Iran executions shock Amnesty

Press, 12 May 1980, Page 8

Iran executions shock Amnesty

NZPA-Reuter London Amnesty International has expressed shock at the executions in Iran of a former Government Minister and seven members of the Bahai faith. It said many people had been killed under Iran’s revolutionary Islamic leadership without fair trials. The human rights organisation estimated that about 1000 people had been executed since the Shah was overthrown in February, 1979; it accused the revolutionary tribunals of consistently denying prisoners the right to an adequate defence. It was announced m Teneran last week that a firing squad had executed Mrs Farrokhrou Parsa, Minister of

Education from 1968 to 1974 under the rule of the Shah. She was believed to be the? first woman to die for‘ political offences since Ayatollah' Khomeiny came to power after the Shah’s ovew throw. Mrs Parsa, aged 62, was the first woman to enter the Iranian Parliament and the first woman Minister appointed under the Shah’s plans to reform the country; along Western lines. Amnesty International, which accused Savak (the Shah’s secret police) of torturing and killing prisoners, has repeatedly demanded that Iran’s new -leaders halt all executions, and called on Ayatollah Khomeiny to commute the death sentence against Mrs Parsa.