2009-07-01/Swedish organisation calls hunger strike to get Sweden to cut ties with Iran
By Michael de Laine, The Copenhagen Voice, 1 July 2009
A Swedish organisation promoting democracy in Iran has called a three-day hunger strike to get the Swedish government to cut all ties with Iran. The hunger strike, in Malmö, starts tomorrow.
Föreningen för Demokrati i Iran (Association for Democracy in Iran), a Swedish organisation promoting democracy in Iran, has called a three-day hunger strike to get the Swedish government to cut all ties with Iran.
The organisation says that the Islamic Republic of Iran has been shaken by massive demonstrations for several weeks in which people who have called for the Islamic Republic to be toppled and for freedom and democracy have been met with batons and bullets.
“It is difficult not to be overwhelmed when seeing the many demonstrators in Iran shout ‘Down with the Islamic Republic’,” says Föreningen för Demokrati i Iran.
Since it was founded, the organisation has called on the Swedish government to break its diplomatic relations with Iran.
“Today it is more imperative than ever that the Swedish government should follow this demand, as the whole world has witnessed how the Islamic Republic has murdered and violently maltreated people who have called for freedom and human rights,” says Föreningen för Demokrati i Iran.
To drive its point home, the organisation is arranging a three-day hunger strike that will take place at Gustav Adolfs torg in Malmö from 2 July at 6.00 pm to 6.000 pm on Sunday 5 July.
Föreningen för Demokrati i Iran is inviting all Swedish and Iranian organisations, parties and associations, as well as individuals, who support the Iranian people’s fight for freedom to join the hunger strike, says Ardavan Khoshnood, the organisation’s chair.
“We’re demanding that Sweden break all diplomatic relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Ardavan Khoshnood adds. “We also demand that Sweden stands behind the Iranian people as they strive to bring down the Islamic Republic and introduce a secular and democratic government system.”
Click here to go to Föreningen för Demokrati i Iran’s website.