Iran Analyst Calls For “Forgiveness” To Stop Cycle Of Violence

The decision to stay the execution of Mahan Sedarat and the announcement that the death penalty charge against Parham Parvari was lifted could be considered as positive and promising signs in the way the arrested protesters are being treated -- if similar measures are applied in other cases, according to a commentary published by Etemad newspaper.

In his commentary, analyst Ehsan Hooshmand said that other Iranians handed death penalties have been waiting for judicial justice.

In one prominent case, five people have been sentenced to death for their alleged involvement in the killing of a member of the paramilitary Basij force during a demonstration near Tehran. Eleven others, including three minors, have been handed long-term imprisonment sentences.

The slain plainclothes militiaman, identified as Rouhollah Ajamian, was killed in the city of Karaj on November 3.

Hooshmand noted that Alborz Province and its capital, Karaj, are home to hundreds of thousands of people who have left their towns and villages over the past few decades to find a job.

Mohammad Mehdi Karami, one of the defendants who were sentenced to death in the case, left his village in West Azerbaijan Province to sell paper towels in Alborz. Ajamian’s family immigrated from Kuhdasht, Lorestan Province, and settled in a deprived area of Karaj in the hope of a better life.

Thousands of people have been killed, injured, or imprisoned during the ongoing wave of nationwide demonstrations, and Hooshmand said the root causes of the protest movement would need to be studied in detail. He said the complex consequences triggered by the dramatic events that took place across Iran over the past three months also require independent research.

Investigating the anger caused by recent developments is a “national duty” for scientists and think tanks, the analyst said, adding that those being prosecuted should be treated “with tolerance and forgiveness” and solutions should be looked for to “reduce this anger.”

Ajamian's killing “is painful and sad, but what is even more painful and sad is the continuation of this cycle” of violence.

“Measures are needed to stop this cycle,” Hooshmand said.

“Taking more lives increases the amount of anger. The path for the future of Iran must pass through forgiveness.”