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Emma Bonino (left) and Khaled Fouad Allam |
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ITALY. HOC PRESENTS REPORT ON HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN IRAN AND APPEAL TO SAVE NAZANIN
February 17, 2006: a press conference took place at Hands Off Cain headquarters in Rome highlighting human rights violations in Iran and the case of Nazanin, the minor sentenced to death after being charged with killing one of the men who had attempted to rape her. The conference saw the presentation of the appeal to save Nazanin, which asks the United Nations and the European Union to work in bringing about respect in Iran for the life of its citizens and to assure the right to freedom and democracy. For Hands Off Cain the death penalty in Iran is first of all a battle for the affirmation of human rights and the constitution of a democratic state. Commencing with the plight of Nazanin, HOC denounces Iran for its disregard even for the most fundamental of human rights, particularly with relation to women.
At least eight minors were hanged in the county in 2005 in direct violation of the International Convention on the Rights of the Child. âMinors continue to be hanged and women stoned to death,â stated Elisabetta Zamparutti, editor of the Hands Off Cain Report: âThe Death Penalty Worldwideâ. âIran, which denies these executions internationally, is a regime with two facets: for this we are appealing to the international community to act to put an end to these appalling violationsâ. âWe made this appeal,â said MEP Emma Bonino, âNot only due to the ghastly nature of these cases, but because we believe we should support those democratic groups in Iran which havenât got any political say. Europe focuses all its attentions on Iranâs nuclear program and this shows the Iranian people that it is not interested in what happens to them.â
As well as the appeal signed by various personalities, Hands Off Cain also presented its dossier: The Death Penalty and More in the Mullahsâ Regime âIran is a country of enormous capabilities,â explained Khaled Fouad Allam, professor of Muslim sociology at Trieste University, âBut also great contradictions. I would define its democracy as totalitarian: there are women who drive busses and teach at universities but the regimeâs ideology conjugates its political agenda with its religious one. The government is the problem because the population aspires to something completely differentâ. Another bleak chapter is the clampdown on press freedom, expounded on by Iranian journalist Ahmad Rafat, spokesman for the initiative for freedom of expression in Iran.
Rafat highlighted the âextrajudicial executionsâ and in particular the âfake suicidesâ, an issue related to recent events surrounding seven journalists from the Iranian publication 'Tamaddon Hormozgan', arrested following the publication of an article satirising the Islamic revolution. According to prison authorities, the 19 year old author of the article, Elham
Froutan, had already attempted suicide twice but was saved by the intervention of the guards. Many, however, believe that the events are just a pretext: the executions of other journalists have in the past been defined as suicide by judicial authorities. Such was the case with Zahra Kazemi, the Canadian photo reporter of Iranian origin who died in Evin prison due to the abuse she was submitted to. (Sources: Aki, Ansa, 17/02/2006)
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