Third Year Anniversary of Mothers of Laaleh Park
It has been three years since the popular protest of the people of Iran
in 2009. This was a year when the streets of Iran were filled with men
and women
seeking freedom and justice. People who were frustrated with years
of pressure and oppression, inspired by this political movement, and
impressed by the TV shows and debates, were convinced that “their votes”
would have value and that they could change their conditions by
participation in the elections.
After the announcement of the results, people poured onto the streets in protest but this time, it was not just the people who had voted. Many people, who had suppressed their frustrations over the years, came out to the streets in protest to such an overwhelming injustice. However, the government responded to people’s simple and peaceful protest by imprisonment, torture, bullets, and killings. These detentions and killings, once again, brought out mothers of many detainees to find out about their children by gathering outside prisons, courts, and cemeteries, and many mothers ended up grieving for their beloved children. The grieving mothers and the families of political prisoners wore black as a sign to seek justice for their murdered children, protesting the suppression, detentions, tortures, killings, and they asked for trial and punishment of those responsible for the crimes committed in prisons and on the streets.
During a meeting on June 25, 2009, as a symbolic act of protest, the Grieving Mothers announced that they were going to gather every Saturday from 7 to 8 pm in the Fountain Square of the Laaleh Park, and in other parks in Tehran, and that by holding the pictures of their sons and daughters, they would light candles and would make their voices heard by the people of the world, and that they would never stop fighting until their demands were met. Following the publication of this meeting, different groups, supporting the grieving mothers, were formed across Iran’s cities and around the world. These groups also gathered in protest every week to show sympathy with the grieving mothers.
The protest movement of the Grieving Mothers began on June 27, 2009. From that day on, a large number of the mothers and their supporters (around 90), were subjected to attacks and assaults of the security forces, and were detained. During this entire period, these individuals and their family members have been subjected to threats, harassments, summons, and beatings by the forces of oppression. Yet, every day, the bond between these mothers became stronger and they became even more determined to fight through various forms of civil activism. They held on to their demands steadfastly by gathering in front of Evin Prison and the Revolutionary Courts, gathering in various parks, showing their support for prisoners on hunger strikes, participating in memorial ceremonies of those killed, visiting and sympathizing with the families of those killed in Tehran and other cities, and protesting the executions. This protest movement gained widespread support from different political and social groups around the world and a large number of human rights activists announced their support of the grieving mothers. The support continues and, everyday, this network of justice seekers attracts more supporters. They include high profile Iranian and international human rights and peace activists, activists in the women movements, student movements, movie and theatre artists, poets and writers, and also, the world’s black-clothed women, and the Argentina’s De Mayo Square Mothers.
On the first anniversary of this protest movement, the grieving mothers changed their name to the Mothers of Laaleh Park and, defining their goals more specifically, they continued their activities, and they have not rested to this day, insisting on their demands. Mothers of Laaleh Park present themselves in the following terms:
“We are a group of mothers and family members of those individuals who were either killed or damaged during the rule of the Islamic Republic and, seeking justice, we have the following demands:
1.We demand an end to capital punishment and the killing of human beings in any shape or form.
2.We demand the immediate and unconditional release of all political and ideological prisoners.
3. We demand a public and fair trial of all the perpetrators of the crimes committed by the Islamic Republic since it’s inception.
We, the Mothers of Laaleh Park, believe that it is a crime to execute people individually or in groups in prisons, to kill and assassinate ethnic, national, religious, political, and ideological targets on the streets, to attack homes and student dormitories and work places, to kidnap, detain, and hurt individuals in order to kill human ideas, to torture, get forced confessions, rape, kill by stoning, or for vendetta. We are fighting to prevent these crimes and to elevate human condition.
As mothers, we are trying to create a safe and humane environment, away from war and bloodshed, discrimination and humiliation. That is why we are against revenge and physical elimination. But we believe that, in order to prevent crimes from happening, it is imperative that all those agents who, directly or indirectly, were perpetrators of crimes during the rule of the Islamic Republic, should be tried in a fair, public, and popular court and be held accountable for their anti-human actions and to receive punishments in accordance to their crimes, while also being rehabilitated and educated in understanding and respecting human ideas.
As mothers, we ask all those who have been victims or witnesses of these crimes over the years, to join us in asking for justice. As victims of violence and discrimination against women, we support all actions that oppose violence, seek equality and the removal of discrimination, and invite all the victims of violence to join forces with us.
In the last three years, we, the Mothers of Lealer Park, have not failed, even for a second, to pursue our demands, and have, continuously, tried to make the authorities respond to family members. We have tried to be strong allies of all those who have been hurt and who demand justice from the Islamic Republic. We have done so by participating in popular protests, sympathizing with families of those killed, writing protest letters and stories of our quest for justice, writing letters to the representatives of the human rights organization, writing letters to Ahmad Said, organizing demonstrations in various countries and bringing the protest cry of the Iranian people to the outside world, launching different campaigns for the release of other political prisoners, writing declarations and protest letters requesting the annulment of the inhuman punishments and the capital punishment, protesting against the terrible conditions of the prisons and the prisoners, protesting the indifference towards the rights of the families of those killed who need to know “why” and “how” the killings took place, and to prevent injustice and discrimination.
It has been three years since the popular uprising against the outcome of the elections; yet, the authorities have been unresponsive to the demands of the people of Iran and the three demands of the mothers. To this day, none of the individuals responsible for the bloody suppression of the children of this land have been punished. Instead, they have intensified threats and pressures on all the victims of violence and they have tried and detained a number of Mothers of Laleh Park on the charge of supporting and sympathizing with the families of political prisoners who were killed and who are in prison.
These pressures started from the very beginning of the pro-justice movement of the Mothers of Laaleh Park and continue to this day. During this time, they have harassed and abused many of them for supporting the grieving mothers throughout the 33 years of the Islamic Republic crimes. Many have gone through temporary detentions, many others have been constantly harassed by summons and threatening calls, and some have been put through unlawful and Para judicial trials and handed down heavy sentences, and, still, others were pressed to leave the country. The prison sentences of three mothers and their supporters, namely Djila Karamzadeh Makvandi, Leila Seifollahi, and Nader Ahsani, have been affirmed in the court of appeal and Zhila Karamzadeh Makvandi, in spite of illness and high blood pressure, has been detained as of December 26, 2011 to serve a two year sentence. Leila Seifollahi has been sentenced to two years actual and two years of suspended sentence, and Nader Ahsani has been sentenced to two years of actual prison. Also, actual prison sentences have been handed down to Mansoureh Behkish for four and a half years, Mehdi Ramezani for three years, Hakimeh Shekari for three years, Neda Mostaghimi for three years, and Seyed Mohammad Ebrahimi for five years. Additionally, the following individuals await the decision of the appeals court subsequent to the preliminary court ruling, Djila Mahdavian, three years of actual and two years of suspended prison terms, Maryam Najafi, six moth of suspended term, and Omolbanayn Ebrahimi, three years of suspended prison term.
In the three years, no amount of threat, scare tactics, arrest, detention, and frequent court rulings against the mothers has prevented the protest movement of Mothers of Laaleh Park. Instead, the longer the authorities have refrained from offering answers, our resolve to demand our legitimate and rightful human rights has become stronger. By taking lessons from our past experiences and to prevent history from being repeated, we reached out across the lines and together with all the families of those killed as political prisoners of the past and today, in the 33 years of the Islamic Republic crimes, and we continuously and steadfastly, insist on our three basic demands!
Mothers of Laaleh Park
June 26, 2012
After the announcement of the results, people poured onto the streets in protest but this time, it was not just the people who had voted. Many people, who had suppressed their frustrations over the years, came out to the streets in protest to such an overwhelming injustice. However, the government responded to people’s simple and peaceful protest by imprisonment, torture, bullets, and killings. These detentions and killings, once again, brought out mothers of many detainees to find out about their children by gathering outside prisons, courts, and cemeteries, and many mothers ended up grieving for their beloved children. The grieving mothers and the families of political prisoners wore black as a sign to seek justice for their murdered children, protesting the suppression, detentions, tortures, killings, and they asked for trial and punishment of those responsible for the crimes committed in prisons and on the streets.
During a meeting on June 25, 2009, as a symbolic act of protest, the Grieving Mothers announced that they were going to gather every Saturday from 7 to 8 pm in the Fountain Square of the Laaleh Park, and in other parks in Tehran, and that by holding the pictures of their sons and daughters, they would light candles and would make their voices heard by the people of the world, and that they would never stop fighting until their demands were met. Following the publication of this meeting, different groups, supporting the grieving mothers, were formed across Iran’s cities and around the world. These groups also gathered in protest every week to show sympathy with the grieving mothers.
The protest movement of the Grieving Mothers began on June 27, 2009. From that day on, a large number of the mothers and their supporters (around 90), were subjected to attacks and assaults of the security forces, and were detained. During this entire period, these individuals and their family members have been subjected to threats, harassments, summons, and beatings by the forces of oppression. Yet, every day, the bond between these mothers became stronger and they became even more determined to fight through various forms of civil activism. They held on to their demands steadfastly by gathering in front of Evin Prison and the Revolutionary Courts, gathering in various parks, showing their support for prisoners on hunger strikes, participating in memorial ceremonies of those killed, visiting and sympathizing with the families of those killed in Tehran and other cities, and protesting the executions. This protest movement gained widespread support from different political and social groups around the world and a large number of human rights activists announced their support of the grieving mothers. The support continues and, everyday, this network of justice seekers attracts more supporters. They include high profile Iranian and international human rights and peace activists, activists in the women movements, student movements, movie and theatre artists, poets and writers, and also, the world’s black-clothed women, and the Argentina’s De Mayo Square Mothers.
On the first anniversary of this protest movement, the grieving mothers changed their name to the Mothers of Laaleh Park and, defining their goals more specifically, they continued their activities, and they have not rested to this day, insisting on their demands. Mothers of Laaleh Park present themselves in the following terms:
“We are a group of mothers and family members of those individuals who were either killed or damaged during the rule of the Islamic Republic and, seeking justice, we have the following demands:
1.We demand an end to capital punishment and the killing of human beings in any shape or form.
2.We demand the immediate and unconditional release of all political and ideological prisoners.
3. We demand a public and fair trial of all the perpetrators of the crimes committed by the Islamic Republic since it’s inception.
We, the Mothers of Laaleh Park, believe that it is a crime to execute people individually or in groups in prisons, to kill and assassinate ethnic, national, religious, political, and ideological targets on the streets, to attack homes and student dormitories and work places, to kidnap, detain, and hurt individuals in order to kill human ideas, to torture, get forced confessions, rape, kill by stoning, or for vendetta. We are fighting to prevent these crimes and to elevate human condition.
As mothers, we are trying to create a safe and humane environment, away from war and bloodshed, discrimination and humiliation. That is why we are against revenge and physical elimination. But we believe that, in order to prevent crimes from happening, it is imperative that all those agents who, directly or indirectly, were perpetrators of crimes during the rule of the Islamic Republic, should be tried in a fair, public, and popular court and be held accountable for their anti-human actions and to receive punishments in accordance to their crimes, while also being rehabilitated and educated in understanding and respecting human ideas.
As mothers, we ask all those who have been victims or witnesses of these crimes over the years, to join us in asking for justice. As victims of violence and discrimination against women, we support all actions that oppose violence, seek equality and the removal of discrimination, and invite all the victims of violence to join forces with us.
In the last three years, we, the Mothers of Lealer Park, have not failed, even for a second, to pursue our demands, and have, continuously, tried to make the authorities respond to family members. We have tried to be strong allies of all those who have been hurt and who demand justice from the Islamic Republic. We have done so by participating in popular protests, sympathizing with families of those killed, writing protest letters and stories of our quest for justice, writing letters to the representatives of the human rights organization, writing letters to Ahmad Said, organizing demonstrations in various countries and bringing the protest cry of the Iranian people to the outside world, launching different campaigns for the release of other political prisoners, writing declarations and protest letters requesting the annulment of the inhuman punishments and the capital punishment, protesting against the terrible conditions of the prisons and the prisoners, protesting the indifference towards the rights of the families of those killed who need to know “why” and “how” the killings took place, and to prevent injustice and discrimination.
It has been three years since the popular uprising against the outcome of the elections; yet, the authorities have been unresponsive to the demands of the people of Iran and the three demands of the mothers. To this day, none of the individuals responsible for the bloody suppression of the children of this land have been punished. Instead, they have intensified threats and pressures on all the victims of violence and they have tried and detained a number of Mothers of Laleh Park on the charge of supporting and sympathizing with the families of political prisoners who were killed and who are in prison.
These pressures started from the very beginning of the pro-justice movement of the Mothers of Laaleh Park and continue to this day. During this time, they have harassed and abused many of them for supporting the grieving mothers throughout the 33 years of the Islamic Republic crimes. Many have gone through temporary detentions, many others have been constantly harassed by summons and threatening calls, and some have been put through unlawful and Para judicial trials and handed down heavy sentences, and, still, others were pressed to leave the country. The prison sentences of three mothers and their supporters, namely Djila Karamzadeh Makvandi, Leila Seifollahi, and Nader Ahsani, have been affirmed in the court of appeal and Zhila Karamzadeh Makvandi, in spite of illness and high blood pressure, has been detained as of December 26, 2011 to serve a two year sentence. Leila Seifollahi has been sentenced to two years actual and two years of suspended sentence, and Nader Ahsani has been sentenced to two years of actual prison. Also, actual prison sentences have been handed down to Mansoureh Behkish for four and a half years, Mehdi Ramezani for three years, Hakimeh Shekari for three years, Neda Mostaghimi for three years, and Seyed Mohammad Ebrahimi for five years. Additionally, the following individuals await the decision of the appeals court subsequent to the preliminary court ruling, Djila Mahdavian, three years of actual and two years of suspended prison terms, Maryam Najafi, six moth of suspended term, and Omolbanayn Ebrahimi, three years of suspended prison term.
In the three years, no amount of threat, scare tactics, arrest, detention, and frequent court rulings against the mothers has prevented the protest movement of Mothers of Laaleh Park. Instead, the longer the authorities have refrained from offering answers, our resolve to demand our legitimate and rightful human rights has become stronger. By taking lessons from our past experiences and to prevent history from being repeated, we reached out across the lines and together with all the families of those killed as political prisoners of the past and today, in the 33 years of the Islamic Republic crimes, and we continuously and steadfastly, insist on our three basic demands!
Mothers of Laaleh Park
June 26, 2012
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