Germany: these elected officials who sponsor political prisoners in Iran

Demonstration against the Iranian regime in Berlin, October 22, 2022. (Illustrative image).

AP - Markus Schreiber

Text by: Pascal Thibaut Follow

5 mins

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 handed down.

The wave of solidarity abroad is significant.

This is also the case in Germany where more and more politicians are sponsoring political prisoners.

Publicity

Read more

With our correspondent in Berlin,

Mahan Sadrat, a 23-year-old Iranian, was sentenced to death in early November.

Justice accuses him of being " 

" and of having participated in one of the many demonstrations in the country in recent weeks during which he allegedly brandished a knife.

However, a witness relativized 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 has just ordered that Mahan Sadrat

.

Lukas Benner is only three years older than the young Iranian.

A member of the German Green Party, he has been a member of the Bundestag for a year.

Without hesitation, he decided, like a hundred other parliamentarians, to sponsor Mahan Sadrat, as he did last year for a Belarusian political prisoner.

Last Thursday, Lukas Benner posted a photo of the young Iranian on his Twitter account, commenting: “ 

 ."

" 

Make a gesture for people who have incredible courage"

In other messages, the elected official denounces the Iranian regime.

Together with Maryam Blumenthal, the chairwoman of the Green Party in Hamburg, whose family fled Tehran when she was two years old, Lukas Benner writes a letter to the Iranian ambassador to Germany.

The two elected officials protest against a procedure " 

", denounce "

 ".

The letter has so far remained unanswered.

“ 

 , ”explains Lukas Benner, interviewed by RFI.

The Green MP from Aix-la-Chapelle will continue his action with others until at least Mahan Sadrat is freed.

“ 

 ,” hopes Lukas Benner.

Neben mir haben zahlreiche Abgeordnete aller demokratischen Fraktionen eine Patenschaft für politische Gefangene in #Iran übernommen.

Dem Iranian Regime muss klar sein: Wir schauen hin und machen weiter Druck.#MahanSadrat #StopExecutionsInIran #IranRevolution2022 pic.twitter.com/Mafwnbgbvt

— Lukas Benner (@LukasBenner_) December 16, 2022

Publish messages of support on social networks, denounce the practices of the Tehran regime, challenge Iranian diplomats, address the various European and international bodies in charge of human rights... These are the different means available to these godfathers to defend a political prisoner, to prevent him from falling into oblivion, to compel Iran if necessary to react.

It is difficult to say whether the campaign in favor of Mahan Sadrat led to the authorities' decision to try him again.

Martin Lessenthin, spokesperson for the German section of the International Society for Human Rights (IGFM), is convinced of the usefulness of such sponsorships: " 

 ".

#sahand_noor_mohammadzadeh

🙏🏽Unterstützt mich (und @ulrichlechte) dabei, Sahand zu helfen:

👉🏾Teilt die Patenschaft!

👉🏾Macht seinen Namen und Gesicht sichtbar!

👉🏾Schreibt dem Iranian Botschafter in Berlin!#StopExecutionInIran@IGFM_DE

📢 Mehr Infos: https://t.co/6ylr2PDJkw pic.twitter.com/iUy4CoMXXg

— Maryam Blumenthal (@Mary_Blumenthal) December 22, 2022

An action relayed by civil society

The IGFM has been offering German politicians the opportunity to sponsor political prisoners who are in urgent need of help for twelve years.

The organization researches, hard, collects facts and passes them on to elected officials who support this initiative.

The reaction of the Iranian media after the social-democrat deputy Hakan Demir sponsored the two brothers Farzad and Farhad Tahazadeh, also condemned to death, confirms that Tehran does not remain insensitive to this campaign of international solidarity.

The videos of the SPD parliamentarian have reached over a million people.

Iranian television used the photo of the German deputy in a report by denouncing “ 

 ” of the elected official.

“ 

, comments Hakar Demir, interviewed by

.

 »

Mit dem @Tagesspiegel-Journalisten @DanielBoeldt habe ich über meine politische Patenschaft gesprochen: Die beiden Brüder #FarhadTahaZadeh

und #FarzadTahaZadeh dürfen nicht hingerichtet werden.

#StopExecutionsInIranhttps://t.co/Dh27nWi39y pic.twitter.com/F1i3vU4kQO

— Hakan Demir (@HakanDemirNK) December 20, 2022

The long-standing action of

for such sponsorships of political prisoners is today relayed in the case of Iran by initiatives from civil society, in particular from people living in Germany and of Iranian origin.

Mariam Claren fights tirelessly to obtain the release of her mother, who has been detained for two years in Iran.

Nahid Taghavi had left his country with his daughter, at the time a baby, in the 80s to settle in Germany, but had been returning to Iran regularly for twenty years.

Daniela Sepehri is a well-known activist among opponents of the Iranian regime in Germany.

After her father's conversion to Christianity, which had led to his death sentence, the young woman's parents had to leave Iran at the end of the 1990s. With Mariam Claren, Daniela Sepehri drew up

of more than 200 political prisoners and appealed to many political leaders to obtain their sponsorship.

Newsletter

Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox

I subscribe

Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application

• Iran

• Germany

• our selection

• Human rights