Last Thursday, Mohsen Shekari, 23, was executed after being convicted of “attacking” a member of the Iranian security forces.
On Monday, a second protester, Majidreza Rahnavard, was executed after a sham trial where he was denied access to a lawyer and after he was severely tortured.
Iranian activists estimate many more are facing a similar fate. To date, the UN estimates more than 450 people were killed and 1 400 arrested, including journalists.
Not only the Iranian people, but every free and democratic country is protesting against the brutal and draconian rule of the Ayatollahs trying to suppress human rights.
Two woman LGBTQ activists were sentenced to death for “corruption on earth”, and an estimated 4 000-6 000 gays and lesbians have been executed since the Islamic revolution in 1979.
Reports of close co-operation between Iran and Russia come as no surprise and sufficient evidence has emerged that Iranian drones were used in Russian attacks in Ukraine.
Last week, the Russian cargo ship the “Lady R”, under sanctions from the US, docked in Simon’s Town naval dockyard where witnesses have confirmed that cargo was either off-loaded or loaded under cover of darkness and armed guards.
Simon’s Town is a national key point, and its hosting of a cargo vessel with no customs facilities available – and more alarming not a word from the ANC defence minister despite requests from opposition parties for an explanation – must be cause for alarm.
Both the ANC foreign minister’s silence on the executions and brutal oppression of women and all human rights in Iran, with the defence minister being mum on the suspicious docking of a sanctioned Russian vessel, not forgetting South Africa’s abstention on every vote at the UN condemning Russian aggression, speak volumes for which direction the ANC moral compass is pointing in.
* Allan Wolman, Tel Aviv, Israel.
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.
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