In a letter to the UN Secretary General, a group of prominent Iranian academics and intellectuals living abroad strongly condemned the wave of recent executions in Iran (Note that the figures for executions quoted in the letter are those of mid-January. Since then, the available information indicates that in 2010 at least 542 and in January 2011 alone at least 83 executions have taken place): Open Letter: Condemnation of Executions’ Tsunami in the Islamic Republic of Iran To:Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations, and Members of the UN General Assembly CC: Supreme Leader Mr. Ali Khamenehi Date: 13 February 2011 New York, London, Paris, Berlin Your Excellency; An Iranian prisoner has been executed every eight hours in recent months. There is every indication that Iran will again rank top in the world for its execution’s record. There have been 47 executions since January the 1st 2011. An alarming figure of 300 executions has been reported by various human rights organizations in the past year alone. In most cases, the execution of political prisoners is carried out without proper trials and Habeas corpus, not even in a kangaroo court setting prevalent in Iran since the early days of the 1979’s Islamic revolution. In fact, it is estimated that tens of Iranian prisoners of conscience are awaiting executions in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Given the recent removal of subsidies resulting in the astronomical rise of the cost of gasoline and essential life commodities, and the revolt in Tunisia, Egypt, and other Arab countries, the IRI is exploiting the increased and rapid executions as a means of circumventing any possible notion of uprising. Resolution– On the 32nd anniversary of the Islamic Republic and with the rapid development of the people’s legitimate demands for socio-economic and political reforms in the region, as exemplified in post election Iran and currently in some Arab countries, we abhor any violation of human rights in Iran and demand unequivocally for the complete halting of the chain of the executions and human rights abuses. We further demand the removal of all restrictions on freedom of press, expression, and political participation so that people can openly and freely exercise their civic and political rights. Signed: Abghari Siavash, Professor of Finance & Director, Morehouse College, Atlanta, USA Abghari Shahla Professor of Microbiology ,Life University, Atlanta, USA Afshar Haleh OBE Professor the Baroness AcSS, Department of Politics, University of York, UK Afshari Reza Professor of History, Pace University, New York, USA Ashouri Daryoush Scholar, Writer Alamdari Kazem Professor of Sociology, California State University, Northridge, USA Baghi Heibatollah Professor of Biostatistics, George Mason University, VA, USA Barati Mehran Free University Berlin-Germany, Research Unit Globalization and Int’l Politics, Darvishpour Mehrdad PH.D in sociology and lectur at Mälardalens University, Sweden Dastmalchi Parviz Scholar, Writer Farhang Jahanpour Associate Fellow, Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Oxford Farhang Mansour Professor of Political Science, Bennington College, USA Farhi Farideh Department of Political Science ;University of Hawai’i at Manoa, USA Ganjbakhsh Amir Hossein Senior Investigator, National Institute of Health, Bethesda, MD ,USA Gorji Ali Professor of Neuroscience Research and Neurophysiology; Munster University, Germany Gregory Julian Professor of Political Sciences, Pace University New York Haghighatjoo Fatemeh President Nonviolence Initiative for democracy;University of Massachusetts, Boston , USA Hashemi Nader Assistant Professor, University of Denver, CO, USA Jahanbegloo Ramin Scholar, Writer Kangarlu, Alayar Professor of Medical Physics, Columbia University and New York , USA Karimi-Hakkak Ahmad Professor The Roshan Center for Persian Studies University of Maryland College Park, MD USA Karimi-Hakak Mahmood Professor, Siena College, New York, Artistic Director, Mahak International Artists Inc, NY, USA Keshavarz Fatemeh, Professor, Washington University in St. Louis USA Keddie Nikki ;Professor Emerita of History, UCLA ;Santa Monica, CA, USA Khosrokhavar Farhad Professor at Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris LAHIDJI Abdol-Karim Président de la LDDHI; Vice-Président de la FIDH Paris, France Mahdi Akbar Professor of Sociology, Ohio Wesleyan university, OH, USA Moaddel Mansoor Professor of Sociology, Eastern Michigan University, MI, USA Mohammadi Majid Visiting Scholar in Stony Brook Institute for Global Studies, NY, USA Monshipouri Mahmood Associate Professor, Dept. of Int’l Relations, San Francisco State University, CA, USA Mousoli Reza Senior Lecturer in Computing, Canterbury Christ Church University, Kent, United Kingdom Navab Mohamad Professor, Project Leader, Cardiology, University of California, Los Angeles, USA Niroomand-Rad Azam Professor Emeritus, Past President, International Organization for Medical Physics, USA Ottinger Richard L. Dean Emeritus, Pace Law School, 78 North Broadway, NY USA Parsa Misagh Professor of Sociology, Dartmouth College, NH, USA Paivandi saeed Professor; University Paris 8; Paris, France Rakei Ali Theoretical Physicist, Mitre Corporation, Washington DC, USA Rahni Davood Professor of Chemistry, Pace University New York, NY, USA Rahnema Saeed Professor, York University, Atkinson Toronto, Canada Sabetian Manoucher Consultant surgeon. FRCS, Ex-President Iranian PEN in Exile, United Kingdom Talattof Kamran Professor; Dept. of Near Eastern Studies; Affiliated The University of Arizona, USA Tohidi Nayereh Professor & Chair, California State University, Northridge, CA, USA Vahdat Farzin Sociologist, Asian Studies Program, Vassar College Ziai Hossein Amuzegar Chair in Iranian Studies, Director of Iranian Studies, UCLA, CA, USA
