EXECUTION OF POLITICAL PRISONER, HOJJAT ZAMANI, BY THE IRANIAN REGIME

Early day motion 1728, tabled 1 March 2006 by Rudi Vis (Labour). Signed by 27 members.

That this House notes with great concern the ever worsening state of human rights in Iran and the intensification of repression in that country since President Ahmadinejad took office in August 2005; further notes reports by the United Nations, the European Union and international human rights organisations condemning the widespread abuse of human rights in Iran including systematic discrimination against and abuse of women and religious and ethnic minorities, limitations on freedom of expression, the use of inhumane punishments and widespread executions including those of minors; observes the recent exertion of yet further pressure on political prisoners in Iran; condemns in the strongest possible terms, the execution by the Iranian regime on 7th February 2006 of Hojjat Zamani, a member of the People's Mojahedin Organisation of Iran, who had endured physical and psychological torture since his imprisonment in the summer of 2001, because he remained steadfast in his political beliefs; calls on the Government to abandon its failed policy of engagement with the Iranian regime and instead to adopt a firm policy beginning with referral of the Iranian regime's human rights abuses to the UN Security Council; and urges the Government and the United Nations unequivocally to condemn the Iranian regime and to take concrete steps to save the lives of other political prisoners in Iran who are on death row.

Signatures by party: Labour 17, Conservative 4, Liberal Democrat 4, Plaid Cymru 1, Social Democratic and Labour Party 1.