17th August 2019 has been announced as the international day for the freedom of Soheil Arabi, critics of Islam, and all political prisoners and prisoners of conscience in Iran by the “Atheist Republic” organization. In the invitation to this protest action, it is stated “Demonstrate outside the embassies and consulates of the Islamic Republic of Iran, or wherever you can, to express your support for Soheil Arabi and to protest against Islamic reign of oppression and suppression, and demand the freedom of Soheil Arabi and all political prisoners and prisoners of conscience in Iran.” The International Committee Against Execution fully supports this movement and calls on all activists against capital punishment and all freedom loving people to participate in the announced protest actions in various cities, or take the initiative in organizing protest gatherings on this day themselves. Today, the imprisoned Soheil Arabi has turned into one of the internationally known symbols of resistance to the injustices of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Because of what he had written on Facebook and the social media, the Islamic Republic arrested this blogger on November 7, 2013, and subjected him to various physical and psychological tortures. Soheil Arabi was sentenced to death at first, but because of international protests, his execution order was cancelled by division 34 of the Supreme Court on June 27, 2015 and his request for retrial was accepted. According to the retrial of division 34 of the Supreme Court, the accusation of “abusing the prophet” was cancelled, and he was condemned to seven and a half years of imprisonment and two years of prohibition to leave the country at the end of his prison term.
On the 30th of January 2018, he was moved from “Evin Prison” to the “Bigger Tehran” prison in Fashafouyeh, where he was subjected to beatings by prison officials and interrogators. After many changes in the legal procedure and while he was serving the seven and a half years of imprisonment in the Bigger Tehran prison, a new case was opened against him on charges of “agitating and advertising against the system” and “confusing the minds of public”, resulting in another conviction on 22nd September 2018, by division 26 of Tehran Revolutionary Court, to three years of imprisonment and three years of exile and payment of a fine.
In prison, Soheil Arabi has repeatedly called his only crime to be thinking and enlightening. He has engaged in several hunger strikes to claim his own rights and the rights of other political prisoners and prisoners of conscience. For his resistance to injustice and unfairness, he has been repeatedly beaten up by government officials. On April 29, 2019 he was beaten so severely that he was badly injured in the testicles and taken to Firoozabadi hospital for treatment.
Soheil Arabi started his most recent hunger strike on June 10, 2019. He, who is held in type 1, hall 9 of the Bigger Tehran prison, declared the reason for his hunger strike being the unacceptable conditions of the prison including the violent behaviour of prison officials, unsuitable incarceration conditions, not categorizing the prisoners based on the crimes, the spread of drug abuse among prisoners, forcing confession by the use of tasers and batons, the existence of lice and ticks, and the absence of basic health requirements in this prison. His condition is reported as critical and he has been transferred to the prison clinic and Imam Khomeini hospital in some occasions. Meanwhile, his mother, Farangis Mazloom, who had asked for international support for his son through publishing a video, has been arrested by intelligence forces on July 22, 2019. Soheil has been deprived of his right of being on temporary leave from prison during his entire imprisonment and has not been able to visit his child for a long time. The Islamic Republic has subjected Soheil Arabi’s family to various stresses and pressures. His wife was expelled from work through the forces on her boss and, eventually, the couple were divorced.
Soheil Arabi has expressed many times in prison that “the day will come when we will all be free from these tyrants, and people will realize that I did not deserve even one day of imprisonment. Do not allow anyone to be tortured for having a different opinion.”
August 17, 2019 is the international day for us to impose our will internationally on the Islamic Republic to free Soheil Arabi and all the similar prisoners such as Sina Dehghan and Marjan Davari who have been condemned to death for apostasy.
Issuing death or imprisonment sentences for the critics of Islam is the indication of the fear of the Islamic Republic from the spread of irreligiosity in Iran. Despite its effort to Islamicize every aspect of life in Iran, the Islamic Republic is facing a tsunami of irreligiosity. The people in general and the youth in particular are not only turning away from Islam, but also they have developed an aversion to everything related to religion, superstition, Islam, and Islamic holiness right in the heart of Islamic caliphate.
In participating actively in the gatherings of August 17, the International Committee Against Execution calls on all relevant international bodies to put an utmost pressure on the Islamic Republic of Iran. We can, and we must, make the Islamic Republic to withdraw all these execution and imprisonment sentences and immediately release all those accused of insulting Islamic sanctities and other prisoners of conscience and political prisoners.
International Committee Against Execution (ICAE)
July 23, 2019
Mina Ahadi
minnaahadi@gmail.com
Tel: 0049 (0) 1775692413
I first heard about this on Atheist Republic YouTube channel. What can we do? Is there a petition I can sign?