Message from 3 Political Prisoners: The Fall of Assad is a Lesson for Khamenei's Dictatorship

Reza Mohammadi Hosseini, Arasham Razai, and Zartosht Ahmadi Raghb, three political prisoners in Qazalhessar, emphasized in a message from prison coinciding with International Human Rights Day that the Islamic Republic, in addition to its actions in Iran, is one of the world's largest violators of human rights through "war-mongering and support for terrorism" in the region. In the message of these three political prisoners, which was received by VOA on Tuesday, December 20, it is stated: "The violation of human rights in Iran, a country that has a long-standing heritage of human thought and behavior, is truly a cause for regret and astonishment. For the heralds of human rights have been Iranians for thousands of years, and the culture, literature, and art left by our wise ancestors all point to humanity." Reza Mohammadi Hosseini, Arasham Razai, and Zartosht Ahmadi Raghb pointed out the Islamic Republic's interventions over the past 46 years in the affairs of several regional countries, including Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Lebanon, and Palestinian territories "through war-mongering and support for terrorism," emphasizing that the Iranian government has "registered its name as one of the greatest violators of human rights in the world." These three political prisoners, referring to the formation of the United Nations with the aim of "world peace" after the deaths of millions in the two World Wars, emphasized that "one of the fundamental pillars" of the UN, "in addition to freedom, democracy, and security, was human rights" and that "the provisions of this declaration emphasize the enjoyment of all humans in all countries of fundamental cultural, civil, political, economic, and social rights." They reminded that Iran has signed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, stating: "In the forty-sixth week of the No to Execution campaign, which coincides with International Human Rights Day, our duty requires us to continue, wherever we are, even in the prison of oppression and tyranny, to be a voice against the issuance and execution of death sentences. We must not remain silent, challenge the oppression, hold the oppressors accountable, and for years of crimes, killings, executions, looting, corruption, and lies imposed on the people and homeland by incompetent rulers and the repressive apparatus, we must bring them down based on our fundamental rights." The three constitutionalist political prisoners also reacted to the arrest of Masoud Vazifeh, Sohrab Hassan Khani, and Mojtaba Ebrahimi, three civil activists following their protest against the issuance of death sentences for six defendants in the "Akbatān Children" case, emphasizing: "They protested against the issuance of death sentences for the Akbatān children and were arrested only for expressing their opinion and peaceful protest. These three have committed no crime and have only expressed their voice of protest against human rights violations and inhumane death sentences. We demand the immediate and unconditional release of these three protesters and declare that silence in the face of this oppression is a betrayal of human and human rights principles." In another part of their message regarding the developments in Syria, they stated: "The fall and overthrow of the criminal Bashar al-Assad these days can be a lesson for the dictatorship of Khamenei's autocratic government, which has spent billions of dollars of the income and assets of the Iranian people without permission to sustain Bashar al-Assad's tyranny." They added: "Activists, freedom-lovers, concerned individuals, and political prisoners have repeatedly emphasized over the years that Iran should not fall into the trap of war-mongering, support for terrorism, and dependence on Russia and China. However, the ears and eyes of the tyrannical rulers have always been closed to these demands." These three political prisoners in Qazalhessar emphasized that "they are hostages of the repressive apparatus of tyranny only for the crime of expressing their opinion" and stated: "We demand the observance of human rights, the abolition of death sentences, the freedom of political prisoners, and the end of dictatorship."