The Daily Populous Wednesday August 7th, 2024 day edition
Authored by jpost.com and submitted by Red_Franklin

In the first seven months of 2024, over 300 people have been executed in Iran, according to a Monday Iran International report.

In 2023, in total, 834 people were executed, according to a report issued by NGO Iran Human Rights and Together Against Death Penalty, an increase of 43% from 2022’s total of 582 executions.

Of the total executions in 2023, only 15% were announced by official sources, according to the NGO report. The remaining 85%, totaling 709 executions, occurred without any formal acknowledgment from authorities.

After the death of former Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi, there was a decline in the number of executions from mid-May to the beginning of July, however, the rate picked up again in July when there was a total of 49 executions, 36 of them in the last 11 days of the month, Iran International reported, citing a report by Norway-based Iran Human Rights Organization (IHRNGO) released on Saturday.

Among the 300 executed this year, five were accused of spying for Israel, and five were Kurdish-Sunni political prisoners. Judge sits in a courtroom in front of Saeid Yaghoubi, who is to be executed by hanging, along with Majid Kazemi and Saleh Mirhashemi, for allegedly killing members of security forces during protests in Iran that followed the death of 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman Mahsa Amini, January 9, 2023. (credit: VIA REUTERS)

Those executed on charges of spying for Israel, as alleged by Iran’s judiciary, included Pejman Fatehi, Mohsen Mazloum, Mohammad (Hazhir) Faramarzi, and Wafa Azarbar, who were executed in Ghezel Hesar Prison in Karaj, west of Tehran in January, Iran International reported.

According to human rights groups, their executions were based on confessions obtained under torture and without a fair trial and were widely condemned.

Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, the IHRNGO Director, expressed concern over Iran targeting activists from the country’s minority communities and prisoners who were sentenced to death for drug-related charges.

"We are particularly worried about the new wave of executions of Kurdish civil activists and drug death row prisoners in the coming weeks and months," Amiry-Moghaddam stated.

Out of the total executions in Iran so far this year, over 20% were of ethnic minorities. Members of the Balush group made up 14%, with 42 individuals executed. Over 6% (20 individuals) were Kurdish, and another 20 individuals (over 6%) of the executed were Afghan nationals.

Iran executed a 34-year-old Kurdish man on Tuesday, accused of killing a security officer during unrest over the death of Kurdish-Iranian woman Mahsa Amini, Reuters reported, citing state media. This was the first known protest-related execution since a relatively moderate president took office.

The September 2022 death in police custody of Amini, who was arrested for allegedly flouting Iran's mandatory dress code, sparked months of anti-government protests in the biggest show of opposition to the Shi'ite clerical authorities in years.

In November 2022, Reza Rasaei joined the "Woman, Life, Freedom" protests in his hometown of Sahneh, in the western province of Kermanshah, during which security agent Nader Bayrami was fatally stabbed.

According to the semi-official Tasnim news agency, Bayrami was the intelligence chief for the Islamic Republic's elite Revolutionary Guards in Sahneh county.

Rasaei, a Kurdish member of a religious minority according to rights group Hengaw, was charged with Bayrami's murder and sentenced to death in October 2023. He was executed on Tuesday, the official judiciary news agency Mizan reported.

"After four court sessions, and based on the opinion of the forensic pathologist as well as confessions of the accused, it was proven that the fatality was caused by a knife belonging to Rasaei," Mizan quoted the Kermanshah regional prosecutor as saying.

Amnesty International said on its website that Rasaei was sentenced to death after "a grossly unfair trial that relied on his forced confessions obtained under torture."

Masoud Pezeshkian, who won election as president in July, had in 2022 demanded clarification from authorities about Amini's death and made promises during his election campaign to better protect the rights of women and minorities.

In terms of executions for drug-related charges, the Iran Human Rights and Together Against Death Penalty report stated that 172 of those executed were for drug-related offenses. At least 15 women were executed, including 10 for drug-related charges.

Ohad Merlin contributed to this report.

smoothtrip on August 7th, 2024 at 06:40 UTC »

More like murdered 300 people.

SamuelEdri on August 7th, 2024 at 04:42 UTC »

Ladies and gentlemen, the UN presents - Iran, UN Human Rights Council

INFPgirl on August 7th, 2024 at 04:41 UTC »

Congratulations to the two IRGC guards who put the bomb under Haniyeh's bed. You guys are heros. May the regime fall.