Middle East
Iran stoning ruling ‘could change’
Authorities reviewing a death by stoning sentence against an Iranian woman convicted of adultery could still commute the sentence, a senior Iranian judiciary official has said. Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani was taken from prison late on Saturday to meet journalists to talk about her confession of helping her lover kill her husband. Ashtiani, who has previously appeared on state television, denied that she had been tortured in prison and admitted that she was an accomplice to the murder.
New Iran public execution video highlights ‘brutal’ death penalty
Iran increases hangings for law breakers
Iran Executing Hundreds In ‘war On Drugs’
Iran to execute record numbers in 2011
Iran, which set off a diplomatic storm by hanging a Dutch-Iranian woman, is on target to execute a record number of over 1,000 people this year, rights groups said Sunday. And the execution of Zahra Bahrami is just the latest case of a "serious lack of transparency" in Iran's growing use of capital punishment, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said.
Secret, Unannounced, Group Executions Continue Inside Iranian Prisons
While Iranian authorities remain silent about the executions of drug traffickers inside Mashad s Vakilabad Prison, the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran has learned that seven prisoners were hanged on 11 August, and another seven were hanged on 20 September. According to information received from a source, the executions were carried out in groups. All those executed had been charged with drug-related crimes
Member of Iranian Parliament’s Judicial Commission Expresses Support Public Executions
In an interview published by Fars News Agency, an Iranian member of parliament (MP) supports the implementation of executions publicly. Nayereh Akhavan, an MP from Isfahan and a member of the Judicial Commission of Parliament, told Fars News: 'It seems carrying out such sentences may be effective in preventing certain crimes.' Human rights activists continue to express concern about the negative effects of public hangings on Iranian society.
Prison Guards tell family: “He won’t need winter clothes as he will be executed”
Eghbal Moradi, father of Zanyar Moradi, a Kurdish prisoner at Rajaee Shahr Prison in Karaj, told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran that the Supreme Court upheld his son s death sentence. My relatives went to prison this week to bring Zanyar warm clothing, as the cold season has come. But prison officials told them that he would not need the clothes as his death sentence has been upheld. They told my relatives this explicitly, adding that they would be informed of the execution date, Eghbal Moradi told the Campaign.
3 young men hanged in public in Kermanshah
Arbitrary arrests, torture and executions continue
Amnesty International is concerned by the Iranian government s continuing clampdown on dissent, including arbitrary arrests and the torture or other ill-treatment of people who express views opposed to those of the government. Some of those arrested have even been executed, after apparently unfair trials, including at least one minor. Amnesty International wrote to the Head of the Judiciary to express concern about these developments on 13 May 2011, but without response; the Iranian authorities rarely reply to communications from Amnesty International.
Iranian Authorities Executed Over 30 People in 2 Weeks
Only One Month to Find, Sentence and Execute Suspects
Yousef Azizi Banitorof, Secretary of the Center for Combating Racism and Discrimination Against Arabs in Iran, who currently resides in London, spoke with International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran following news from the Al Arabiya website quoting Ahwaz News about recent executions in Ahwaz. According to news we were able to receive from our contacts in Ahwaz, three people were hanged in public at Hamidieh Junction.
Reports from Ahvaz 9 executed among them one minor
Iran Human Rights: According to the reports from Iran nine people, among them one minor, have been executed in the city of Ahvaz south of Iran. According to the Persian section of Alarabiya (the news website of Alarabiya TV channel), Iran s Judiciary has announced that nine people charged with murder of the security officers and committing acts against chastity, have been executed.
Sharp rise in the rate of executions in public in Iran
Amnesty International has condemned a sharp rise in the rate of executions in public in Iran which have included the first executions of juvenile offenders in the world this year. Since the start of 2011, up to 13 men have been hanged in public, compared to 14 such executions recorded by Amnesty International from official Iranian sources in the whole of 2010.
Russia Must Address Human Rights Violations in Iran
190 executions in the year of 2010
Iran using execution binge to repress dissent
14 executions in Orumieh, Kerman, Ahwaz and Qazvin, and mass arrests in various cities
From September 3 to 8, 2011, the inhuman clerical regime hanged 14 prisoners in Orumieh (3 people), Kerman (4 people), Ahwaz (6 people), and Qazvin (1 person). According to the Iranian regime's state media, in the first eight months of 2011 alone, 206 prisoners have been executed. At the same time, at least 228 people have been secretly executed.
Dr. Maleki’s letter to Ahmed Shaheed I testify to 32 years of crime
In a letter to Ahmad Shaheed, the United Nations Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Iran, Dr. Mohammad Maleki, the first president of Tehran University after the Islamic revolution, declared that he is ready to reveal the crimes he has witnessed over the past 32 years in Iran. Maleki was recently summoned to appear before the court.
Iranian media reacts to human rights report: He was 23 years old!
Iran Human Rights, May 28: Iran Human Rights (IHR) had published a report on May 26th regarding the public execution of "Mehdi Faraji" in Qazvin titled: "Young boy was used to carry out execution of a man in public in Iran". The information was based on eyewitness reports who said, "A young boy was used to draw the chair Mehdi was standing on and carry out the execution."
Iranian lawyer revives Delara who is responsible for her death
The following is a recent letter on Delara Darabi's execution that occurred two years ago, from the blog of Mohammad Mostafaei, one of Delara Darabi's lawyers. Delara was executed in Iran on May 1, 2009. An alternate spelling to Delara's name is Delaram. "Del" in Persian means heart, "aram" means calm.
Interview with human rights activist on executions “silence allows violators set the standards”
The International Campaign for Abolishing the Death Penalty in Iran spoke to human rights activist Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam on his organization's recent annual execution report that covers Iran s 2010 record. The Iran Human Rights group s report states that, according to Iranian sources, "85 people have been executed in January 2011. At least 3 of those executed in January 2011 were arrested in connection with the 2009 post election protests."
Iran executes at least 20 people in three days
A Campaign for Abolishing the Death Penalty in Iran
At Least Two Juvenile Offenders Hanged in Iran Last Week
Iran’s Supreme Court: Death Sentences Will Now Be Issued In Less Than 10 Days
Teacher In Imminent Danger Of Execution
Unidentified People are Taken to the Gallows
Iran public execution outrages human rights groups
A disturbing video of the public execution of three men in Iran has sparked anger among human rights activists. The graphic video, released by Amnesty International on Thursday, showed guards standing on top of buses draping ropes around necks of three convicts sentenced to death by hanging after being convicted of rape. The men were later hanged from an overhead bridge after the vehicles drove away.
Iran escalates use of capital punishment
Iran has executed an average of almost two people a day in the first six months of this year, human rights groups have warned. The sharp escalation in the use of capital punishment comes at a time when the Islamic regime is fighting to prevent pro-democracy movements similar to those that have been sweeping across the Middle East from taking hold in the country.
Why is the west funding Iran’s deadly war on drugs
Representatives of more that 50 countries will meet in Vienna shortly to determine the level of international support that Iran receives for its continuing war on drugs. This comes amid concern about the increasing number of executions for drug-related offences in Iran. Six more people were recently hanged in the city of Kermanshah - executions that a senior figure in the judiciary described as "one of the triumphs of Iran".
Iran secretly executing hundreds of prisoners
Iran's authoritarian regime has been secretly executing hundreds of prisoners, according to a new UN report detailing growing rights abuses in the Islamic republic. The mysterious executions at Vakilabad prison in Mashhad in eastern Iran were highlighted in a report compiled by Ahmed Shaheed, the new UN special rapporteur on the human rights situation in Iran.
Rights groups press UN to denounce Iran executions
Human rights groups are pressing the U.N. and the international community to denounce a rash of executions in Iran. The groups, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, say at least 86 people have been executed in 2011 in Iran. They say at least eight of those killed last month were political prisoners.
Iranian regime exposes children to public executions
Following the October 12th public executions of four young men in Khomeini Shahr, the state-run Fars News Agency published more than 20 pictures showing the hangings and the spectators. In one of the pictures a small child is seen watching the executions. The number of the public executions in Iran has been increasing dramatically during the past months. Iranian authorities announce the executions and broadcast them through the state-run media.