Thursday , 28 March 2024

Iran steps up executions amid ongoing protests over food prices

Iran-HRM – The Iranian regime has stepped up executions to intimidate the society infuriated over the skyrocketing prices of food staples.

At least 18 prisoners, including a woman, have been executed in recent days in Iran. One of those executed was a minor at the time of the arrest.

Nine of those executed were convicted of drug-related charges and nine were convicted of murder.

The political prisoners detained in ward 3 of the Central Prison of Zahedan have recently reported, “There are reliable reports that the death sentences for another 83 prisoners have been sent to the Bureau for Implementation of the Verdict of Zahedan Prison.”

The actual number of executions is much higher. The clerical regime carries out most executions in secret and out of the public eye. No witnesses are present at the time of execution but those who carry them out.

The Iranian regime open-handedly uses the death penalty as a form of punishment. In a discriminatory manner, this punishment is carried out against religious and ethnic minorities, political dissidents, and women.

Prisoners executed on drug-related charges

Four prisoners identified as Ali Pazhmordeh, Abbas Pazhmordeh, Mohammad Gholam-Hosseini, and Ali Hossein-Panah were executed on May 8 in the notorious Adelabad Prison in Shiraz.

Four prisoners including a woman were executed in the Central Prison of Zahedan on May 7, 2022. The men were identified as Ghafour Hassanzehi, Hadi Sargazi and Mansour Sargazi.

The woman who has not been identified shared the same case with one of the executed men. The Baluchi woman had been transferred to solitary confinement to prepare her for the implementation of the death verdict.

On the same day, a man identified as Abolfazl Hassan-Moradi was hanged in the Central Prison of Qom.

Prisoners executed on murder charges

Mohammad Bameri, a man from Iran’s Baluch minority was executed on May 14 in Iranshahr prison.

On the same day, three prisoners identified as Esmail Jahantigh, 25, Mansour Barahouii, 32, and Farshad Gomshadzehi, 19, were executed in the Central Prison of Zahedan. Farshad Gomshadzehi was a child at the time of his arrest and had spent nearly two years on death row.

On May 12, a man identified as Hossein Fartash was hanged in Dastgerd Prison of Isfahan.

On May 11, a young man identified as Mostafa Kh, 23, was executed in the Central Prison of Mashhad.

On May 20, a man who has not been identified was hanged in Sabzevar Prison. He had been on death row since 2018.

On May 7, a prisoner identified as Ghobad Khodakarami, a retired teacher, was executed in the Central Prison of Khorramabad.

On the same day, Yousef Naderi was hanged in the Central Prison of Qom.

Urgent action needed to rescue death row prisoners

Nine months after Ebrahim Raisi, the henchman of the 1988 massacre, took office, at least 300 prisoners have been executed. The actual number of executions is much higher. With no solutions to the fiery popular dissatisfaction with the regime, Raisi responded with more repression and executions.

Iran Human Rights Monitor urges the United Nations Secretary-General, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and other human rights organizations to take urgent action to rescue death row prisoners. It also reiterates the need to refer the case of human rights abuses in Iran to the UN Security Council and hold the regime’s officials accountable for four decades of crimes against humanity.

0