Report on the seminar investigating the killing of political prisoners in the 1960s
On Saturday, September 19, 2009, a seminar on the killing of political prisoners in the 1960s was held in London, the capital of England. This was the third seminar to be held in English for the world’s public. Two previous seminars were held in Swedish and English in Stockholm, the capital of Sweden, in 1998 and 2008. The London seminar was held in cooperation with the Iranian Political Prisoners Association (in exile) and the Prisoners of Conscience Appeal Fund, which supports political and ideological prisoners. The conference was well-received by approximately one hundred and eighty Iranians and British people.
Henry Brooke, a prominent British lawyer and retired judge, chaired the seminar. Masoud Rauf, a director and artist-painter, Shokofe Sakhi, a political prisoner in the 1960s, Jonathan Heywood, a writer, journalist, and secretary of the Pen Society in England, Nazanin Afshin Jam, founder and president of the international organization “Stop the Execution of Children,” Payam Akhavan, a lawyer and professor of law at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, and Gisso Shakeri, a revolutionary artist and protester in exile, gave speeches and performed music at the seminar.
The seminar began with a welcome and a brief introduction by Lynn Carter, Director of the Prisoners of Conscience Appeal Fund. Then, Dariush Afshar, an activist of the Iranian Political Prisoners Association (in exile), gave a speech explaining the process of killing political prisoners in the 1960s, the recent uprising of the people, the regime’s naked crimes in the streets and torture chambers, and the need to bring the entire Islamic Republic regime to trial for crimes against humanity, focusing on the killing of political prisoners in the 1960s.
Afterwards, Henry Brooke, who now works with human rights NGOs on political prisoners and is one of the trustees of the Prisoners of Conscience Appeal Fund, stressed the need for social and political freedoms and an end to the phenomenon of political prisoners. He condemned the punishment of imprisonment and execution for holding and expressing political opinions and beliefs and called for the unconditional release of all political prisoners in Iran. In the question and answer session, he called holding a trial in the style of the Russell trial to investigate the killing of political prisoners in Iran appropriate and proper.
The next speaker, Masoud Rauf, an exiled director and filmmaker, explained the reasons and motivations behind making one of his films, “The Tree That Remembers.” He explained how he had always tried to assess the reasons for the suicide of an Iranian refugee student in Canada and, in collaboration with people like Shokoofeh Sakhi, who was herself a political prisoner in the 1960s and appears in the documentary, to present this painful tragedy to the world as a message expressing the pain and suffering of Iranians driven from their homeland.
It is worth noting that the documentary film “The Tree That Brings Back Memories” won the Silver Award for Best Documentary Film at the Canadian International Film Festival in Toronto. At the end of Massoud Rauf’s speech, the film was screened for the seminar attendees.
Shokoofe Sakhi was the next speaker to speak about her bitter experiences of eight years in the infamous prisons of the Islamic Republic. She spoke about experiences that to this day still haunt her mind and soul, the memories of her friends and cellmates who were with her one day and the next day she heard the news of their death (execution) from other prisoners, and how they will be with her for the rest of her life. Shokoofe continued her speech by describing the repression of the opposition and the killing of political prisoners in the 1960s, comparing that era with recent repressions, and emphasizing the need to continue the struggle to prevent the repetition of such crimes.
After a short break, the seminar continued with a speech by Jonathan Heywood. As the Secretary of the PEN Association of England, he emphasized the condemnation of Khomeini’s fatwa to take the life of Salman Rushdie for publishing the book “The Satanic Verses”, explained the reactionary and medieval thoughts and actions of Islamist religious groups and governments, and attacked capitalist governments, especially the British government, for their appeasement. He emphasized the need to continue efforts to protect freedom of thought and expression. He continued his speech by referring to the killing of political prisoners in Iran and condemned it. He believes that such tragedies will continue until freedom of thought and expression is institutionalized.
The next speaker was Nazanin Afshin Jam, a human rights activist and founder of the Stop the Execution of Children Foundation. She spoke about the crimes of the Islamic Republic and its inhumane laws, especially regarding children and the death penalty (execution) for youth under the age of eighteen, which is made possible by the reactionary constitution of the Islamic Republic, and called the struggle to abolish the death penalty and confront it a necessity.
Referring to the fact that some of the killings of political prisoners in the 1960s involved people under the age of eighteen, and that teenagers under the age of eighteen were still being sent to death squads after the killings of political prisoners in the 1960s, he called for more serious activities to stop the death penalty in Iran, especially in relation to children and women. He introduced himself as an independent human rights activist and defender of the rights of Iranian children and women, and, emphasizing the brutal nature of the Islamic Republic regime and referring to the recent killings of young people in Iran, considered another killing in political prisons in Iran to be likely.
The last speaker of the seminar was Payam Akhavan. In part of his speech, he discussed the process of killing political prisoners in the 1960s and explained the working process of the Death Commission to the attendees by mentioning the names of its members. He then explained the legal and political obstacles to trying the Islamic Republic in international courts and emphasized that currently, as long as Western governments have interests in Iran, it is not possible to try the leaders of the Islamic Republic in international courts, but he expressed hope that the day will come when the orderers and perpetrators of the killing of political prisoners will be tried in an international court or in Iran and by the people.
Payam gave a comprehensive explanation regarding the holding of a global campaign to try the regime in a people’s court similar to the Russell Court that tried and convicted the US government for its crimes in Vietnam. He emphasized the need to simultaneously form a fact-finding committee and a court to investigate the killing of political prisoners in the 1960s and other political killings committed by the Islamic Republic regime over the past thirty-one years, and shared his practical solutions and experiences as the first judge at the Hague Tribunal.
After the lectures, a question and answer session was held with the speakers and seminar participants.
At the end of the program, exiled protest artist Gisso Shakeri performed several beautiful songs and vocals, which were welcomed by the crowd in the hall.
See pictures of the seminar later in this report.
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Henry Brook
Lynn Carter
Dariush Afshar
Masoud Rauf
Generous blossom
Jonathan Heywood
Nazanin Afshin Jam
Gisso Shakeri
