Witnesses at Iran Aban Tribunal have spoken loud and clear:
The Islamic regime in Iran committed crimes against humanity
Witnesses spoke about psychological and physical and sexual torture
The Iran Atrocities Tribunal, also known as the ‘Aban Tribunal’ was held at Church House in London for five days from 10-14 November 2021. The Tribunal coincided with the second anniversary of the crackdown on the protesters in November 2019 in Iran. This day is also known as Bloody November. Reports estimated that up to 1500 people were shot dead, more than 8000 arrested and, thousands were wounded.
I attended the Tribunal every day for five days. I listened to various witnesses, some of whom were the families of those shot dead. They bravely attended the Tribunal through videos, using their real names, and without covering their faces. They talked about their anguish and heart-breaking suffering of losing their children. Some of those parents who lost their daughters and sons were not even allowed to grieve for their losses. Among them was the mother of an 18-year-old, Pejman Gholipour, who showed her son’s room and his bloody clothes she had kept as his memorial. These families were even banned from holding funerals for their children, they have been constantly threatened by the security forces that they must not speak to the media, or ask who killed their children. I need to mention we’ve received news that following their appearance in the hearing, these families were threatened by the security forces, and the mother of Pejman Gholipour, was arrested. Families have already announced they knew they might be arrested as a result of appearing in the tribunal and giving testimony, they chose to attend it anyway to demand justice for their children.
As I was listening to these families speaking about the heroic act of their children in the tribunal, I thought about thousands of the families who never had a chance to speak up about their children killed by the regime. I thought of my teenage friends, who were executed by the Islamic regime in the 80s, and their families who were not able to hold the Islamic regime accountable for killing them.
In the ‘Aban Tribunal,’ I was hearing the stories of other witnesses including those who were arrested in the protest, tortured, and witnessed other demonstrators being tortured or even executed. Most of the witnesses were from Iran and their faces were covered to protect their identity and reprisal from the security forces. One male witness was recalling his experience in a detention centre when he saw a 13 years old boy being detained, insulted, and even sexually abused by the security guards in prison. A female witness, while crying, was talking about the way interrogators and guards tortured and sexually assaulted her and told her this is a price she had to pay for organising and leading a demonstration in November 2019.
Over the five days of the tribunal, I heard from witnesses that many protesters were wounded but did not go to the hospital as they feared being arrested and tortured. Two doctors were among the witnesses. They spoke about their experiences of secretly treating wounded protesters at their house. At the time of November 2019, CFPPI received several reports on how the security forces went to hospitals and arrested the wounded protesters, detained them right in the hospital, and then tortured them instead of providing them with medical treatment.
One of the unique experiences of being in the tribunal was that I listened to three witnesses who were part of the security forces at the time of the crackdown in 2019. Their faces were completely covered and their voices were altered to protect their identity. They spoke about the ways and methods the security forces used to attack the protesters.
As a former political prisoner, who spent more than three years in prison during my teens, and as a campaigner for the release of political prisoners in Iran, it was an honour to hear all these daring stories. I felt proud and hopeful. At the time, I felt emotional and enraged listening to the horrifying stories of the witnesses. I related to their pain as I was tortured too. I was familiar with the sense of helplessness and powerlessness of being captured by the murderous agents of the Islamic regime in Iran. I too lost close friends, who were executed in their teens by the regime, and their families are still suffering as a result of that. At the same time, I related to their power, resilience, and determination to fight for justice. The tribunal, due to the time restriction, was only able to hear 33 witnesses. However, the message from the witnesses echoed the voice of millions of people in Iran. The message was that we don’t give up; we demand justice and we urge the international community to take action against the atrocities committed by the Islamic regime in Iran. The tribunal has been successful in echoing their voices. Right after the first day of the tribunal, more people contacted and announced that they too are ready to give evidence against the Islamic regime.
On the first day of the tribunal, names and descriptions of 133 perpetrators from the Islamic regime, who ordered and carried out the atrocity of November 2019, were readout. The list included Ebrahim Raisi, the current president of the regime who was the head of the judiciary during the November 2019 protests. Other names included Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader of the regime, Hassan Rouhani the president of the regime in November 2019, and many more.
While the tribunal was held in London, Ali Bagheri-Kani, the regime’s deputy foreign minister and nuclear negotiator was visiting the UK and had a meeting with the Foreign Affairs minister. His visit also coincided with Richard Ratcliffe’s hunger strike in front of the foreign ministry building. Richard is the husband of the jailed dual national, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe. The question is what has the UK government done to free Nazanin and to hold the Islamic regime accountable for the crime against humanity committed by the regime? The answer is only a gentle slap on the wrist and sending some ineffective letters. Why the UK government didn’t use the meeting with the regime’s foreign minister to assert pressure to stop the crackdown on the protesters and release jailed rights activists? People in Iran, and those who put their lives in danger to give testimony in the ‘Aban Tribunal’, expect the UK government to take serious action and to condemn the crimes against humanity repeatedly committed by the Islamic regime. It is not acceptable, and in fact, it is outrageous, to shake hands with a regime that massacres people in Iran.
Shiva Mahbobi
Spokeswoman for the Campaign to Free Political Prisoners in Iran (CFPPI)
www.cfppi.org
shiva.mahbobi@gmail.com
For more information, please see the links below:
CFPPI report: CFPPI Report on November 2019
Amnesty International report: Report Amnesty November2019-Iran
Aban Tribunal website: https://abantribunal.com
