UNITED KINGDOM. 60 PARLIAMENTARIANS CONDEMN EXECUTION OF POLITICAL PRISONERS IN IRAN

following the execution of political prisoner Hojjat Zamani in Gohardasht prison and the threat of a widespread mass execution of political prisoners in Iran, Lord Corbett of Castle Vale initiated a joint statement condemning gross violations of human rights in Iran. The statement which was signed by over 60 members of both Britain’s Houses of Parliament, called on the Prime Minister, Tony Blair to take measures to end the execution of women and children and the torture and execution of political prisoners in Iran.
“Oppression has intensified since President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and his cabinet took office. In the last six months of 2005, there were more than 130 executions, over twice the number carried out in the first half of the year. Harassment and abuse of women has also been stepped up. On 21 January 2006, an Iranian newspaper reported that a woman by the name of Masoumeh had been sentenced to death by stoning,” the statement read.
“The regime has also increased pressure and torture on political prisoners, especially against the major opposition movement, the People’s Mojahedin Organisation of Iran. On 7 February 2006, Hojjat Zamani, a PMOI member who had been physically and psychologically tortured since his imprisonment in 2001, was hanged in Gohardasht prison. “Against this background, we urge the Prime Minister continue to condemn human rights abuses in Iran and call for an end to the execution of women and children and the torture and execution of political prisoners.”