Thursday, February 16, 2006

Going Back to the Repression of 80s?

I am neither a Sufi nor an MKO supporter in any shape or form, in fact I am vehemently opposed to both cults, but only a few days ago I quoted the famous saying by Martin Niemöller :

"When they came for the communists
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.
When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.
When they came for the trade unionists
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.
When they came for the Jews
I did not speak out;
I was not a Jew.
When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out."

See : http://azarmehr.blogspot.com/2006/02/another-cartoon-that-clerics-didnt.html

It seems the repression of the eighties in Iran, which we all expected with Ahmadi-Nejad's coming to power, is beginning to take place without much reaction from the international community.

The cruel beating of the bus drivers and their families, including their children, the destruction of the Sufi places of worship, and now the execution of the MKO supporter, Hojat Zamani, in the notorious Rejaii-Shahr prison. Hojjat Zamani's two other brothers and uncle were also previously executed by the Islamic regime.

There is also doubts as to whether the 20 year old, female jailed journalist, Elham Afrootan, committed suicide or died under torture. She was due to be shown on state TV in yet another one of Islamic Republic's "recant TV shows" and confess to her "crimes".
Did Elham die under torture? Did she commit suicide not to be subjected to the humiliation of Islamic state TV shows? The international community and the press are not even reporting these things.

The Islamic Republic is testing the waters. If we stay silent now, the clerics will get bolder and more savage than now.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Good blog.
Keep speaking out!