Thursday 25 April 2013

11 Prisoners Were Executed in Iran



11 Prisoners Among Them 2 Women and 2 Afghan Citizens Were Executed in Iran

Wednesday 24 April 2013
[English] [فارسى]

Iran Human Rights, April 25: According to official reports from Iran 11 prisoners, among them two women and two Afghan citizens, have been executed in the last 3 days in the prisons of Mashhad, Bam and Kermanshah. One prisoner was also executed in the prison of Urmia according to unofficial reports.
Four prisoners executed in Mashhad:
According to the Iranian state broadcasting two prisoners were executed in the prison of Mashhad Wednesday April 24. According to this report the prisoners were 26 and 22 year old men who were convicted of rape in two different cases in 2010.
According to Tabnak (website close to the authorities) two other prisoners were hanged in the prison of Mashhad on April 22. Quoting the Khorasan daily newspaper the reports said that the men were two young Afghan citizens who were convicted of raping a 16 year old girl.
None of the prisoners were identified by name.
Four prisoners among them two women were executed in Kermanshah (Western Iran):
According to the Iranian state broadcasting fur prisoners were hanged in the Dizelabad prison of Kermanshahon on April 22. According to this report the prisoners who were not identified by name were "major distributors of narcotic drugs in the area". They were charged with possession of 2000 grams of heroin and 25000 grams of opium said the report. Two of the prisners were women according to the report but none of them were identified by name.
Three prisoners were hanged in the prison of Bam (Southeastern Iran):
According to Khorasannews three prisoners were hanged in the prison of Bam (southeastern Iran) . One of the prisoners was convicted of participation in possession and trafficking of 5 kilograms of heroin, while the two others were charged with distribution of 9 kilograms of heroin. None of the prisoners were identified by name.
One prisoner was hanged in the prison of Urmia
According to the unofficial Kurdish news agency Kurdpa one prisoner identified as"Nazmi Abbasnejad" (32 year old) was hanged in the prison of Urmia today Wednesday April 24. According to the report the prisoner was convicted of drug related charges. The news was not announced by the official media. According to Iran Human Rights’ "annual report on the death penalty" none of the 23 executions in the Urmia prison in 2012 were announced by the official Iranian media.

Monday 22 April 2013

Four Prisoners Executed in Kerman (Southeastern Iran)


Four Prisoners Executed in Kerman (Southeastern Iran)

Saturday 20 April 2013
[English] [فارسى]

Iran Human Rights, April 20: Four prisoners were hanged in the prison of Kerman (southeastern Iran) early this morning.
According to the state run Iranian news agency Fars, three of the prisoners were convicted of participation in possession of 121 kilograms of morphine and 440 grams of opium, while the fourth prisoner was convicted of trafficking of 5475 grams of heroin and 6440 grams of opium, said the report. None of the prisoners were identified by name.
According to Iran Human Rights’ annual report on the death penalty in 2012, at least 76% of all those executed in 2012 were charges with drug related charges. IHR has received many reports on unfair trials, torture and forced confessions in the drug-related cases.
Five Prisoners among them two Afghan citizens were hanged in the prison of Zahedan, according to the website of the "Human rights and democracy activists in Iran" (HRDAI). The report has not been confirmed by the official sources.
41% of all the confirmed executions reported in the IHR’s annual report were not announced by the official Iranian sources in 2012.

Five Prisoners Executed In Iran Today


Five Prisoners Executed In Iran Today

Wednesday 17 April 2013
[English] [فارسى]

Iran Human Rights, April 17: Five prisoners were hanged in three different Iranian prisons today, Wednesday April 17.
One prisoner hanged in the prison of Zarand (Southeastern Iran):
According to the Iranian state media one prisoner was hanged in the prison of Zarand (Kerman Province, southeastern Iran) Wednesday morning. The prisoner who was not identified by name was a 41 year old man convicted of trafficking of 1875 grams of heroin said the report.
Two prisoners hanged in the prison of Mashhad:
According to the Iranian state broadcasting two prisoners were hanged in the prison of Mashhad (northeastern Iran) early this morning. The prisoners were identified as"a 21 year old worker" and "a 41 year old man" and convicted of rape in two different cases.
Two prisoners were hanged in the prison fa Rajai Shahr in Karaj (west of Tehran):
According to reliable sources that Iran Human Rights (IHR) has been in contact with, two prisoners were hanged in the Rajai Shahr prison of Karaj early this morning, April 17. One of the prisoners was identified as "Hossein Cheflaki", born in 1988 (1367 Iranian Calendar), arrested in 2007 (1386) charged with murder. The other prisoner whose identity is not certain*, was also chraged with murder. The executions were not reported by the official Iranian sources. According to IHR’sannual report on the death penalty in 2012, there were at least 113 un-announced executions in the prisons of Tehran /Karaj area.
Yesterday, 9 prisoners were hanged in Shiraz (southern Iran). Six of the executions were carried out publicly (Picture above).

Iran Human Rights April 18: The Iranian website Tabnak (close to the authorities) identified the other prisoner as "Reza".

Nine Prisoners Executed in Shiraz


Nine Prisoners Executed in Shiraz (Southern Iran) Today- Six Executions Carried Out in Public

Tuesday 16 April 2013
[English] [فارسى]

Iran Human Rights, April 16: According to the official website of the Iranian Judiciary in province of Fars (southern Iran), nine prisoners were hanged in the city of Shiraz today. Six of the prisoners were hanged in public and the other three prisoners were hanged in Adel Abad Prison.
The prisoners were convicted of “Moharebeh” through armed robbery. The report states that four of the prisoners executed— identified as GhN, AHN, MZ, and BD— were convicted of armed robbery. Three other people convicted of robbery— identified as MHA, BA, NP— were also charged. Two of them were executed today and the other was sentenced to life in prison. The executions took place in three different locations in Shiraz at 6 am, 9 am, and 1 pm.
Three other prisoners, who were not identified by name, were hanged in Adel Abad Prison. They were convicted of armed robbery and rape.
According to IHR’s annual report on the death penalty in 2012, the city of Shiraz and the province of Fars hold the record for the highest number of public executions.
The Deputy Prosecutor General of the revolutionary courts in Fars is among the individuals whose name is in the European Union’s sanctions list

ANNUAL REPORT ON THE DEATH PENALTY IN IRAN- 2012


ANNUAL REPORT ON THE DEATH PENALTY IN IRAN- 2012

Thursday 4 April 2013
[English] [فارسى]

Iran Human Rights, April 4: Iran Human Rights will present the "Annual report on the death penalty in Iran 2012" with the French NGO "Ensemble Contre la Peine de Morte" (ECPM) today.
PDF version of the full report can be uploaded here:
PDF - 681.9 kb
A short version of the report is presented below.
Introduction:
The fifth annual report of Iran Human Rights (IHR) on the death penalty in Iran is an assessment of how the death penalty was used in 2012. Due to harsh crackdowns on civil society, non-existing freedom of press and lack of transparency of the Iranian judicial system, the present report by no means covers all death penalty cases in Iran. The report is the result of efforts by human rights defenders, members and affiliates of IHR in Iran who, on some occasions, took serious risks to help provide a more accurate picture of the death penalty than the official channels do.
The number of executions in 2012 in Iran is among the highest in more than 15 years. Besides the confirmed numbers, it is believed there is a large number of unannounced executions.
Annual 2012 report at a glance:
• At least 580 people were executed in 2012 in Iran.
• 294 cases (51%) were reported by official Iranian sources.
• 286 cases included in the annual numbers were reported by unofficial sources.
• Only 85 out of the estimated 325 secret executions carried out in Vakilabad Prison in 2012 are included in the present report.
• At least 76% of executions included in this report were due to drug related charges.
• 60 executions were carried out in public in 2012. 46% of all public executions were carried out in the province of Fars (southern Iran).
• One third (20) of those executed in public were convicted of drug-related charges.
• At least 27 Afghan citizens and one Pakistani citizen were executed in in 2012.
• At least 9 women were executed in 2012.
• IHR has received reports of secret or ‘un-announced’ executions in more than 15 different Iranian prisons.
The Annual Report on the Death Penalty in Iran – 2012 is being published at a time when Iranian society heads toward an uncertain future. Socio-economic conditions worsen each day, and in June 2013 another round of Presidential elections will commence in Iran. Keeping in mind the 2009 post-election protests in Iran and the Arab Spring in 2010 and 2011, Iranian authorities are well aware that the outcome of new protests in June 2013 may be even worse than the protests in 2009. They are therefore doing the maximum to prevent new protests. Spreading fear through society is the Iranian authorities’ main oppressive strategy, and the death penalty is their most important instrument to do so.
Since the protests in 2009, the number of executions, particularly public executions, has risen dramatically.Public executions in 2012 were more than six times higher than numbers from 2009. The trend continues in 2013. Just in January and February 2013 alone, 20 people were hanged in public. Other demonstrations of horror were carried out in 2013, including the Taliban-style public hanging of a young man in a football (soccer)stadium in Sabzevar , the public executions of two young men, who were convicted of mugging charges , and thepublic amputation of a man’s fingers in Shiraz .
Secret executions in Vakilabad Prison in Mashhad (northeastern Iran) have resumed. Since October 2012, IHR has received reports of weekly executions in Vakilabad Prison, where probably several hundred prisoners have been executed so far. IHR has included only a small portion of those executions in this report; only those that have been confirmed by at least two independent sources. IHR and ECPM characterize mass executions in Vakilabad Prisonas a massacre and have urged the United Nations to send a fact-finding mission to Iran to investigate these executions . There are also reports of unannounced executions in several other Iranian prisons, such as Rajai Shahr Prison in Karaj. Death row prisoners in this prison live under the constant fear of execution .
Drug-related charges still account for the majority of executions in Iran, and most prisoners executed on drug-related charges are unidentified. These prisoners do not receive coverage from international media, campaigns do not exist to help save their lives, and their executions do not typically lead to international attention. However, in 2012, victims of the Iranian regime’s ‘war on drugs’— which is supported by UNODC—were finally given a face.
Saeed Sedighi, a young man tortured to confess to drug trafficking, was sentenced to death after an unfair trial and executed in October 2012. His execution was postponed for one week due to an international campaign initiated by several human rights organizations as IHR and ECPM, statements issued by UN Special Rapporteurs, and reactions from the international community. Many death row prisoners in Iran are treated in a similar manner. They are subjected to torture, coerced confessions, unfair trials, and their cases do not receive appropriate attention.
IHR and ECPM along with other human rights groups have urged the UNODC to halt all fundings to Iran as long as prisoners, convicted of drug-related charges, are facing the death penalty.
IHR and ECPM are also concerned about death row prisoners from ethnic regions in Iran, especially the Arab, Baluchi, and Kurdish prisoners who remain at imminent danger of execution.
In 2012 four imprisoned Ahwazi Arab activists were executed and death sentences for five more (Mohammad Ali Amourinejad, Hashem Shabani, Hadi Rashedi, Mokhtar Alboshoka and Jaber Alboshoka) Ahwazi Arab activists, charged with “Moharebeh”, were upheld by the Iranian Supreme Court.
Six Salafist Kurdish prisoners were executed in December 2012 in Tehran and more are awaiting on death row.
Zanyar and Loghman Moradi, two Kurdish death row prisoners continue to be at imminent danger of execution. Less information is available regarding Baluchi death row prisoners, but according to IHR reports, many Baluchi prisoners have been executed in other Iranian prisons outside Baluchistan.
As the June Presidential election nears, we fear an increase in the number of executions, particularly in the ethnic regions of Iran. Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, the international spokesperson for IHR, says: “We urge the international community to pay more attention to Iran in the coming months as we expect an increase in the number of executions. There are also several prisoners of conscience who are at imminent danger of execution.” He continues: “We urge the United Nations to impose a ban on public executions, which besides being a dehumanizing punishment, also brutalizes the general public; particularly children.”