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BRISBANE — Fifty people, Iranians and supporters, rallied in Queens Park on May 22 to protest against the execution in early May of five Kurdish nationalists by the Iranian regime.

The protesters held photos of people disappeared and killed during the movement for democratic rights over the past year.

Community representative Fazil Rostam said: "Kurds are 10% of the Iranian population, but make up 50% of the prison population. Fifty percent of executions are of Kurdish people."

Rostam argued against sanctions on Iran, which would merely hurt ordinary people in the country. He said the real problem in Iran today was not nuclear weapons, but human rights abuses.

Jim McIlroy from the Socialist Alliance said: "SA supports the fight for democratic rights in Iran. The struggle for democratic rights is an international one, as we see right now in Thailand, Palestine, Greece and Colombia.

"We condemn the recent executions in Iran, and support the right to national self-determination of the Kurdish people throughout the Middle East.

"We strongly oppose the hypocrisy of the US and Western powers, including Australia, in their threats against Iran over the trumped-up question of Iran's non-existent nuclear weapons.”