روزنه rowzane خبری – تحلیلی 
The executions in Iran will not go unanswered
A wave of protests gets underway in Iran and internationally in response to the killings
In the morning of Tuesday 23 January, the Iranian regime executed 23-year-old Mohammad Ghobadlou and 43-year-old Farhad Salimi. Ghobadlou, who had a diagnosis of bipolar disorder, had been in prison since his arrest at the height of the Woman Life Freedom uprising last year and was awaiting a retrial. Farhad Salimi, a prisoner of conscience, had already spent 14 years in prison, enduring tortures and a forced confession. Ghobadlou’s lawyer was informed of the planned execution only 12 hours before it was carried out. Salimi, who had been on hunger strike in protest against the execution of his fellow prisoners and his imminent execution, was denied a final visit from his family.
We extend our condolences to the bereaved families of Mohammad Ghobadlou and Farhad Salimi. We honour their memories by stepping up the fight against this murderous regime and for putting an end to the executions in Iran.
Mohammad Ghobadlou and Farhad Salimi are among scores of other political prisoners, protesters and dissidents, who have either been executed or are currently at imminent risk of execution. Lacking total legitimacy, the Islamic regime of Iran has used execution, i.e. state murder, as its prime weapon in confronting protests and dissent and for its murderous survival.
The execution of Mohammad Ghobadlou and Farhad Salimi has unleashed a powerful wave of anger and protests among the people and activists in Iran and internationally. 61 women political prisoners at Iran’s Evin Prison have begun a hunger strike in protest against the executions. Scores of labour and civil rights activists, dissidents and celebrities have also announced they are going on hunger strike in solidarity. Internationally, hundreds of civil rights, labour and political parties and activists have already staged protest events in numerous cities across the world, and have announced plans for more.
The Iranian regime’s brutal killing of imprisoned protesters and political dissidents once again highlights the urgency of global isolation and boycott of this regime and worldwide solidarity with the people of Iran. Only such a concerted effort internationally, in unity with the protests in Iran, can provide material support to the protesting people of Iran and stop the regime in its tracks.
The Islamic regime of Iran must be boycotted, just as the racist apartheid regime in South Africa once was. This regime must be kicked out of international political bodies such as the UN and its organisations such as the ILO. It should be stripped of political recognition, diplomatic ties with it should be ended and its embassies must be shut down. This regime should be barred from international cultural and sporting events. Those of its officials involved in mass murder and crimes against humanity who set foot on foreign soil must be arrested and prosecuted under the principle of universal jurisdiction.
We call on the global community, on trade unions, human rights organisations, women’s rights organisations and all those individuals, celebrities and public figures appalled by these killings, to condemn the executions in Iran in the strongest possible terms, lend their support to the protesting people of Iran and join the campaign for the boycott of this regime.
We call on all states, in particular the EU and the Western governments, to end their political and diplomatic ties with this regime, stop their appeasement of it and take concrete action to isolate and boycott it.
The regime in Iran is already receiving a powerful response to its brutal killing of protesters and political prisoners from the people of Iran. Let’s turn this into a united, global effort to bring the regime to its knees and at the very first step put an end to the executions in Iran.
Worker-communist Party of Iran – International Office
25 January 2024
