[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

April 26



SAUDI ARABIA:

Will the Saudi Crown Prince's legacy only be executions and imprisonment?



The execution of 37 prisoners in Saudi Arabia is a scathing indictment of Crown 
Prince Mohammed bin Salman's 'liberalising reforms'.

Earlier this week, Saudi Arabia put 37 of its citizens to death in the single 
largest mass execution the Kingdom has ordered since January 2016 when 47 
people were beheaded, including a prominent Shia cleric, Nimr al Nimr, who was 
well-liked by Iran for his anti-establishment rhetoric against their Arab 
rival.

While the death penalty is a punishment still practised by many developing and 
developed countries around the world, including the United States, what is most 
concerning about these executions is that they occurred during the reign of 
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, better known as MBS, a man already infamous 
for jailing dissidents and ordering extrajudicial killings.

Crushing dissent, sending a message

Again, this time, the majority of those executed appear to be from the Shia 
minority. Interestingly, however, the executions swiftly followed an attack by 
4 Sunni Daesh extremists who died after attacking a security installation north 
of the capital Riyadh.

While it is tempting to frame these executions as being motivated by 
sectarianism, this is highly unlikely as the most shocking display of state 
violence was reserved for a Sunni death row inmate. It, therefore, appears 
clear that Riyadh wanted to send a general message.

Khalid bin Abdulkarim al Tuwaijiri was beheaded, and his headless body was 
crucified and put on display for several hours as a grim message designed to 
deter anyone else from following in his footsteps.

According to Saudi-funded and Emirates-based Alarabiya, Tuwaijiri has been on 
death row since 2007 after he killed and then beheaded his uncle who was an 
officer in the Saudi security establishment on behalf of Al Qaeda. His 
accomplice, Aziz al-Umari, was also beheaded during the same mass execution.

While their rhetoric is rooted in sectarian division, the analysis of some, 
including human rights organisations, that Saudi Arabia’s bloody executions are 
motivated by sectarianism is incorrect. We cannot ignore the fact that the 
majority of the most prominent political dissidents currently languishing in 
Saudi dungeons are conservative Sunni clerics who opposed MBS’ “liberalisation” 
reforms.

These reforms are laughable considering the sheer body count MBS has amassed 
since deciding Saudi needed to relax its more hardline tendencies. Amongst 
those who have died at the altar of MBS’ liberalisation drive was the vicious 
extrajudicial slaying of columnist Jamal Khashoggi that shocked the world last 
year.

Riyadh is now also seeking the death penalty against prominent Saudi Sunni 
cleric Salman al-Awda, who was imprisoned after a mild-mannered social media 
post which shows absolutely no one is safe from MBS’ cruel grasp.

It is a mistruth peddled by the Saudi Arabian regime that they are the 
defenders of Sunni Islam against a growing Shia threat emanating from Iran. The 
Saudi royal family and their army of pro-regime scholars who issue fatwas, or 
religious edicts, at the whim of their masters, use their Sunni identity and 
custodianship of Islam’s two holiest cities, Mecca and Medina, in order to 
silence critical voices and to gather and maintain support amongst the Sunni 
majority across the Arab and Islamic world who are rightly concerned about 
Iranian expansionism.

However, Saudi Sunni protectionism is a myth and cannot be farther from the 
truth.

Days before the executions, the Saudi authorities granted one of the highest 
honours in Islam to a radical Iraqi Shia cleric and pro-Iran militia leader, 
Sami al Masoudi, by allowing him to enter the Kaabah in the Grand Mosque in 
Mecca.

Aside from running the Iran-linked Promise of Allah militia, Masoudi currently 
serves as an advisor to the Iraqi Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF) whose 
litany of sectarian murders against Sunnis has been well-documented. He also 
famously threatened vengeance against the Saudi regime after they executed Shia 
cleric Nimr in 2016. Despite all this, he was allowed to enter the sacred 
building that is the focal point of 1.8 billion Muslims’ daily prayers.

All of this proves that Riyadh does not care about what sect or religion 
someone follows, as long as that someone does not interfere with their 
ambitions, which right now, appear to be the complete reversal of the Arab 
Spring and fomenting closer ties with Israel at the expense of the 
long-standing plight of the Palestinian people.

A bloody legacy

MBS and, let us never forget, his father King Salman bin Abdulaziz, have 
accomplished very little that is positive since coming to power and will leave 
behind a legacy of mass imprisonment, unfair trials, dubious executions, and 
failed wars – the humanitarian disaster that is now Yemen is a case in point.

There is a saying that absolute power corrupts absolutely. In MBS’ case, it is 
quite clear that he was so absolutely corrupt in his morals before he came to 
power that, once he finally did, he engaged in a glut of violence and 
repression that even his family members could not escape. His actions are 
symptomatic of a narcissistic personality, so obsessed with power and 
self-image that he will go to devastating lengths to ensure none oppose his 
rule or even mildly disagree with his vision.

In MBS’ case, he corrupted the power that he wielded to such a degree as to 
make previous Saudi rulers seem like human rights defenders by comparison.

If all MBS wants to be remembered by is his jailing of critical Sunni clerics, 
torture and execution of Shia minors, and the violent stamping out of any 
dissent to his “liberalisation through repression” project, then he can rest 
assured that he is well on his way to cementing one of the worst legacies of 
any dictatorial ruler of the modern Middle East.

(source: trtworld.com)

**************************

EYE FOR AN EYE----Saudi Arabia executions – paralysis, eye gouging and 
crucifixion among the medieval punishments faced by kids as young as 
14----Saudi Arabia continues to use barbaric methods of execution claiming they 
are justified by the Quran and its traditions



The oppressive kingdom of Saudi Arabia has some of the most barbaric and 
bizarre punishments in the world.

Public beheadings, amputations, eye for an eye retribution and crucifixion all 
form part of the ruthless and medieval justice system.

On Monday, a horrific mass execution was carried out by the savage regime 
involving 37 men being killed including 1 being crucified and another having 
his head impaled on a spike.

Those killed during the beheading bloodbath had all been convicted of 
"terrorism offences" in the hardline kingdom.

However, one of those beheaded. Abdulkareem al-Hawaj, was arrested while 
attending an anti-government protest when he was aged just 16.

He was convicted of being a "terrorist" in a trial branded a "farce" by Amnesty 
International.

This week's executions brings the number of people killed by the ruthless 
regime since the start of 2019 to around 100, according to official 
announcements.

Saudi has the third highest rate of executions in the world behind China and 
Iran, according to Amnesty.

Last year, the kingdom executed 149 people, most of them drug smugglers 
convicted of non-violent crimes, according to Amnesty's most recent figures.

In 2017, the kingdom year carried out 146 executions while in 2016 the country 
killed 47 men in 1 single day in a horrific mass murder.

RUTHLESS REGIME

Crown Prince Salman wants to make the desert kingdom a tech savvy 21st century 
nation and has introduced liberal reforms.

Yet for all his ambitions, the country still has the trappings of one caught in 
a altogether different era, particularly when it comes to its justice system.

Saudi Arabia retains the death penalty for a large number of offences including 
drug trafficking and “sorcery” as well as murder.

The majority of death sentences are carried out in public by beheading, drawing 
comparisons with the shocking brutality of the Islamic State.

The system is based on Shariah law, which the Saudis say is rooted in Islamic 
tradition and the Quran.

KILLED FOR 'SORCERY'

While they insist trials are conducted to the strictest standards of fairness, 
evidence has emerged from the country to suggest the opposite.

Trials are reported to have lasted a day and confessions extracted under 
torture.

The country has no written penal code and no code of criminal procedure and 
judicial procedure.

That allows courts wide powers to determine what constitutes a criminal offence 
and what sentences crimes deserve.

The only means of appeal is directly to the King, who decides whether the 
condemned lives or dies.

The list of punishments makes for grim reading.

BEHEADINGS

In the first 4 months of 2018 alone it has carried out 86 beheadings, 1/2 of 
them for non-violent crimes such as drugs offences.

The surge in executions since last year saw at least 27 people executed in July 
alone, say Amnesty International.

Beheading remains the most common form of execution and the sentence 
traditionally carried out in a public square on a Friday after prayers.

Deera Square in the centre of the capital Riyadh is known locally as "Chop Chop 
Square”.

The work maybe grim but country’s chief executioner appeared to take pride in 
his work.

After visiting the victim’s family to see if they want to forgive the prisoner, 
they are then taken for beheading.

"When they get to the execution square, their strength drains away,” the BBC 
reported Muhammad Saad al-Beshi as saying.

“Then I read the execution order, and at a signal I cut the prisoner's head 
off.”.

A recent surge in rate of executions led to ads place for an eight executioners 
on the civil service jobs website.

A downloadable PDF application form for jobs said they fell under the term 
"religious functionaries" and would be at the lower end of the civil service 
pay scale.

CRUCIFIXION

In Saudi Arabia, the practice of “crucifixion” refers to the court-ordered 
public display of the body after execution, along with the separated head if 
beheaded.

In one case pictures on social media appearing to show five decapitated bodies 
hanging from a horizontal pole with their heads wrapped in bags.

The beheading and “crucifixion” took place in front of the University of Jizan 
where students were taking exams takes place in a public square to act as a 
deterrent.

PARALYSIS

The ability of courts to decide for themselves sentences that fit the crime has 
led to sentences of “qisas” or retribution.

The most high profile example was that of Ali al-Khawahir, who was 14 when he 
stabbed a friend in the backbone, leaving him "completely paralysed" from the 
waist down.

Ten years later was sentenced to be paralysed from the waist down unless he 
paid a million Saudi riyals to the victim.

At the time Amnesty International said the sentence was “utterly shocking” even 
for Saudi Arabia.

However, Mr al-Khawahir was not paralysed after his family agreed to pay his 
victim the one million royals ($270,000) in compensation.

In such cases, the victim can demand the punishment be carried out, request 
financial compensation or grant a conditional or unconditional pardon.

STONING

Stoning remains a punishment for adultery for women in Saudi Arabia.

According to one witness, the accused are put into holes and then have rocks 
tipped on them from a truck.

In 2015 a married 45-year-old woman, originally from Sri Lanka, who was working 
as a maid in Riyadh, was sentenced to death by stoning.

Her partner, who was single and also from Sri Lanka, was given a punishment of 
100 lashes after being found guilty of the same offence.

EYE GOUGING

Abd ul-Latif Noushad, an Indian citizen, was sentenced to have his right eye 
gouged out in retribution for his role in a brawl in which a Saudi citizen was 
injured.

He worked at a petrol station and got into an altercation about a jump lead a 
customer wanted a refund for and in the ensuing struggle struck the other man 
on the head, hitting his eye.

A court of appeal in Riyadh has reportedly merely asked whether the Saudi man 
would accept monetary compensation instead, according to Human Rights Watch.

On September 16, 2004, the Saudi newspaper Okaz reported that a court in Tabuk 
ordered the right eye of Muhammad `Ayid Sulaiman al-Fadili al-Balawi to be 
gouged out.

The court gave him the option of paying compensation within one year and it was 
reported he had raised the 1.4 million riyals required.

Another Saudi newspaper, ArabNews, reported on December 6 that a court had 
recently sentenced an Egyptian man in to having his eye gouged.

He was accused of throwing acid in the face of another man, who subsequently 
lost his eyesight.

FLOGGING

Those convicted of insulting Islam can also expect to be flogged.

In a case that has brought international condemnation, blogger Raif Badawi was 
sentenced to 1000 lashes as well as 10 years behind bars.

Video shows a crowd cheering as the first 50 lashes of his sentence was carried 
out, an ordeal which his wife Ensaf Haidar, who says nearly killed him.

In 2017, a man was sentenced 1- years in prison and 2,000 lashes for expressing 
his atheism on Twitter.

The 28-year-old reportedly refused to repent, insisting what he wrote reflected 
his beliefs and that he had the right to express them.

AMPUTATION

Amputation is a punishment for theft, with the person convicted having their 
right hand removed.

The crime of “highway robbery” punished by cross amputation which involves the 
removal of the right hand and left foot.

In 2011, 6 Bedouin tribesmen aged between 22 and 29 were sentenced to "cross 
amputation" for their part in robbery.

(source: thesun.co.uk)

************************

UK condemns Saudi Arabia over 'repulsive' mass executions----Foreign Office 
minister criticises country’s human rights after 37 people killed



Britain has issued its sharpest condemnation of the direction of Saudi Arabian 
human rights policy, describing its mass executions as “repulsive” and “utterly 
unacceptable in the modern world”.

The remarks came after further details emerged of the Saudi government’s 
execution on Tuesday of 37 people, including 3 who were minors at the time of 
their alleged offence.

One of those executed was then crucified, according to Saudi state media.

The Foreign Office minister Sir Alan Duncan, answering an urgent question in 
the Commons, spurned the usual diplomatic niceties, saying the mass executions 
were “a deeply backward step which we deplore”. He added it was “deplorable and 
totally unacceptable” that at least one of those executed had been a minor at 
the time of the arrest.

He highlighted reports that one of those executed was displayed on a cross, 
saying that anyone in the House, just 2 days after Easter, would find “more 
repulsive than anything we could picture”.

He added: “Any country needs to realise that when it uses methods like this 
they will eventually backfire. The practical benefit is entirely negative.”

The Treasury minister Liz Truss said there needed to be a review of UK policy 
towards Saudi Arabia, while Labour MPs called for the country to be stripped of 
the right to host the G20 summit next year.

Duncan said the Foreign Office would seek details from Riyadh of the crimes of 
those executed and the due process, but added the UK had been denied access to 
some trials in Saudi Arabia.

British diplomats have been allowed to attend the trial of those charged with 
killing the Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in 
Istanbul, but no public report has been provided.

33 of the 37 executed in 6 cities on Tuesday were Shia Muslims, often suspected 
by Saudi authorities of being loyal to Iran.

Duncan said: “The broader picture does give growing cause for concern if you 
look at those executed – the number, the Shia, the minors, those whose crimes 
we do not know, the Khashoggi incident, we will be very robust in the 
representations we make in the embassy and at a minister to minister level. It 
is very important that the regime in Saudi Arabia appreciates that world 
opinion can only get louder in its condemnation.”

He extended his criticism to the Saudi-led war in Yemen, saying: “Bombings in 
Yemen do not really achieve any of the objectives they have set out to achieve 
and we need a political settlement as a matter of urgency.”

But he resisted cross-party calls from MPs, including Conservatives, for a 
fundamental review of Britain’s relations with Saudi Arabia. “The UK had to be 
aware of the entire Gulf and the dangers around it,” he said. “There is a moral 
dilemma here. There is deep murkiness here that we do not like.”

He also equivocated on whether Britain would continue to support Saudi Arabia 
sitting on the UN human rights council.

Further condemnation came from the UN human rights chief, Michelle Bachelet, 
who described the executions as shocking.

The EU’s diplomatic service said the killings confirmed a negative trend in the 
country, in contrast to the decline in death penalties worldwide.

Amnesty International said of those executed, 11 men were convicted of spying, 
and 14 others were convicted of violent offences, including participation in 
anti-government demonstrations in Saudi Arabia’s Shia-majority Eastern Province 
between 2011 and 2012. The 14 were subjected to prolonged pre-trial detention 
and told the court they were tortured or otherwise ill-treated to extract 
“confessions” from them.

Despite the killings, the Saudis went ahead with a major investors conference 
in Riyadh, setting out a plan for its chairing of the G20 and for the Saudi 
capital market to be among the top 10 in the world by 2030.

(source: The Guardian)








YEMEN:

US voices concern for Baha'i facing death from Yemen Huthis



The United States urged Yemen's Huthi rebels to end mistreatment of members of 
the Baha'i faith, as the community on Thursday criticized as "absurd" 
prosecutor's allegations against a believer sentenced to death.

The Baha'i community said that Hamed bin Haydara, who has been detained since 
2013, will face an appeal hearing on Tuesday in the Huthi-controlled capital 
Sanaa.

The US State Department said it was "deeply concerned" that the Iranian-linked 
rebels have targeted dozens of Baha'is and voiced alarm over accounts that 
Haydara has endured "physical and psychological torture."

"This persistent pattern of vilification, oppression and mistreatment by the 
Huthis of Baha'is in Yemen must end," State Department spokeswoman Morgan 
Ortagus said in a statement.

The Baha'i community on Thursday released what it said was the response to 
Haydara's appeal, with the prosecutor accusing the faith of being founded on 
"satanic thought."

It said that Haydara has also been accused of seeking to create a separate 
Baha'i homeland on the Yemeni island of Socotra.

"The prosecutor's arguments do not address the merits of Mr. Haydara's appeal 
and instead make absurd, wide-ranging accusations that are not based in law or 
in fact," said Bani Dugal, principal representative of the Baha'i International 
Community to the United Nations.

He charged that the prosecutor was following the tactics of Iran's Shiite 
clerical regime, which allows freedom of religion to several minorities but 
targets the Bahai's, whose founder the Baha'u'llah was Iranian born in 1817.

The Baha'i faith calls for unity among religions and equality between men and 
women.

Baha'is consider the Baha'u'llah to be a prophet, a sharp contrast from the 
orthodox Islamic view that Mohammed was God's final messenger.

The Huthis control vast swathes of Yemen despite a US-backed military campaign 
led by Saudi Arabia, which has contributed to what the United Nations calls the 
world's worst humanitarian crisis.

(source: al-monitor.com)








IRAN:

Political prisoner reveals regime’s repression of families of victims of Iran’s 
1988 massacre



In an open letter that has been sent out of prison, Iranian political prisoner 
Arash Sadeghi has revealed a part of the Iranian regime’s repression of a 
political prisoner’s family demanding justice over the 1988 massacre in Iran.

The letter not only sheds light on a part of the crimes committed during the 
1980s but also emphasizes the continuing brutality suffered by the families of 
the victims, harassed, and tormented for seeking truth and justice for their 
loved ones.

Reiterating periods during which the Iranian regime carried out widespread 
executions of Iranian opposition members, Arash Sadeghi, who has been serving a 
15-year prison sentence for his peaceful political activities since 2016, 
wrote:

“The secret executions of more than 15,000 political prisoners in the 1980s are 
one of the most tremendous human rights violations in the Islamic Republic of 
Iran. Protest and complaints continue after nearly three decades of those 
events.

The first wave of mass executions of political prisoners began in 1981. 
According to unofficial statistics, nearly 11,000 political prisoners were 
executed in the early 1990s.

The massacre of political prisoners intensified in 1988 with about 5,000 
political prisoners being collectively executed in the summer of 1988.”

“Most of those executed, were meembers and suporters of the People’s Mojahedin 
Organization of Iran, and leftist political organizations such as Organization 
of Iranian People’s Fadaiyan (Fada’i Guerrillas). Many families have never been 
informed about why and how their loved ones were executed, and their bodies 
were not delivered to the families,” Sadeghi added.

About the extrajudiciall executions of political dissidents in secret and the 
authorities dumping their bodies, mostly in unmarked mass graves, Arash Sadeghi 
wrote in his letter:

“The executed were often buried in abandoned cemeteries and sometimes even 
their families kept in dark about the burial place. The few families aware of 
their children’s burial place have never been allowed to freely visit there, 
put grave stones and mourning.”

Arash Sadeghi explains that the authorities have kept the killings in secrets, 
tormenting the relatives by refusing to tell them how and why their loved ones 
were killed and where they are buried.

“All these deprivations and prohibitions continue and any violations of these 
prohibitions, protests against the executions, pursue or pleading can be 
persecuted by heavy punishment…

Many families have also been denied basic rights, such as the right to work and 
study freely.

However, they have spent years trying to uncover the truth about how and why 
their loved ones were killed.”

Arash Sadeghi refferes to the case of Hassan Sadeghi and his wife Fatemeh 
Mosanna who have been serving 15-year prison sentences since 2015, after being 
arrested in January 2013 for organizing a mourning ceremony for Hassan 
Sadeghi’s father.

“Hassan Sadeghi and Fatemeh Mosanna, a couple held in Raja’i Shahr and Evin 
prisons, are among those victims who each have been sentenced to 15 years in 
prison.

Hassan Sadeghi was arrested back in 1981 (in the middle of September) at the 
age of 15, and was imprisoned until he was 21.

He was arrested because his father had been prosecuted for supporting the 
PMOI/MEK.

When they did not have access to the father, they arrested the 15-year-old son 
and tortured him for 6 years in jail to force him to expose the whereabouts of 
his father.”

Arash Sadeghi then asserted that Mr. Hassan Sadeghi is still suffering the 
effects of torture he endured in 1980s.

“Due to strokes by cable and flogg on his soles during torture he endured in 
1980s, the bones of both Sadeghi’s heels were broken at that time…He is now 
suffering a lot and can barely walk.”

“During that time, Hassan Sadeghi’s wife Fatemeh Mosanna (who was only 13) and 
her mother Ferdows Mahboubi served two and four years in prison respectively. 
Fatemeh’s 3 brothers (Ali, Mostafa and Morteza) were executed, and their bodies 
were never delivered to their families.

Ali Mosanna was executed while his wife and 4 and 6 year old children, Zaynab 
and Zohreh, were also imprisoned.

The reason for the arrests of Ms. Mosanna and her mother, Ferdows Mahboubi, and 
the charge against them, was protesting the execution of four members of their 
family during those years.”

“Hassan Sadeghi was arrested again along with his wife, Fatemeh Mosanna and 
their two children, 17 and 11 years old, in January 2013 for organizing a 
mourning ceremony for Hassan Sadeghi’s father who was an opponent of the regime 
of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Their daughter Maryam, was released after 3 days, and their son, Iman was 
released a month and a half later.”

Now Fatemeh Mosanna adn Hassan Sadeghi have been serving the 4th year of their 
prison sentences in Evin and Raja’i Shahr prisons.

Arash Sadeghi said that the couple’s medical problems are related to the 
imprisonment and torture they endured as political prisoners in the 1980s.

“Due to the execution of 4 members of her family and endoring 2 years behind 
bars during the same time, Fatemeh Mosanna Fatemeh Mosanna has suffered severe 
physical and psychological problems…” Sadeghi said.

“Both of them have been deprived of family visits and medical treatment on the 
order of Amin vaziri, the prosecutor’s representative.”

Illegal confiscation of Properties and depriving children from basic needs:

Arash Sadeghi then reiterates that the family is facing homelessness after the 
Iranian regime confiscated their home and only remaining property.

“Arguing that Hassan Sadeqi’s father was an opponent of the Islamic Republic of 
Iran, the court ordered the confiscation of all his property after his death.

In addition to their house and properties in Kashan, the authorities have 
confiscated their home in Tehran where their 2 children, Iman and Maryam, had 
been living in,” Sadeghi said.

“And the persecution of the victims of the 1980s continues …” Sadeghi said.

At the end of his letter, Arash Sadeghi asked all the human rights organization 
not to be silent and to convoy the voice of families of victims of Iran’s 1988.

“Will the silence which lead to the tragedy of the mass killings of political 
prisoners and today leads to the denial of their existence and their families, 
continue?

I ask all the human rights organizations to convoy the voices of these 
oppressed and suffering families.

Arash Sadeghi

(source: Iran Human Rights)

********************

Maryam Rajavi and the death penalty



Iran is the world leader in executions per capita and torture is routine in the 
Regime’s prisons, but it doesn’t have to be that way.

Maryam Rajavi, the leader of the Iranian Resistance and future President of 
Iran for the transitional period. would ban the death penalty as soon as she 
got into office. Her plan for a future Iran is a country the devoid of the 
death penalty, all forms of torture, and any human rights abuses.

Many years ago, Maryam Rajavi and the Iranian Resistance called for the 
abolition of the death penalty, the end of torture, and the halting of all 
human rights abuses in Iran. The mullahs have never agreed and their abuses 
have only grown over the years.

Maryam Rajavi said: “Our plan is to revive friendship, conciliation and 
tolerance. Our plan for the future is to put an end to the mullahs’ religious 
decrees. We reject the inhuman penal code and other abusive laws of this 
regime. We believe Retribution is an inhuman law.”

Maryam Rajavi and the Iranian Resistance believe that all laws should be based 
on forgiveness, compassion and humanity.

In a speech, Maryam Rajavi cited the case of her husband and Iranian Resistance 
Leader Massoud Rajavi, who ordered that thousands of former Supreme Leader 
Ruhollah Khomeini’s agents arrested in the battles of the National Liberation 
Army of Iran in the 1980s be released. Many of the agents had murdered members 
of the Resistance, but they were held without being tortured and without their 
human rights being violated.

That is how the Iranian people’s resistance operates, with respect to human 
rights.

Maryam Rajavi and the Iranian Resistance would also seek to put in place an 
independent, dynamic, and free judiciary. She wants to end arbitrary arrests, 
ban torture, protect the defendant’s right to a defence and a lawyer, ensure 
that the justice system is built on the presumption of innocence, and ensure 
that women have access to justice when subjected to violence, aggression and 
abuse of their freedoms.

Maryam Rajavi said: “Our plan is to defend democratic values, freedom, equality 
and sanctity of every citizen’s private life. Our plan for Iran’s future is 
that no one should be denied his/her freedoms, rights or life because of having 
or not having faith in a particular religion or for abandoning it. Our plan is 
for all citizens to enjoy genuine security and equal rights before the law.”

She explained that the Iranian Resistance would build an Iran based on freedom, 
democracy and equality, where no one can be sentenced to death, let alone 
someone under the age of 18.

Maryam Rajavi said: “We have chosen to persevere and fight on to let our people 
enjoy a life in freedom and prosperity… Our motivation for resistance till 
victory is not spite and revenge but our love for freedom and human rights. 
This is the fuel of our steadfastness. And the secret to this endurance is 
nothing but being prepared to sacrifice and pay the price.”

Maryam Rajavi is prepared to fight the good fight until Iran is free.

(source: irannewsupdate.com)