Ed. Note: We received the following call from the Union for Advancement of Secular Democracy in Iran (UASDI). MHI members had demonstrated against the executions and torture of Iranian dissidents along with UASDI and other Iranians in Times Square, New York, on Jan. 29, an international day of condemnation of the Iranian regime. We wore black tape across our mouths and carried photos of jailed Iranians labeled “in imminent danger of execution”–some of whom had already been killed. The pictures were heart-breaking, yet one young Iranian woman told us, “Iranians have hope when they see what is going on in the Middle East.”
UASDI Supports the February 14th Call for a Mass Demonstration in Tehran
in Solidarity with the Egyptian Peoples Movement Against Dictators;
Mubarak and Khamenei Should be Deposed
UASDI strongly supports all movements for democracy, particularly the current uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia and the freedom movement in Iran. We strongly support the call by various student groups in Iran for a solidarity demonstration in Tehran on February 14th.
The wave of uprising against dictatorships and corruption sweeping the Middle East has shaken despotic regimes the world over. Tunisians forced out Ben Ali and the Egyptians hope to do the same to Mubarak. And we sincerely hope that freedom loving Iranians will finally succeed in ridding themselves of the Islamic despots. There is new hope for the emergence of “real democracies” in the region and an end to the era of “pseudo democracies”, religious and secular despots.
Dictators of different stripes use similar tactics to maintain their grip on power. They routinely repress, torture and murder their own people with apparent impunity. Since global attention turned to Tunisia and Egypt, the Islamic regime in Iran shamelessly expedited its execution of prisoners-mostly prisoners of conscience. Since the beginning of January, on average, hangmen of the Islamic Republic have executed one human being every 8 hours. Ali Khamenei the “supreme leader” has consistently supported the bloodbath “in the name of God”. Thirty-two years of fundamentalist Islamic rule in Iran has clearly shown the need for separation of religion and state.
The Islamists in Iran are a class unto themselves, monopolizing power at all levels. Secular Shiites of any gender, Sunnis, Baha’is, Zoroastrians, Jews, Christians and atheists are in effect second class citizens.
UASDI encourages proactive support for the democracy movements in the Middle East, and indeed, the world. It is time to bring maximum pressure to end dictatorships. It is time for end the reign of Mubarak and Khamenei.
Union for Advancement of Secular Democracy in Iran
February 10, 2011
Email: uasdi.action@gmail.com
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