June 23, 2005

The fallacy of elections under the mullahs' reign of terror

By Roya Johnson

There is no end to demagoguery and deception practiced by the mullahs in Iran. As the ruling tyrants are working to generate an appearance of popular legitimacy by claiming a grossly inflated 62% voter—turnout in the last week's presidential election farce, their rogue conduct at home and abroad reveals their true nature. A case in point is the continued public hangings in Iran, vividly unmasking the reign of terror the tyrant clerics aim to disguise under the veneer of a revolting caricature of electoral process.

According to the Department of State's 2004 human rights report, Iran's ruling regime

'continued to commit numerous, serious abuses. The right of citizens to change their government was restricted significantly. Continuing serious abuses included: summary executions; disappearances; torture and other degrading treatment, reportedly including severe punishments such as amputations and flogging; poor prison conditions; arbitrary arrest and detention... There were reports of political killings. The Government was responsible for numerous killings during the year...' The State's report added that 'Exiles and human rights monitors alleged that many of those supposedly executed for criminal offenses in the past, such as narcotics trafficking, actually were political dissidents.'

Out of 159 officially announced executions in Iran during 2004, 95 executions were carried out in public by hanging. The application of public display of execution, death by stoning, flogging, and amputations, is not at all about crime—prevention practice in Iran. Its sole purpose is to intimidate a restive population aspiring for a democratic regime in place of the theocratic rule. During my incarceration in one of Iran's most notorious prisons, many of the political prisoners were taken to public sites to be executed so others would see how costly active dissent could be.

Last month, shocking video footage of two men being hanged before crowds in Iran was screened abroad for the first time.