The Foreign Ministry report is issued while in addition to the persistence of torture, mistreatment and execution of political prisoners in Iran, the mullahs' regime adopts new laws everyday, to step up suppression and persecution. The mullahs' majlis adopted a law only a few days ago, according to which persons who give political, scientific, and social intelligence to the Resistance, or threaten the regime's security, are punishable by death.
The National Council of Resistance of Iran is convinced that such misleading and baseless reports will only benefit Iran's ruling criminals and encourage them in their pursuit and escalation of repression and terror. The Council also vehemently condemns the extradition of Iranian asylum-seekers.
The Dutch Foreign Ministry report also claims that government critics, women, and political activists will face no problems in Iran and that the religious minorities do not have to fear their fate. The least that could be said is that such comments reflect an absolute ignorance on the part of the report's authors as regards the Iranian situation. In Iran, receiving the death sentence does not require any expression of opposition or even "criticism". Last month, a 23-year-old man was pushed off the balcony of his residence and viciously killed for celebrating his birthday. Recently, the regime's agents have begun a campaign of openly threatening ordinary people in the streets with pushing them off tall buildings. International news agencies reported just a few days ago that a pregnant woman was pushed off the balcony of a movie theater in an attack by the regime's agents.
Furthermore, the Netherlands was among the sponsors of resolution adopted two weeks ago by the U.N. Human Rights Commission, which emphasized the persistence of executions and the violations of human rights and the rights of the religious minorities and women.
The Iranian Resistance and international human rights organizations have repeatedly stressed that the mullahs' regime publicly executes political prisoners on the charge of drug trafficking. Amputation of limbs, public hangings and flogging are also common punishments by the mullahs' regime, as eyewitnesses continue to report.
Even criticizing the election rigging can meet a destiny of death. In the course of the elections farce in Iran, demonstrations in various parts of the country, including the demonstrations in Sarvestan, Fars province, and Bonab, Azerbaijan, left dozens of victims.
The National Council of Resistance of Iran believes such reports are part and parcel of a placating policy towards the mullahs' regime which disregards all the principles of human rights, and sells defense of democracy to petty economic interests. One should ask the question why do the Iranian refugees continue to escape their homeland if the situation of human rights has indeed improved in Iran?
The National Council of Resistance holds the government of the Netherlands accountable for the safety and security of the Iranian asylum-seekers and demands that they be granted asylum and the necessary facilities.
Representative office of the National Council of Resistance of Iran -
The Netherlands
May 9, 1996
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