Special report on the occasion of the World Day Against the Death Penalty; Execution statistics in the past one year in Iran
13-October-2021
Category: executions
Breathing in Confinement: Writing about execution in Iran is not limited to the International Day Against the Death Penalty. The day, however, is an opportunity for Iranian human rights activists, as well as the opponents of the death penalty, to raise their voices against execution. The occasion also is a good time to present comprehensive statistics about the executions in Iran to the international community as well as international human rights authorities in order to increase their sensitivity to the inhumane practice of execution, and also to make them determined to take a decisive action against the Iranian government.
Executions in the government of the Islamic Republic which began soon after the 1979 revolution, have continued to this very day. In fact, carrying out the executions is a mean of repression applied by the dictatorial regime in Iran. The government of the Islamic Republic uses the death penalty to guarantee its survival. The massacre of political prisoners in the summer of 1988, was an example of using executions for this purpose.
After the appointment of Ebrahim Raisi to the position of president, addressing the issue of death penalty, has become even more important than before. This is because Ebrahim Raisi was a member of “Death Committee” in the massacre of political and ideological prisoners in the summer of 1988 and played a key role in the executions. A massacre which as per the international law, is an act of genocide and crime against humanity.
The impunity over the past four decades, has allowed the Islamic Republic authorities to appoint the human rights violators as well as the genocide perpetrators to the key government positions, without being accountable.
Unfortunately, the international community and human rights authorities did not react to the presidency of Ebrahim Raisi as were expected. The passivity, which is in fact, seen by the rulers of Iran as an implicit affirmation.
This year, the World Day Against the Death Penalty, coincides with the trial of one of the perpetrators of the 1988 massacre, in a Swedish court. Hamid Nouri (Abbasi) is accused of having played a key role in enforcing and expediting the death sentences in the summer of 1988. A massacre which began in late July, following Khomeini’s fatwa for killing the imprisoned dissidents, and continued into the fall of the same year. The testimony of former prisoners who had seen Hamid Nouri (Abbasi) in Gohardasht and Evin prisons and had been tortured by him, is a qualitative step in proving the crimes of genocide and the killing of innocent prisoners. In addition, the testimonies also pave the path toward the prosecution of other human rights violators and also, raises the sensitivity of the international community to the massacre of political prisoners in 1988.
The trial of Hamid Nouri (Abbasi) is a unique of its kind, as the Swedish Criminal Court is trying one of the officials of the current ruling government of Iran. This trial sends a strong message to the other authorities of the Islamic Republic, that they will not have international impunity.
Despite their political and economic relations with the Islamic Republic, the international community and human rights entities have a duty to recognize the right of Iranian people to life, and to form a fact-finding committee to clarify the dimensions of the 1988 genocide. This can be the first important and necessary step against the “execution machine” of the Islamic Republic, which erects gallows in various prisons on a daily basis.
Executions of political and ideological prisoners are taking place in various prisons in Iran. Throughout the four decades of its rule, the Islamic Republic has shown that it cannot tolerate the views of its opponents and that it confronts them with the harshest possible way. Similarly, executions of ethnic minorities have also dramatically increased.
In recent years the international pressure has prompted the Iranian government to amend the death penalty laws for drug-related charges. This amendment has led to a reduction in the number of death sentences. However, according to the Islamic Penal Code, many charges are punished by death. And many prisoners have been executed according to these sentences, or are currently on death row. The prisoners accused with charges such as murder, rape, corruption on earth, moharebeh, and even drug- related offences continue to face the death penalty.
The execution of child offenders is another horrific act of the Islamic Republic that has continued despite the widespread protests from the international community. Arresting the defendants who were under 18 at the time of the alleged crime, holding them in prison under the death penalty until they reach the legal age for execution, and finally hanging them is a cruel and inhumane practice. The Iranian government seeks to justify this action by using extra-judicial ways.
Throughout these years, to make the world informed of what is going on in Iranian prisons, the human rights activists have tried to disclose as many executions as possible, as well as the unfair trials for the sentenced to death prisoners, and the number of death row inmates. These have never been an easy under the repressive regime of the Islamic republic, where the least activity of this kind involves detention, torture, harsh sentences or even execution.
Many families of those executed, especially the families of non-political prisoners, are threatened and harassed by the government to the point that that they decline to even talk about it. In addition, considering the lack of an independent and fair judiciary, prisoners on death row and their families remain silent for fear that if they speak up, the sentence being carried out.
The forthcoming report presents statistics on executions in Iran from October 10, 2020 to October 10, 2021. It is an attempt by human rights activists in the Prisoners’ Rights League in Iran to disclose as many executions as possible carried out in Iran. However, we believe that the real figures are much higher than this.
With Ebrahim Raisi as President and Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei as chief of the judiciary, we call on the international community, to approach the death sentences in Iran in a more serious way and to take targeted and decisive action to prevent the executions in Iran.
This report discusses the following subjects:
An overview of execution statistics in the past year
Execution statistics divided by month
Officially announced executions vs secret executions
Charges of executed prisoners
Statistical comparison divided by the cities wherein the sentences carried out
Execution of women
Execution of children
Execution of political and ideological prisoners
Vicious cycle of executions
The legal status of qassameh (oath) ceremony in criminal law
Families living with the nightmare of the gallows
Download the special report from the following link: