Iran: Alarming surge in executions

BEIRUT Iranian According to reports, the authorities implement Human Rights Watch said today that at least 87 people were executed in the month following the presidential election in late June 2024. Among those executed was Reza (Gholamreza) RoseyA Kurdish man Arrested The 2022 nationwide “Women, Life, Freedom” protests broke out following the in-custody death of 22-year-old Mahsa Jina Amini.

NGO Human Rights in Iran Reported In addition to the post-election mass executions, authorities carried out a mass execution of 29 prisoners in two prisons on the morning of August 7. Twenty-six people were executed at Ghezel Hesar Prison and three at Karaj Central Prison. Those executed included 17 people sentenced for “premeditated murder,” seven people convicted of drug-related charges, and two Afghan nationals sentenced for “rape.” Human Rights Watch has documented serious due process for years. Violations and unfair trials in Iranian courts.

“Iranian authorities are touting the recent presidential election as evidence of real change even as they commit mass murder,” Naheed Nageshbandiacting Iran researcher at Human Rights Watch. “For these campaign slogans to mean anything, Iran’s new president, Masoud Pezeshkian, should urgently intervene to overturn existing death sentences, impose a moratorium on executions, and take steps to reform the judiciary.”

The Iranian government has a long history of extensive use of the death penalty, including against those prosecuted and executed for protests sparked by the exercise of their fundamental rights to free expression and peaceful assembly. Human Rights Watch opposes the use of the death penalty in all circumstances because it is inherently cruel. Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) reported that authorities executed Rasayi on August 6 in Dezerabad Prison in Kermanshah without prior notice or a final meeting with his family. Rasayi, 34, was a member of the Yarsan religious minority from Shahneyar, Kermanshah Province. Rasayi was arrested on November 24, 2022, in Shahriar, Tehran, and transferred to Dezerabad Prison after interrogation.

He was sentenced to death for the “premeditated murder” of Nader al-Bilami, head of the IRGC’s intelligence agency in the Sahne region. The Supreme Court rejected Rasayi’s request for a retrial, and the verdict was confirmed on October 7, 2023.

According to BBC Persian, further demonstrations were held on August 6 at the women’s prison in Evin, which has been involved in “no death penalty” protests for months, following Rasayi’s execution. ReportedPrison security staff responded Raid Women protesting amid reports that security personnel beat and injured many prisoners, some of whom suffered mental health effects. Among the injured was a Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges MohammadiThe group said security personnel hit her in the chest several times and she collapsed in the prison yard after struggling to breathe and suffering severe chest pain.

Iranian authorities have sentenced many ethnic and religious minorities to death in recent months. HRANA Reported On August 8, the Supreme Court confirmed the death sentences of six political prisoners in Vakilabad Prison in Mashhad. According to HRANA, the Revolutionary Court of Mashhad sentenced Malek Ali Fadaei-Nasab, Farhad Shakeri, Isa Abdolmohammadi, Abdolhakim Azim Gorgij, Abdolrahman Gorgij and Taj Mohammad Khormali to “armed rebellion” in July 2023 for their alleged membership in the Salafi organization Hizb al-Furqan and the Sunni National Unity Front of Iran. On July 4, the Revolutionary Court of Iran Sentencing Labor activist Sharifeh Mohammadi was executed for “armed rebellion against the government” for his alleged membership in an opposition group. food It was reported that on July 23, the 26th Branch of the Tehran Revolutionary Court sentenced Kurdish political prisoner Pakshan Aziz to death on suspicion of joining an opposition organization.

On August 4, 2023, authorities arrested Aziz from Mahabad in Tehran and detained her in Ward 209 of HRANA Evin Prison ReportedThey denied her access to a lawyer and family visits for four months before transferring her to a women’s prison. Aziz has been arrested several times and was detained for four months in 2009 before being released on bail. Another Kurdish political activist, Warisha Moradi, who faces charges of “armed rebellion,” did not show up for his trial on August 4, according to Radio Zamaneh. ReportedIn a letter from Evin prison, she said she would not attend the court hearing in solidarity with death row inmates Mohammadi and Aziz. She said: “I do not recognize a court that cannot render a fair verdict. I am accused of armed rebellion simply because I am a woman, a Kurd, and a person who seeks to live in freedom.”

Kurdistan Human Rights Network explain Intelligence agents arrested Moradi, a member of the East Kurdistan Free Women’s Association, in Kermanshah on August 1, 2023. explain She was pressured and threatened into confessing her guilt. On December 26, 2023, after five months in solitary confinement, she was transferred to the women’s ward of Evin prison. She is still deprived of the right to make phone calls and meet with her family, the network said.

Iranian human rights groups report that Iranian authorities implement In the first six months of 2024, a total of 249 people were sentenced to death, 147 of whom were sentenced to death for drug-related charges. Reported Iran carried out 853 executions in 2023, accounting for 74% of all executions worldwide. These executions were mainly carried out against Iran’s Baloch minority, who make up only 5% of Iran’s total population but account for 20% of all recorded executions. In addition, at least 24 of those executed were women and 5 people who were children at the time of the crimes they were accused of.

“Iran’s use of the death penalty as a tactic of intimidation following unfair trials, particularly against those seeking government reform, exposes a chilling abuse of power,” Nageshbandi said. “Other countries, especially those engaging with Iran, should condemn this inhumane practice and call for an immediate halt to executions.”