Event Report: Washington DC Activists Demanded an End to Execution in Iran, Release of All Political Prisoners
On 2 December 2012, Mission Free Iran together with Unity for Democracy and Justice in Iran implemented awareness-raising and protest actions in Washington DC against execution and political imprisonment in Iran as part of a unified international protest action (link) to demand an end to execution in Iran and worldwide.
We began at 1pm at the corner of M St and Wisconsin Avenue in Georgetown, displaying banners with images of a number of people recently killed by the regime in Iran, including blogger and facebook user Sattar Beheshti and laborer and activist Jamil Sowaidi, as well as several banners and posters of political prisoners and victims of human rights abuses still surviving in the dank prisons and bloody torture houses of the Islamic regime, including Houtan Kian, Nasrin Sotoudeh, Sakineh Ashtiani, Zeinab Jalalian, and Hanieh Shotorban, among many others. We talked to passers-by about the concomitant economic and human rights crisis ongoing in Iran, and handed out flyers that show people how to take action in support of human rights in Iran.
Many people walking by took explicit notice of Nasrin Sotoudeh’s image, indicating that the American public recognizes her and is aware of her situation. The banner showing Majid Kavousifar waving goodbye to his loved ones with a smile immediately prior to his execution transfixed peoples’ gazes. We told the stories of Sattar Beheshti and Jamil Sowaidi before reading a short statement about why we were out demonstrating.
We then moved our demonstration to the offices of the Islamic regime, further north on Wisconsin Avenue. Our demonstration there also garnered a great deal of interest from people in passing cars, several of whom tapped their horns enthusiastically in support of our action condemning the regime.
The statement that we read at the action appears below the clip and photos.
Mission Free Iran thanks everyone who joined yesterday’s action in support of political prisoners in Iran, and in fervent opposition to execution.
http://missionfreeiran.org/2012/12/03/event-report-washington-dc-activists-demanded-an-end-to-execution-in-iran-release-of-all-political-prisoners/
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