The British Committee for Iran Freedom strongly condemns the executions of two detained protesters Mohammad Mehdi Karami (22) and Seyed Mohammad Hosseini (39).

We call on the British government to unequivocally condemn this act of barbarism by the Iranian regime and to take immediate and concrete measures to hold the dictatorship in Iran to account for its crimes. Two other protesters had been hanged on December 8 and 12, 2022, respectively.

The two victims had been executed for merely participating in the protests and calling for an end to dictatorship in Iran. They were sentenced to death, without the due process of law on December 4, 2022, on the bogus charge of “corruption on earth.” The regime’s Supreme Court subsequently confirmed their death sentence. According to reliable reports they were severely tortured while in detention.

Years of international community’s inaction regarding crimes committed by the Iranian regime has effectively provided an impunity for the leaders of regime to continue their atrocities against the people of Iran.

Ebrahim Raisi, the current president of Iran, was a member of “death commissions” in 1988, when in a span of a few months 30,000 political prisoners were massacred because they were “steadfast” in their support for the People’s Mojahedin Organisation of Iran (PMOI/MEK).

We call on His Majesty’s Government, to proscribe, as a first and immediate step, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). In addition to its years of engaging in terrorism, the IRGC has been the prime force responsible for the crackdown on the current uprising, which has already in 750 deaths, including at least 70 children and more than 60 women.

We believe that under such circumstances, the international community, especially European countries, should sever all ties with the Iranian regime and predicate a return to normal diplomatic relations on an end in the execution and suppression of the Iranian people who are demanding their rights for fundamental change.

British Committee for Iran Freedom

7 January 2023