On Tuesday, January 23, at 4 a.m., the Islamic Republic executed another innocent Iranian protester by hanging. His name was Mohammad Ghobadlou. He was 23 years old. The mullahs’ regime is the number one executioner on the planet with an average of 3 executions per day.
What was France’s reaction to this unfair execution?
Recall your ambassador? Summon the ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran to Paris? Publicly remind that France is very firmly opposed to the death penalty in all places and in all circumstances? No, a simple press release from the Quai d’Orsay regretting the execution but whose effect was destroyed a few hours later by the warm welcome given by our new Minister of Foreign Affairs to one of the executioners of the Iranian people: Mr. Hossein Amir Abdollahian, a senior member of the Revolutionary Guard Corps, the Islamic Republic’s paramilitary militia, which finances and arms Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad and the Houthis of Yemen.
While the European Parliament voted by a large majority for the classification of this group on the list of terrorist organizations, the French government not only refused to ratify this vote but continued to maintain diplomatic relations with this regime which promotes terrorism and which uses the death penalty as a means of pressure on its population.
Not content with sowing chaos from Gaza to Pakistan, the Islamic Republic massacres its own population in broad daylight, subjugates women, discriminates against religious and LGBTQ+ minorities and holds the West at gunpoint through hostage “diplomacy” which he has been practicing since the 1980s.
It is high time that France understands that there is no diplomacy with terrorists and that it condemns with the greatest vigor the countless abuses committed by this regime, as well as the permanent attacks on the most fundamental rights of the human person. After 45 years of silence, the time has come for action and loyalty to our principles: a murderous regime must be isolated, arrested and judged.
The gesture of our Minister of Foreign Affairs constitutes an outrage for the Iranian people who fight every day at the risk of their lives to defend the universal values of freedom and equality which are the foundation of our democracy.
It is also a serious and indelible attack on the heart of the identity of France, heir to the enlightenment, embodied in the declaration of the rights of man and of the citizen of 1789, but which is eroding a little more every day. making small arrangements with barbarism. The associations for the defense of human rights and support for the Femme, Vie, Liberté revolution, signatories of this forum, ask to be received by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Stéphane Séjourné, to express their growing concern to him facing France’s Iranian policy.
The French government must stop fraternizing with these terrorists. What he passes off as diplomatic relations is in reality akin to a pact with the devil, which France will regret sooner or later, when terrorist violence descends on its soil, as the Islamic Republic has announced since his creation.
What the Middle East is experiencing today, and for which France is cowardly complicit, is what awaits us tomorrow if we do not change our policy towards the Islamic Republic of Iran. As we publish, we deplore the execution of Pejman Fatehi, Mohsen Mazloum, Vafa Azarbar and Mohammad Faramarzi, four new political prisoners (Iranian Kurds) by the Islamic Republic.
A forum initiated by the association Nowruzthe first signatories of which are:
Shirin EBADINobel Prize of Peace ; Xavier-Jean KEITALawyer, Mediator and ICC Counsel, Former Principal Counsel, International Criminal Court; Raphaël CHENUILDirector of Ensemble Against the Death Penalty and President of the Human Rights Platform; Huguette CHOMSKI MAGNISSecretary General of the Movement for Peace and Against Terrorism; Laura CAILLEPresident of Libres MarianneS; Hirbod DEHGHANI-AZAR lawyer, President of Norouz; Michel LIZINPresident of the FAML; Mahyar MONSHIPOURworld boxing champion; Anousha NAZARIlyrical artist; Marjane SATRAPIauthor and director; Michèle VIANESPresident of Regards de Femmes
As well as the associations and collectives Norouz, ECPM, MPCT, Femme Azadi, This is Revolution, European Iranian Women for secular democracy, Libres MarianneS, Band of Sisters, Femme Vie Azadi, Iranians de Nice, SNI, Synergie Wallonie pour l’égalit, Homa, Phénix, The International Women’s Law League, Regards de Femmes, Neda d’Iran, Alborz and Anne-Marie Lizin Foundation.