London, 23 Aug – The Dutch-Iranian community, and supporters of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), staged a protest rally in solidarity with the victims of the recent wave of political executions in Iran. Hundreds of people gathered together in the protest in The Hague on Saturday, August 20.
This follows last week’s three-day hunger strike staged by dozens of members of the Dutch-Iranian communities in The Hague.
The rally also coincided with the anniversary of the massacre of some 30,000 political prisoners during the summer of 1988.
A never before published audio tape recently surfaced, on which Hossein-Ali Montazeri, Khomeini’s former heir, can be heard shedding new light on the scope and pace of the 1988 massacre of at least 30,000 political prisoners. The overwhelming majority of the victims were activists of the main opposition People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI / MEK) who had been serving prison terms.
The executions were ordered by Death Commissions appointed by Khomeini. Amnesty International has described it as a crime against humanity. Yet, shockingly, members of the Death Commission are cabinet ministers in the Rouhani government, or currently hold other senior positions.
Dozens of people have been hanged in the past two weeks on orders from the Iranian authorities. On 2nd August 2nd, 25 Sunni political prisoners were put to death in one day, prompting a condemnation by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. There is now evidence which shows that the victims had been tortured prior to their execution.
More than 2,600 people have been executed in Iran during Hassan Rouhani’s three-year tenure.
The protestors urged the Dutch government to categorically condemn the ongoing executions in Iran, and act with its allies to call for an immediate halt to the executions and torture in Iran. They also called on the UN Security Council to form an international court to prosecute those responsible for the 1988 massacre in Iran. They further stressed that any improvement of relations with the Iranian regime should be preconditioned upon an improvement in human rights and a halt to executions in Iran.
Other major European cities, including London and Oslo, have held similar rallies and hunger strikes in the recent weeks.
