The Iranian people risked their lives for freedom and democracy, according to Thursday night’s appeal. Even young schoolchildren are arrested, raped and brutally murdered by the Islamic regime’s state security forces. And: “We in Switzerland also hear the cry of the people in Iran.”
It is nothing short of a “feminist, democratic revolution”. Switzerland needs to do more than it has done so far. Countries around the world have already taken action against the government in Iran. “We expect a clear public message from the Federal Council in support of the Iranian democratic movement,” the appeal said.
Six demands are made on the Swiss government: the implementation of all economic sanctions that the EU and the US are taking against Iran, a lifelong travel ban for members of the Islamic regime, the Revolutionary Guards and the paramilitary militia Basij, the freezing of all funds from the Islamic regime, from the Revolutionary Guards and the Basij in Swiss bank accounts.
The demands on the Federal Council also include classifying the Revolutionary Guards and Basij as terrorist organizations and summoning the ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran to Bern. It is said that these measures “must be taken immediately”.
Among those who signed the call were the writer Sibylle Berg, the historian Caroline Arni, the Anglicist Elisabeth Bronfen, the historian and former politician Josef Lang, the director, artistic director and author Milo Rau, the artist Pipilotti Rist, the filmmaker Samir and the historian Jakob Tanner and the writer Peter Stamm.
The trigger for the protests in Iran was the death of 22-year-old Kurd Mahsa Amini on September 16. The Iranian moral police arrested her for not following the rules for wearing a headscarf. The woman died in police custody.
Since her death, thousands of people across the country have demonstrated against the government’s repressive stance and the mandatory headscarf imposed by the Islamic government system. According to information from opposition circles abroad, about 200 people have been killed and thousands have been arrested during the protests.
(SDA)