(The following is the text of a letter sent to Ayatollah Khomeini by two Mexican political prisoners, Juan Islas Martínez and Arturo Gallegos Nájera. Both are members of the Revolutionary Workers Party, the Mexican section of the Fourth International, and both are confined at the Santa Martha Acatitla prison on the outskirts of Mexico City. The letter, which is dated September 18, originally appeared in the October 1 issue of the Mexican Trotskyist weekly Bandera Socialista. The translation is by Intercontinental Press/ Inprecor.]
Deprived of the possibility of regularly receiving political newspapers and publications, we have just been informed that fourteen comrades, members of the HKS (Socialist Workers Party) of Iran, are in prison in that country. We have been informed that twelve of them are sentenced to death, and the remaining two compañeras to life imprisonment.
We have been very surprised to learn that partisans of the revolution that demolished the hated regime of the shah today find themselves prisoners due to their political convictions. In our country it is common for charges against political prisoners to be invented or for cleverly conducted trials to be carried out in order to keep us in prison without acknowledging the political character of our cases.
We know that the regime of the shahwho today is unfortunately sheltered in our country—made use of methods such as torture and assassination against the political opposition. It is scandalous that in the name of the revolution that overthrew the shah similar methods are now applied against revolutionary militants.
Our women comrades imprisoned in Iran have affirmed that prison will not silence them. We wish to say that neither will we be silenced. The imprisonment that we suffer today will not stop us from uniting our voice with that of all those around the world who demand that the lives of our comrades be respected and that they be freed immediately.
If we consider it an obligation to demand that the democratic rights of our comrades in Iran be respected, we feel all the more obligated at the knowledge that those threatened with death are members of our own party. As members of the Revolutionary Workers Party, Mexican section of the Fourth International, we cannot refrain from expressing our solidarity and admiration for our comrade prisoners of the HKS, sympathizing organization of the Fourth International in Iran.
From May of this year, when we were transferred from the Acapulco prison to here, we have been practically isolated in our cells. On less than ten occasions since then, we have been allowed to go into the prison yard to get some sunlight. Visits to us are restricted. The difficulties in receiving reading matter and in writing are immense. On two occasions plans to assassinate us have been discovered. Despite all this, we have finally been able to learn of the situation of our imprisoned comrades in Iran. We are sure that even if they are also isolated, sooner or later they will be informed of our solidarity.
Our revolutionary convictions have not diminished either. Therefore, despite the risks that we run in making this letter public, we want to demand that the fourteen members of the HKS be freed and that the repression against our brother party in Iran, and against the minority nationalities of that country, stop immediately.