Report of the 17th Conference
A special program to commemorate the 22nd anniversary of the massacre of political prisoners and to commemorate those who died in the 1960s and the decades that followed was held in Stockholm on Saturday, September 11, 2010. The program included speeches, poetry readings, and live music. The program, which was well-attended by a significant number of Iranians living in Sweden, Norway, and Germany, featured speeches by three women from the families of those who died in the 1960s: Leila Danesh, Leila Qalehbani, and Gita Rostam Alipour.
Guitar Rostam Alipour spoke about her “memories and family experiences” regarding the execution of three members of her family. Leila Qalebani spoke about “the psychological and social damage of killings on families and ways to combat them,” and Leila Danesh spoke about “repression, violence, and political freedoms.” In the second part of her speech, she addressed the issue of “neither forgetting nor forgiving,” discussing and examining it from legal, historical, and criminological perspectives.
The program began with a minute of applause and continued with a new rendition of the anthem “The Peak of Winter.” The program’s host, Shahin Pouya, told the audience about the killing of political prisoners in the summer of 1988. In the next part of the program, Gita Rostam Alipour, Leila Qaleh Bani, and Leila Danesh gave speeches.
In the second part of the program, Iman Shirali, representing the campaign to establish an international tribunal to investigate the killings of political prisoners in the 1960s, spoke about the beginning of this campaign and the progress that has been made towards holding the trial.
Next, a voice message and a poem by Ziba Karbasi, who was unable to attend the program, were played. After that, Shahroz Rashid, a talented and innovative poet living in Berlin, recited a poem.
Exiled protest singer Gisso Shakeri, with her melodious voice, closed the 17th gathering held to mark the 22nd anniversary of the massacre of political prisoners. In between performances, she recited poems about the massacre of political prisoners and describing the historical conditions in Iran.