Iranian activists have accused Tehran of using the Gaza conflict as a smoke screen to continue executions at home, as protests are planned across Europe and Australia this weekend.
Iran-born aerospace engineer Mo Namdari, 33, a lead organiser of the Run for Free Iran campaign, said the world's focus on the Middle East conflict allows Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, his Judiciary and the Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) to continue killings with impunity.
5K runs to mark World Day Against the Death Penalty
Namdari is one of the main organisers behind a series of 5K runs in nine cities across Europe and Australia, scheduled for this weekend. The events mark the World Day Against the Death Penalty on October 10 and protest the escalating wave of political executions in Iran.
The demonstrations come amid renewed international alarm over Tehran's use of the gallows following January's Iran-wide anti-government uprising. Campaign organisers say at least 45 political opponents, including members of the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (MEK) and protesters arrested during the January uprising, have been executed since March, with more than 100 political prisoners, including women, still facing death sentences.
Activists share personal stories of loss
Namdari, who moved to Britain at age 11 and grew up in Derby, said his family's experiences under the dictatorship shaped his determination to speak out. His uncle was killed by the regime, and his brother still lives in Iran, where communicating with relatives abroad carries enormous risks.
He said: "The whole Gaza thing is a brilliant way the mullahs can divert attention from the terrible things happening inside Iran. I feel sorry for people of Israel and those in Gaza because they are caught in this awful conflict, but they are basically dying for somebody else's war. Innocent people on both sides are dying in their tens of thousands because someone in Tehran is sending money and bombs to kill people. The attention of the world is very much not where it should be."
Namdari said the regime's escalating executions are intended to terrorise young Iranians into abandoning demands for democracy. "What the regime fears most is the people of Iran, and especially the younger generation, who are at the forefront of this activism and they are paying the biggest price," he said.
Calls for tougher sanctions and investigations
He added that the regime's increasingly desperate attempts to silence dissent demonstrated its vulnerability. "No evil has lasted forever," he said. "The regime is getting more brutal but the people of Iran are getting more and more enraged."
Namdari called for tougher international sanctions, the freezing of assets linked to the regime, and investigations into financial networks allegedly used to fund militant groups overseas as vital tools to end the killings, adding that decades of diplomatic engagement had failed to deliver meaningful change.
"The 1979 revolution was hijacked. One evil was replaced by another type of monster," he said. "We have to be careful not to repeat that and bring another evil in."
London run joins global protests
London-based pro-democracy activist Rosa Zaraei, 24, will join Saturday's London run. Her aunt was executed by the Iranian authorities aged just 21, and her father spent 18 months in solitary confinement inside Tehran's Evin prison.
"My aunt was 21 years old when she was executed. I am 24. What is the difference between me and her?" Rosa said. "I was just lucky my parents escaped and I was born in Britain."
Most of her family remain in Iran, forcing her to limit contact for fear of exposing them to reprisals. She said: "All we seem to talk about is this war and Donald Trump. And we forget the people inside Iran, the people paying the price for this war."
Rosa believes ordinary Iranians are becoming increasingly determined to confront the dictatorship, despite the enormous personal risks. "It is basically freedom or death. People are not backing down," she said. "I know in my bones things are going to change. The only other alternative is to die. So the question is do you want to die or do you want to rise up?"
The Run for Free Iran events will take place in London, Paris, Amsterdam, Cologne, Stockholm, Oslo, Rome, Luxembourg City and Sydney. The London run begins at noon on Saturday at Trent Park in Barnet.
