Published on: 22/12/2022 – 18:37
More than three months after the death of the young Iranian Kurd Mahsa Amini, the numerous demonstrations in Iran have led to thousands of arrests and several hundred deaths. A dozen death sentences were passed. The wave of solidarity abroad is great. This is also the case in Germany, where more and more politicians are taking on sponsorships for political prisoners.
With our correspondent in Berlin,
Mahan Sadrat, a 23-year-old Iranian, was sentenced to death in early November. The judiciary accuses him of “waging war against God” and of taking part in one of the many demonstrations in the country in recent weeks, in which he allegedly drew a knife. However, a witness qualified his statements during the trial. A video showed that the prosecution case had been constructed from scratch. As her execution was imminent, she was suspended last week. The Iranian Supreme Court just ordered this Mahan Sadrat be repeated.
Lukas Benner is only three years older than the young Iranian. The Green has been a member of the Bundestag for a year. Without hesitation, he decided, like hundreds of other parliamentarians, to sponsor Mahan Sadrat, as he had done for a Belarusian political prisoner last year. Last Thursday, Lukas Benner posted a photo of the young Iranian on his Twitter account with the comment: “The death sentence has been suspended. It’s a huge relief.”
“Make a gesture for people who have incredible courage”
In other messages, the elected official denounces the Iranian regime. Lukas Benner writes a letter to the Iranian ambassador in Germany together with Maryam Blumenthal, leader of the Greens in Hamburg, whose family fled Tehran when she was two years old. The two elected officials are protesting against “lawful action” and denouncing “a staged trial intended to scare those who are fighting for their freedom.” The letter has so far remained unanswered.
“It’s not about showcasing myself, it’s about making a gesture for people who have incredible courage. That is the least I can do so that they are not forgotten,” explains Lukas Benner in an interview with RFI. The Green MEP from Aix-la-Chapelle will continue his action with others until at least Mahan Sadrat is freed. “It may be a bit utopian, but in absolute terms I would like to meet him one day in a free Iran and have tea with him,” hopes Lukas Benner.
Post messages of support on social networks, denounce the practices of the Tehran regime, challenge Iranian diplomats, contact the various European and international bodies in charge of human rights… These are the various means available to these godfathers available to defend a political prisoner, to prevent him from falling into oblivion, to force Iran to respond if necessary. Whether the campaign on behalf of Mahan Sadrat led to the authorities’ decision to try him again is difficult to say.
Martin Lessenthin, spokesman for the German section of the International Society for Human Rights (IGFM), is convinced of the usefulness of such sponsorships: “International public opinion, the media can protect those affected, at least contribute to improving their living conditions of imprisonment, to the lifting of the death sentence, reduced sentence. For a country like Iran, Germany is an important country politically and economically, whether it’s the negotiations on Tehran’s nuclear program, sanctions, visas in general, or the opportunity for regime dignitaries to be treated in Germany.”
A civil society action
For twelve years, ISHR has offered German politicians the opportunity to support political prisoners who urgently need help. The organization does intensive research, collects facts and passes them on to elected officials who support this initiative.
The reaction of the Iranian media after the sponsorship of the two brothers Farzad and Farhad Tahazadeh, who were also sentenced to death, by the Social Democrat MP Hakan Demir confirms that Tehran is not indifferent to this international solidarity campaign. The videos of the SPD member of the Bundestag have reached over a million people. Iranian television used the photo of the German MP in a report, denouncing “the lies” of the elected official.
“Their reaction shows that the regime takes these sponsorships seriously and that the response they have to these individual cases is not up to the mark,” comments Hakar Demir in an interview with RFI. It’s also good that people in Germany are talking about it. The reactions here are overwhelmingly positive and supportive of such an action. I will continue this fight until execution is ruled out and the two brothers Farzad and Farhad Tahazadeh are released. »
The long-term action of the ISHR organization because such sponsorship for political prisoners is mediated in the case of Iran by civil society initiatives, in particular by people of Iranian origin living in Germany. Mariam Claren fights tirelessly for the release of her mother, who has been imprisoned in Iran for two years. Nahid Taghavi left his country with his then young daughter in the 1980s to settle in Germany, but has been returning to Iran regularly for the past twenty years. Daniela Sepehri is a well-known activist among opponents of the Iranian regime in Germany.
After her father converted to Christianity, which led to his death sentence, the young woman’s parents had to leave Iran at the end of the 1990s, and Daniela Sepehri founded Mariam Claren a list of more than 200 political prisoners and appealed to many political leaders to get their support.