Sunday, February 21, 2010

Call Out for Action: Omid Dana in Danger of Execution




According to Pars Daily News and Only Democracy for Iran, Omid Dana is a 26 year old who is in danger of execution by the Iranian regime for being a monarchist. Dana disappeared after the Ashura demonstrations. He was finally spotted on television in one of the regime’s mock trials.

The trials are designed to force detainees to falsely confess to crimes. The confessions are then used against the detainees to issue them long prison terms or execution sentences. Security forces normally prepare the detainees for the televised trials by making them practice repeatedly their false confession beforehand.

One of the major goals of the regime for televising the mock trials is to spread fear among Iranians so they refrain from attending future protests.

The following is an e-mail received from Omid Dana’s friend. In this message, Dana’s friend pleads with the international community to exercise any power they have to help spare the life of this innocent 26 year old.
I am grateful that you have quickly published my message. Due to communication difficulties in Iran, I desperately ask you to do your best in informing all media and [human rights] organizations to help us put a stop to the execution of Omid Dana. Spreading the news alone will not help him. Actions must be taken, and if we don’t work fast, we will soon lose an active young man.

Omid Dana is a friend of mine. He was arrested in Tehran during the distribution of the documentary “The Third Coup D’état”. We waited for a while, hoping to hear from him, but there was no news, until Wednesday February 3, 2010. As I was watching a televised court session, I recognized his voice, even though his face was blurred out.


Additionally, when the prosecutor said that this person is the same person who shouted slogans against Velayat-e Faghih in the documentary, a photo was shown on the screen in which Omid was in the middle of the crowd and his mask had come off.

Later on Friday, the public court was also mentioned on Simay Azadi (Mujahedin TV) headline news. I am surprised of the fact that after the public trial, his name was never mentioned anywhere, and the only thing that came to my mind was that maybe the authorities did not want to repeat their previous mistake of having published the identity of two other young men on death row. They probably want to execute him covertly since he was found guilty of “Moharebeh” (waging war against God) and sentenced to death by that same court.

If you have access to the archive of Seda o Sima (Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting) or the archive of Simay Azadi (Mujahedin TV), you can check their records on Wednesday February 3rd and Friday February 5th to compare the photos I sent you with those aired on TV to ensure that it is him.

Omid was an admirer of the Shah, and as you see in the photos, he always wore a pendant bearing the symbol of Shir-o-Khorshid (the lion and the sun, one of the better known symbols of Iran. The lion and the sun were also the symbols on Iran’s national flag between 1423 and 1979). I always warned him of wearing the pendant and reminded him that it could get him in trouble, but he never listened.

These three pictures were each taken in different cities during trips (names of the cities are confidential). For obvious reasons I have only sent you pictures of him.

Just to give you some more information about Omid, I want to add that his father is an Akhoond (a Muslim cleric) who separated from his wife a few years back. Their house is located on Haft-e-Tir Square.

If you are still in doubt, please tell me so I can find other ways to put a stop to his execution.

With much appreciation,

May Iran live on.

Translation by: Neda Shayesteh
Persian2English.com

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