Iranian Americans rally in California, urge ceasefire with human rights protections

Iranian American activists and human rights advocates gathered in Irvine, California, on Tuesday (April 21) to call for a halt to executions of political prisoners in Iran and a ceasefire they said must include protections for human rights.

The rally followed reports from the judiciary's news outlet Mizan that two political prisoners, Hamed Validi and Mohammad Masoum Shahi, were executed this week in Iran after being convicted of cooperating with Israel’s Mossad intelligence service and planning attacks inside the country, a charge denied by the opposition group they were linked to.

Nasser Sharif, president of the California Society for Democracy in Iran, told Reuters, "any negotiation with Iran should consider human rights issues in Iran first." Sharif went on to say, "the focus should be on Iranian people and the organized resistance. We need to support them. This way the change comes from within. Iranian people are ready for that and we need to focus on that."

The rally also drew attention to what activists described as an ongoing hunger strike movement by prisoners protesting detention conditions and lack of due process.

Participants urged international monitoring of Iranian prisons and stronger action by world leaders to protect political prisoners.

-Jack Ferry, Matt Silverstein/Reuters