Omid Memarian ‎
o.memarian@roozonline.com

Abdolkarim Lahidji is the vice president of the International Federation of Human Rights ‎Leagues and the president of Iran’s Human Rights Society. He spoke to Rooz about ‎advancing an anti-death penalty resolution at the United Nations General Assembly.
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According to Lahidji, Iran, with 220 executions, tops the list of countries that still allow ‎capital punishment. This point has attracted much attention at news conferences in New ‎York and the United Nations. ‎

Noting that, because of efforts by human rights organizations, October 10 has been ‎recognized as the World Day against the Death Penalty, Lahidji said, “For this reason we ‎decided to hold a news conference this year at the UN General Assembly. We have been ‎trying for years to pass a resolution at the UN General Assembly condemning the death ‎penalty.” ‎

This human rights activist hopes that the aforementioned resolution will be ratified by a ‎large number of countries, 170 for example, so that the remaining countries form a tiny ‎minority and abandon the death penalty gradually. ‎

Dr. Lahidji added, “Unfortunately, the Islamic Republic is, in many areas, especially the ‎area that pertains to our expertise and activism, meaning human rights and democracy, at ‎the end of the table. In effect, we are among the worst students in the class. We see that ‎more than 220 people were executed in Iran in the past nine months. For this reasons, 7 ‎prominent human rights organizations that focus on Iran, such as the International ‎Federation of Human Rights Leagues, which is located at Bastille Square in Paris, a ‎symbol of the French Revolution, have staged demonstrations against capital punishment ‎in Iran – protesting the heart-wrenching frequency of executions in Iran.” ‎

Lahidji spoke briefly about this gathering in Paris: “A majority of the demonstrators were ‎Iranian. Unfortunately, sometimes we are forced to point the public’s attention to the ‎dismal situation of human rights in Iran and create a shock wave. On Wednesday, a big ‎crane was staged on the Bastille Square analogous to the ones used in Iran to carry out ‎public hangings. There were plastic dolls hanging from the crane so that the press ‎agencies that were present could see how human beings are treated in Iran. The Iranian ‎government claims that it is protecting people’s honor and property by carrying out ‎executions, but the history of criminal law and punishment proves all over the world that ‎this kind of punishment has no effect on deterring crime.” According to Lahidji, in ‎addition to the fact that trials are not fair and public, it is also unclear as to what degree ‎the charges brought against executed victims are real and to what extent they are ‎fabricated by officials in order to create an atmosphere of fear and terror. ‎

Lahidji recalled former President Khatami’s attempts to end stoning in Iran: “One of the ‎results of the discussions that took place with the European Union during Mohammad ‎Khatami’s presidency was that Iran accepted – meaning Mr. Shahroudi accepted – that ‎stoning would not be carried out in Iran and public executions would stop. But, ‎unfortunately, we are backtracking. In effect, the Iranian officials did not observe their ‎own responsibilities and promises, and carried out these heinous crimes.” ‎