Rouhani's Not-So-Sweet Tweets: The Execution Of A Poet Sums Up The Iranian Regime
25 February 2014
By Diana Moukalled
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, or possibly
employees of his, continue to tweet on his official
account, as does Iran's foreign affairs minister,
Mohammad Javad Zarif. Rouhani and Zarif are active on
Twitter even though the Iranian authorities still ban
their citizens from using it and other social
networking websites. But this is just a minor detail
for the Iranian regime.
Anyone who reads the tweets of the so-called
"moderate" president and his foreign affairs minister
will realize that the same terms are repeated:
justice, peace and stability. The two tweet in English
to address the West, not the people of Iran.
This "moderate" president and his minister are aware
that their smiles and expressions will attract more
attention than their actions, especially in this
apparent phase of Iranian–Western openness which aims
to mitigate concern over Iran's human rights
violations.
As a result, the fact that at least 80 people have
been executed by the regime over the past two months
is being overlooked. Last year, executions exceeded
500. About a third of them took place after the
election of Rouhani last summer. This means that
around 300 executions have taken place under this
"moderate" president.
This year's most famous executions were those of
Hashem Shaabani, an Arab–Iranian poet from Ahvaz, and
Hadi Rashedi. They were hanged for "corruption,
violating national security and waging war on God."
Shaabani was executed in complete secrecy, after a
trial that was condemned by all international human
rights organizations for failing to meet the minimum
standards of transparency and justice. Confessions
from the two were broadcast, and it was clear that
they were obtained under duress.
In his alleged confession, Shaabani said he was member
of a terrorist separatist group. But the truth is the
Iranian judiciary did not present one single tangible
piece of evidence that proved this to be the case.
Shaabani was a young Arab poet and teacher who set up
a poetry magazine. Some of his writings criticized the
regime and its abuses against the Arab minority in
Ahvaz, which is why he was accused of waging war on
God.
The exact date of his execution was kept secret. The
irony here is that Rouhani, the "moderate" president,
visited the Ahvaz area shortly before the execution to
talk about the rights of ethnic minorities.
It is true that Iran is not the only country that is
afraid of poets, and it's not the only country whose
regime is terrified by words and ideas, but the
hanging of Shaabani tells us a lot about Iran. The
Iranian government's attempt to change its image from
the era of former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is
hypothetical at best. When it comes to practice, not
theory, the unpleasant reality of Iran as a tyrannical
regime still holds true. Shaabani's forced confession
was a derogation of justice, and took the place of a
just, public and transparent trial.
The execution of a poet sums up the Iranian regime.
Diana Moukalled is a prominent and well-respected
TV journalist in the Arab world thanks to her
phenomenal show Bil Ayn Al-Mojarada (By The Naked
Eye), a series of documentaries on controversial areas
and topics which airs on Lebanon's leading local and
satelite channel, Future Television. Diana also is a
veteran war correspondent, having covered both the
wars in Iraq and in Afghanistan, as well as the
Isreali "Grapes of Wrath" massacre in southern
Lebanon. Ms. Moukalled has gained world wide
recognition and was named one of the most influential
women in a special feature that ran in Time Magazine
in 2004.