The IEC received a statement for International Human Rights Day from three other organizations, excerpted below. We especially call our readers' attention to the CFPPI's chilling and well-documented report of pharmacological torture mentioned in the intro.

The Campaign to Free Political Prisoners in Iran introduced the statement:

The struggle for basic rights in Iran is met with abhorrent brutality, ranging from arbitrary detentions to unspeakable forms of torture and executions. Amnesty International's report on sexual torture and Campaign to Free Political Prisoners in Iran (CFPPI) report on pharmacological torture in prisons sheds light on the appalling conditions faced by individuals.

In 2023 alone, the Islamic regime in Iran carried out over 700 executions, encompassing political detainees and those apprehended under alleged drug-related charges. Shockingly, the list of individuals sentenced to execution continues to expand, necessitating urgent global intervention. The weekly update, by CFPPI, of the political prisoners condemned to execution serves as a distressing indicator of the ongoing crisis.

One of the gravest concerns is the regime's use of clandestine methods, such as employing "silent death" through pharmacological torture—a hidden yet horrifying reality highlighted in the recent report by the CFPPI: https://wp.me/p9yWrK-6W7

December 10, the Human Rights Day, is a good time to raise our voices together, against the oppression and execution machine in Iran, which has claimed many victims in recent weeks. We are witnessing an unprecedented growth of executions in Iran. Although the Islamic Republic has always carried out executions since its coming to power, there has been a significant increase in executions, in the shadow of the on-going war in Gaza, with the aim of pushing back the people's revolution.

At least 120 people have been executed since the beginning of October 2023. A number of those who were arrested during the protests of recent years, including Milad Zohra Vand (21 years old) and Hani Albushahbazi (22 years old) and Kamran Reaei (33 years old) are among those executed. Also, the death sentence of a number of political and religious prisoners who have been in prison for many years has been carried out recently...

Saman Yasin, the protesting rap singer, has been tortured and subjected to mock execution in prison. Hamid Reza Azari, a child criminal who was only 16 years old at the time of his arrest, was recently executed...

Prisoners are subjected to "silent execution" by being deprived of needed medicine and treatment, or being transferred to psychiatric “treatment centres” and forced to use psychoactive drugs.

We, the three organisations, Campaign to Free Political Prisoners in Iran, Committee Against Execution and Free Them Now, Campaign to free jailed workers in Iran, call on all people in Iran and the world, especially families who are a strong pillar against executions, to protest against the growing wave of the Islamic regime executions, on the occasion of December 10th International Human Rights Day, and act immediately to stop the machine of repression and killings, in Iran. You can respond to this call by setting up pickets or street performances, issuing statements or sending letters of protest to the authorities and officials of the Islamic regime, holding seminars and photo exhibitions, as well as publishing photos and videos in opposition to the executions in Iran. It is important that the Islamic Republic knows that the peoples of the world not only are not silent about the crimes of this regime, but together with the people of Iran, they want to end the oppression and the criminal life of the Islamic regime. Our demands are:

• An immediate end to executions in Iran
• An immediate cancellation of all death sentences
• The unconditional release of all political and ideological prisoners

The full statement and news of Human Rights Day can be found at www.cfppi.org.