arrested in 2018 in Iran only for participating in a strike action on bogus charges of ‘threatening national security’. Tens of them are still in prison.
- Following the recent strike of the Sugar Cane workers of Haft-Tapeh, and also Ahvaz Steel Workers in Iran, tens of workers were arrested, tortured and subjected to forced televised confession. Some of these workers are still in prison, including Mr Esmael Bakhshi and the student activist Ms Sepideh Gholian. Mr Bakhshi and Ms Gholian are both were arrested again after serving their sentences because they spoke about the torture they were subjected to when they were initially arrested.
- Tens of environmental activists have been arrested and tortured and are still in prison.
- Hundreds of political prisoners including Mr Arash Sadeghi, Saeed Shirzad and Alireza Golipour have been deprived of medical attention so they could die without the need for the regime to execute them. In prisons, the interrogators decide whether the prisoners should be sent to the hospital outside of the prison. Although many prisoners needs urgent medical attention and they are in the verge of dying, the interrogators do not allow them to receive treatment as a way of punishing these prisoners.
These are only a few examples of the violation of human rights by the Islamic regime in Iran. Amnesty International has recently published a report on the recent situation of human rights abuse in Iran.
The question is why your government has decided to close its eyes on these crimes committed by the regime in Iran and invited their representatives? Isn’t this siding with the Islamic Regime in Iran? History has shown that ‘dialog’ with dictator and fascist regimes only results in legitimisation of such a regime.
On behalf of the political prisoners and their families in Iran, I urge your government to withdraw your invitation to meet with the Islamic Regime in Iran and instead pressurise the regime to free all political prisoners. It is your choice to be on the side of people and political prisoners in Iran and their families, or side with a regime that has an established track record of committing crime against humanity in Iran.
Shiva Mahbobi, spokesperson
Campaign to Free Political Prisoners in Iran (CFPPI)
shiva.mahbobi@gmail.com +44(0) 7572356661