“The rioters, sentenced to death for “Muharebeh” or “Fesad fel arz” (“War against God and Corruption on Earth”, two counts of Iranian Islamic law) will be hanged soon.” This was stated by the head of the Iranian judiciary, Gholamhossein Ejei, according to reports from theIrna, referring to a group of people arrested during protests following the death of Mahsa Amini, the 22-year-old who lost her life after being arrested for not wearing the headscarf properly. “Other long-term prison sentences have also been handed down,” Ejei added, warning that those who provoke popular uprising or encourage others to strike will soon be summoned.
Iran, regimes in crisis and the return of the gallows
francesca paci
Meanwhile, the Norway-based NGO Iran Human Rights reports that the Iranian regime has executed more than 500 people from the beginning of 2022 to today, many more than in the whole of 2021. The increase in executions is attributable to massive protests popular parties that have set the country on fire since last September.
Included in the IHR tally are the four people who were executed on Sunday for allegedly working for Israeli espionage, and who were reportedly executed in Karaj prison, the notorious Gohardasht prison near Tehran, seven months after the arrest. “They were sentenced to death without due process in a closed-door trial by the Revolutionary Court”, said the director of the NGO, Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, according to whom these executions are intended to spread a climate of social fear and divert public opinion from the Islamic republic’s intelligence mistakes.
According to IHR, the number of executions in 2022 is already higher than in any of the last five years. There were at least 333 executed in 2021, an increase of 25% compared to 267 in 2020.
Amnesty International instead estimates the executions in 2021 at 314. The figure is however higher than that of any other state where capital punishment is in force, excluding the People’s Republic of China for which there are only hypothetical estimates that calculate the convicts put to death. There are currently 26 Iranian citizens, three of whom are minors, called to answer for charges for which they risk the gallows, all connected to the street riots of recent months.
Iran abolishes the moral police, Sabahi: “A useless move that won’t change things, girls ask for rights”
Fabiana Magrì
