Canada Must Condemn the Abuse and Executions of Afghan Refugees in Iran. Ariana TV Release

Afghan refugees are doing the most degrading, harsh, unsafe and low wage jobs in Iran to feed their belovedones. Currently there are over one million such refugees in Iran who are facing enormous amount of abuse, violence and threat on a daily basis.The Islamic Republic of Iran treat Afghan refugee as , criminals and use different methods of harassment to falsely accuse them of wrong doings, arrest, and often deportthem back to Afghanistan. In some cases, they have been even executed.

 

Furthermore, the Islamic Republic of Iran deprives the Afghan legal immigrants and refugee childrenof their rights to education, employment and limit their movements within Iran. The abuse and cruelty are well known among Iranian people and Afghan communities wholived in Iran for many years. Most recently there were cases in which Iranians have been involved in the murders of numerous Afghan laborers, who were thrown down from buildings when demanding their salaries.

As though these atrocities were not enough, Iran has imprisoned thousands of Afghan refugees in jails and so called “temporary lodgers” in horrible conditions for the past few months. Many were falsely accused of illegal activities, 45 of which have been hanged inthe past few weeks and 100s more are to be executed. According to the media reports,
eye witnesses and a number of human right organizations these imprisonments and actsof violence against the Afghan immigrants have political motives.

This shocking news has caused deep concerns among the Afghan community, people ofother countries, as well as the human rights institutions around the world. It is obvious that Iran does not have a transparent and equitable judiciary system, a system that deprives the Iranian people of their human rights as well.

Media interviews with Afghan refugee prisoners indicate that, not only these refugeeshad no access to lawyers but also they were not even given the opportunity to defend themselves in a court of law. In most cases their execution notices were handed over tothem in jail all of a sudden and in a short period of time, without their family’s knowledge.

 

Ariana TV of Vancouver and demonstrators of this rally condemn Afghan refugee’sunjust, inhumane, heartless and cruel execution and express our deepest concern over their poor conditions in Iranian jails.

 

1. We demand the release of innocent Afghan refugees from Iranian jails and insist on their freedom from Islamic Republic of Iran.

 

2. We urge the Iranian government to provide lawyers for those Afghan refugees accused of crime in a fair, transparent and just court without any outside pressureand observed by the representatives of the International community and the
media.

 

3. We urge United Nations, International Organizations, human rights organizations, Red Cross, Amnesty International and other human rights activists to address Afghan Refugee’s issues and stop Iranian government from executing hundreds of Afghan refugees in their dungeons and jails.

 

4. We demand that the Afghan government to urgently solve this issue through diplomatic channels and put pressure on the Iranian government to change itsviolent treatments of the Afghan refugees and immigrants.

5. We kindly request the Canadian government to take actions against Iraniangovernment and pressure them on stopping these cruel injustices.

 

6. We appreciate the Canadian government’s help for Afghanistan and the Afghanpeople. We request that the Canadian government and people to support our efforts to continue to help Afghan refugees and provide opportunities for them toescape Iranian’s abuse and immigrate to Canada.

7. We promise Afghan refugees and immigrants in Iran that we will follow up theirstories, support their struggles, defend their innocence, demand their rights and continue our protest against such violent actions against Afghan refugeesanywhere in Iran or around the world.

 

(Ariana press release republished here with permission).