Human Rights Violations Report in Iran for August 2024
26-August-2024
Category: ethnic minorities، executions، Freedom of Expression، Iran's Uprising 2022، Labor and guilds، Prisoners، protesters، religious minorities، Suppression، Women
26 August 2024
News Categories: Freedom of Expression – Protests – Executions – Religious Minorities – Ethnic Minorities – Pensioners – Students – Women – Suppression – 2022 Uprising – Workers and Unions
Breathing in Confinement: According to the Statistics Center of the Prisoners’ Rights League in Iran, at least 126 prisoners were executed during August 2024. Among those executed were two political prisoners and eight female prisoners.
Summary:
- Execution of at least 126 prisoners
- Death sentences issued for 6 prisoners and the Supreme Court confirmed death sentences for 11 others
- Deaths of prisoners in custody
- Arrest of at least 100 citizens, including 6 political prisoners, in preparation for execution
- Sentencing of 53 defendants to a total of 118 years, 8 months, and 18 days in prison, and fines totaling 2,142,900,000 tomans
- Issuance of flogging sentences for defendants in 6 cases
- Death of 32 workers and injury of at least 217 others due to work-related accidents, and the dismissal of over 225 workers
- Over 450 protest actions held by various groups of people
Introduction:
Following the presidential election and the installation of the new president, the Islamic Republic’s killing machine became highly active, accelerating at an unprecedented rate. On a single day alone, in a mass execution, 29 prisoners were hanged in Karaj. The alarming increase in executions during August, amid escalating tensions with Israel and the failure of the regime’s unification project, reflects the political will of the ruling power to intensify repression. The strategic policy-making authority of the Islamic Republic lies beyond the three branches of government. As a result of increasing internal conflicts and the government’s evident weaknesses, the judiciary, as the primary executive arm of the repressive apparatus, has expanded executions in fear of social uprisings, attempting to restore the lost authority of the Islamic Republic. This situation once again underscores the lack of independence in the judiciary, showing its subordination to the policies dictated from higher authorities, making it clear that the killing of prisoners in Iran is politically motivated.
The Prisoners’ Rights League in Iran, “Breathing in Confinement,” has consistently emphasized the political and extrajudicial nature of executions in Iran and has repeatedly provided legal assessments and documentation on this matter. The Prisoners’ Rights League in Iran warns of the new and increasing wave of executions and calls on international authorities to take decisive action to prevent further executions.
According to the Statistics Center of the Prisoners’ Rights League in Iran “Breathing in Confinement,” over the last one month, at least 126 prisoners, including 8 female prisoners, were hanged in various prisons across the country. This figure shows a significant increase compared to the previous month. Since the beginning of the Persian calendar year on March 20th, at least 322 prisoners have been executed. The chart below shows the number of executions by month since the start of the Persian year (March 20th).
During the last month, two political prisoners named Kamran Sheikheh and Reza Rasaei were executed. Kamran Sheikhah, a Sunni political prisoner, was sentenced to death along with six of his friends and co-defendants in the same case. He was executed after 15 years of imprisonment in Urmia Prison. All six of Kamran Sheikeh’s co-defendants were executed in recent months.
Kamran Sheikheh Reza Rasaei
Reza Rasaei, who was arrested during the 2022 uprising, was sentenced to death on charges of killing the head of the Intelligence Office in Sahneh County.
A photo of Reza Rasaei’s grave
Additionally, over the past month, 63 prisoners were executed on drug-related charges, 52 prisoners for murder, 4 prisoners for rape, and 5 prisoners on unspecified charges. Among the executed prisoners were 8 women. Of the 126 executions carried out, only 5 were reported by state media, while the remaining 121 were exposed by human rights activists. The mass execution of 29 prisoners in Karaj, 26 prisoners in Ghezel Hesar Prison, and 3 prisoners in Karaj Central Prison, all on a single day, is one of the most unprecedented events in the past three decades.
On Wednesday, 29 May 2024, Amnesty International announced in its annual report that 75% of the world’s executions last year took place in Iran. Amnesty International added that the number of executions worldwide has reached its highest level since 2015, primarily due to the sharp increase in executions in Iran.
According to the annual statistics recorded by the Prisoners’ Rights League in Iran “Breathing in Confinement,” in 2023, at least 844 people were executed in prisons across the country.
Issuance of Death Sentences:
Last month, death sentences were issued for at least 6 defendants, and the Supreme Court confirmed the death sentences of 11 other prisoners. Pakhshan Azizi, a former political prisoner, was sentenced to death by Branch 26 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court, presided over by Judge Iman Afshari, on charges of “rebellion against the Islamic ruler” through membership in opposition groups. The death sentences for Malek Ali Fadaei-Nasab, Farhad Shakeri, Isa Eid Mohammadi, Abdulhakim Azim Gorgij, Abdulrahman Gorgij, and Taj Mohammad Khormali, also on charges of “rebellion against the Islamic ruler,” were confirmed by Branch 39 of the Supreme Court.
Issuance of Flogging Sentences:
Last month, flogging sentences were issued for at least 6 defendants. Two of the defendants were collectively sentenced to 188 lashes. The number of lashes for the other 4 defendants is not known. Flogging is a form of punishment that is degrading, cruel, violates human dignity, and is a clear example of torture. Despite its prohibition by international legal and civil conventions, this punishment continues to be used as legalized torture by the courts of the Islamic Republic, following religious penal codes.
Arrest of Citizens:
Last month, at least 100 citizens were arrested on various charges. Among those arrested were several political activists, former political prisoners, protesting nurses, environmental activists (including participants in the funeral of Esmail Karimi, an environmental activist), some members of the justice-seeking families, Sunni clerics and students, teacher activists, labor activists, social media activists, and other citizens under various pretexts. Additionally, six political prisoners were arrested for the execution of their sentences.
According to the report from Hal Vash, on the morning of Sunday, 18 July, security and military forces raided a Sunni religious school in Rigan County and arrested several teenage students with the use of force and violence. The head of Hafez Sediqi Shiheki School, was summoned to the Intelligence Office, and the school’s activities were halted. Moreover, on the evening of Tuesday, 30 July 2024, around 10:30 PM, military forces raided Kuhestan Park on Khorramshahr Boulevard in Zahedan and conducted a mass arrest of numerous Baloch youths.
Convictions of Citizens to Imprisonment and Fines:
In the past month, at least 52 political defendants in the Revolutionary Court received a total of 118 years, 8 months, and 28 days of imprisonment, or fines totaling 2 billion 142 million 900 thousand Tomans. Mashallah Karami, the father of Mohammad Mehdi Karami—one of those executed in the nationwide protests of 2022—was sentenced by Branch 102 of the Criminal Court 2 in Nazarabad to 8 years and 10 months of imprisonment, confiscation of property, and a fine of 1 billion 900 million Tomans. Additionally, a group of teachers in Gilan and Bushehr were fined for participating in teachers’ protests.
Deaths of Prisoners in Custody:
Rouhollah Mohammadi, a non-political prisoner in Urmia Prison, died due to a delay in his transfer to the hospital for a heart condition. The lack of medical care in prisons is used by judicial authorities as a tool for torturing prisoners. A prisoner named Bahram Ashja, a citizen of Ardabil, who was arrested on charges of activity on social networks and connections with activists in social media, died under suspicious circumstances one day after his release from Ardabil Intelligence Department detention. According to some sources, he was given unknown medications the day before his release. Due to inadequate supervision and security measures in prisons, a prisoner in Ghezel Hessar Prison was severely injured with scissors in a conflict with other inmates and died from the severity of his injuries after being transferred to the hospital.
Workplace Accidents:
In the past month, due to insufficient safety measures and poor working conditions, at least 32 workers lost their lives, and 217 others were injured. The lack of standard safety measures and equipment, inadequate training and supervision, insufficient provision of equipment due to employers’ profiteering, and failure to properly enforce safety regulations are among the key reasons for workplace accidents.
According to official statistics published by relevant authorities, over 2,000 workers lose their lives annually due to work-related accidents. However, these statistics do not account for the deaths of informal workers, such as porters across the borders (kulbars) and fuel carriers.
According to the Director General of Forensic Medicine of East Azerbaijan Province, in the first three months of the Iranian calendar year (March, April, and May), 25 workers died due to work-related accidents, and 359 workers, including 11 female workers, were injured.
The Director General of Forensic Medicine of Tehran Province reported that 729 workers injured in workplace accidents sought medical attention in the first three months of this year (March, April, and May).
Similarly, the Director General of Forensic Medicine of Isfahan Province stated that in the first four months of this year (March, April, May, and June), 49 workers, including 3 women, lost their lives due to work-related accidents, and 859 workers were injured.
Worker Dismissals:
In the past month, at least 225 workers were dismissed from their jobs. Eighty local workers from the titanium mining complex and factories in Kahnooj, and 85 workers from the Boroujerd textile factory were fired. Additionally, 80 workers from the Central Fabric Store in Ardabil lost their jobs due to the store being sealed off for selling products at lower prices. An unspecified number of workers from the Behesht Mohammad Rasulullah Cemetery in Zahedan were dismissed after protesting the non-payment of their overdue wages following discussions with the head of the Zahedan Cemetery Organization.
Nationwide Protests:
More than 450 gatherings, marches, or protest movements were held by various groups of people in the past month. Weekly marches and gatherings by retired teachers, national retirees, social security retirees, telecommunications, and steel workers retirees continued steadily in protest of poor living conditions, low wages, the mismatch between wages and inflation, growing poverty, and increasing costs of living, among other demands.
Workers across different sectors, including those in the oil industry, drivers, victims of fraud by government-affiliated institutions, and other segments of society, organized protests and gatherings in response to poor living conditions and unmet demands.
Protests by nurses began on August 4 and quickly spread to more medical centers and cities, reaching 32 cities by August 21. The nurses’ strikes, gatherings, and demonstrations were particularly widespread in the cities of Mashhad and Shiraz.
Nurses’ Demands:
The demands of the nurses include: issuing new contracts based on increased wages and hardship allowances with appropriate increments, calculating nurses’ compensation based on the Medical and Nursing Services Valuation Book, providing appropriate welfare benefits similar to other government and public institution employees, eliminating mandatory overtime, and if the university requires overtime, paying wages according to inflation rates and the formula set by the Labor Department and the Productivity Enhancement Law.
Workers of contracting companies in the oil industry continued their strike as well. The workers’ demands include wage increases, the removal of contractors from the oil, gas, and power plant sectors, implementing the 14-days-on, 14-days-off work schedule, standardizing wages and working conditions similar to those of oil, gas, and power plant workers, and equalizing job benefits with official oil industry workers.
Furthermore, oil and gas company workers continued their protest gatherings. Their main demands are the removal of maximum wage caps, revision of minimum wages, removal of limits on seniority benefits, and full implementation of Article 10 of the Oil Law.
The political prisoners’ hunger strike on Tuesdays in protest against the death penalty has spread to 18 prisons. Political prisoners in Evin Prison (Women’s Ward, as well as Ward 4, 6, and 8), Ghezel Hesar Prison (Units 3 and 4), Central Karaj Prison, Khorramabad Prison, Khoy, Mashhad, Naghadeh, Saqqez, Ardabil, Ghaem Shahr, Urmia, Marivan, Kamyaran, Baneh, Salmas, Shiraz, and Rasht continue their strike. The political prisoners have stated that they go on a hunger strike every Tuesday to make their voices heard. They chose Tuesdays because it is often the last day of life for their fellow inmates who are transferred to solitary confinement in previous days to be executed on Wednesday.